I swallowed slightly.

Not only had I gone nearly a full day without eating, I hadn’t even had any water.

Drink this cup of milk and go to sleep early.

I picked up the milk and drank it all in one gulp, feeling somewhat nauseous.

This milk seemed to have expired again—after swallowing it, there was a heavy bitter aftertaste.

I hoped I wouldn’t get diarrhea during the night. I could endure a terrible environment, but I really couldn’t stand a terrible toilet.

I picked up my phone and sent Xiao Sun a WeChat message: “Can you come pick me up early tomorrow? I’ll wait for you at the location I sent. Call me when you arrive.”

“No problem, sis.” Xiao Sun instantly replied. “I’ll get there around seven.”

“Make sure you drive safely.”

“Don’t worry, sis. Get some sleep early. I’ll bring you breakfast.”

His message put me much more at ease. As the evening breeze slowly blew through the window, drowsiness quickly overtook me.

In a daze, I heard someone talking in my room.

But for some reason, no matter what I did, I couldn’t open my eyes.

The woman said: “You henpecked fool, how much did you put in? Don’t poison her to death! That would be breaking the law.”

The man said: “Don’t worry, it’s just enough to knock out a pig. It won’t kill anyone.”

The woman said: “Really? You henpecked fool actually came up with this method. Get Chengcai to help move her later. We already took the money—a hundred thousand yuan isn’t a small amount.”

The man said: “Stop arguing. Whoever wants her can come move her. Call him.”

My heart tensed up. Something was wrong with the current situation. I could hear what they were saying, but I couldn’t open my eyes.

I felt like I was falling into a pitch-black hole, with all the light gradually moving away from me.

What was happening to me?

When I opened my eyes again, I felt powerless.

My head was dizzy, everything before my eyes was blurred. I vaguely felt like I was in a very small room with dried straw all over the floor beneath my feet.

It took me a few seconds to react—I really seemed to be in a completely unfamiliar place. I hurriedly reached to feel for my phone, only to discover it was gone too.

I was now lying barefoot on the dried straw, extremely uncomfortable.

I slowly frowned… What was going on?

No matter what, I never would have imagined that my biological parents would actually harm me.

They locked me up?

How ridiculous!

“Hey!” I reached out and knocked on the old wooden door. “What are you doing?! If you have something to say, open the door and talk! What you’re doing is illegal! Do you hear me?”

To my surprise, it remained completely silent outside, as if there wasn’t a single person there.

Wait… did they go to hold the wedding ceremony?

Then where exactly am I now?

I’d never seen this room before. Was it newly built during the years I was away?

Or perhaps…

Combined with what I’d heard in my half-asleep state, a more terrifying thought circled in my mind—

Was I sold?

Absurd, absolutely absurd!

Those were my biological parents!

I quickly calmed myself down and began searching for usable tools in the room. The good news was that there was no one guarding the area nearby, so I had a chance to escape. But the bad news was that aside from the dried straw, there seemed to be nothing else in this room.

This room was made of adobe, with very old interior fixtures, and there was a small window opening at a very high position on one wall.

Even if I could climb up there, I probably couldn’t escape through that small window.

I could only focus my attention on the wooden door before me again.

As long as I could break through this wooden door, I should still be able to escape.

I stepped back a few paces, took a short running start, and crashed into the wooden door with all my strength. But the next second I heard the “clang clang” sound of iron chains.

I instantly realized that this door was locked extremely securely. Even if I could smash through the door, it would be impossible to break the iron chains.

So ramming the door was definitely not a good idea.

Right now the best approach was to conserve my strength. I could only wait for them to open the door on their own, then find a way to escape.

If I wasted too much energy ramming the door right now, not only would I exhaust myself, but I’d also draw unnecessary attention.

Thinking this, I found a corner and slowly sat down. I needed to stay calm.

No matter what happened, the only thing a person could rely on was themselves, so I absolutely had to stay calm.

But I didn’t expect that this wait would last an entire day.

In the sweltering room, my mouth was parched and dry. I’d had neither food nor water, and felt like my body was about to become dehydrated.

Right now the most important thing was to preserve as much moisture and energy as possible, otherwise I would have no way to escape.

They were truly absurd.

Even if they were my family, I would definitely make them go to prison.

It wasn’t until nightfall, when the light in the room dimmed, that the iron chain outside the door was finally rattled.

My heart instantly jumped to my throat. To be honest, I was somewhat afraid.

For humans, the most terrifying thing is the unknown.

But I quickly calmed my emotions. No matter who opened the door, they were truly too bold. Illegally detaining others or using other methods to illegally deprive others of their personal freedom carries a sentence of up to three years imprisonment, criminal detention, or public surveillance.

They had earned themselves a prison meal.

The lock rattled, and the wooden door before me was suddenly pushed open forcefully. A tall, burly man appeared there.

The bad news was that his build looked neither like the old man nor like Chengcai, but rather like a stranger.

Click!

A beam of flashlight light shone on my face, making me quickly close my eyes.

“Yo, you’re awake?”

Because the light was too strong, I really couldn’t see his face clearly.

“You…” I wanted to say something, but I was a bit afraid.

After a long pause, the man spoke: “You don’t recognize me anymore? Need me to introduce myself?”

His voice was coarse and unpleasant, as if he’d swallowed sand.

“No, no need to introduce yourself.” I swallowed and said to him. “I advise you to stop your behavior early. I suspect you’ve detained me for more than twenty-four hours, which constitutes the crime of ‘illegal detention.’ Every word you say now will be recorded and will form testimony unfavorable to you.”

“Huh?”

The man froze for a moment, then slowly walked forward.

I was currently squatting on the ground and felt somewhat passive, so I immediately stood up.

As long as I could find an opportunity, I could escape from behind him.

But what I never could have expected was that the man directly flew up and kicked me in the abdomen.

I had never been beaten like this in my entire life. I only felt my stomach churning violently, my whole body unable to straighten.

He pushed me to the ground and kicked me forcefully. My mouth kept spewing acidic liquid, and I felt consciousness slipping away from me.

“You stinking bitch! You stinking bitch!”

He yelled while kicking: “I gave your mother a hundred thousand! The betrothal gift’s already been accepted, and this is how you talk to me?!”

“What…?”

Although my entire body was in pain, these words still made my whole body turn cold.

“What do you mean by betrothal gift?”

He stopped his hands and feet, slowly raised the flashlight, and aimed it at his own face.

The light shone from below upward, illuminating his terrifying countenance.

It was the face of a fifty-year-old covered in acne.

He was the village butcher, surnamed Ma. I’d known about this person since I was young.

He was quite wealthy, but ugly, with a terrible temper. Every day he did nothing but drink and gamble. All these years, no one dared get close to him.

But… why?

Why did my family… accept his betrothal gift?