The Traded College Offer

My name is Shirley Lincoln. In my previous life, I died that spring at the age of twenty-two. It was pouring rain that day. My cousin Harry Lincoln's wife sat in the living room cracking sunflower seeds, asking me to wash fruit for her. I refused. James Lincoln—my father—stood in the middle of the living room, pointing at my nose and shouting that I was being unreasonable. In the heat of the argument, he shoved me, and I tumbled down the stairs from the second floor. The smell of blood mixed with rain filled the air as I lay on the cold concrete floor, watching him, my mother Mary Lewis, and my brother Ben Lincoln gather around me—yet no one dared to touch me. I was bleeding heavily; by the time the ambulance arrived, I was barely breathing. In the last moment before I closed my eyes, I heard Mary say, "If I had known she'd be this stubborn, I should have married her off early to get the bride price." When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in my own small bed. The calendar on the wall was from three years ago, June 28th—the third day after I received the admission letter from a top university, and also the day James Lincoln planned to sell my college offer. Voices came from the living room outside, James Lincoln deliberately lowering his tone, laced with flattery. "Mr. Duncan, rest assured, this matter is absolutely under control." "Our Shirley has always been sensible, saying she didn't want to attend university and preferred to work instead. This college offer is just sitting unused; why not give it to your daughter? Consider it a favor to family." I pressed my finger into my palm, the pain jolting me fully awake—I really had been reincarnated. In my previous life, I believed his words, “I don't want to attend college,” and cried as I confronted him, only to get slapped and told that 'no matter how much a girl studies, she belongs to someone else.' He used the 200,000 from selling my college offer to gather the bride price for my cousin Harry Lincoln, gaining plenty of face in front of Harry's father's family. As for me, I became the 'ungrateful, unfilial daughter' in everyone's eyes. I threw back the quilt, stepped barefoot onto the cold floor, and walked step by step toward the living room. The door wasn't closed properly, and I could see James Lincoln sitting on the sofa. The man opposite him, dressed in a black suit with a noticeably large belly, was none other than Mr. Duncan—the one buying my college offer.