Before the high school entrance exam, Mom happily announced, "It's settled. I will go teach, and my sister, as a staff member's child, can directly attend Qixiang High School."

Qixiang High School is the best high school in the city, with a very high admission score.

My rarely home father casually asked, "What about the younger sister? Didn't you tell them we have two children?"

Mom shrugged, "I don't have the nerve for that."

"She will attend whatever school she can get into. I don't owe her anything."

Dad fell silent, his attention drawn back to the papers in his hands.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and silently walked out of the house.

Because of the lack of love, I never liked staying at home since I was young.

Because I always wandered the streets, my skin tanned dark.

Using the excuse "dark-skinned people don't look good in this color," Mom stopped buying me new clothes.

There are so many colors in the world, none of which suit my dark skin.

She always made me wear old clothes from relatives.

Since they were old clothes, they didn't look good when worn, and it didn't matter.

Unlike me, my sister had a snow-white face with delicate features.

Mom enjoyed dressing up my sister, styling her hair uniquely, hugging her, calling her "darling."

Since Mom didn't comb my hair, I took money from the piggy bank, ran outside, and got a very short student haircut at a roadside barber stall.

Returning home, Mom and my sister looked at my hair and burst into laughter.

"Oh my, Xiaonian, you look just like a boy."

A few days later, the boys in the class voted for the top ten ugliest girls in the junior high section.

"Lin Xiaonian" was at the top of the list.

The reason for the vote was that I had dark skin, short hair, and looked like a boy.

A boy jumped in front of me after school, grinning, "Lin Xiaonian, dark and ugly, the number one ugly girl!"

After school, I cornered him in the alley, grabbed his collar, and shouted, "You, you'd be lost in a flour bin even if you fell into one!"

He was thin and small, pale-faced, and scared, crying, "It wasn't me who said it first, it was your sister who put you in first place."

It turned out my sister was also involved in the ranking.

The boys flattered the class flower and handed her the power to decide the final ranking.

So she personally moved my name from tenth to first place.

At that moment, my last trace of goodwill towards my sister disappeared.

I knew why she was retaliating against me.

During the last exam, she performed poorly, scoring only in the seventies. Dad said, "Look, your sister got a perfect score. You should learn from her."

Thanks to my sister, I endured countless pranks afterwards.

But nothing could defeat me.

I could calmly pick up a dead frog from the drawer without expression, or skillfully open the locked window with a school card and jump out when locked in.

Like a clump of wild grass, I quietly accumulated energy in the corner.