Chapter 57: The Little Girl’s Story

Ah no, she acted like she didn’t want to go, so why did Lin Xue’er still want to go? Damn, could this really be the true effect of a trap question?

For a moment, Xia Mengxi panicked. She really wanted to dissuade Lin Xue’er again, but at this moment Lin Xue’er said, “Xiao Xi, would you like to hear me tell a story?”

“A-a story?”

“It’s a story about a little girl who came into this world without the expectations of her parents.”

This… how did the story summary give such a strong sense of déjà vu? Hiss… Could Lin Xue’er actually be talking about herself?

Vaguely, Xia Mengxi guessed something, but since she wasn’t someone with low emotional intelligence, she silently sat beside Lin Xue’er and listened as she told what she called a story.

…

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who was born into a wealthy family. As the only heir, she was pampered in every way—clothes appeared at a snap of her fingers, food came at a word. She had nearly everything she wanted, enjoying treatment that ordinary people might never experience even in a lifetime. By all rights, she should have been happy.

Yet, she had always lived in a place like a castle, never exposed to the outside world. She was like a golden bird trapped in a cage, unaware even of the basic notion of flight. So, when she overheard two servants discussing how pitiful she was, she felt something strange about her life for the first time.

Pitiful? Why was she pitiful? Didn’t everyone say she was very fortunate?

Out of curiosity, she asked the two servants why they said she was pitiful, but their response was a flustered denial.

The little girl lacked some basic common sense, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t smart. When the two servants begged her not to tell the steward, she took the opportunity to press them for the true meaning behind their words.

And this marked the beginning of the little girl breaking her own illusory happy life.

The two servants said she was pitiful because, despite living in wealth and luxury, she had never felt her parents’ love or the warmth of a family. In fact, she saw her parents so few times a year they could be counted on one hand.

But… since she became aware, she barely had any contact with her parents. So when the servants said those words, she couldn’t understand at all. In other words, she didn’t even know that parents could give love and warmth.

Then… what exactly were parents’ love and the warmth of family?

With curiosity in her heart, the little girl asked her parents this question the next time she saw them. However… their answers were very different.

Father said, “I don’t know. I’ve never felt it, nor experienced it.”

Mother said, “It’s something you don’t need, because love and warmth only bring pain.”

Although she got answers from her parents, the little girl still couldn’t understand.

She desperately wanted them to explain what those words meant, but they treated her like a stranger, speaking as little as possible. Even though she used to get nearly everything she asked for, when she sought love and family warmth from them, she was rejected. At the same time, the two servants who had called her pitiful disappeared, which only deepened the little girl’s curiosity.

So, the little girl tried everything to understand what parents’ love and family warmth meant, but she found she couldn’t comprehend any of the books she got her hands on. Thus, she embarked on a long journey of learning.

As time passed and she learned many words, the little girl grew older. But just when she thought she had acquired enough knowledge to understand parents’ love and family warmth, she was surprised to find her mother appeared in the study—specifically seeking her out.

“Your purpose in learning to read all this time was to understand that thing?”

The “thing” her mother meant was naturally ‘parents’ love and family warmth.’ The girl nodded calmly, admitting this was indeed her reason for learning.

“Do you really want to understand? If you do, you will never have happiness in your life.”

“Mother, why is that?”

“Because as the heir of this family, you have to face a cruel reality. The more you know, the less you can return to that carefree and beautiful life.”

After hearing this, the girl was silent for a moment, then resolutely chose to move forward. After all, she was still young and didn’t understand the things adults knew. To her, solving the confusion in front of her was what mattered now.

“If that’s the case, come with me.”

Led by her mother, the girl stepped out for the first time into the world beyond the place where she had lived since birth. Her eyes shone brightly at the novel sights she had never seen before.

Yet the most shocking scene came when her mother took her to a wooden cabin and let her see with her own eyes what a family was, what ‘parents’ love and family warmth’ truly looked like.

The girl would never forget that moment. Before the wooden cabin stood children her own age—yet their fates were completely different from hers.

Those children could play and joke with their parents, laugh together, and receive their parents’ considerate care.

She had experienced similar moments with her family’s servants, but the biggest difference was that the faces of this family of three were all lit up with genuine happiness.

Is this ‘parents’ love and family warmth’? It didn’t seem like much…

The girl was indifferent at the time. But as she grew older, the memory of that family of three clung to her like an adhesive plaster—she found herself recalling it again and again, especially during moments of play with her own servants.

She didn’t understand. She had people to play with, people to laugh with, many who cared for her. So why did that day’s memory matter so much? Could it be because the people around her weren’t her parents?

No, the people around her all wore masks. They played and laughed with her, cared for her only because she was the daughter of the household, the employer. They never showed her their most sincere smiles.

Why? Why was it like this? Couldn’t people who were not family treat each other sincerely?

The girl slowly began to understand her mother’s earlier words: the more she knew, the more she would lose. And what crushed her most was the truth that her parents were together not because of love, but for the sake of family interests.

So, being born unwanted into this world, she would never receive ‘parents’ love and family warmth’ in her lifetime.