Chapter 6
My seven-year-old self retained the intellect of my twenty-something self from my previous life, which meant I far surpassed Felicity academically. Felicity’s ‘white lotus’ acts worked on my overly compassionate family, but they were useless against school teachers. Failing an exam meant failing an exam. At the end of the semester, I ranked first in my grade, while Felicity was at the bottom. Every time she was called in for a parent-teacher meeting due to her poor grades, Felicity would cry, claiming she was too stressed and her eye condition flared up. Yet, she stubbornly refused to transfer to a special needs school. Every exam week, she would disrupt the peace of our home. To accommodate Felicity’s feelings and prevent her from being looked down upon by classmates due for being an adopted child, my overly compassionate parents decided both of them would attend Felicity’s parent-teacher conference, even though our grade levels had parent-teacher conferences on the same day. My bleeding-heart parents couldn’t possibly have been unaware that I was being mocked and bullied by my classmates because of their favoritism, being called a child who was born but not loved. Every time they needed to inconvenience me for Felicity, they pulled out the same old, tired, brainwashing rhetoric I’d heard countless times: “Felicity isn’t well, and her background is so sad. Just give in to her.” But I didn’t care, because knowledge gave me the greatest power. I used my after-school hours to study ahead, and at twelve, I skipped grades, becoming the youngest high school student in our city’s history. Overnight, my name became famous. Everyone knew the Davidsons had a child prodigy daughter. Dad’s phone rang off the hook daily with calls from people in high society, wanting me to befriend or even get engaged to their children. But again, to cater to Felicity’s feelings, Dad turned down all those invitations. He never considered how beneficial connecting with high society could be for my future. Of course, how could I compare to his precious darling, Felicity? The day my acceptance letter arrived, the Principal and newspaper reporters personally came to our house to deliver it. But they were met only by the fleeting backs of my parents rushing out. How could Felicity allow me to draw my parents’ attention? She simply claimed she had a headache, and my parents, without a second thought, whisked her off to the hospital, not even taking the time to greet the Principal. Even though I had long given up hope on my overly compassionate parents, at that moment, I still felt a touch of injustice and powerlessness. The Principal looked at me deeply and said earnestly, “Our school doesn’t have boarding students, but if you want to stay in the dorms, you can apply in advance, and I’ll arrange it for you.” The Principal’s hand, as she gently stroked my head, was so warm. I hadn’t felt such care and concern from an elder in a long time. I couldn’t help but shed tears in front of her. It was because of that tear that I gained the two truly important people in my life.