Fourteen Years After They Said I Was Adopted, I Gave Up on Family

Ever since I was little, I’d refused to be shortchanged.

If Dad bought a cake only for my younger sister, I demanded half. If Mom bought a phone only for my older brother, I clamored for a new tablet.

When I was eight, the whole family went away on a trip and once again forgot to buy me a ticket.

I went out to the main road, borrowed someone’s phone, and called the police to say my parents had abandoned me.

My parents had barely set off when they were forced to turn back.

Furious, Mom flung an adoption certificate at me.

“Shen An’an, you’re an adopted daughter. What more do you want from me?”

After that, I didn’t dare fight for anything.

To keep my place in that family, I tried my hardest to please every one of them.

When my brother got into trouble, I knelt in the snow and begged for him to be forgiven. When my sister didn’t want to do her homework, I stayed up all night copying out her school texts for her.

My parents worked hard at their jobs, so I volunteered to do all the housework.

Then one day my aunt came to visit and quietly drew Mom into a room.

“How are you raising these children? You give your adopted daughter three thousand yuan for living expenses, but your biological daughter only three hundred. Yet An’an doesn’t make the slightest fuss?”

Mom gave a smug little chuckle.

“Simple. I told my biological daughter she was adopted. Never mind giving her too little. Even if I gave her nothing, she’d still be grateful to me.”