Chapter 2: A Sharp-Tongued Loli and an Easy-to-Bully Girl

Cold!

So cold!

A bone-deep cold!

The sweet dream of being gently embraced and whispered to by her mother shattered before the icy reality.

On the bridge, Xu Mengyao could only feel an indescribable chill, almost to the point of losing sensation.

An endless curtain of rain stretched out in a vast, white expanse, pelting Xu Mengyao’s body, piercing through her thin clothes, and she could even feel a distinct pain.

If rain were fireworks from the gods, then the heavens were definitely celebrating the New Year right now.

But did their joy, their merriment, ever spare a thought for this pitiful girl?

Even though today should have been her eighteenth birthday.

Without an umbrella, Xu Mengyao gently placed her hands on the freezing, biting-cold iron railing, looking down at the wide, churning river beneath her.

It was pitch black, no waves visible.

Only a dull, rumbling roar that seemed intent on obliterating everything.

In the surging torrent, water vapor rose, carrying the pungent smell of rust and rain, soaking Xu Mengyao’s thin garments and outlining the lovely curves unique to a young woman.

All of this was incredibly clear yet somehow detached.

So, when a person is about to die, their senses become so sharp they can even detect the slight vibration of the bridge.

Was this the world’s attempt to hold her back?

Xu Mengyao had been driven to this.

Just half a month ago, an uninvited guest arrived at Xu Mengyao’s home, carrying the results of a paternity test.

From that day on, Xu Mengyao went from being the high and mighty young lady of the Xu family to the fake heiress who had stolen the real heiress’s life.

The pain from such a fall was immense, especially since she was naturally timid and even somewhat socially anxious.

The gazes of others were almost enough to swallow this insecure girl whole.

“Look at her, this ungrateful wretch who lived off the Xu family for over a decade, turns out she’s just a fraud…”

“Tsk tsk tsk… I actually thought she had an air of nobility before, what an act…”

But this isn’t my fault!

I didn’t choose to be switched at birth, I didn’t choose to cling to the Xu family, I’m a victim too!

But arguing was useless.

They had already decided on the truth, already deemed themselves righteous, already stood on their moral high ground.

No matter how beautiful or kind Xu Mengyao was, she couldn’t compete with the chasms of human hearts.

Their teasing and targeting grew increasingly harsh and increasingly “justified” under the girl’s endurance.

Until finally, they drove Xu Mengyao out of the home she had lived in for over a decade.

On a night of pouring rain.

Without an umbrella, without money, even without warm clothes.

If she didn’t beg for forgiveness, then all that awaited Xu Mengyao was death.

The girl should have knelt and begged her tormentors for mercy.

But she refused.

When her mother was still alive, she had taught Xu Mengyao that if someone bullies you, never give them what they want.

Don’t they just want to see me kneeling on the ground, begging for mercy, looking pathetic?

I won’t!

I’ll jump into the river and die, so everyone knows how ugly the Xu family truly is!

The most vicious retaliation Xu Mengyao, who had been a pushover for half a month, could think of, was suicide.

How laughable.

Xu Mengyao’s suicide couldn’t punish anyone, it could only hurt herself.

But…

She was also just a girl who had just come of age…

A burden like this should have been borne by adults…

***

Mom,

I’m… coming to find you.

Please don’t mind that I’m not your biological daughter…

Xu Mengyao spread her arms, took a deep breath, and began to lean forward, beginning to embrace death.

“Hey, hey? Can you hear me?”

Faintly, she seemed to hear someone calling her.

How could that be?

I must be hearing things…

“Hey hey, why aren’t you listening? Are you deaf or something?”

It seemed someone tugged on the hem of Xu Mengyao’s clothes.

The girl was startled and turned her head to look.

There, squatting, was a cute silver-haired girl who hadn’t been there a moment ago, looking at her with a puffed-up, annoyed expression.

“I’m saying, I was here first, okay? There’s an order to these things, you know?”

Huh?

Did she mean she was here earlier and I just didn’t notice?

And… there’s an order for jumping off a bridge?

The girl took a panicked step back, her ankle hitting the railing with a painful thud.

“Ouch!”

She cried out, squatting down and clutching her leg.

“Si… since that’s the case, little sister, you go first…”

Squatting in the corner by the bridge railing, rubbing her ankle, she still remembered to yield to a minor.

The girl looked speechless.

Wait, is that right?

Shouldn’t you be grabbing me now, saying my life has so much ahead, I shouldn’t kill myself?

It really is… just like that Xu Mengyao from the comics…

“Forget it, I don’t want to jump anymore.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Why else? Just thinking that if I jump and drown, I’ll have to be with this troublesome big sister. Maybe even after we die and become ghosts, I’ll have to take care of that troublesome person. That just makes me not want to jump anymore.”

“I can take care of myself, I won’t trouble you…”

Xu Mengyao weakly protested.

“Hmm… words like that coming from a girl who wants to kill herself aren’t very convincing~”

“Um… I guess you’re right…”

Xu Mengyao felt something was off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Since that’s the case, big sister, you should get back onto the bridge first. It won’t be good if you fall.”

“Oh… okay, okay.”

Xu Mengyao turned around, about to climb back over the railing onto the bridge, when she finally realized what was wrong.

“Wait, that’s not right. If you’re not jumping anymore, then how would I drown with you?”

“Tsk… you caught on…”

The silver-haired girl turned her head away, looking rather disdainful.

“Hey! You’re looking down on me, aren’t you? You absolutely are! Do I really seem like such an idiot…”

“Hmm… from every angle, you do seem like one~”

“Wah… how did it come to this…”

Unable to bear the thought of having become an idiot, Xu Mengyao curled up in the corner by the railing, shivering.

Pitiful and helpless.

“Anyway, this is my spot. You’re not allowed to kill yourself here, or the feng shui will be ruined… Alright, you get back onto the bridge first, I’m freezing to death!”

Xu Mengyao was stunned for a moment.

Oh right, it’s still pouring rain.

It wouldn’t be good if the little one caught a cold…

“What’s big sister waiting for? Do you need little sister to carry you? Or does big sister actually have some strange fetish and finds being cold really enjoyable?”

No!

What kind of weird thing is she saying!

“I… I’m going now…”

As if waking from a dream, Xu Mengyao turned around again, about to…

“Ah!”

The rain-soaked railing was too icy and slippery.

In her haste, the girl lost her grip, her foot slipped, and she fell backward, tumbling off the bridge.

SPLASH—!

After the deafening sound of breaking water, the world instantly fell silent.

The intense impact almost knocked Xu Mengyao unconscious.

The river water, colder than the rainstorm, eroded her body temperature, making her mind grow hazy.

I’m going to die…

Really, going to die…

The bright yellow lights on the bridge were scattered by the rain and blurred by the river water, turning into circles of diffused light that seemed very far away.

The girl sank toward the riverbed.

No matter how much mental preparation she had made, or what kind of resolve she had mustered, at the moment of death, she couldn’t achieve complete release.

Especially for such an unwilling death.

Since I’m going to die, there’s no help for it.

I just hope there’s no rain in heaven…

She thought hazily, watching bubbles gurgle from her mouth, float to the surface, and turn into foam, blurring the lights.

With great difficulty, she reached out a hand, trying to touch this firework that belonged solely to her.

But she failed.

The bubbles slipped through Xu Mengyao’s fingers, not pausing for her for even a moment.

Her mother, and now these little fireworks.

It seemed no one had ever stayed for her.

Perhaps she was never needed by anyone…

***

Her body grew heavier, and the girl slowly closed her eyes.

Goodbye, world.

Just as Xu Mengyao was about to lose consciousness, she heard a dull splash.

She forced her eyes open a slit and looked toward the water’s surface.

The girl saw it—a very tall, white shadow.

That shadow plunged down violently, churning the water, and grabbed hold of her hand.

Slender… soft…

So much like the one from her memories…

“Mom…”

Murmuring in her heart, the girl completely blacked out.