The day my aunt eloped with a young man, her husband tied her to a utility pole at the village entrance while the whole village watched. He smashed up the house and demanded that Grandma give him another wife. Grandma pointed at my mother. “Chunhua’s father is dead. You can have this one instead.” I was ten that year. From then on, I was the unwanted burden: fat, ugly, and nobody’s first choice. The boy I had a crush on couldn’t even remember my name. After the college entrance exams, my diary was read aloud in front of everyone, and I ran out of school amid the laughter. Then a “Ding!” rang in my head. The System asked, “Would you like to become beautiful?”
