Sang Sang didn’t see Bai Tingting again until a month later.
It was at the Bai family home in the steel factory residential compound.
Sitting on the sofa, Sang Sang stared curiously at the girl in front of her—dark-skinned and thin, yet bearing at least a sixty percent resemblance to Zhang Hui.
She had even forgotten about her plan to kick Bai Tingting while she was down.
After all, this situation was simply too bizarre.
The skinny girl standing before her was called Bai Lanlan—the biological daughter of Bai Uncle’s family.
Back when Zhang Hui gave birth to Bai Lanlan, her health had been poor and she had no breast milk. Since the Bai family was relatively well-off, they hired a wet nurse from the countryside, named Wang Cuihua.
Judging from Zhang Hui’s manner—always arrogant and looking down her nose at others—it was no surprise she despised someone like Wang Cuihua. She constantly nitpicked and treated her poorly. Over time, resentment built up in Wang Cuihua’s heart.
Life was hard back then, and Wang Cuihua’s in-laws favored boys over girls. When she wasn’t home, no one cared for her newborn daughter.
Every night when she returned, she would hear her baby crying weakly like a kitten. It was the child she had carried for ten months—how could she not feel heartache?
So one day, she secretly brought her daughter to the Bai household, thinking that since the employer’s baby couldn’t possibly drink all the milk, the extra could feed her own child as well.
Her plan seemed perfect—until Zhang Hui discovered it.
The moment Zhang Hui saw that Wang Cuihua had brought her own child into the house, she caused a scene and demanded to fire her.
She looked down on the countryside-born baby, thinking she was dirty and unworthy of being near her own daughter.
No matter how much Wang Cuihua promised to keep her child under control and not dirty the house, Zhang Hui refused to budge.
Combined with all the previous grievances, Wang Cuihua’s hatred reached its peak.
She resented her own fate—why she worked so hard yet ended up married into such a miserable family, while someone like Zhang Hui lived comfortably.
She hated how Zhang Hui ordered her around, hated her sense of superiority.
At that moment, her hatred boiled over.
Thinking that if she lost this job, her in-laws would despise her and her daughter even more, she seized an unguarded moment—and swapped the two babies.
They were both newborns. Aside from their clothes, they looked almost identical at a glance.
Besides, Zhang Hui was still in postpartum recovery and rarely took care of the baby herself. Bai Anhua worked during the day and had two sons to look after at night, so he couldn’t keep a constant eye on the newborn daughter either.
And just like that, right under their noses, their biological child was switched—and the Bai couple never noticed.
The two children remained switched for nearly fifteen years.
Now, Bai Lanlan stood timidly in the living room, letting everyone examine her.
Today, it wasn’t just Sang Sang’s family of four present—several other Bai family elders had also come.
Bai Anhua had brought his biological daughter to pay respects to their ancestors and formally acknowledge her lineage. He had invited key relatives and his younger brother’s family, planning to have a meal together and properly introduce Bai Lanlan.
During the meal, the adults sat at one table while the children sat at another. Naturally, Sang Sang was at the children’s table.
“Eat! If you don’t hurry, all the meat will be gone,” Bai Zhixin urged anxiously when he saw Sang Sang eating slowly and delicately like a proper young lady.
This time, Bai Uncle had really splurged. There were six dishes on the table, four of them containing bits of meat.
In truth, there wasn’t much meat—just a few scattered slices or diced pieces—but in these times of scarcity, that already counted as meat dishes.
Aside from Bai Zhixin, Bai Lanlan, and Bai Zhiguo, Sang Sang didn’t even know the names of the other children. But without exception, they were all scrambling to grab the meat from the dishes.
They ate voraciously, without any manners—some even sucked on their chopsticks before digging around the plates for meat.
Sang Sang frowned at the sight. She had no appetite at all. She only picked at some untouched pickled vegetables and ate a few bites of coarse grain rice to get by.
When she heard Bai Zhixin’s concern, she curved her lips into a sweet smile and said, “Gege, you eat. I’m already full.”
Having been raised by his father alone, Bai Zhixin didn’t understand the subtle nuances of girls. Hearing that she was full, he simply believed her.
He immediately went back to focusing on competing with the others for the meat.
Only the silent Bai Lanlan noticed something.
Her chopsticks paused mid-air, and she lowered her head quietly as a wave of inferiority rose within her.
Life in Wang Cuihua’s household had been harsh. Since she could remember, she had endless chores. Something as precious as meat—she had eaten more of it in this one month at the Bai family than in the previous fifteen years combined.
Even though she had only eaten at the Bai household four times so far.
Still, she already felt deeply satisfied. After all, in the past, she might not even get to eat meat once in an entire year.
She had thought that from now on, she would no longer be the one envying others—others would envy her instead.
Her biological parents were both city workers, and her father, Bai Anrong, was even a section chief at the steel factory. Though Bai Lanlan didn’t know much about the world, she understood that this was a family others admired.
But from the moment she saw the girl sitting across from her—someone about her own age—she felt as though she had been dragged back to her past in the countryside, filled with inferiority once again.
The girl’s skin was fair and radiant, her features delicate and beautiful. It was obvious she had been pampered since childhood and had never done hard labor.
Unlike herself.
Bai Lanlan glanced again at Sang Sang. She was wearing a white sweater with a black skirt, topped with a wool coat, and a pair of shiny black leather shoes.
Compared to her own new outfit—something she had been so proud of just moments ago—it suddenly looked unbearably plain.
In all her life, Bai Lanlan had never seen a girl so beautiful, so well-dressed.
And just because someone had touched the dishes, she refused to eat the meat—as if she were a princess from the old stories told by village elders.
Beautiful. Noble.
That was Bai Lanlan’s first impression of Sang Sang.
…
After eating, Sang Sang went to sit in the living room. She was a little curious—why hadn’t she seen Bai Tingting? Had she been sent back to her biological parents?
On the way home, she couldn’t help asking Bai Anrong, “Uncle, where’s Bai Tingting? Why didn’t I see her today?”
“Tingting went to your aunt’s parents’ home. It would’ve been awkward for her to be here today,” Bai Anrong replied.
In truth, when his elder brother first discovered the truth, he had been furious and planned to send Tingting back to the nanny’s family—since that was her real home.
But Tingting had knelt and begged, saying she didn’t want to leave, that she couldn’t bear to part from them, and that the people who raised her were her real parents.
After raising her for so many years—especially Zhang Hui, who had genuinely loved her—it was too hard to let go. In the end, they agreed to keep her and raise both girls together.
With three working adults in the household, they could afford to support one more child, so the matter was settled.
In truth, the child-swapping incident was the fault of the two adults. Zhang Hui shouldn’t have treated Wang Cuihua so poorly—after all, as the saying goes, “Even a cornered dog will jump the wall.”
And Wang Cuihua shouldn’t have swapped the children out of hatred and jealousy. That was no excuse for such a wrong.
In the end, it was the two innocent children who paid the price for their mothers’ actions.
Of course, Sang Sang had no interest in dwelling on such old matters that had nothing to do with her.
After hearing Bai Anrong’s explanation, she felt a bit disappointed. She sighed inwardly, thinking—so she’d still have to see that annoying girl in the future.
But that was fine too.
Every time they met, she could make things difficult for Bai Tingting.
Since she dared to provoke her, Sang Sang would make sure to deal with her every single time.
What Sang Sang didn’t know, however, was that Bai Tingting was no longer the same Bai Tingting she once knew.