Soaking wet, Mo Xiaoman trudged along the village path as slowly as a snail, wiping away tears from time to time. She was completely lost in her memories. Many people passed by. Some just shot her a strange glance, while a few kind, older women called out to ask where she had come from to get so drenched in the rain. When she didn't respond, they let it go and didn't bother her further.
After all, this was how Mo Xiaoman usually was: silent, reserved, and never one to start a conversation. People figured she was a bit slow and dull, probably from being beaten too much as a child.
'But something seemed different this time. That's right—Mo Xiaoman was crying!'
Mo Xiaoman could actually cry?
This discovery piqued the curiosity of those passing by, and they paid her a little more attention. Though Mo Xiaoman was small and thin, she was tough and incredibly resilient. Even if Liu Fengying broke two bamboo canes over her back, she wouldn't so much as whimper. It was a hard-earned skill she'd been trained in since she was little.
A few girls her age who ran into her just curled their lips in disdain and walked past without a word.
Mo Xiaoman only knew how to bury her head in her work. Aside from eating and sleeping, Liu Fengying never gave her even ten minutes of free time to play with other girls.
As a result, she had practically no friends in the village.
She had managed to attend school for two years, starting at five and dropping out at seven to go home, look after her younger siblings, and do housework. By the time she was ten, she could already do the work of half an adult laborer to earn work points.
She was capable, but none of the other girls in the village respected her.
Nor did any parents use her as an example to teach their own children, likely due to her dull, plodding, ox-like personality.
In her previous life, under Liu Fengying's years of "guidance" and absolute, forceful suppression that crushed any hint of resistance, she had indeed developed the blind loyalty of an ox. That must have been a training achievement Liu Fengying was quite proud of.
From the moment Liu Fengying went from suspecting to confirming that Mo Xiaoman was not her biological child, she stopped treating her as a daughter. Instead, Mo Xiaoman became a beast of burden, a servant girl to be ordered around, beaten, and cursed at will—someone Liu Fengying could mold and crush however she pleased.
Mo Xiaoman had gone with Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying to Beijing for a blood test. By then, the couple had thrown all caution to the wind, openly discussing in front of her how the two babies had been switched at birth and how things had unfolded afterward. Liu Fengying even answered all of Mo Xiaoman's questions. It was only then that Mo Xiaoman learned the truth: the couple had suspected and confirmed she wasn't their biological daughter when she was just six or seven years old.
And that was when Mo Xiaoman's tragic life began. She fell from the position of the cherished eldest daughter to that of a bastard girl. Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying couldn't stand the sight of Mo Xiaoman, but they never gave up searching for their real daughter. She was their first child, and they had cherished her. In Mo Xiaoman's memory, she recalled several times seeing Liu Fengying with red, tear-filled eyes, glaring at her with pure hatred. She hadn't understood why back then, but now she did. 'She missed her eldest daughter! She believed my existence was the reason her own daughter was lost, so she hated me!'
The couple made many trips to the city, visiting hospitals to ask around. Sure enough, their persistence paid off, and they actually managed to find their own flesh and blood.
The two babies had been switched at birth in the regional city hospital. Normally, as a rural woman of that era, Liu Fengying wouldn't have had the means to give birth in a city hospital. It was all because of her father, Old Liu. He had carelessly knocked the ash from his pipe and burned down the production team's cowshed. When you got down to it, the root cause of Mo Xiaoman's tragic fate was Old Liu.
There were four siblings in the Liu family, and Liu Fengying was the eldest. Having been to school, she could read a little. After Old Liu was sent to prison, she was the only one in the family who could handle things. Old Liu couldn't acclimate to prison life and suddenly fell gravely ill. At the time, Liu Fengying had been married to Mo Guoqiang for a year and was already pregnant. With her large belly, she and her husband went to visit her father. A few days later, on their way back, their commuter bus was passing through the region. The ride was so bumpy that she, eight months pregnant, went into premature labor. Some kind-hearted people helped Mo Guoqiang rush Liu Fengying to the regional city hospital.
At that same time, another couple also rushed to the hospital to have their baby. They gave birth to a daughter in the same delivery room as Liu Fengying, and afterward, both mothers were sent to the same ward to recuperate. No one ever knew when the two infant girls were switched.
Until the girl was twelve, that couple and their daughter lived in the regional city of Wancheng. For Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying to find them just by making discreet inquiries on their own was quite an achievement.
Having shared a hospital ward, they recognized the couple. They also saw the little girl clearly, and she was the spitting image of Liu Fengying.
Liu Fengying finally saw her biological daughter and cried her heart out. But she also saw that her daughter, raised by parents who were government officials, was fair-skinned, delicate, and beautiful. She wore a white blouse under a sky-blue jumper dress, looking so clean and proper it was a sight to behold. Then, thinking of Mo Xiaoman's shabby appearance back in the countryside, the shrewd Liu Fengying changed her mind almost instantly. She didn't approach the adults directly. Instead, she secretly followed the little girl, waiting for a chance to speak with her.
As expected of Liu Fengying's daughter, the girl was just as sharp and calculating as her birth mother. At first, she was terrified by the sudden appearance of her biological parents, her face turning pale, but she didn't cry or cause a scene. She calmly and coolly observed the rural couple as they told their story. Finally, she told them that whether she was their biological daughter or not, she would never go with them. What she wanted was something they could never give her. If they insisted on disturbing her life, she would rather die. And she would hate them forever.
Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying went home without another word. They felt a twinge of regret, but mostly, they were filled with joy and satisfaction. 'We found our daughter! We don't necessarily have to live together. Just knowing where she is and that she's living a happy life is better than anything!'
'And to think that someone from our own family is living in the city, enjoying a respectable and prosperous life—what a proud thing that is!'
The girl living in the city later moved with her parents to the provincial city, then to other big cities, and eventually returned to her grandparents' side in Beijing. In the end, she even studied abroad. Her life was truly one of endless happiness and boundless glory.
She was also filial, occasionally sending a money order to Liu Fengying. Mo Xiaoman saw them, but she didn't know who sent them. Whenever one arrived, Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying would be in an exceptionally good mood, grinning from ear to ear all day. Liu Fengying told the children it was from a very wealthy relative. Mo Xiaoman never imagined that this "very wealthy relative" was, in fact, another version of herself.
As she learned the full story from Liu Fengying and Mo Guoqiang, Mo Xiaoman felt her body go cold, as if she had been plunged into an icy abyss. What pained her most of all was this: her biological parents had also grown suspicious. They had even found out about Liu Fengying going to the school to find the girl. They contacted Liu Fengying, saw the "family photo" she showed them, as well as a small photo of Mo Xiaoman, and confirmed that their children had been switched. But because they loved the daughter they had raised so much, and because that girl was so capable and outstanding, they made a decision: to abandon their biological daughter.
They were both well-read intellectuals who believed in putting themselves in others' shoes. 'Feelings are built up day by day,' they reasoned. 'They accumulate and deepen to a point where you can't bear to be parted. We adore our adoptive daughter, and her bond with our son is so close and deep. By the same token, the family who adopted our biological daughter must surely love her very much as well!'
'Doesn't that make everything perfect?'
Mo Xiaoman still remembered that trip to Beijing to donate bone marrow. She remembered sitting on the hotel balcony with Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying, drinking tea. She remembered Liu Fengying's triumphant laughter as she boasted, "Look how blessed I am! The daughter I gave birth to is so fortunate, she landed in the lap of luxury the moment she was born! That high-official couple would rather give up their own biological daughter than the one I bore!"