"Those who answer the call of the country and volunteer themselves — they’re the real deal, the true comrades!"

Emily Smith opened her eyes in 1973, realizing she was reborn into the very year Sophia Smith returned to the family.

The first thing she did was apply to be sent to the countryside.

"Comrade, how soon can I be assigned?" Emily looked anxiously at the clerk.

He gave her a glance and replied flatly, "About a month, give or take."

A month.

Finally, a way out of that suffocating house.

Walking back from the neighborhood office, Emily slowly came to terms with the fact that she’d really come back.

She was about to turn eighteen.

All these years, life at home for her had been smooth sailing—everyone treated her like a little princess.

She never had to lift a finger with chores; not even once had she washed a plate. Honestly, she grew up never touching a drop of dishwater.

She remembered once when she got a high fever late at night. Everyone panicked. Her oldest brother ran barefoot to the county hospital. The second and third brothers stayed up all night fussing over her, terrified that her fever might get worse.

They’d always said, "Emily’s the heart and soul of this family. Anyone who messes with her has to answer to all of us!"

But everything changed the moment Sophia returned with that so-called proof of her identity.

Sophia had come in wearing thin clothes, her small frame covered in bruises new and old. She looked like she’d been through hell.

The whole family wept, clutching her like a long-lost treasure, overcome with guilt.

Emily just stood off to the side, all alone, suddenly feeling like she didn’t belong in the house anymore.

Watching everyone cry and hug, Emily knew: at birth, there’d been a mix-up. She was the one they had raised by mistake.

From that moment on, all the love she’d soaked up was going to be handed back to its ‘rightful owner.’

That day, Mr. Smith held both girls’ hands and said, "Emily, Sophia — you’re both daughters of the Smith family. Emily, you’re the older one now. Look out for your sister, alright?"

Emily quietly tucked those words into her heart.

Driven by guilt, she bent over backward to give in to Sophia at every turn.

Every snack, every toy—she let Sophia have first pick. Even the things she loved most, she gave them away without a second thought.

At the beginning, Sophia seemed to like her just fine. But over time, every time she caught sight of Emily’s closet full of pretty dresses and shiny trinkets, jealousy started to flare up.

All that stuff should’ve been hers.

The family’s affection? That too.

And so, Sophia started playing little tricks to get in everyone’s good graces. Once she realized how soft the family was with her, she took inch after inch—dead set on taking every last bit of affection for herself.She started going out of her way to mess with Emily Smith, slowly twisting everyone’s view of her right before their eyes. With every new trap she laid and every lie she told, the family’s opinion of Emily just kept getting worse. Before long, they saw her as petty and jealous—nothing more.

Day by day, folks at home started treating Emily like she wasn’t even there, barely sparing her a glance. It wasn’t until her eighteenth birthday that things really spiraled. Sophia Smith suddenly told her that Michael ran into trouble at the black market. Without thinking twice, Emily panicked and rushed over to help, only to be grabbed the second she stepped in—accused of illegal trading.

The whole family was summoned to the station.

Sophia curled up in their mom's arms, sobbing, “Sis, I told you not to go near that place... why didn’t you listen?”

“You’re the one who said Michael was in trouble, that's why I went!” Emily cried, trying to explain.

“I’ve never even been to the black market! And now you’re dragging me into this just to cover your own mess? I used to think you were just jealous, but at least a decent person. Never thought you'd embarrass us like this.”

Even William, usually calm, just shook his head and sighed. “Emily, what were you even thinking? You’re throwing your future away.”

“You’ve ruined our family’s name!”

“From now on, you’re no daughter of ours!”

Emily yelled and cried, trying to clear her name, but nobody cared. One by one, they all walked off, leaving her alone in that station.

Although the cops later confirmed she hadn't sold anything, they did find contraband goods on her—the very ones Sophia planted. So, they locked her up for seven days as punishment.

Emily knew exactly what Sophia had done. But what truly shattered her wasn’t the setup—it was how not even one family member believed in her after all those years together.

When she got out, she tried hard to fix her standing with the brothers. By pure luck, she once saved the life of a high-ranking officer. She didn’t hesitate to ask if he could help William move up the ladder. Seeing how David dreamed of becoming a doctor, she risked sneaking back and forth from the cowshed just to track down a skilled mentor for him.

Then came the time Michael fell into the river. Everyone panicked, unsure what to do, while Emily didn’t hesitate—she jumped in, rope in hand, and pulled him out herself.

Yet when he was dragged safely to shore, the others simply gathered around him, fussing, while Emily stood there, soaked and shivering, all alone.

Because she wasn’t warmed up in time, she ended up with a lingering cold-sensitivity that never went away.

She kept thinking her efforts would eventually be seen and appreciated. But then Sophia killed that hope with a single line: “Maybe the brothers will forgive Sis because of all this. If I could do half of what she did, I’m sure they’d love me too.”Now the Smith family concluded that everything she did was just to compete for affection. They even said it was nothing more than what she owed them—for everything they’d given her all these years, it wouldn’t be too much even if it cost her life.

After struggling like crazy, Emily Smith finally got into college. But the minute the family found out, they asked her to give up her spot so Sophia Smith could go instead and come back to the family.

In the end, Sophia got what she wanted and went to university, while Emily stayed home, basically turned into a housemaid for everyone.

At twenty-eight, she fell seriously ill.

The doctor diagnosed her with mid-stage liver cancer—traced back to the time she risked her life saving her eldest brother’s boss, and made worse by years of overwork. The good news? It was caught in time; surgery and treatment could actually give her a real shot at recovery.

Emily used to think that after everything she'd done for the family over the years, she would've earned a little compassion.

But lying weak in that hospital bed, she overheard her parents and brothers talking in the corridor—and every word felt like a knife straight to her heart.

"The surgery’s too expensive."

"Sophia just called—said she needs startup money after graduation."

"What are we gonna do? If we help Emily, there's no way to help Sophia."

"And even if we paid for the operation, who's gonna take care of her afterwards?"

"If you ask me, better to give the money to Sophia. She’s out there trying to make her way—it’s tough."

Emily’s eyes locked on their backs as silent tears streamed down her cheeks.

All those years, she'd believed in that family love and fought so hard to protect it. But to them? It wasn’t worth a dime. The pain burrowed so deep, she couldn’t even make sense of what she’d done so wrong to deserve this kind of cruelty.

Near the end, even breathing became a struggle.

Her third brother walked into the room and looked down at her like she was some kind of burden. “You being sick now? That’s karma. What you did to Sophia—this is your punishment.”

But she hadn’t done anything...

She thought he was the last one who’d stand by her. Turned out, he was the one who shoved her off the edge.

Emily died with anger burning in her chest and sorrow clinging to her bones.

Even after she was reborn, that pain, that helplessness at the end... it still haunted her.

She clenched her fists, trying to keep the hatred from bubbling to the surface.

Last time, she gave everything for people who couldn’t be bothered to care. In the end, all she did was help someone else climb higher.

She took a deep breath and swore to herself: this time, no more begging for love, no more lying to herself.

Even with just a month left before she could leave this house, Emily would make them feel every bit of the pain they put her through.

Since Sophia liked pretending to be the poor, bullied one—fine. Emily would show her what being pushed around really felt like.

She didn't care anymore how the Smiths felt or what they thought.

Over the next month, all the wrongs, all the betrayal—she’d make sure they paid it back in full.