The Rocky Life of a Country Girl

In 1977, I came into this world. My first breath wasn't of air, but of the cold, filthy water in a cattle trough. Just because I was a girl, my own grandmother tried to drown me.

I was abandoned in the mountains, carried off by wolves, then rescued by a kind soul. I thought I'd finally found a home. But the warmth didn't last. My adoptive grandfather died a brutal death, and I became the jinx who brought misfortune to her family. At four, I was locked in the woodshed, my hands covered in chilblains, and beatings were part of everyday life.

Everyone said I was doomed to a miserable life, but I refused to believe in fate.

From an abandoned orphan, to a burden living under someone else's roof, and finally to someone who carved out a future with her own hands: I endured more hardship than anyone, but also saw the kindest side of humanity. Carrying my grandfather's dying wish and the only keepsake I had, a copper-coin-shaped birthmark, I set out on the road home.

I only wanted to ask one thing: Mom, why didn't you protect me back then? But when I stood at the door of my home, what I saw was…