Chapter 1

I was sold off for ten dollars by my parents and had a child at an early age.

My husband had a strange temper and would beat me every day. I had three miscarriages, all because of the abuse.

During the limited time I could see my son, I desperately tried to teach him, urging him to strive for a better life, to become a good person, and not to end up like his father.

But when he reached the same age I was sold off, he brought home a girl who was already six months pregnant.

I watched helplessly as the girl went through everything I had experienced—becoming a mother at an age when she barely understood anything, enduring abuse, and then being abandoned by my son. She, just like me, was locked away in a dark, windowless hut, suffering humiliation.

At that time, I fully understood that my son was just like his father. They would never change. The only person I could ever hope for was myself.

So, one bitterly cold night, while my husband and son were fast asleep, I quietly broke the door to their bedroom. I reached out my hand to the girl who always curled up in the corner, trembling.

I said, "I'll take you to live a better life. Will you come with me?"