When I was born, my father was slapped by my grandfather.

"I told you to burn her as soon as Da Ya was born! What do we do now? The second child is also a burden!" Grandfather swung a shovel and cursed loudly in the yard.

"This is a disaster! This is terrible! How can we not listen to the words of our ancestors!"

The yard was in chaos. My sister was inside the house, accompanying our mother who had just given birth, carefully wiping the sweat from her forehead.

Upon hearing the commotion outside, our mother struggled to get up and slapped my sister with all her strength.

"You bring bad luck! It's all because of you!" she said resentfully.

In the village, there has always been a saying: "The first-born daughter must be burned, or else it will be difficult to have a son in subsequent pregnancies."

It means that if the first child born is a girl, she must be burned. Otherwise, other female spirits will come to possess her, making it even more difficult to give birth to a boy.

In the mountain ditch to the west of the village, there is a tower for infants, filled with the ashes of the village's eldest daughters.

On the day my sister was born, she was also supposed to be taken away and burned.

But just as she was about to be thrown into the infant tower, a thunderbolt suddenly struck the clear sky.

The thunderbolt hit the top of the tower, leaving a hole the size of a human head.

Frightened, my father brought my sister back home.

Sure enough, our mother gave birth to another girl in the second pregnancy.

Three years of consecutive childbirth had drained our mother's body. It wasn't until I was seven years old that my youngest sister was born.

As I watched the thin little baby, I curiously looked around, but my eldest sister quickly pulled me aside.

My father walked into the room with an old man with a long beard.

The old man circled around the bed, solemnly, then sprayed some alcohol onto a paper dragon he had brought with him.

The dragon, made of oiled paper, suddenly writhed violently as if it had been stimulated.

My father and grandfather pointed at the dragon in astonishment and shouted, "It's alive! It's alive!"

The old man stroked his beard and said, "In that case, your family will not become extinct."

But I, being small and short, clearly saw a dying yellow eel stuffed in the crevice of the dragon.

Stimulated by the alcohol, it struggled violently, as if it were in its dying throes.

Just as I was about to report to my father, the old man suddenly noticed me.

His eyes turned sinister, and he walked towards me, lifting me up from the corner.

"Your family actually harbors a sinful girl!" the old man said sternly.

"What sinful girl?" My father had never heard of it and was momentarily confused.

"She is the female messenger who offended the Lord of Heaven and was banished to suffer on earth!" the old man explained, stroking his beard. "This kind of sinful girl is naturally full of lies. If you believe what she says, be prepared to incur the wrath of the Lord."

"What should we do then?" Grandfather panicked and hurriedly asked, "Should we throw her away? Burn her? Can the infant tower contain such a big child?"

The old man shook his head. "There's no need for that. As for the sinful girl, if you don't treat her well, the Lord will take care of you."

Grandfather and father expressed their gratitude to the old man and saw him out of the house.

From that day on, I never had a full meal again, and I no longer had a single piece of good skin on my body.

But our family's life became increasingly prosperous and we became one of the wealthiest families in the village.

In the eleventh month after giving birth to my youngest sister, my mother gave birth to my brother, Yao Zong.