Chapter 3

But unfortunately, my parents were only good at spending money, not earning it.

So, they quickly set their sights on me.

They wanted to sell me off to some old widower in the village, but my brother, fiddling with his new phone, coldly suggested I cash in on the mukbang trend instead. He said it would bring in money more consistently in the long run. He held up my sister’s old possessions, almost as a threat, and looked at me with contempt. “She was worthless anyway, always eating weird things. It’ll make great content for your streams.”

I just stared at the things in his hand and silently agreed.

My streams took off, just as they’d envisioned.

They reveled in the growing numbers in their bank account each day, but they couldn’t see the scrolling insults and abuse that filled my live chat. The surgery I had this time, the one I kept secret from my mom, was because I’d eaten too much plastic. When I was discharged, the doctor told me to take good care of my body. I just smiled, not saying a word.

Because I knew my mom and the others wouldn’t tolerate it.

Sure enough, on the third day after I got home, my mom threw a handful of sunflower seed shells at my head. “Hey, useless! Why aren’t you streaming yet?”

I was sitting on a small stool in the kitchen, washing dishes, not daring to shake off the shells from my hair. “I had surgery. The doctor told me to…”

“Don’t you give me that,” she scoffed. “Tomorrow, I’m buying you a pig’s head for your stream. Oh, and your brother’s school needs tuition for his extra classes. Transfer the money to him right away!”

I nodded silently.

“And,” my mom added, without even looking back, “you still need to cook dinner on time. Don’t think that just because you’re making a little money from streaming, I’ll be serving you.”

I scrubbed hard at the grease on a plate, lowering my head. “Okay.”