Leaving the Family that Hurt Me to Find BeautyChapter 1
I was born in Souten, a village so ordinary that its only noteworthy trait was its poverty.
The Lewis family was one of the better-off households there, owning three mud houses and some meager fields. They had enough to feed themselves and a little left over to sell for money.
In this place, where sons were highly valued over daughters, my little sister, Amber Lewis, and I still managed to have enough to eat.
I knew my parent had always wanted a son, and I was aware that daughters in even poorer families were often sold at birth or drowned in the river behind the mountains if they couldn't be sold.
For this reason, I was grateful to them and would eagerly do all the chores. I cooked, cleaned, chopped wood, fed the pigs, and cleaned the pigsty... I fear they might find me useless.
Later, when my mother became pregnant, smiles became more frequent on their faces.
They even shared some of the nourishing chicken soup meant for my mother with Amber and me. The golden bowl, glistening with oil droplets, had a piece of chicken settling at the bottom.