Chapter 1

I have a people-pleasing personality that's desperately starved for love. When people yell at me, all I do is nod along.

Unfortunately for them, I have a blessing tongue—whatever I say comes true.

At a company team-building event, a two-faced female coworker stole credit for my sales numbers and made snide little remarks in front of everyone.

"Oh, what can I say, I'm just born to work hard. All I can do this life is work myself to death in a sea of money."

I nodded frantically, my face full of sympathy. "Yes, yes! You'll definitely get your wish!"

The next day, she was walking down the street when an armored money truck flipped over and landed on her.

She was buried under a pile of cash for three hours and barely survived.

My rich second-generation ex-boyfriend cheated on me with some minor internet celebrity, then shamelessly told me:

"A poor, shabby woman like you was never good enough for me. I've got fire in my destiny—I'm meant to blaze bright my whole life!"

With tears in my eyes, I sincerely blessed him. "I bless you! May you catch fire from head to toe!"

That night, his multi-million-dollar detached villa suddenly went up in flames.

He fled in the middle of the night wearing nothing but red underwear, his whole body scorched like a red eel.

After that, no one around me ever dared say anything harsh to my face again.

Then my wealthy parents found me, and the fake heiress, beside herself with rage, pointed at me and screamed:

"You country bumpkin, you think you're fit to set foot in my house?"

"If you're really Mom and Dad's biological daughter, I'll drop dead on the spot and hand over my place as the eldest daughter to you!"

My own mother, afraid the fake heiress would feel slighted, made me bow my head and apologize to her.

So I quickly, obediently admitted my fault.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I wish you a meteoric rise, higher and higher!"

...

"Aah—help!"

A scream tore through the night sky above the Henson mansion.

One second earlier, the fake heiress, Penelope Henson, had been pointing at my nose and cursing me.

The next second, the ornamental fountain in the courtyard suffered a sudden high-pressure malfunction.

A thick column of water, over thirty feet high, struck her with perfect accuracy.

Penelope was shot more than thirty feet into the air like a human bottle rocket.

After flailing her arms and legs in midair for three seconds, she came down in an arc and crashed into the decorative Taihu-stone rockery beside her.

There was a crisp snap.

Both her legs twisted outward at an eerie angle, bent into an M-shape.

"Penelope!"

Terrified out of her mind, her mother, Stephanie Fox, charged over like a madwoman, still in her high heels.

Her father, Sebastian Henson, rushed forward too, frantically pulling out his phone to call an ambulance.

Stephanie whipped her head around and pointed at me, her eyes full of venom.

"You've been home for one single day, and Penelope's already had a horrible accident like this!"

"How much bad luck did you drag back from the countryside? Are you trying to bring death down on this whole family?"

Sebastian's face was cold, his eyes full of disgust.

"If I'd known you were this cursed, I never should have brought you back in the first place."

My mind went blank. I stood frozen in place, trembling with fear.

I'd been back with the Henson family for less than three hours, and in my desperation to fit in, I'd been afraid to even breathe wrong.

My love-starved, people-pleasing nature took over in an instant.

My legs buckled, and out of habit I dropped to my knees on the ground.

"I'm sorry..."

"Mom, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I really didn't know the fountain would break."

Crying, I kowtowed hard against the rough stone paving.

The skin on my forehead split open quickly, and blood dripped down the tip of my nose.

Stephanie looked at me with an expression of utter revulsion.

"Don't call me Mom! I don't have a low-class daughter like you!"

Sebastian shot me a cold glance.

"Enough. Stop humiliating us. How could I, Sebastian Henson, have produced something as ill-mannered as you?"

"Go to the kitchen and get some hot water. Penelope's in terrible pain."

I scrambled to my feet and wiped the blood off my face any which way.

"Okay, right away!"

I rushed into the kitchen in a fluster, carried out a cup of warm water, and stepped carefully over to the stretcher.

Penelope lay on the stretcher, drenched in sweat from the pain.

"Get away from me."

"Anything you've touched, I consider filthy."

She swung her arm, and the warm water splashed straight into my face.

The glass smashed against my shoulder and shattered all over the floor.

"Don't touch me with those dirty hands of yours. Disgusting."

Penelope gritted her teeth, her eyes full of venom.

"Let me tell you, even if I've broken my legs today, I'm still the one and only eldest daughter of the Henson family!"

"A rat from a gutter like you—you could put on a dragon robe and you'd still be no crown prince. You'd better learn your place, and fast!"

The warm water dripped down my chin as I fought back the tears welling in my eyes.

I didn't want to be thrown out. I wanted a home so badly.

I crouched on the ground, picking up the shards of glass, and lifted my face.

"I'm sorry, sister!"

"It's all my fault. I hope you get well soon, and that your bones grow back harder than steel!"

Penelope sneered and was carried into the ambulance by the medics.

Before she left, she shot me a smug, triumphant look.

Late that night.

Screams rang out again and again from the VIP ward at Downtown General Hospital.

"Aah—! It hurts so much! Help me!"

Penelope thrashed wildly on the hospital bed.

Even after three injections of the strongest painkiller they had, it did nothing.

The head of orthopedics rushed into the ward holding the freshly taken X-rays, his face stunned.

"Mr. Henson, Mrs. Henson, this is unbelievable!"

Stephanie was so frantic that tears streamed down her face.

"Doctor, what on earth is wrong with my daughter? Why is she still in this much pain even after the bones were set?"

The doctor swallowed and held the film up to the light.

"At the site of Miss Henson's fractures, there's been an extremely rare, extreme abnormal bone growth."

"The new bone she's forming is terrifyingly dense—it's practically as hard as steel!"

"With bones this hard, every single movement she makes is like having her bones scraped raw!"

Stephanie's eyes rolled back, and she nearly fainted.