Chapter 19 In Her Next Life, She Doesn’t Want to Be Human

Chapter 19: She Doesn’t Want to Be Human in Her Next Life

Du Yanlan gripped the railing with one hand and glanced down at the street below. Through her tear-blurred vision, the shifting figures below dissolved into a hazy, indistinct mass.

She wiped away the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes and looked across at the five people standing opposite her—her parents, her younger brother, her fiancé, and her future mother-in-law. Every face was familiar, yet each one sent a chill racing through her veins.

She had just turned twenty-three this year. She’d dated a boy before, but his family was of modest means, so her parents forcibly broke them up.

She wasn’t naïve about reality. She knew marrying someone poor and lacking ambition held little promise for the future. So she listened to their reasoning—and ended the relationship.

But then, her family immediately steered her toward another match under the guise of a “casual blind date,” claiming it was merely to meet—but in truth, they’d already weighed every advantage and disadvantage.

That family ran a business; the parents earned millions annually. The man himself was a chef earning 200,000 yuan per year. Their financial standing was solid.

In her family’s eyes, this was the perfect match.

She obediently engaged with him. Yet as time passed, she realized that his privileged upbringing had left him spoiled, lazy, and prone to violence. Whenever problems arose, he only escalated them—showing not a trace of responsibility.

She had said, over and over, that she refused to marry him.

But he pursued her relentlessly—and both sets of parents had already made up their minds.

It was as if… they were already married. A match ordained by heaven.

Now she understood.

Her parents craved the Li family’s money. Her brother was about to wed—and urgently needed the Li family’s 500,000-yuan bride price to plug the family’s financial gap and fund his wedding.

From start to finish, not a single person had asked whether she *wanted* to marry.

Not a single person cared whether she’d be abused after the wedding.

And even less did anyone consider how much suffering and hardship she’d endure for decades in such a marriage.

To them, she was nothing but a tool—a commodity to be exchanged for benefit. Her happiness? Expendable.

Tears welled up again, uncontrollable. Du Yanlan’s voice trembled with sobs as she shouted—seemingly making her final stand for her life.

“I said I *don’t want to get married*! If you force me, I’ll jump from here right now! Then all you’ll get is a cold corpse—and nothing else!”

Du Yanlan’s mother frowned even deeper, her tone brimming with impatient scolding—utterly oblivious to her daughter’s despair.

“Don’t be impulsive! It’s just getting married—not losing your life! Li Lanxiao adores you—he’d give you the shirt off his back! Why on earth won’t you agree? Are you stupid? Throwing away a perfectly good life—cutting off your nose to spite your face!”

Her brother stepped forward two paces, his tone thick with blame and incomprehension—as if she’d committed some monstrous crime.

“Sis, there’s really no need for this! Brother Lanxiao is *so great*! He always buys you gifts—and on your birthday, he gave you that stunning dress worth tens of thousands of yuan! Others would beg for that and still be refused. What more could you possibly want?

And he’s not ugly either—his height and looks are perfectly presentable. Why are you so picky? Why are your standards so high?

Is it *worth* threatening suicide over something like this? Don’t use this to blackmail us—it won’t work!”

Hearing her brother’s words, Du Yanlan suddenly laughed—a laugh laced with mockery and desolation.

“Yes, he’s *so great*. So great that when we eat together, if he’s slightly unhappy, he raises his hand and slaps me across the face—leaving my cheek throbbing and swollen.

He’s *so great*. The clothes he gives me? He never asks my size. The dresses he buys are either too big or too small—impossible to wear.

What use are such ‘gifts’ to me?

Has he *ever* asked what I want?

Does he know what I truly *need*?

When we have even a minor argument, he’s *so great* that he yanks my hair in public—on the street, in front of everyone.

He pins me to the ground and kicks and punches me. Bystanders watch—but he doesn’t care *at all*! What a *wonderful* man he is! He won’t stop until he beats me to death!”

By the end, her voice rose sharply—laced with hysterical collapse—as she stared at her mother and brother, her tone dripping with accusation.

“He’s *so wonderful*, Mom—why don’t *you* marry him? That would fulfill your wish *perfectly*! Brother, since you think he’s so great—and speak up for him so fiercely—why don’t *you* marry him? Why must you push *me* into the fire?!”

Du Yanlan’s father’s face darkened. He glared at her, his tone sharp with stern reprimand.

“Du Yanlan! Stop making a scene here and spouting nonsense!

I think you’ve gone stupid from too much schooling! A few extra years of books—and now you dare oppose your own family, showing no respect for your elders!

If a few more years pass and your wings harden—will you even dare strike *us*?

You have no respect! How dare you speak to your mother like that!

Your brother is your own flesh and blood! He’s doing this for your *own good*, with the *best intentions*! How can you say such things to him?

He’s younger than you. As his elder sister, you should yield to him—and look after him. He thinks of you in everything—and instead of gratitude, you bully him in return. Is that any way to behave?!”

Her father’s words struck Du Yanlan like a bucket of ice water—extinguishing her last shred of hope instantly, leaving behind only an endless, bone-deep chill that spread through her limbs, shaking her entire body.

Du Yanlan’s heart ached with a dull, heavy pain.

Being born into such a suffocating family was a true tragedy.

“Yes—I’m an animal. I have no respect for my elders. In this family, you speak the least. You seem the fairest—the one who loves me most. You buy me delicious food. You defend me in front of outsiders.

“But you’re the *most disgusting* of them all! Every time you open your mouth—every glance in your eyes—makes me feel so suffocated I want to run away!

Dad—do you think I can’t see through your little schemes? You *pretend* to love me—but deep down, you look down on me. You think I’m just a girl—useless, incompetent—nothing I do is ever good enough for you.

You love putting me down at every turn. If I show even the slightest happiness, you find every excuse to scold me—dousing all my joy.

You love pretending to dote on me endlessly in front of relatives and friends. I like snacks—so you buy a mountain of them and pile them in front of me, earning praise from everyone—‘What a rare good father!’

“But what’s the reality? You’re *only* good to me because you’re afraid I’ll run away—afraid I’ll escape your control—afraid there’ll be *no one left* to exchange for this family’s benefit!

You treat me like livestock in a pen—fattening me up with care—only so that when the time comes, you can sell me off—with a price tag clearly attached!

In your eyes, I’m not a daughter at all—just a commodity worth 500,000 yuan in bride price. You trade my *entire lifetime’s happiness* to fill the hole for my brother’s wedding—to satisfy *your greed*!”

“I told you Li Lanxiao hit me. I was covered in bruises—full of grievance—coming to you for support. I thought you’d protect me. I thought you loved me. I thought you’d seek justice for me.

“But what did you do? You just said—*coldly*—that I deserved it. That it was all *my own fault*!

Yes—I *deserve* it. I deserve being born a girl. I deserve having my price tag set the moment I landed on this earth. I deserve being treated as a tool—for you to manipulate at will!

Why wasn’t I born a boy?”

"If I were a boy, would I receive your genuine love, wouldn't have to live so lowly, and not be sucked dry of all my worth by you?"

"You don’t love me at all, yet you pretend to care for me so much—it’s truly disgusting!"

"If I had seen through your vicious true faces earlier, if I had left you sooner, I wouldn’t have ended up like this!"

She stared at her father, the light in her eyes died out completely.

"Dad, in this family, the person I hate most is you, and the one who disgusts me most is also you. You don't even have the right to talk to me!"

The veins on Du Yanlan's father's forehead bulged, distinct and throbbing, his face flushed crimson. The fury in his chest could no longer be contained as he roared at her in a fit of rage:

"I really raised a beast! How could I have spawned such an unfilial daughter! You're completely out of control, with no respect at all!"

"It's all those damn teachers who ruined you! I should never have let you go to school—I should have married you off early to get the bride price!"

"Then you wouldn’t have read a few worthless books, filling your head with garbage ideas, spouting nonsense, disrespecting your parents, and constantly targeting your brother, without a shred of sisterly affection!"

Listening to her father's heartless curses, the last faint glimmer of hope in Du Yanlan's heart shattered completely into dust.

She had still clung to a sliver of fantasy, thinking that threatening suicide might make them realize their mistakes, make them understand that she, too, was a part of this family and was needed.

But in the end, she realized she had never held any standing in this family. They felt not a trace of love for her—only endless exploitation and calculation.

She should never have been born into this world, never have had to endure all of this.

If there is a next life, she would never choose to be human again, never want to touch this sickening thing called family affection.

Du Yanlan slowly closed her eyes, a desperate yet liberated smile curling at the corners of her lips. Her hands, tightly gripping the railing, gradually loosened, and her body slowly began to fall.

Everyone was stunned by this scene.

"Yanlan—!"

"Sis—!"