I celebrated New Year's Eve in my hometown, nothing out of the ordinary.

My wife and daughter were there too.

We were usually in Weils City for work, and it was only on rare occasions that we made a trip back home. My daughter had just turned five, and like any other child, she had a childish voice. Her skin was fair and delicate. She was adorable, and all our relatives loved to tease and play with her whenever they saw her.

It was supposed to be a joyful day, but after three rounds of drinks, my aunt suddenly grabbed my arm and called me out.

In a secluded corner, she made a request.

She wanted me to give my daughter up for adoption to be adopted by her son.

I was stunned, to say the least.

I thought I must have heard her wrong. "What is wrong with you? What kind of a screwed-up joke is this?!"

It was a request that I would never agree to, not even if I lost half of my sanity.

"Look, I've consulted a fortune teller, and your next child is definitely going to be a son," my aunt lectured in a patronizing tone. "A daughter is just a liability. Sooner or later, you'll have to give her away. Wouldn't it be better to give her to a relative?"

"My daughter is my entire life!" I was furious. "I can pretend this never happened, but don't blame me for being rude if you bring this up again!"

As I turned to leave, my aunt suddenly broke down in tears, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to me.

That was when I heard from her that her son had been raising hell at home for the past six months, going on hunger strikes and smashing things.

He had demanded to adopt my daughter, and by the looks of it, not with a pleasant tone.

He had even said that if he couldn't have my daughter, he would rather kill himself.

I was furious at the absurdity of their demand.

Was I dead to them?!

Then, I paused, suddenly realizing that such an "adoption" would be completely illegal.

Her son was only twenty years old and single.

What reason could he possibly have for wanting a daughter?

In fact, I had once accidentally discovered his secret when I was helping him fix his phone.

He had a massive collection of erotic novels.

Putting two and two together with those novel titles, I was instantly enraged. His insistence on "adopting" my daughter made his intentions all too clear.

My aunt was still kowtowing on the ground, but I was having none of it.

I looked at her coldly.

"If you want to ram your head against the ground and kill yourself here, be my guest, but I will never agree to your absurd request."

What I didn't expect was for my aunt to suddenly collapse on the ground, wailing and cursing me for being a heartless nephew. She condemned me for refusing her request even when she, an elderly person, had kowtowed to me.

"Your daughter is a disaster that is going to ruin my entire family!"

"You're going to kill my son!" she cried.

The commotion drew the other elders, who rushed over and witnessed the scene.

Not knowing the reason, they came over and kicked me several times.

I rubbed my waist and glared furiously at my cousin who had just arrived.

He was my aunt's son.

Obese and with a face full of acne, he hadn't made it to university and was working at an auto repair shop.

"Give me your phone." I pointed at his nose.

He backed away a few steps.

Ever since the dinner started, I had a nagging feeling that something was off—that particular cousin had been taking photos at the table, and several times, his camera had been pointed at my daughter.

The adults didn't realize what was happening, so I went over and snatched his phone and forced him to unlock it with facial recognition.

Flipping through the photo album, I was so infuriated. I felt like my head was going to explode.

He had created an album, filled entirely with photos of my daughter.

The most recent ones, and even older ones from who knows when, had been secretly taken without my knowledge.

It amounted to over a hundred shots.