Chapter 1 The Well

• My mother-in-law was convinced that in our village, when a woman gave birth, boys were meant to be kept, but girls were best discarded into the well.
• The well was eighteen meters deep. Falling into it was like descending into the depths of hell.
• Other girls, discarded in the same way, must have feared reincarnation. Perhaps they never wanted to come back to this household again.
• When my daughter was born, my mother-in-law was furious, unleashing a tirade against me. By the time my daughter turned six, she threw her into the well. She believed that by getting rid of my daughter, she'd ensure I'd bear a son. Ironically, it wasn't me but she who bore a son soon after.
• Though her son was frail at birth, barely alive, my mother-in-law was overjoyed.
• Months later, news came of my daughter's death. At that time, my mother-in-law, proudly showing off her son to the neighbors, became surprisingly angry when she heard it.
• “That useless girl,” she spat, “always causing trouble! She'll cost us a fortune now!”
• Then she turned to me and yelled, “Useless thing! Go clean up your mess of a daughter!”
• I'd been branded a liability the day I entered this household. After giving birth to a daughter, they never truly regarded me as their own.
• Summoning every ounce of strength, I dragged my frail body to the well. The stench hit me before I got there, making me feel sick.
• My daughter's body floated in the well, half her head bobbing above the water. Her wide-open eyes seemed to glare in defiance of death, while her sunken cheeks gave her a skeletal appearance.
• My mother-in-law publicly claimed to have buried her, but in truth, she simply tossed her into the well. Parting with even a small sum for a funeral was something she couldn't bear.
• I stared at my daughter's lifeless body, and my chest throbbed with pain. Unrelated, fragmented memories flooded my mind.
• After her birth, like me, she rarely had a proper meal.
• I had no breast milk for her and secretly fed her scraps meant for the chickens outside. Somehow, she survived on that. Once, Judith from next door slipped her half a cooked pumpkin. My daughter gulped and offered it to me with trembling hands.
• “Mommy, let's share this,” she said earnestly.
• I told her I wasn't hungry and urged her to eat. But before she could take a bite, my mother-in-law snatched it away to feed the chickens and ducks.
• Lost in thought, I was suddenly shoved from behind. I nearly fell into the well.
• “Stupid b*tch! She's already dead, and you just stand there gawking?”
• I wasn't sure whether she meant me or my daughter. My mother-in-law was already cursing as she yanked my daughter's body out with a hook.
• The hook caught her cheek, but her thin face barely bled. When the body was finally pulled out, a spike at the hook's end gleamed coldly as it pierced her tailbone acupoint.
• “That old hag Judith was pestering me to take her up the mountain!” my mother-in-law muttered bitterly as she wrapped the body in a tarp and ordered me to carry it up the mountain.
• The smell of decay overwhelmed me, and I staggered back in terror. My daughter's face looked so much like mine that for a moment, it felt like I was staring at my own corpse.
• Seeing my hesitation, my mother-in-law snapped, “She's light as a feather. You're exhausted from this little bit of work?”
• Noticing my fear and apprehension, she quickly switched tunes.