All the Light We Cannot See

After my billionaire-family brother found me—the true heiress—I’d already been scavenging for eight years. He crushed my cardboard pile with his polished shoe as I gnawed on spoiled rice from a dumpster.
“Aria has cancer,” he said flatly, hiding disgust. “I’ll bring you home after she’s gone.” I just nodded cheerfully.
On his birthday, I spent my last money on his gift and flowers for Aria. Approaching the house, I heard him reassure her softly: “Flora will never know your cancer is fake. We can stall three, even five years. She can survive without me—but you can’t.”
He blew out his candles and wished, “May Aria stay by my brother forever.”
I walked away without entering. His wish came true—I didn’t have five years.
Three days after I died, a viral video titled “Eighteen Years: A Cancer Patient’s Entire Life” spread online.

1
My brother had just given Aria a bracelet worth five million dollars. Her delighted laughter echoed from the grand villa.
I couldn't bring myself to disturb their happiness.
The moment I stepped outside the gates, I couldn't hold it back any longer. A mouthful of blood spewed from my lips, splattering across the gift in my hands. It was just a cheap watch, but the sight of it stained made my heart ache. I had spent three months collecting cardboard to afford it.
I frantically tried to wipe the blood away, but my eyes caught a pile of cardboard next to a trash can, and professional habit kicked in.
I had just bent down to grab it when a man holding a camera stepped in front of me, the lens practically shoved in my face.
"'Exploring the Underclass,' episode three! What do you say, folks? Should we follow this little scrap-picker for the day?"
The man was clean-cut and handsome, but something in his eyes made my skin crawl.
"No, no, absolutely not!" I waved my hands frantically.
He simply pulled out his phone and showed me a payment QR code. "Five hundred bucks for a day's filming. I'll pay you at the end."
Trash-picking could wait. Making money couldn't.
I scanned the code so fast I was afraid he’d take it back, tell me it was all a joke.
The man lowered the camera for a second and sneered. "Her eyes sure light up at the sight of money."
I just grinned back at him like a fool.
The truth is, money is useless to the dying. It’s for the living.
And I didn’t have many days left.
"My name is Kai," he said. "I'm a vlogger who makes documentaries about the poor."
"You're skin and bones. Must be starving. Let's get you something to eat!"
There was a calculating excitement in his voice as he dragged me towards the most expensive restaurant in the area. The gilded, opulent building would be the perfect backdrop to highlight a poor girl's pathetic state, guaranteed to rack up clicks and controversy.
Just as he'd hoped, I clutched the hem of my washed-out shirt, my voice timid.
"That's… that's a place for rich people. I've never been inside."
A triumphant smirk played on Kai’s lips. He could already see the video going viral.
Heh. I was lying.
I came here all the time.
Covered in grime, I'd scavenge through the dumpsters out back, watching my brother lead a princess-like Aria inside for dinner. Every night, the restaurant would throw out the leftovers. I’d be there waiting, squatting by the door for my "lucky feast."
Once, I hit the jackpot. I found a necklace in the scraps. It was a gift from my brother to Aria, her name engraved on the back. She'd tossed it because she thought the style was outdated.
Shamelessly, I picked it up and put it on, admiring my reflection in the grimy mirror of a public restroom. I pretended… I pretended he had given it to me.
I was still lost in the memory when Kai half-pushed, half-pulled me inside.
The moment we sat down, his camera was back in my face.
"You look so young. Why are you picking through trash? Don't you have a family?"
I held up two fingers, a strange pride in my voice. "I've had two families…"
I paused, thinking of my brother, and raised a third finger.
"No, wait. Three."
Kai raised an eyebrow, his tone mocking. "Three? Shouldn't you be the happiest girl in the world then?"
A lump formed in my throat. I started to tell him about my first family.
"When I was five, I was sold by traffickers to an old, childless couple in the mountains."
Because I was a girl, I was cheap. The daughter of the city’s wealthiest man, sold for a mere thousand yuan. But in those backwoods villages where sons were prized above all else, being a girl was a sin.

2
My days were an endless cycle of herding sheep and finishing chores.
They ate meat, but never shared any with me. All I got were potatoes. One for breakfast, one for lunch, half for dinner.
When the hunger was unbearable, I'd beg from the other villagers. One man made me kowtow and call him grandpa before tossing me a stale bun. Another kicked me over and told me to get lost.
At night, I slept in the sheep pen. In the winter, with no blanket, I’d press myself against the sheep for warmth. Through the low-set windows, the faces of the family I barely remembered would flicker in my tear-filled eyes.
I tilted my head back, forcing the tears down, and put on a brave smile.
"You know, whenever I thought I was going to freeze or starve to death, I would dream of my mom, my dad, and my brother," I boasted. "They were so good to me. My parents would give me my favorite toys, and my brother would hold me in his arms and call me his 'little treasure.'"
The mocking smile on Kai's face froze.
The food arrived—all the restaurant's signature dishes. He placed a piece of pork rib on my plate. "Let's eat," he said, his voice a little strained.
I fought back the nausea churning in my stomach and shook my head with a hint of defiance. "I don't eat meat."
Kai blinked, then burst out laughing. "A little beggar who's a picky eater? You don't eat meat?"
I chuckled along with him, but tears welled up in my eyes.
"At my adoptive parents' house," I began, "even their dog, Big Yellow, felt sorry for me. He would always leave me half of his food."
I was one step away from calling that dog my big brother. Thanks to him, I finally wasn't starving anymore. To show my gratitude, I scrubbed his food bowl clean every single day until it shone.
The first time I tasted meat was when my adoptive parents threw me a bone they had already gnawed clean. It was the most delicious thing I'd ever eaten. I chewed on it until my face was greasy.
Then, my adoptive father smiled at me, his yellow teeth like gravestones. "Tastes good, doesn't it? That's Big Yellow. We got a good twenty pounds of meat off him."
The half-chewed piece of meat lodged in my throat. I clawed at my own neck, gagging and retching until I was spitting up bile.
"After that," I finished, pushing the plate away with a flourish, "I never touched meat again. Even when I could get it. I just… quit."
Kai stared at the pork rib, his Adam's apple bobbing. "What happened after that?"
"After that…" I rested my chin in my hand, my tone light. "That night, my adoptive father crept into the sheep pen. He started pulling at my clothes. Luckily, I was brave and clever. I grabbed a rake and cracked him over the head with it!"
"He got really mad and said he was going to strangle me, but I squeezed through a hole in the wall that Big Yellow had dug before… you know. My dog brother saved me one last time."
I told the story as if it were nothing, but Kai's eyes were turning red.

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