"Neighbors, come out and have a look! My stepmother put my name down for the countryside behind my back just so her own daughter could dodge it, and now she's forcing me to pack up and go!"

"Everybody here knows I work at the supply and marketing co-op. By rights I shouldn't be sent down at all. But this vicious woman has been scheming to snatch my job and hand it to her own girl."

"And that father of mine has lost every bit of conscience too. He's siding with that black-hearted stepmother, the two of them ganging up to ruin his own daughter. Boo-hoo... I can't live like this anymore! If anyone's willing to stand up for me, I'll sell my co-op job to them."

It was 1974, in Hushi, in the family compound of the steel plant.

The morning had been quiet as could be, flat and peaceful, but the second Natalie Mercer raised her voice, the whole place blew up.

In an instant, it was like floodgates had been kicked open.

People who had been tucked away inside their homes all rushed out in a swarm to see what was happening.

They were not just there for the spectacle either. Every one of them had their eye on Natalie Mercer's co-op position.

Watching that dark crowd of neighbors surge her way,

Natalie Mercer curled her lips ever so slightly.

The audience was here.

Now this was going to work.

At once, she put on the act of a pitiful girl who had suffered every kind of grievance, tears in her eyes and voice shaking:

"Dad, I know you care about my stepmother. I also know the two children she brought with her are the real treasures in your heart. For the sake of peace in this family, for the sake of making things easy for you, and even for the sake of your reputation as deputy workshop director, I've given way to them at every turn."

"I swallowed all that, because no matter what, you still let me have food to eat. After you remarried, you didn't throw me out on the street, and you at least left me a place to stay. But Dad, when even you joined them in plotting against me, my heart really turned cold."

As she said that, Natalie Mercer suddenly lunged forward and dropped to her knees in front of her father, Franklin Mercer.

She wrapped both arms around his legs, and at an angle no one else could see, dug her nails hard into the flesh of his thigh, twisting with all her strength.

Useless coward. If you had any backbone at all, if you hadn't looked the other way, if you hadn't played deaf and dumb, the original girl would never have died because of you.

Her hands clamped tighter with everything she had, yet her voice came out soft and pleading. "Dad, can you just leave me a way to live? My mother lost her life back then over the factory property. I've got nothing left to count on now. This job is the only thing keeping me going. Dad, please spare me this once. If you let me off this time, I'll put up with anything."

Put up with it? Bah. Whoever wants to endure it can do it themselves.

She put even more force into her grip.

Franklin Mercer yelped, "Ow!" He jerked up a leg, clearly about to kick Natalie Mercer away.

The instant his leg came up, Natalie played it smart. She acted like she'd been struck, stumbled backward, and dropped hard onto the ground.

A few warmhearted aunties nearby rushed over at once and helped her up in a flurry.

At the same time, they all started laying into Franklin Mercer.

"Deputy Director Shen, this really isn't right. Natalie is such a good girl usually. No matter what, you can't force her to hand her job over to the stepdaughter."

"Exactly. She's your own flesh and blood. You don't feel bad for your own daughter, but you fuss over the one your new wife brought in? What's wrong with you?"

"Deputy Director Shen, there's something seriously wrong with the way you're handling this. Natalie Mercer's mother, Abigail Mercer, gave her life for our steel plant. That deputy director post of yours, this apartment your family got, which part of it didn't come from her sacrifice? This is plain heartless."

The aunties beside them were in full swing now, one after another, hammering Franklin Mercer without pause.

Natalie quickly chimed in too, adding fuel to the fire. "Aunties, you don't know how miserable I've been. The steel plant had kept a job opening for me because of my mother, but my father took that spot and gave it to my stepmother. To put it bluntly, their whole family has been living off my mother's blood."

"And me, her real daughter, I got nothing. Nothing at all. I just get pushed around by them every day. Before this, I kept telling myself a family should stay peaceful, so I never said anything out loud. But today I've really got no road left. Boohoo..."

Her crying came in waves, one after another, and it sounded so pitiful that people couldn't help feeling for her.

Seeing the crowd's hearts tilt completely toward Natalie, Margaret Mercer felt her stomach twist with panic. If this girl kept making a scene, the family's reputation would be dragged through the mud.

And if word got to the factory leaders, would she still be able to keep her job? Would Old Shen still be able to sit steady in that workshop deputy director position?

The more Margaret thought about it, the more rattled she became.

Just as she was about to step forward and stop things, a voice suddenly rang out from outside the crowd.

"Make way, everybody. Move aside. Director Shelton is here."

The crowd immediately parted and opened up a path.

Nobody wanted to mess with the director of the Women's Federation.

Her husband was the factory's deputy director and in charge of logistics. So really, offend anyone else if you must, but not her.

Otherwise, did you still want your welfare coupons and supply allotments or not?

By the time Roberta Shelton, head of the Women’s Federation, arrived, she had already asked around and gotten the whole story straight. The moment she stepped in, she raised her voice and barked, "What are you all standing around here for? Don’t you need to eat? Don’t you need to get to work? Break it up, all of you!"

With Roberta’s authority hanging over them, the crowd scattered in a rush.

Margaret Mercer finally let out the breath she had been holding. She quickly forced a few tears out and rushed up to Roberta. "Sister, thank goodness you’re here. People always say it’s hard being a stepmother. I feed this girl well, clothe her well, take care of her every day—what have I ever failed her on? And who would’ve thought she’d make such a scene today and drag the whole family’s name through the mud. You have to judge this fairly for me."

After saying that, she secretly shot Natalie Mercer a smug little look from the corner of her eye.

Everybody knew she was close with the deputy factory director’s wife.

With that kind of connection, what kind of trouble could Natalie possibly stir up?

Seeing the smug look on her stepmother’s face, Natalie pressed her lips together in a cold little smile. Then she turned, got to her feet in one smooth move, and hurried over to Roberta too. She wrapped both hands tightly around Roberta’s arm, shoulders shaking as she cried in broken sobs.

"Aunt Roberta, I heard your daughter just turned eighteen this year, and in another three months she’ll finish high school. With you looking after her, she surely won’t have to go down to the countryside, right? I’m not like that. I finally managed to get into the supply and marketing co-op, and now my stepmother secretly signed me up to be sent down behind my back! Boo-hoo..."

"The educated youth office has already put my name on the list. Going to the countryside is settled now. There’s no getting out of it. But then... what’s supposed to happen to my position at the co-op?"

The second those words came out, Roberta immediately shook off Margaret’s hand and warmly grabbed Natalie’s instead.

"My poor child, how much have you suffered? Come on, come with me. Come back to my place. Whatever grievance you’ve got, tell Auntie everything. I’ll absolutely stand up for you. And if my words don’t carry enough weight, well, isn’t there your Uncle Clarence?"

She did not even wait for Natalie to answer before tugging her straight toward her own home.

No matter what, that supply and marketing co-op slot had to end up in her daughter’s hands.

Natalie turned and flashed that family of three a silent smile. Still sniffling, she let herself be pulled away, murmuring softly, "Aunt Roberta, thank goodness you came. If you hadn’t shown up today, I really wouldn’t have been able to go on."

The whole reason she had kicked up such a huge scene today was to draw over the Women’s Federation director—the deputy factory director’s wife herself.

And now it had worked.

Next, all that was left was to sit back and watch how her trash father and his family were going to clean this mess up.

Watching the two of them walk farther and farther away, Margaret’s eyes nearly spat fire. Grinding down her anger, she cursed, "Roberta Shelton, you snake. I’ve helped you plenty all this time, and now you turn around and stab me in the back. You really are a piece of work."

Behind her, Chloe Holloway was so anxious she stamped her feet. "Dad, Mom, what are we supposed to do now? Natalie Mercer got taken away by the Women’s Federation director. It’s obvious she wants a hand in that job now. Then what about me?"

Franklin Mercer was pacing in circles too. He looked at Margaret and asked, "That damned girl went with her—what if she starts talking nonsense? Will I still be able to keep my deputy workshop director post?"

Margaret was furious, but she had not lost her head yet. "What are you panicking for? Wait and see first. If it really comes to that, we’ll bring out that thing and go to the factory director. If the director steps in himself, I refuse to believe Roberta Shelton and her husband would dare not listen."