The dreary rain of the twelfth lunar month penetrated the bones like prickly needles in the cold and damp air.

"Dad..."

A wretched cry echoed through the hospital.

Just a minute ago, Shen Mianmian's father, Shen Jianhua, had passed away from cancer. Now, there was no one in the world who truly loved her.

Looking at Shen Mianmian, with her hands and face covered in chilblains and wearing tattered clothes, a flicker of sympathy flashed in the eyes of the medical staff, who were about to step forward to comfort her when suddenly, two women barged into the ward.

The two wailed and howled beside the bed for a while, then turned their fury on Shen Mianmian, grabbing and tearing at her.

"You bastard child, you little wench, why couldn't it have been you that died?"

"How did you take care of Dad? He was fine when I came last month, how could he suddenly just die?"

"The patient was in the late stages of cancer; if it weren't for her attentive care, he wouldn't have lasted until now," a member of the medical staff intervened as they stepped in to separate the two women.

During the half-year Shen Jianhua was hospitalized, Shen Mianmian would work during the day and spend her nights at his bedside. The whole hospital department knew her.

Behind her back, everyone had discussed this pitiful woman. She was only in her thirties, yet looked as old as someone in their fifties or sixties, even older than her own mother, her hair already half white. She spent all her earnings on her father's medical treatment and didn't even have a decent piece of clothing for herself.

Zhou Lanfang and Zhou Siyu would come occasionally, only to hurl various insults at her.

"Isn't it her duty to take care of her dad?" Zhou Lanfang retorted irrationally.

If it wasn't for professional ethics, the doctors would have wanted to intervene physically. Swallowing their anger, they insisted, "The patient had an outstanding hospital fee. Please settle it."

If Zhou Lanfang wasn't made to pay, the costs would likely fall on Shen Mianmian again, and she was already miserable enough.

"You haven't paid the medical bills?" Zhou Lanfang flared up once more, grabbing Shen Mianmian and starting to beat her, "You dead girl, have you been splurging money behind our backs?"

Shen Mianmian seemed as if her soul had been torn away, utterly unresponsive. Suddenly, she pushed Zhou Lanfang away with all her might and screamed, "Am I even your biological daughter? Why do you treat me this way?"

Zhou Lanfang was taken aback, inadvertently loosening her grip.

"You know?" Zhou Siyu thought Shen Jianhua had disclosed something before he died.

Without waiting for Shen Mianmian's response, she laughed, Shen Jianhua was dead, Gu Jianli was dead, the elders of the Gu Family were dead, and her child had been raised by Shen Mianmian. With no money or power left and still laden with hospital fees, Shen Mianmian had no value left to be exploited – what did knowing matter?

"Dad must have told you! Yes, Jianbin had liked me from the start. The only reason he proposed to you was so that you would marry his disabled older brother, Gu Jianli. Thus, the switch of grooms on the wedding night was all our planning..."

Her head buzzing, Shen Mianmian gasped, "What did you say?"

She truly wasn't Zhou Lanfang's biological daughter?

The marriage she was deceived into was also their conspiracy?

Her nails dug into her flesh, but she felt no pain.

Her eyes turned blood red, "I was only seventeen at the time; how could you be so cruel?"

Zhou Siyu looked at her with disdain, "If there's anyone to blame, it's because you're a bastard child that Dad had with another woman."

Bastard child?

So the way Zhou Lanfang cursed her over the years wasn't unfounded?

"Haha..." Shen Mianmian suddenly burst into laughter.

Zhou Siyu had the look one gives a lunatic, yet she felt a chill inside, "Shen Mianmian, have you gone mad?"

"Yes, I have gone mad."

How tragic was her life? She had thought it was fate, not realizing it was orchestrated.

Like an erupting volcano, Shen Mianmian's fury was unleashed as she pounced on Zhou Siyu, biting and tearing at her. Caught off guard, Zhou Siyu had a chunk of flesh violently bitten off, and she screamed in pain.

A sharp pain erupted from the back of her head, and Shen Mianmian's vision went dark. She fell to the ground like a broken doll, rigid and lifeless.

In the haze, she seemed to hear the sound of a stool hitting the ground and the vicious curses of Zhou Lanfang.

"Daring to bite Siyu, I'll smash you to death, you wench birthed by a whore..."

...