"Xiaoman, drink this bowl of pig blood."

My mother held a bowl of fresh pig blood with a fishy smell in front of me. She smiled, her cloudy eyes hiding greed.

I moved my lips, wanting to refuse, but swallowed the words.

I dare not.

If I dared not drink it a few years ago, I would undoubtedly receive a beating. The blood would still be forced down my throat.

Recently, I raised a black cat. My mother knew I liked it, so she grabbed its neck and forced me.

"Xiaoman, be obedient. If you persist for another half month, this puppet will become powerful!"

Under the heated gaze of my family, I closed my eyes and drank all the pig blood.

The sticky, fishy liquid almost made me vomit.

My mother breathed a sigh of relief, no longer caring about me, and turned to serve a piece of pork to my sister-in-law.

"Cuimiao, eat more since you're pregnant."

My sister-in-law had just married half a year ago, and her belly was already showing signs of movement.

My mother had been excited for a long time, boasting to my sister-in-law every day, treating boys and girls equally.

My sister-in-law came from a poor family. Her parents treated her as a slave, and the bride price my brother gave all went into her brother's pocket.

Knowing that our village values girls, she naturally felt happy.

Even if she discovered the wooden dolls I fed with blood on my desk every day, she didn't care.

Only girls can raise puppet dolls, which require nourishment from menstrual blood.

Fearing it wouldn't be satisfied, my family prepared fresh pig blood and chicken blood for me every day.

Even if I didn't eat, I had to drink blood.

I lowered my head and glanced at my wrist, the dense scars sending shivers down my spine.

Most families in the village have two or three puppet dolls, but my mother's body was injured, and she couldn't bear children anymore. Naturally, she hoped my sister-in-law would give birth to more girls.

After all, the more wooden dolls there are, the more money there is.