The next morning, when I opened my eyes, Xiao Hong's caked face was magnified in front of me, and I jumped up.

"What are you doing?" Noticing her hand behind her back, I cautiously moved back.

"Why are you dodging?" She looked at me, smiling insincerely, examining me from head to toe.

I felt as if I was being entangled by a water snake, a chill of disgust running through my heart.

Ignoring her, I got up to wash up and walked past her.

She suddenly grabbed my arm and forcefully pushed me onto the bed.

"Do you want to go to the exam? Yu Jiang, what did you do to Yanyan yesterday? Yanyan's leg is broken, do you think I'll let you go out and take the exam?"

She produced a pair of handcuffs from somewhere and tried to cuff me to the radiator.

I struggled desperately, but her strength was too great, and I had no chance of breaking free.

"Aren't you afraid I'll call the police?" I gritted my teeth.

She finally looked at me seriously.

"Then go ahead, rest assured, if you report me in the morning, Lin Zhi will be in the morgue by the afternoon."

She laughed wantonly as I tried to break free from the handcuffs. My wrist got scratched, bringing a whiff of blood.

Images of my mom's expectant face flashed through my mind.

"I beg you, Xiao Hong, let me take the exam," I said, closing my eyes and humbling myself, but received no response.

After rummaging through my things, Xiao Hong took a bunch of my documents. Before leaving, she suddenly had a thought and turned around sharply.

"If you dare speak of today's events to anyone."

She raised her phone, and I saw my mom covered in tubes in the video.

I bit my lip and sneered,

"You better hope I die here, otherwise—"

She seemed to have anticipated what I was going to say and interrupted me with a smile, "You won't be getting out anytime soon. I've already greased the palms of the teachers at school."

"If you dare act out, your mom's ventilator will be turned off."

She looked down on me like a victorious conqueror, gazing at me as if I were trash.

After kicking my phone away, she left satisfied. I glanced at the clock; it was already eight, only an hour left before the exam.

Lowering my head, childhood memories surged up. Yu Jun, frustrated in his career, would vent on my mom and hide me crying in a dark little room, constantly picking at my hands.

Looking at the scars on my hands, I suddenly felt thankful that Xiao Hong hadn't cuffed my right hand.

Gathering all my strength, I desperately tried to pull my left hand out of the cuffs, the sharp edge slicing into my wrist.

By eight ten, a large layer of skin had peeled off my hand, looking quite horrifying.

By eight fifteen, I was exhausted, scanning the room, I noticed a small piece of soap by the bed.

By eight eighteen, I had gotten the soap.

By eight twenty, the back of my hand was a bloody mess, the pain excruciating and heart-wrenching!

By eight thirty, I had freed my hand and packed my things, running out to flag down a car.

"Little student, are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?" the driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror, I feebly shook my head, casually grabbing a few tissues to wipe away the blood.

"Hiss."

At the test center, amidst everyone's shocked gazes, I walked to my seat and started answering the questions, trembling.

With the scent of blood and the sound of the bell, my classmates around me shouted that youth was over.

Looking at the overcast sky, I thought my revenge should also begin.

Leaving the test center, from afar I saw that disgusting family of three, Xiao Yan surrounded by reporters.

Yu Jun's face was wrinkled with a smile, while Xiao Hong kept looking around. The moment she saw me, the bag in her hand dropped to the ground.

I calmly walked up, snatching the microphone from Xiao Yan's hand.

"You dare to be interviewed, aren't you afraid of being slapped in the face when your score of two hundred comes out?" Everyone around looked stunned, as if they couldn't understand where I, this perennial underachiever, got the courage to mock the top student.

Of course, I had the courage. Xiao Yan bought answers for every simulated exam, and only I knew because I was the one selling her the answers.

She glared at me, her eyes bulging like a goldfish's.

Yu Jun looked at me disapprovingly, then noticed my hand. He froze, the next second, he whispered in a voice only the two of us could hear.

"Don't think self-harm will get you alimony. It's not even certain if I am your biological father; we need a paternity test. Who knows if you are that hooligan's kid. Raising you all these years is already more than benevolent."

I rolled my eyes, "That's all that's in your walnut-sized head."

"When the results come out, everyone is welcome to interview me at Jiang Xin's breakfast shop."

Leaving the stunned onlookers behind, I flagged down a car to go to the hospital to see my mom.

In the ward, staring at my mom's pale face, my plan started to take shape bit by bit.

"Mom, you have to get better soon."