Substitute Marriage: Reborn As The Top Big-Shot

Before Olivia could react, Aunt Zhang kicked her, knocking her to the ground.

Olivia’s eyes filled with tears from the pain.

But she didn’t dare cry out.

Aunt Zhang then grabbed Olivia’s hair and angrily cursed, “You little bitch! Speak up! Did you want to scald me to death?!”

Aunt Zhang tried to lower her voice as much as possible to avoid alerting the neighbors.

Olivia immediately said, “Mom, mom, it wasn’t intentional, I swear.”

“Kneel!”

Hearing this, Olivia immediately stood up and knelt in the corner.

“Wait.”

Aunt Zhang continued to speak.

“Mom.” Olivia looked up at her, “What’s wrong?”

Aunt Zhang said, “Clean up the water on the floor before you kneel.”

“Okay.” Olivia stood up and went to the bathroom to fetch a mop.

After cleaning the floor, Olivia knelt down by the corner.

She faced the wall.

Her eyes were red.

But from the beginning until now, not a single tear fell.

She couldn’t cry.

If she did, it would undoubtedly bring more severe beatings.

So, from a young age, she learned to hold back her tears.

Only then did Aunt Zhang sit down to eat.

Three dishes and one soup.

One meat dish, one vegetable dish, and the soup was cream of mushroom soup.

Aunt Zhang first ate a piece of braised pork, then poured a bowl of soup. After taking the first sip, her face changed. She stood up with the bowl and walked toward Olivia.

Hearing the footsteps, Olivia panicked.

She didn’t know what she had done wrong again.

Before Olivia could react to the fear, a bowl of soup was poured over her head.

Fortunately, the soup wasn’t scalding hot.

But the sticky feeling was still uncomfortable.

She could hardly breathe.

Olivia didn’t dare to resist or even speak.

Aunt Zhang angrily said, “You little bitch! Who told you to make the soup so salty!”

“Mom…” Olivia cautiously said. “I-I’ll be more careful next time.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a sharp kick landed on her back.

It hurt.

It hurt a lot.

Olivia bit her lip tightly.

She didn’t understand why her mother disliked her no matter what she did.

Aunt Zhang’s voice rang out again, “Clean up the spilled soup on the floor by licking it!”

Upon hearing this, Olivia hesitated.

Aunt Zhang grabbed Olivia’s hair and pressed her head tightly against the ground, “Lick it! Lick it clean!”

Olivia’s tears could no longer be held back. They streamed down her face.

“I told you to lick it! Lick!”

Aunt Zhang’s expression was ferocious.

Whenever she thought of Sylvia Thompson’s treatment at the Thompson Clan, Aunt Zhang felt heartbroken and regretful for her past decision.

Her biological daughter grew up in someone else’s family, while she raised an unwanted child from who knows where!

So, she took out all her anger on her adopted daughter.

Whenever something unpleasant happened, she would come back and beat her adopted daughter.

So now…

“Are you deaf, you little bitch, huh? Are you deaf?”

Olivia clamped her mouth shut, refusing to lick the dirt off the ground.

Aunt Zhang was fuming.

She wanted to slam Olivia’s head into the ground, but for some reason, she held back. Instead, she gripped Olivia’s hair with one hand and pinched her back hard with the other.

Olivia furrowed her brow, enduring the pain.

She couldn’t cry out.

No, she couldn’t!

If someone lifted Olivia’s clothing at this moment, they would find that her back was covered in bruises, both new and old, each a painful shade of blue and purple.

Anyone who saw it would want to cry.

All these injuries came from Aunt Zhang.

This seemingly kind and unassuming woman.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door.

“Sisi’s mom, Sisi’s mom, are you home?”

Hearing the voice outside, Aunt Zhang immediately released Olivia Cooper’s hair and gestured to her. She then got up, straightened her clothes, put on a smile, and went to open the door.

It was their landlord, Mrs. Flack.

Mrs. Flack was fifty-six years old, a typical local middle-aged woman. She had a delicate hairstyle, bright red lipstick, wore a red dress, and her plump figure made her look especially affluent.

“Mrs. Flack.”

Mrs. Flack was holding a plate of fried fish and said with a smile, “Where’s your Sisi? My husband caught a bunch of carp yesterday, so I fried some and brought them over for Sisi to try.”

Mrs. Flack was a good landlord.

She knew that the Cooper family was having a tough time.

The whole family depended on Aunt Zhang for income; her husband was a gambler, and her daughter was still in school. So Mrs. Flack often offered small favors, even charging them much less for rent than other families.

“Sisi is washing her hair in the room,” said Aunt Zhang, turning her head to look back into the house and raised her voice, “Sisi, Sisi! Landlady Auntie is here.”

“Coming!” Olivia responded.

Aunt Zhang took the fried fish from Mrs. Flack, smiling, “Mrs. Flack, thank you so much! You always remember our Sisi when you have something delicious.”

Mrs. Flack said, “Sisi is such a lovable girl, not only pretty but also well-behaved and understanding. I really like her!”

Pretty and understanding?

Even if Olivia was pretty, could she be prettier than her own daughter, Sylvia Thompson?

In Aunt Zhang’s heart, Olivia would never compare to Sylvia.

Over the years, she vented her resentment for not being able to acknowledge her biological daughter on Olivia.

She would often beat Olivia at the slightest displeasure.

Of course.

In the eyes of others, she was still that hardworking and devoted mother.

Because she never scolded Olivia in front of others and never hit her face.

At this moment, Olivia came out from the inside. She had changed her clothes and was now wiping her hair with a towel, looking as if nothing had happened. She smiled at Mrs. Flack, “Landlady Auntie, you’re here.”

Aunt Zhang continued, “Landlady Auntie has brought you fish.”

“Thank you, Landlady Auntie.”

Mrs. Flack laughed and said, “You’re welcome. We couldn’t finish them all anyway. Well, you guys go ahead, I’ll go back first.”

Mrs. Flack turned and left, and Aunt Zhang sent her off with a smile.

Before long, Aunt Zhang walked back in from outside. This time, she didn’t close the door, and looked at the fried fish on the table. With a smile, as if wearing a mask, she said, “Sisi, hurry up and dry your hair and come to eat.”

Olivia nodded, “Okay.”

The people in the village were very simple. Occasionally, villagers passing by saw the mother and daughter eating and greeted them with a smile, “Sisi’s mom is having dinner, huh!”

“Yes.” Aunt Zhang nodded, “Blain’s mother, come in and sit down!”

Blain’s mother shook her head with a smile, “I won’t sit down. There’s still a lot to do at home.”

No one noticed Olivia was too frightened to pick up any dishes.

She kept her head down, eating the rice in her bowl.

Aunt Zhang lowered her voice, “Eat the fish! The landlady brought it specially for you. Who are you trying to show this pitiful look to? Do you want everyone to know that I abuse you?”

Olivia was startled, immediately picking up a piece of fish with her chopsticks.

“Little bitch!”

Olivia’s downcast eyes were filled with desolation.

She didn’t understand what she had done wrong and why her mother treated her this way!

In her memory.

Except in public, her mother never called her by her name, always using “little bitch” instead.

When she was young, she didn’t understand the meaning of “little bitch.”

It wasn’t until later that she learned it was an extremely insulting term.

On the other side.

Viola Thompson was planning a trip back to River City.

She sent Rachel Barton a message, asking if she was going back.

Rachel replied: [I won’t go back, Viola. Have a safe journey.]

After receiving Rachel’s reply, Viola purchased her flight ticket.

Then she shared her flight information in the group chat.

Fiona Knight was the first to respond: [Vio, you’re finally coming! I’ll be there to pick you up on time.]

Diana Hershey immediately replied: [I second that.]

Looking at the messages in the group chat, Rachel’s eyes were filled with bitterness.

She was heartbroken.

If she had listened to Viola in the first place, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.

She could have gone back to River City with Viola, and the four of them could have had a happy pre-semester trip together.

Unfortunately.

Now she had nothing to do with all that.

With Viola about to return to River City, Rachel suddenly remembered her encounter with Flora Tiarks a few days ago. She opened a private chat with Viola and said: [Viola, I ran into Flora the other day, and she invited us to hang out. Do you have time?]

Viola originally had other things to deal with, but considering Rachel had been in a bad mood lately, she should go out more. So she agreed: [Sure, I have a flight the day after tomorrow. Shall we set a date?]

[Okay.]

After making a date with Viola, Rachel went to invite Flora Tiarks.

When Delia Frieman heard that Rachel was going out, she was worried, “Rachel, you just got out of the hospital. Going out in the wind is not good for your body. Why don’t you just rest at home!”