The instigator

I couldn't stand living a poor uncomfortable life. I had nowhere else to go except the streets if I didn't want to live home anymore. Why wasn't I like the other rich kids from school and those I saw in cars on the roads? My heart always told me I'd do big and I was meant to be in a better place. It all happened soon enough.

My mother was known in the neighborhood as the crazy lady who played with kids.

She always looked unkempt,smelly ad shabby. I never wanted to be associated with her so we never appeared together in public with the lady. Too bad the neighbors knew that she's my mom, this hurt me alot. When at home,they kept distance from each other since Meilin threatened the poor lady to leave her if she did.

All this changed the day Uncle Xi knocked their shabby door. He told Meilin to go with him so he can change her life which she gladly accepted. He was dressed like a rich man and had one of the luxurious cars Meilin saw. She would miss nothing about this place. The loud neighbours and the evil ones who scorned them or the kids who bullied her and their ugly house.

The place couldn't be called a house and wash too stinky,it was filled with junk her mother called toys she bought for Meilin to play.

"Help, help my child,"her mother yelled. The lady run out of the house when she saw Meilin entering a car with a man. She was distressed,her child was being taken away.

"I'm not your child,"Meilin spoke harshly as she removed her hand from the mad woman's.

"Meilin,it's your mother,you can't recognize me. Meilin persisted further. I'll borrow the nice soap from the shop to remove the dirt", the lady cried. She remembered that the soap would wash the dirt to make her look more recognizable. She rarely used it because it was hard to get and Meilin loved to shower and smell good.

Meilin simply sneered and struggled to get away. What if the rich uncle got angry and left because of the fuss.

"Please don't leave,you are the only one I have left, mother will shower with nice soap and not get stinky." I promise to bring you the fancy food with"shiny covers." Mother won't be mad again,I'll get better. She couldn't bear to part with Meilin. The girl was young, what if they took her and she forgot her mother.

"If you aren't rich,that might as well be useless." Meilin left without looking back at the weeping mother.

Nanzi ( Meilin's mother) a very beautiful lady. She wasn't from the town Meilin grew up from,she just migrated there before she gave birth. She became mentally unstable after giving birth to Meilin. Nobody knew how but ever since she was a child till now, Nanzi had taken care of her single handedly despite her situation. Meilin had never hawked or done straining work some kids her age did to support their families and at the end of the day, somehow,they would have a proper meal even once or twice a day. Her crazy mother even sent her to school.

This was all deemed useless in front of Meilin since her mother wasn't "rich" , that was the most important here. If other kids had rich parents,why not hers.

Since Uncle Xi took her,all the remaining years of her life were spent in luxury and not the streets or the orphanage as she'd said.

He told her who her father was and the plan to ruin the Lin Family was hatched pretty early. She was supposed to establish a good reputation in the family so that everybody likes her. Meilin was told how everybody behaved and how to handle each one.

All the plans were successful but except for one thing, she really hated Yi Shuyan and Yue Ling. Her uncle told her that they had to be out of the picture so she could get everything she wanted.

The scars she had were self inflicted as well as the other things. Since depression isn't run through tests for one to find out, all she had to do was perfectly display the symptoms.

Yue Ling was too smart and almost ruined her plans. The incident at the banquet wasn't supposed to happen so that she can trap Yi Shuyan in a more horrible manner to ruin her name. Nobody will miss her then.

Lin Jingxuan never supported his wife not because he didn't believe her,he just didn't want her to be in any danger. That incident had destroyed all the trust he had in Meilin.

Meilin behaved strangely as a child. She dressed like Yue Ling and even copied the tiny details. She always won the favor of every family member with ease. With time after she moved in with them, he easily read her. She always seemed to be lying or faking something.

End of beginning

Yue Ling remembered one of the most important things from her past.

She once heard Meilin speaking on the phone. It was as if she was reporting to the person about what was happening.

Yue Ling knew that her father had adopted Meilin, but her mother was never found. The person Meilin spoke to then was a "he" and they were still kids. She didn't take it seriously but now it made sense since she heard Meilin speak in the same manner when they kidnapped her.

Meilin and Yue Ling had phones growing up but Meilin would always secretly call people. Who did an orphan who never had contacts call?

Yue Ling knew from the day Meilin came that she was a liar. A child couldn't have made such plans on her own considering she didn't even know anybody in the family. Meilin's plan was flowless and nobody noticed anything strange.

Yue Ling knew she had to find the instigator. Her past life involved deaths of her loved ones too. She needed to do it all fast. What made things complicated was that the person knew them well,it could even be an enemy or even a family member. The person seemed to know them well.

**From the author

I want to explain to some of the readers who felt uncomfortable with this chapter because a child was portrayed in various schemes. Children are innocent mostly but that change the fact that the up bringing is different. Just as the best thing out there needs more cultivation and resources, each child needs either support, love,care or all.

Meilin might have been like that because of her upbringing as you have read,her mother was mentally unstable and she had nobody to guide her.

Though for the people who haven't faced any problem with this chapter, you might have seen the real life "different" child.