Chapter 2

Mark ran a clothing business and often traveled south to source goods, so he was rarely home on weekdays.

He got married mainly to find someone to take care of his mother and younger sister. He didn’t really care who he married.

So when he lifted the veil and saw it was me, he didn’t react much.

That night, he came into the room reeking of alcohol. I clenched my hands, about to speak, when I saw him pull ‌a large bag from the cabinet.

“I’m leaving tonight for the South,” Mark said as he packed. Then he took out five one-hundred-dollar bills and handed them to me. “This is for the next month. Take care of my mom and sister.”

I stared at the money, eyes wide.

Back home, the living expenses for my whole family of six didn’t even reach twenty dollars a month.

Seeing my reaction, Mark let out a short laugh and started walking out.

I snapped out of it and called, “Mark.”

He turned back, frowning. “Not enough?”

Maybe it was because of his past running with rough crowds. Though he was good-looking, there was a sharp, intimidating edge to him, like he had a bad temper.

I stood up, searched through my bag, and took out a tube of ointment. “It’s rainy season in the South. You might get eczema. Take this and use it if you need to.”

He paused, a little surprised. After taking the ointment, he looked at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. “Anything else?”

I nodded, then shook my head, gathering my courage. “Can I use some of the money to buy books?”

Having lived another life, I knew I couldn’t rely on any man.

Back in school, my grades had been excellent. If my mother hadn’t forced me to drop out for my brother’s sake, I would’ve taken the college entrance exams.

Maybe that was why, in my previous life, I had been so drawn to Jackson. He was a college graduate.

However, it turned out he was a fraud. His grades were terrible, and he had taken someone else’s place to get into college.

Just thinking about what I went through after marrying him in my last life made my skin crawl.

Mark, on the other hand, seemed to misunderstand my reaction. His tone softened slightly. “Of course.”

With his permission, the next day I cleaned the house, made breakfast, and then went to the county town.

At the bookstore, I bought a full set of high school textbooks.

The owner, in a good mood, gave me a copy of “Don Quixote”, saying it had just arrived in the country and was hard to find.

I forced a smile, thinking to myself that it probably wasn’t rare at all. Most likely, he had only ordered one copy and couldn’t sell it.

When I got home, I saw my mother-in-law, Donna, drinking water in the living room.

“Mom,” I called out.

She immediately blushed, looking awkward, like she didn’t know what to do with her hands.

She nodded at me and was about to go back to her room with her cup. However, as she passed by me, she suddenly stopped.

Her eyes fixed on the book in my arms, filled with interest.

I followed her gaze, then took out “Don Quixote” and handed it to her. “Do you like this book? You can have it.”

I just wanted to get closer to Mark’s family. But the moment I said that, Donna’s eyes turned red.

The next second, she covered her mouth and started crying.

I panicked a little, not knowing what to say, when a sharp voice came from behind me.

“What did you do to my mom?”

I turned around.

A girl with greasy hair and ill-fitting clothes stood at the doorway.

This must be Mark’s sister, Madeline.

Madeline strode over, pulling Donna behind her protectively, glaring at me. “You b*tch, did you bully my mom? If you lay a finger on her, I’ll have my brother throw you into the woods to feed the wolves!”

Before I could explain, Donna suddenly spoke.

“It has nothing to do with her. I’m just emotional.”

Both Madeline and I froze, eyes wide.

“Mom, you can talk?”

Half an hour later, I finally learned the truth.

Mark’s mother could speak all along.

She had been pretending to be mute because she didn’t want to deal with people.

According to her, she didn’t like social interactions, only reading.

However, after Mark’s father went to prison, her children couldn’t understand her.

The villagers mocked her family, so she became more and more unwilling to go out and eventually stopped speaking altogether.

And because she stayed home, she hadn’t read any new books in a long time.

Hearing this, I was shocked.

In my previous life, my sister had complained to me many times that Donna was mentally disabled.

Whenever she talked about it, she would sound smug. “Since she can’t talk, I make her serve me tea and do chores. As long as I throw her a bone, I basically have a free maid.”

Only now did I realize how cruel my sister had been.

Donna had always known she was being mistreated. She just chose not to argue.

After hearing everything, both Madeline and I felt a pang of sympathy for the woman in front of us.

We immediately asked Donna to write a list of books she wanted. The next day, I took Madeline to the county again and bought a large stack.

On the way back, I noticed something off about Madeline.

She kept glancing at a boy in the bookstore.

Having lived through it before, I knew exactly what that look meant.

I teased, “What? You like him?”

Madeline’s face instantly turned red. “None of your business.”

“If you like him, go after him.”

That only made her angrier. “He doesn’t like me. He thinks I’m ugly.”

In my previous life, my sister had mentioned this.

Madeline had fallen for a top student, the kind who scored first on the SATs.

After being rejected, she cried at home every day. Annoyed, my sister introduced her to some street punk.

That guy was trash. Not only did he sleep with Madeline when she was underage, but he also robbed the Hollanders clean.

It was because of that incident that Mark found out how my sister had been treating his family. In a fit of rage, he divorced her.

By the time I snapped out of my thoughts, Madeline had already stormed out of the bookstore.

I hurried after her and said, “I can help you win him over.”