Chapter 1

She didn’t care about the consequences—she gave me growth inhibitors without a second thought and even wrapped my chest tightly with bandages to keep me looking small.

I thought my life was already miserable enough.

But then, she pushed me into an even darker abyss.

My mom abruptly ended the livestream, leaving the viewers on the other side confused.

“What’s going on? Why did the stream suddenly cut off?”

“I wasn’t done watching my sweet little angel!”

She turned to me, her face cold and unforgiving, and slapped me hard across the face.

“You clumsy idiot! You couldn’t even boil water without burning yourself. Do you want people to figure out what a mess you are with that miserable expression on your face?”

Sweat beaded on my forehead as I bit down hard on my pale lips. The burning pain in my foot was unbearable, and my vision started to blur.

I grabbed onto her hand, pleading, “Mom, my foot hurts. It really hurts.”

She yanked her hand away, her expression indifferent.

“You think I care? Do you know how much money I just lost because we had to stop the livestream?”

Her voice was a blur of irritation in my ears as the pain overwhelmed me. I couldn’t hold on any longer and passed out.

When I woke up, I was in the hospital. My mom was still there, holding up her phone, recording me lying on the hospital bed.

She spoke to her audience in a concerned tone:

“Sorry for cutting the stream earlier. Little Anna accidentally burned her foot with hot water and fainted. Poor thing is still lying here in the hospital bed…”

As expected, the comment section quickly filled with messages of concern and sympathy.

“My poor sweet Anna!”

“She got burned? Will it leave a scar? She needs to rest and recover!”

“Did Anna cry? Even a little splash of hot water makes me scream, let alone something like that!”

Reading this, my mom leaned in and pinched the tender skin at my waist, hard.

Tears welled up in my eyes instantly, spilling over as I tried to hold back a sob.

The comment section exploded again:

“Anna’s crying! My heart is breaking for her!”

“Don’t cry, sweetie…”

My mom sighed dramatically, putting on her best exhausted expression for the camera.

“Anna needs to rest now, so we’ll end the livestream here today. Thank you all for your love and support!”

She ended the stream and immediately dropped her act. The cold, calculating look returned to her eyes, but there was also a glimmer of satisfaction.

She patted my head the way a loving mother might, but her words were anything but comforting.

“Not bad, Anna. I didn’t expect this to work so well. Your little hospital stunt really brought in more fans. Good job.”

I forced a weak smile, but it probably looked worse than crying.

My parents divorced when I was young, and my mom got custody of me.

When I was eleven, she stumbled upon a livestream where someone was selling homemade goods. She watched in awe as the influencer raked in money effortlessly.

That night, she quit her job.

Her new goal? To turn me into a “cooking prodigy” and make me the next viral sensation.

At first, I frowned and resisted.

But my mom knew how to get what she wanted. Her eyes would fill with tears, and she’d say things like:

“Anna, do you have any idea how hard it’s been for me to raise you alone all these years? Do you know how much I’ve suffered?”

“This is our big break! If I can make this work, I can finally turn our lives around. If you really care about your mom, you’ll listen to me… won’t you?”