My Family Didn't Know I Was the Donor

Before I died, I donated all of my organs.

At the annual charity gala's award ceremony, the host led ten children onto the stage.

Today we have a very special award recipient.

She passed away in an accident, but before her death, she donated all of her organs and saved the lives of these children standing beside me.

In the front row below the stage, my brother Liam sneered,

"Who knows what idiot would be so stupiddead and still trying to make a name for themselves."

My mother wore a pitiful expression on her face.

"Her parents didn't even try to stop her. I heard that if your body isn't intact, you can't be reincarnated."

The host's voice rang out again,

"Now, let us invite the parents of our award recipient to the stage for a speech. Please welcome Mr. Christopher and Mrs. Martha!"

The entire venue fell silent.

Everyone froze in place, turning their incredulous gazes toward the front row.

The host urged with a smile plastered across his face,

"Mr. Christopher, Mrs. Martha, please come to the stage to accept the award. Your selfless love is truly deserving."

As soon as the words left his mouth, whispers rippled through the crowd.

"It's actually someone from the Leandro family? I didn't know they were so charitable."

"Didn't Mrs. Martha always believe in reincarnation? I can't believe she'd be willing to donate her own child's organs."

These words drilled into Martha's ears one by one.

The warmth on her face crumbled inch by inch, her complexion shifting between pale and green, and she nearly fainted.

She clutched Christopher's arm tightly, her voice trembling,

"What... what do they mean?"

"My children are all alive and well. Why would they curse my child!"

Liam Leandro, the eldest son of the Leandro family, darkened his expression.

His gaze swept toward the host like a knife, his voice icy,

"What nonsense are you spouting? No one in the Leandro family has died!"

Christopher exuded an overwhelming aura of intimidation,

"Hmph. Think carefully before you speak."

The host was startled backward by this display. He hurriedly pulled out the documents in his hand, checking them three or four times over, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

After a long moment, he hesitantly spoke,

"Mr. Christopher, Mrs. Martha, the documents say that the donor is indeed... your daughter."

"Shut up!"

Martha screamed, her eyes already red,

"Sophia is clearly on her graduation trip abroad. She even sent me photos a few days ago. How could she possibly..."

Liam pressed his hand on his mother's shoulder, speaking softly to comfort her,

"Mom, don't panic."

He turned toward the host, his eyes dark,

"I'll give you one last chance. Tell me the truth."

Martha interrupted with a tearful voice,

"Liam, call Sophia quickly. What if something really happened to her?"

Liam quickly dialed a video call.

Ring, ring, ring. Once, twice, three timesno one answered.

The hearts of the family members sank deeper and deeper.

Martha's face turned deathly pale as she stared at the phone screen, her lips trembling, unable to speak.

Christopher couldn't sit still either. He leaned forward slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing.

At that moment, the phone suddenly rang with an incoming call.

Liam answered almost instantly. "Sophia!"

The screen lit up, revealing a delicate little face.

Sophia rubbed her eyes, her hair messy, clearly just woken from sleep. She mumbled groggily,

"Liam, why are you calling me in the middle of the night? Did you forget about the time difference?"

Martha snatched the phone away, asking anxiously, "Sophia, are you okay?"

"Mom?"

Sophia paused for a moment, then laughed,

"I'm having a great time here. What could possibly happen?"

"I told you not to worry. I'm already an adult!"

Tears immediately welled up in Martha's eyes as she cried and laughed at the same time.

Christopher let out a long breath and leaned back in his chair.

Liam took back the phone and patiently gave a few more instructions before hanging up.

He turned his head to look at the host, his eyes ice cold,

"Did you see that? Sophia is perfectly fine."

"You cursed Sophia like thisyou owe the Leandro family an explanation!"

The atmosphere in the venue instantly became tense.

Just as the host stood there at a loss, one of the older girls on stage timidly raised her hand,

"It's not that Charlotte."

Everyone looked at her.

The girl bit her lip and said quietly,

"My dad showed me a photo of the Charlotte who saved me."

"Her name was Charlotte."

Everyone began whispering.

"Charlotte? That name sounds familiar."

"Isn't that the adopted daughter the Leandro family took in a year ago?"

"I heard through the grapevine that Charlotte and Sophia were switched at birththat Charlotte was actually the real daughter."

"Are you kidding? How could the Leandro family treat their biological daughter as an adopted daughter?"

I floated quietly behind the Leandro family members, a bitter smile crossing my lips.

They were right. I was indeed the real daughter.

Back then, Sophia's parents deliberately switched the babies so their daughter could enjoy wealth and privilege.

Sophia became the precious daughter of the Leandro family, pampered and adored.

And I spent eighteen years in a nightmare.

My adoptive parents were gamblers. Every time they lost, they came home and took it out on me.

Belt whippings, cigarette burnsthey used whatever was handy.

My back was covered in layers upon layers of scars, new wounds overlapping old ones.

They never cared whether I lived or died. I survived by scavenging food from trash cans.

As I gradually grew up, my adoptive father's gaze toward me became more and more lecherous.

Until one day, he cornered me in my room. I stabbed him with scissors, but I was accused of deliberately seducing him.

The couple beat me half to death. I was barely breathing when neighbors who heard the commotion rescued me.

With police intervention, my true identity was finally revealed, and I returned to the Leandro family.

I thought my suffering had finally ended.

But Sophia cried in front of me, saying that now that I had returned, she should leave.

The Leandro family held her tenderly and comforted her for a long time, then looked at me with displeasure, saying Sophia was also a victim.

She was so young back then. Her parents' crimes couldn't be blamed on her.

To keep Sophia from falling into the hands of wolves, they decided to drop the lawsuit.

Instead, they gave that couple a large sum of money to buy out custody rights and kept Sophia with them.

When they made that decision, no one asked me how I had spent those years.

I remembered the cold look in Christopher and Martha's eyes,

"Over the years, we've already treated Sophia as our biological daughter. Publicly revealing your identity would hurt her too much."

"So we've decided to temporarily claim that you're our adopted daughter."

Now, hearing my name mentioned,

The Leandro family members first showed blank expressions, then complex emotions churned across their faces.

"How could it be her?"

Liam's eyes filled with deep hatred,

"To save her own life, she could abandon even her own mother. Someone like her would never be willing to die."

I was already dead.

Yet my hollow soul still felt a stab of pain in my chest.

Martha was silent for a long time, her eyes gradually reddening before she finally spoke,

"I don't have that daughter. My only daughter is Sophia."

The venue erupted into chaos. Countless eyes turned toward the Leandro family.

Liam sneered coldly and, facing everyone's confusion,

Told them about what happened that year.

"That day was supposed to be Sophia's birthday, but Charlotte insisted on making a fuss, forcing my mom to go out with her."

"My mom, trying to appease her, canceled all her plans to take her skiing. We didn't expect to encounter an avalanche."

"My mom's leg was crushed and she couldn't move. And Charlotte"

He paused, his eyes poisonous,

"She didn't look back once. She just ran away by herself."

"If Sophia hadn't arrived in time and brought the rescue team to find my mom, my mom might not be here today."

Liam's voice grew colder and colder.

"She constantly targeted and bullied Sophia at home. We turned a blind eye to that."

"But she harbored resentment. To save her own life, she ignored even her own mother. After the incident, she disappeared without a trace. Someone like her doesn't deserve to be my sister."

At that moment, the host suddenly spoke,

"So you haven't seen Charlotte since then?"

The Leandro family members froze.

Then Liam sneered,

"Charlotte must have felt guilty, so she hid away somewhere and didn't dare show her face."

He paused, then added with disgust,

"People like her only know how to run away when they do something wrong."

Christopher and Martha said nothing, but clearly thought the same.

However, the host disagreed and spoke up,

"But have you considered that perhaps Miss Charlotte didn't hide away, but actually died in that avalanche accident?"

The venue suddenly went quiet.

The host continued,

"Perhaps Miss Charlotte didn't escape alone."

"She might have known that Mrs. Martha had lost mobility, and staying there would have meant death for both of them."

"So she left alone to find rescue, but met with an accident along the way."

"Mr. Christopher, after the accident, did you send anyone to investigate..."

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Liam slammed the table, furiously interrupting him.

Martha's face turned deathly pale, her chest heaving violently,

Looking as if she couldn't catch her breath and might faint at any moment.

Christopher quickly supported her, his brows knitted into a tight knot,

The look in his eyes toward the host full of displeasure and warning.

I floated in the air, unable to help but smile bitterly.

Even strangers had guessed how I died, but only my biological parents and Liam refused to believe it.

They preferred to believe I was the ungrateful wretch who abandoned her mother to save herself.

They had all even forgotten that the day wasn't just Sophia's birthdayit was mine too.

I just wanted their company for once, just once.

That's why I gathered the courage to say I wanted to go skiing.

After the avalanche, Martha was buried under the snow.

I dug desperately, until all my fingers lost sensation, before I finally pulled her out.

But by then, Martha had already lost consciousness.

I couldn't save her alone.

I wrapped all my warm clothes around her body,

While I wore only a thin sweater,

And turned to walk into the wind and snow.

I walked for an entire day, falling countless times,

Finally finding the rescue team just before my strength gave out.

I told them Martha's location.

The rescue team told me to wait by the road.

But I waited by the roadside for less than ten minutes

Before an out-of-control truck came barreling toward me.

By the time I was taken to the hospital, it was too late.

Just before dying, I asked the doctor to donate my organs

So they could see the coming spring in my place.

Everyone at the scene looked at the Leandro family members with doubt.

After all, if the host's guess was correct,

The Leandro family had completely misunderstood Charlotte.

Just as Christopher and Martha's eyes became uncertain,

Liam suddenly laughed coldly.

He stood up, his tone condescending,

"I don't know what person behind you is trying to target our Leandro family."

"But listen carefullyI have evidence to prove that Charlotte is definitely not dead."

Christopher and Martha both looked up at him simultaneously, expressions full of surprise.

Liam took a deep breath, turned around, and looked at his parents,

His voice lowering,

"Mom, Dad, I'm sorry. There's something I've been hiding from you."

"After Charlotte disappeared, I actually received a letter from her."

"In that letter, Charlotte said she didn't regret running away."

"But knowing she had done such a thing, the Leandro family would never forgive her, so she didn't plan to come back."

Liam's voice gradually sank,

"She said that since Mom didn't die and she was still nominally the Leandro family's daughter, I should give her a buyout fee of twenty million."

"Once she got the money, she'd agree to sever ties with us and never appear in front of Mom again."

Liam lowered his eyes,

"The reason I kept this from you was because I didn't want to make you sad."

After hearing this, Martha's tears immediately began swirling in her eyes.

Christopher also looked like he was suppressing anger,

Clenching his fists, squeezing words through his teeth,

"Ungrateful girl! We never should have brought her back to the Leandro family!"

After hearing Liam's words,

People at the scene expressed sympathy for the Leandro family,

Then turned to condemn me.

"This Charlotte is truly heartless!"

"The Leandro family took her in, and instead of being grateful, she became an ungrateful wretch."

"Twenty milliondoes she even deserve it!"

Vile insults rained down on me like a storm.

Just then, the girl on stage who had spoken first spoke up again.

"Don't you dare slander Charlotte!"

Her eyes were red, her voice trembling but firm.

She pointed at her own eyes, saying each word clearly,

"My dad told me that my corneas were donated by Charlotte."

"I can see this world because of her."

The other children also stood up one after another, talking over each other.

"Charlotte donated a kidney to me."

"I got a liver..."

"Charlotte's heart is beating in my chest."

One boy placed his hand on his chest,

His voice young and earnest,

"The doctor said this heart used to live in a very, very kind Charlotte's body."

"It's absolutely not what you're saying!"

Seeing so many children who, because of me, had regained the chance to see the world,

Had healthy bodies, had hope to live on.

I floated in the air, already just a wisp of a ghost,

Yet it felt as though a warm beam of light had pierced through my hollow body.

Because of the children's intervention,

People once again became uncertain.

The situation suddenly became confusing.

Martha clutched Christopher's sleeve, her lips trembling slightly.

Liam also felt inexplicably panicked.

It was as if something terrible was gradually happening,

His chest felt stuffy and constricted, as if something was pressing down on it.

He bit his lip, deliberately trying to shake off the thought.

Suddenly, inspiration struck.

A confident smile returned to Liam's face,

His tone filled with certainty,

"Fine. If you insist Charlotte is dead, then where is her body?"

He looked around, his voice resolute,

"She only donated her organs. Her body should still be somewhere, right?"

Hearing this, confusion appeared in the children's eyes on stage.

They clearly didn't know the answer to this question.

The children looked at each other and shook their heads.

Liam felt even more confident and sneered coldly,

"There probably isn't any body at all. You're all working together to lie!"

The venue fell silent, the atmosphere tense to the extreme.

Just then, the host suddenly received a file on his phone.

He looked down and opened it, his eyes widening involuntarily, pupils constricting sharply.

He suddenly raised his phone, his voice trembling slightly,

"Wait, I know where Charlotte's body is!"