My Elite Parents Called Me an Idiot and Chose a Genius Daughter Instead

My parents were both highly educated professionals. The one thing they could never tolerate in this life was having a mentally disabled daughter who could not even speak. They considered me a genetic failure and devoted all their love and effort to their adopted genius daughter, Jacey Lee. In this family, Jacey was treated like a ray of sunshine, while I was seen as a filthy rat in the gutter. Their eyes were always filled with contempt whenever they looked at me. “Just seeing your vacant, idiotic face makes me sick. Stay away from us. Don’t infect your sister with your low intelligence.” When I was eight, Grandma took me to Willow Creek to visit our family graves. My foot slipped, and I fell into the water. I was wearing nothing but a thin pink padded jacket. At the same time, Jacey merely failed to answer a phone call, and my parents frantically searched for her everywhere. They completely ignored Grandma’s tearful call for help. I struggled desperately and opened my mouth soundlessly to call for help. My mother calmly analyzed the situation on the other end of the phone. “Mom, don’t let her fool you. According to child psychology, she’s pretending to be missing to get attention. If we go back now, we’ll only reinforce her distorted way of thinking.” My father impatiently cut her off. “Stop bothering us with that useless burden! With her limited intelligence, she’ll do nothing but look for food. Once she gets hungry, she’ll come crawling home like a dog. Jacey is the one in real danger!” The icy water rose to my neck. I took the piece of candy from my pocket. I had prepared it for my parents to celebrate my birthday. But the wrapper was wet, and I could not hold on to it. It slipped through my fingers. This time, this idiot would never return home. Chapter 1 The water in the canal was not deep, but the sludge clung tightly to my ankles. I opened my mouth wide, but only a choked, gurgling sound came from my throat. "Ah! Ah!" It was so cold. It felt like being locked inside a refrigerator. Was I in trouble again? Mom said that only bad children were sent to time-out. The water rose to my chest, and the caramel candy wrapper in my pocket made a faint crinkling sound. I hid the caramel for three days, and the wrapper had softened from the sweat in my palm. I wanted to save it for Mom and Dad. That morning, I showed them the family portrait I drew. Mom and Dad were smiling in the picture, and so was I. But Jacey snatched it away and tore it to pieces right in front of them. "Why is it so ugly? Just like you. Looking at it makes me sick." Mom and Dad did not scold her. Mom even brought over a broom and swept the scraps into the trash. She frowned at me and said, "Jacey is in a bad mood. Can't you be more considerate? Stop bringing this garbage out and making a mess." So, my love was garbage. Anna was garbage too. Garbage belonged in the trash can or… in dirty water. That was why I had only this piece of candy left. I wondered if Dad would stop thinking I was garbage if I gave him the candy. Grandma's heart-wrenching cries came from the bank. She held up her basic cell phone, her hand trembling like a withered leaf in the wind. "Simson! Simson, come back quickly! Anna fell into the canal!" The call was on speaker, and Dad's voice came through clearly, filled with impatient irritation. "Mom, I'm driving around looking for Jacey. I don't have time to listen to you make up stories." "Anna really fell in! There's no one here! Come and save her!" Grandma knelt on the ground and stared at me in the water with cloudy eyes. She clawed at the air as if she were trying to grasp a lifeline. "Anna! Anna, call for your dad! Let him hear you!" I gathered every ounce of strength I had and lifted my head toward the black phone. Then I uttered the clearest sound I had ever made. "Dad…" [Dad, the water was so dirty and cold. I had been naughty. I got my clothes dirty. [Don't be angry. I'll hide right away so I won't embarrass you. But today is my birthday. [Could you please hug me? Just once.] There was a moment of silence on the other end. Then Dad's voice turned even colder. "Mom, stop putting on an act. Playing along with her will only hurt her. "Anna's brain may be damaged, but she knows how to rummage through trash when she's hungry and crawl into a haystack when she's cold. She's as tough as a stray dog. She won't die. "Goodbye. We're going to the police station to check the surveillance footage and find Jacey." Beep… Beep… The call ended. I watched Grandma smash her phone against the ice in despair. The screen shattered into a spiderweb of cracks. "Anna! Grab Grandma! Hold on!" She was so old that she was barely stronger than a cat. She leaned half her body over the edge and tried to reach out to me with her thin, bony hand. But I was too far away. Overcome with panic, she lost her balance and fell heavily into the muck beside the canal. Then she stopped moving. "Grandma…" I tried to call out, but water rushed into my ears. Gurgle… The world grew quiet. I let go. The caramel, covered in black sludge, slowly sank. The wrapper unfolded, and the candy flickered in and out of sight beneath the dirty water. Dad, I wasn't hungry. I didn't want to rummage through trash. I only wanted to give you the candy. [Happy birthday, Anna.] No one wished me happiness, so I wished myself a happy birthday. My body grew lighter. I floated up and hung in midair. I saw the small body in the pink padded coat, face down among the shards of ice. How ugly. No wonder Mom and Dad did not want to see me. An inexplicable force tugged at me, carrying me dozens of miles in an instant. Chapter 2 I saw Mom and Dad's car. Dad slammed on the brakes and stopped outside a convenience store. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I saw Jacey perched on a high stool, eating a hot dog covered in sweet-and-spicy sauce. Her phone was charging on the table in front of her. She was perfectly fine, with sweet-and-spicy sauce still clinging to the corner of her mouth. Mom and Dad threw open the car doors and rushed inside. Mom grabbed Jacey and hugged her. Her eyes instantly reddened with the overwhelming joy of finding someone she thought she had lost. "Jacey Lee, why didn't you answer your phone? Why did you turn it off?" Jacey froze for a moment before putting on a wounded expression. Tears immediately filled her eyes. "My phone ran out of battery. I was in a bad mood and wanted to be alone for a while." Dad grabbed her hands and checked her from head to toe. He did not relax until he confirmed that she had not lost even a single strand of hair. "You scared me to death! What would we have done if something had happened to you? "Come on. I will take you somewhere nice to eat and help you calm down." They took Jacey to the most upscale restaurant in the city. The meal cost $600 per person. I floated above the dining table and watched the servers bring out one exquisite plate of delicacy after another. Jacey picked at a piece of bluefin tuna with her fork. "Mom, this fish isn't fresh. It tastes fishy." Mom immediately waved over the manager and demanded, "What's the meaning of this? How dare you serve Jacey something like this? Bring us your best!" "If you don't want to eat it, then don't force yourself," Dad coaxed gently from beside her. I stared at the premium slice of fish as it was thrown into the trash and instinctively touched my wrist. A black ring of burn marks circled it. I got those marks the last time my hand trembled while I was eating and I spilled some food on the table. Mom had put a "behavioral correction bracelet" on me and shocked me with it. "That's aversion therapy. It will teach you a lesson.” So that was the difference: when a genius wasted food, she was taking care of herself. When a stupid girl’s hand trembled while she ate, she deserved to be shocked. [Dad, I want some fish too. I don't mind if it tastes fishy.] If I became smart, would I no longer have to wear that bracelet? Just then, Dad's phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number. "Hello? Are you Anna Lee's dad? This is Frank Lowe from Willow Creek." Dad frowned, clearly displeased. "What is it?" "Simson, your mom and Anna still haven't come home, and it's completely dark outside. I passed by the canal just now and thought I saw a pink shoe…" Dad glanced at Jacey, who was eating oysters, and his voice turned extremely arrogant. "Got it. She probably went visiting some relative. Isn't that what you country people do? Don't make such a fuss." "But…" "Enough. I'm busy here. She obviously threw the shoe away on purpose to get attention. Ignore her and let her walk home barefoot so she can learn her lesson." The call ended. Dad tossed his phone onto the table. "Country folk are always such a nuisance. Anna’s putting on another show and even threw away her shoe." Mom sliced her steak without looking up. "That's classic attention-seeking behavior. We absolutely can't give her any attention, or she'll dare to throw away all her clothes next time." I floated in midair and watched them dine in elegant comfort. [Dad, I wasn't putting on an act. [Am I really that unbearable? Even after I died, that was still what you thought of me.] Chapter 3 After dinner, the family of three returned to their upscale apartment in the city. The apartment was warm, filled with the faint scent of lavender. Jacey went to her room to take a shower. Mom seemed determined to get rid of all the "bad luck" from that day, so she walked into my room. It was a tiny bedroom converted from a storage closet that was only a few square meters wide. She searched beneath my pillow and found a drawing. It was another family portrait I secretly drew. In it, I was hiding in the corner with a caramel in my hand. Mom held up the drawing for Dad to see. "Even her drawings are so clumsy. With a genetic defect like this, no amount of teaching will help her." Dad glanced at it and snorted. "A failure is a failure." Jacey came out after her shower. When she saw the drawing, her eyes flickered. She walked over and snatched it away. "It's hideous! Keeping something like this in our home only lowers our standards!" Riiip— She tore the drawing to pieces in front of Mom and Dad. "Throw it away! Throw every last piece away!" Mom not only failed to get angry but nodded approvingly. "Jacey is right. We can't keep trash in the house." She fetched a broom and personally swept the scraps into the trash can. I floated beside the trash can and stared at the torn smile on the paper. [Mom, I spent so long drawing that. [I wanted to make you and my sister look beautiful. I thought you might like me then. [I'm sorry. I made more trash again.] Just then, Mom noticed the blackboard hanging on the wall. On the left were Jacey's math competition awards and an upward-sloping grade chart. On the right was my intellectual disability assessment, with the words "severe intellectual disability" circled in red. Mom pointed at the blackboard and used the moment to teach Jacey a lesson. "Jacey, look. This is why we love only you. You represent the future." "And she…" Mom pointed at the assessment. "She is nothing more than a biological accident." Jacey smiled proudly and threw her arms around Mom. "You're the best, Mom." After clearing away all that trash, Dad checked the time. "Come on. We're going back to Willow Creek." Mom looked reluctant. "Do we really have to go this late?" "We need to bring Mom home before she starts spreading gossip around the town. And Anna went too far this time. We have to drag her back and put her through more severe behavioral correction." Dad picked up the car keys, his voice filled with condescending authority. "Bring the copy of ‘Behavior Modification for Children with Special Needs.’ I'll teach her a lesson myself." They stood up and put on their shoes, taking their time as if they had nowhere else to be. Chapter 4 The car did not go very fast on the way to Willow Creek. Dad even took a detour to a gas station and bought a pack of cigarettes. "Keep a firm attitude when we see Anna." Mom was reappling lip balm for Jacey. "No matter how much she cries, throws a tantrum, or rolls around on the ground, we must remain 'gentle but firm' in our refusal. "Especially you, Jacey." Mom turned to look at her in the back seat. "Don't give in, and don't give her any candy." Jacey nodded obediently. "I know. You said it's for my sister's own good." I floated above the dashboard and stared at the digital clock. 8:45 p.m. Four hours had passed since I fell into the canal. The car finally turned onto the dirt road leading into Willow Creek. The headlights illuminated an old oak tree ahead. A crowd had gathered around it, with flashlight beams sweeping wildly through the darkness. Three police cars and an ambulance were parked nearby. "What's with all this commotion?" Dad frowned, his voice filled with displeasure. "Mom really went too far. She used all these public resources just to help Anna put on an act. This is nothing but a waste of taxpayers' money." He honked the horn to signal for the crowd to move aside. The villagers turned around, shielding their eyes from the glare of the headlights. Someone recognized the license plate. "They're here! Those monsters who call themselves parents are here!" No one knew who shouted it. The crowd automatically parted, and people pointed at Mom and Dad while murmuring among themselves. Dad parked the car, straightened the hem of his suit, and opened the door. Mom took Jacey's hand and stepped out in her high heels, carefully avoiding the mud on the ground. "Which one of you is the officer?" Dad called out loudly, his voice filled with an educated man's arrogance. "I'm her father. Sorry to trouble you." A middle-aged police officer stepped out from behind the police tape. He was soaked from head to toe, with mud covering his pant legs and his face set in a grim expression. "Are you Anna Lee's father?" "Yes." Dad nodded. "Where is the child? Is she hiding in someone's haystack again? Bring her out. I'll take her home and teach her a lesson." The officer said nothing. He simply stepped aside. A black body bag lay on the stretcher behind him. The zipper was pulled tightly shut. Mom glanced at it and let out a scornful laugh. "Officer, isn’t using something like this to scare a child taking things a little too far? "Anna's too intellectually disabled to understand a hint like this. "Besides, this kind of death-simulation therapy is far too extreme for an eight-year-old…" "Shut up!" the officer suddenly roared, making Mom stumble back. "A prop?" The officer's hand trembled as he pointed at the black bag. "You call this a prop?" Dad frowned and pushed up his glasses. "Officer, watch your attitude. We pay taxes, and we're experts in education. "I know my daughter better than anyone. She can lie on the floor pretending to be dead for half an hour just to get a piece of candy. "Jacey, go wake up your sister." Dad patted Jacey on the shoulder. Jacey looked frightened, but she still walked over and called out to the bag. "Anna, stop pretending. Mom and Dad are angry." The bag did not move. The wind blew past, making the yellow police tape rustle. A deathly silence fell over the area. Dad lost patience. He strode forward and shoved aside the officer blocking his way. "Fine. You don't want to get up? Let's see how long you can keep this up!" He bent down and grabbed the zipper. "Anna Lee, I'm counting to three." "One." "Two." "Three!" Riiip— He yanked the zipper open.