Reborn in 1977, I will no longer be my brother's blood bag.

With each word she spoke, Lin Weidong's expression changed.

Wang Xiulan slammed her hand on the table: "What nonsense are you talking about! Your brother is a boy! The family isn't well-off, so what's wrong with spoiling him a little? Did you go hungry or cold when you were a child?"

Lin Xiuhe looked at her: "Whether it's less or not, doesn't your mother know?"

Wang Xiulan choked.

Lin Xiuhe didn't give her a chance to react: "I started working in the fields to earn work points when I was ten, washed the whole family's clothes when I was twelve, and from the age of fourteen onwards, I never ate a single egg in the family. In the winter when I was fifteen, I had a fever of thirty-nine degrees Celsius, and I still had to go to the river to wash the sheets."

She turned to her younger brother, Lin Weidong: "Lin Weidong, you're seventeen. Have you ever washed a dish? Have you ever chopped firewood? Have you ever earned a single work point?"

Lin Weidong's face flushed red: "Sis, why are you saying that to me? I'm your brother!"

"Just because you're my brother, I should give you my life?"

Lin Xiuhe's voice suddenly turned cold.

Lin Weidong opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.

Wang Xiulan was furious.

She stood up, pointed at Lin Xiuhe's nose, and yelled, "You've gone too far! You've only been to school for two days, and you don't even know your own name anymore? Let me tell you, you have to give up this job whether you like it or not! You eat my food, drink my water, live in my house, so you have to do whatever I tell you to do!"

Lin Xiuhe listened quietly.

In her past life, she was most afraid of hearing these words. Upon hearing them, she felt she owed her family—owed her parents, owed her younger brother. So she desperately tried to repay them, but even in death, she couldn't finish.

But now, she only feels it's absurd.

"I eat yours?" She looked up. "My name has been on the family's work points book since I was ten years old."

"I'd drink your water? Haven't I been carrying all the water back to our house bucket by bucket all these years?"

"I'm living in your house? This house was left by my grandparents, it doesn't belong to you, Wang Xiulan."

Wang Xiulan's face turned ashen.

Lin Jianguo suddenly stood up: "Lin Xiuhe! Are you trying to rebel?"

Lin Xiuhe looked at her father.

This man, who in his past life always pretended to be silent and fair, but in crucial moments always stood on the side of Wang Xiulan and Lin Weidong.

She suddenly felt a sense of estrangement and amusement.

"Father," she said, "you always say we're family. Then let me ask you, who took the exam for the supply and marketing cooperative?"

Lin Jianguo frowned and remained silent.

"It's me! Whose name is on the notification letter? It's me! Who did the commune hire? It's still me."

Lin Xiuhe spoke clearly, word by word: "Since it's been me from beginning to end, why should I give up my position just because you call us 'family'?"

Lin Jianguo's face darkened.

Wang Xiulan's chest heaved with anger.

Lin Weidong panicked and could no longer pretend. He stood up and shouted, "Sister! How can you be so selfish?"

"I'm selfish?" Lin Xiuhe looked at him. "I don't want to give away what's mine, and that's selfish? Then what do you call trying to steal my job without doing anything?"

Lin Weidong's face turned pale instantly.

Wang Xiulan shrieked, "What do you mean by 'robbery'? That's your own brother!"

"You can steal from your own brother?" Lin Xiuhe retorted.

The room fell silent again.

A wind had picked up outside sometime earlier, making the paper windows rattle loudly, and the flame of the kerosene lamp flickered.

Wang Xiulan stared intently at Lin Xiuhe.

She suddenly realized that her daughter seemed different tonight.

The Lin Xiuhe of the past was not like this. In the past, if she raised her voice even slightly, Lin Xiuhe would lower her head; if she said "you are the older sister," Lin Xiuhe would endure it.

But today, she actually dared to talk back, and even dared to argue back, one sentence at a time.

"Fine, very well indeed." Wang Xiulan laughed angrily. "Lin Xiuhe, you think you're all grown up now? I raised you for eighteen years, and you've turned out to be an ingrate! If I had known you were this heartless, I should have drowned you in a chamber pot the moment you were born!"

That was such a harsh statement that everyone in the room fell silent for a moment.

Lin Jianguo frowned but didn't stop him. Lin Weidong glanced away but didn't speak either.

In her past life, Lin Xiuhe would have cried, felt wronged, and doubted herself if she was truly unfilial upon hearing these words.

But now, she just sits there, without even blinking.

Because she already knew—in Wang Xiulan's heart, her daughter was not a child, but a tool to exchange for dowry, earn work points, and subsidize her son.

Lin Xiuhe slowly stood up.

She looked at Wang Xiulan and said, "Mother, remember these words. Don't regret it later."

Wang Xiulan was taken aback.

Lin Xiuhe continued, "From today onwards, I will no longer give in. I will not give him the job. I will not hand over his entire salary. As for Lin Weidong wanting to get married, let him figure it out himself."

Lin Weidong panicked completely: "Sister! You can't do this! The Liu family is waiting!"

Lin Xiuhe didn't even look at him: "That's your problem."

Wang Xiulan grabbed an enamel bowl from the table and slammed it down: "Lin Xiuhe! You deserve a beating!"

As she spoke, she reached out to grab Lin Xiuhe.

Lin Xiuhe took a step back, her eyes icy: "If you dare touch me, I'll go to the commune tomorrow and tell them that the Lin family is trying to impersonate me and steal my job."

After those words were spoken, the room fell into a deathly silence.

Lin Jianguo's expression changed. Lin Weidong also froze on the spot.

Wang Xiulan's hand remained suspended in mid-air, and she didn't dare to bring it down for a long time.

None of them expected that Lin Xiuhe, who was always the easiest to control, would actually utter the word "report".

Looking at their reactions, Lin Xiuhe suddenly felt a weight lift from her heart, a weight that had been pressing down on her for two lifetimes.

It turns out that resisting wasn't so difficult after all. It turns out that as long as she didn't want to, they couldn't really eat her.

She turned and went back into the inner room.

Behind her came Wang Xiulan's furious shouts: "Come back here! Lin Xiuhe! You come back here right now!"

Lin Xiuhe did not turn around.

She walked to her narrow little wooden bed, bent down and pulled out the employment notice from under her pillow, which she had kept for many days.

The sheet of paper was thin, but it represented her first life in this lifetime.

She gripped it tightly, her knuckles bulging.

In her past life, she gave away this piece of paper, and with it, she gave away her life.

In this lifetime, no one can take it away from me again.

Outside the door, Wang Xiulan was still cursing. Lin Jianguo lowered his voice and tried to persuade her. Lin Weidong paced back and forth anxiously.

Lin Xiuhe carefully folded the admission notice and tucked it into her clothes.

Then she looked up at the dark night outside the window.

She returned in 1977!

This time, she won't be the Lin family's blood bag!