All Chapters of My Life Traded for a Few Cents: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The laptop screen went black at once. I abruptly leaped up from my chair as my heart pounded in my chest. I would never forget the sound of the circuit breaker being pulled. It was this exact crisp sound in my past life that ruined the million-dollar salary offer I'd worked so hard for 26 years of my life.I pushed the room door open and ran into the living room. In the pitch darkness, I saw Mom standing in front of the electrical box, illuminated by the streetlamp outside the window, a smug smile plastered on her face. She was even doing some calculations with her fingers.When she heard me coming out of my room, she turned around and scolded me in a low voice."What do you think you're doing, turning the electricity back on in the middle of the night, Alice Fletcher? The light just won't stop flickering on and off the whole time. It's a complete waste of electricity! Don't you know how much money we'll save just by turning off the electricity for the entire house the whole nig

"Ms. Fletcher, kindly explain how you would control the costs and expenses at the company if it were facing extreme financial pressure?"I felt as though this question was tailor-made for me.After all, I'd worked at a shady sweat shop factory for six months in my past life, and I'd witnessed the harshest exploitation and the most inhuman way of cost-cutting ever.I spoke fluently and confidently as I transformed the exploitation methods I had witnessed at the factory into a compliant actuarial and business model instead.The executives nodded repeatedly, seemingly satisfied with my answer.The assessment was nearing its end. However, the fluorescent lights above me suddenly flickered before completely going off. Then, my laptop warned me that it was extremely low on battery and would turn off soon.As it turned out, Dad actually went into the hallway and smashed the electricity meter. He was so insistent on making me comply and submit to him that he didn't even care about his ow

Leroy looked a little hesitant as he looked at the sickly Andrea on the couch.However, Mom just grabbed the contract from the table and crossed my name out before writing Andrea's name instead."She might be sick, but she'll recover once she sweats it out!" she claimed while yanking her to her feet. Andrea did everything she could to fight back, but Austin and Dad grabbed her and restrained her instead.They literally didn't care which daughter got sold as long as they could get the 10,000-dollar advance payment.Mom held the thick stack of hundred-dollar bills and grinned widely, feeling smug about herself."See? It's all thanks to my cunningness and frugality that we managed to get such a great deal!"When Leroy saw how determined Mom was, and since he'd already given her the payout, he told the men to bind Andrea up instead.Andrea cried and screamed for Dad to save her, but he was so focused on the stack of money in Mom's hand that he didn't even bother looking up."Just g

Mom completely ignored Austin and snatched the menu from him before slamming it down onto the table."Come on, I'll take you somewhere else more affordable."She then forcefully dragged Ingrid up and brought her to a pizza shop on the street corner that sold pizza by the slices for less than ten bucks per person.Ingrid still took a seat at the table to be polite, albeit a little reluctantly.When the owner asked them what they were having, Mom yelled at him from across the shop and said, "We'll have two slices of your plain cheese pie! And give us the greasier slices!"Ingrid was completely stunned.When the pizza arrived, it was plain and pale, with a pool of grease in the center. There was no sauce at all, and barely enough cheese to cover the dough.Mom then put one of the slices in the center of the table."Youngsters like you guys nowadays like romantic stuff, don't you? Here, you can both share this slice and take turns, each taking a bite. This way, you'll get to know e

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. There's no point spending any money when you're returning to nature anyway," Mom said, using it as an absurd excuse to numb her emotions.Meanwhile, Austin had taken out so many online personal loans that he was now in a very desperate situation.In the past, Andrea would still help him out a little, but now that she was dead, the debt collectors came directly to his door to demand repayment.They brought metal rods and baseball bats with them and broke one of his legs."You have exactly three days to repay all 200 thousand dollars of your debt! Otherwise, we won't just be breaking your legs anymore. We're chopping your arms off entirely!"Austin dragged his broken leg with him and flew back home, frantically searching for anything of value at home.Finally, he set his eyes on Dad, who was lying half-paralyzed in bed.Dad was now on social security benefits and received at least a few thousand dollars each month. Mom kept the bank passbook tightly