The Path of Vengeance: The Doomsday of the Malevolent Younger Brother

It all started on a cold winter afternoon, marking a fundamental change in our family life. I am Xiao Yao, and I thought I was a part of this family, but everything changed when Yang Lin, the so-called younger brother, was brought home. Mother brought him back from a distant village, proclaiming him our lucky star, the hope for the continuation of our family line. Since his arrival, however, I became invisible—my parents only had eyes for him. At meal times, mother would always serve Yang Lin first, filling his bowl with chicken and fish, while my sisters and I waited to pick at his leftovers. Sometimes, when there wasn’t enough food, mother would say, “Let your brother eat more, he’s still young, you girls should let him have it.” At night, Yang Lin slept in the best room in the house, the room I once shared with my older sister. Now, we were relegated to a corner of the kitchen, a damp and cold space near the stove, where we could hear mice scurrying beneath the floorboards at night. My education was also put to a halt. Mother said there wasn’t enough money to send all the children to school, and as a boy, Yang Lin’s education was most important. Our books were packed up and sold to pay for his school fees. Every time I saw him happily heading to school with his new backpack, I felt an indescribable pain. In front of relatives and friends, my parents often praised how clever and bright Yang Lin was, while towards us, it was only criticism and blame. I tried to express my dissatisfaction and sadness to my mother, but she just gave me a cold look and said, “You should be proud of your brother, stop being so selfish.” The cruellest blow came when I was sixteen. Mother told me that for the sake of our family’s finances, she planned to marry me off to a middle-aged businessman from afar. She said this would bring in a large dowry, enough to support Yang Lin’s future college education and wedding. “You are doing this for the family, for your brother, you should be happy,” she said with a cold and firm tone. I felt desperate. My future, my dreams, were being sold off without a second thought. Trapped in a corner where I was neither understood nor respected, I gradually learned to hide my feelings, burying all my grievances and anger deep inside.