Memories about Jiang Xiaotang flooded her mind.
From Xiaotang’s pure black hair color, it was clear the two were not biological sisters.
What was unexpected was that neither of them were biological children.
Jiang Xiaotang’s parents had been unable to conceive due to illness in their early years and had resolved to adopt a child.
At the orphanage, they had instantly taken a liking to that cute girl with the striking hair color.
After bringing her home, Jiang Cheng was practically doted on by the two of them.
Whatever the girl wanted, even if it were the stars in the sky, Father and Mother Jiang would try their best to reach for it.
And Jiang Cheng did not disappoint them.
While she couldn’t be considered perfectly obedient and well-behaved, she was far from being naughty, possessing a likable personality somewhere in between.
Coupled with Jiang Cheng growing increasingly adorable, Father and Mother Jiang’s affection for her only grew stronger with time.
Life went on like this, and everything seemed to be heading in a better direction.
But accidents always happen.
That accident was… the arrival of Jiang Xiaotang.
Jiang Cheng’s original self remembered it very clearly.
It was a very sunny afternoon.
Father gathered the family into the car, saying they were going somewhere far away.
“Daddy, where are we going?”
“Mommy? Why does Daddy look so unhappy?”
Her parents said a lot, but Jiang Cheng couldn’t remember it all.
She only knew Daddy was silent the whole time, and Mommy kept sighing.
“Hmm… So Uncle and Aunt passed away…”
By middle school age, Jiang Cheng already had a very clear understanding of the concept of “death.”
It was the world’s heaviest shackle, an eternity the living could never reach.
Or perhaps, it was a lingering dampness that lasted a lifetime, a sudden violent storm in every seemingly calm day.
So Jiang Cheng stopped talking.
Sitting quietly in the back seat, the girl looked up at the tall trees lining the roadside.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the trees, falling on Jiang Cheng’s face, flickering.
So warm.
She thought.
If only Mommy and Daddy could be like these big trees, happily basking in the sun every day, always together with their family right beside them…
Jiang Cheng was still young.
She stubbornly believed the trees planted by the roadside must have come from the same mother, must be the closest of family.
Otherwise, why did they look so much alike?
A child’s sense of time always passes quickly.
While Jiang Cheng was lost in her random thoughts, her father stopped the car.
They had arrived at the funeral site for Uncle and Aunt.
click—
Pushing the door open and getting out, Father and Mother Jiang put away their sorrowful expressions, forcing awkward smiles onto their faces to greet the arriving and departing guests.
Jiang Cheng didn’t understand, and she couldn’t do it either.
But it was okay.
No one would blame a little girl.
So she was taken to the children’s rest room.
Here, she saw many children playing cards and chatting, many teenagers and young adults looking down at their phones.
And one little girl, squatting in a corner, not speaking.
Who was she?
Why was she over there?
Jiang Cheng didn’t know, but she instinctively disliked that little girl.
Including the other children around, none were willing to get close to her.
Maybe because the aura of “I’m in so much pain” around her was too strong.
Jiang Cheng thought.
Then she found an empty seat, sat down, and also took out her phone to play.
Later, Jiang Cheng’s parents entered the rest room.
The girl looked up, a smile appearing on her face, even happily opening her arms.
But this time, they didn’t come towards her.
Father Jiang walked over to the little girl in the corner and helped her up.
Mother Jiang patted her clothes, brushing off the dust from the floor.
Only then did the three of them come over to Jiang Cheng together.
It was then that Jiang Cheng noticed how much she looked like Daddy.
As if she were the extra child.
“Xiao Cheng, come, this is your little sister, Xiaotang.”
That’s how Jiang Cheng learned that Uncle and Aunt had a daughter.
Uncle and Aunt had died in a car accident.
Grandpa and Grandma had also passed away over a year ago.
She heard people say it was all because of this jinx named Jiang Xiaotang.
Jiang Cheng didn’t believe them, but she really didn’t like Jiang Xiaotang.
Because she was just… too obedient.
Not the kind of obedient where she does whatever you tell her.
It was the kind of obedient where if you don’t tell her to do something, she will never do it.
If you don’t call her to eat, she would rather faint from hunger in her room than come out.
If you don’t tell her to eat more, then even if she’s dizzy from hunger, she won’t take another bite.
But once you tell her to eat more, then she will keep going until her stomach is about to burst, until you tell her to stop, without the slightest hesitation.
She would even cry and beg Father and Mother Jiang not to be angry because she was already too full to eat any more.
It was okay if they were angry, just please don’t throw her away.
The former Jiang Cheng simply couldn’t understand this girl.
She was too troublesome, too cautious.
It was as if she wasn’t living for herself, but was attached to others, existing for the will of others like a barnacle.
But even so, Jiang Cheng never bullied her.
After all, she was her little sister.
No matter how troublesome, she couldn’t let her suffer.
And so, an uninvited guest had entered their little world of three, yet it remained happy.
As time passed, Jiang Cheng developed a peculiar kind of feeling towards Jiang Xiaotang.
She began to somewhat enjoy Jiang Xiaotang’s complete compliance.
She would buy snacks and make Jiang Xiaotang eat them in front of her, puffing out her cheeks like a little hamster.
Jiang Cheng would feel a sense of keeping a pet.
No, better than that.
Jiang Xiaotang wouldn’t bite, wouldn’t make a mess, wouldn’t be unable to enter places because pets weren’t allowed at school.
—Sea City Women’s Academy had elementary, middle, high school, and university sections.
Jiang Xiaotang was even much cuter than those puppies and kittens.
Small, soft, and very obedient.
Jiang Cheng liked it immensely.
Liked it immensely…
***
The change happened three months ago.
At that time, Jiang Cheng was taking this world’s High School Graduation Exam, facing a very important juncture in her life.
Father Jiang, Mother Jiang, and Jiang Xiaotang were all waiting at the school gate for the white-haired girl.
Four or five years of familial affection had changed many things.
Jiang Xiaotang had gradually become a bit more prone to smiling.
Seeing the exam end time approaching, she suggested to Father and Mother Jiang, “How about we buy a bouquet of flowers for Big Sister?”
This was the first time Jiang Xiaotang had offered a suggestion to Father and Mother Jiang.
The elderly couple was naturally overjoyed.
So they told Jiang Xiaotang not to get out of the car and went to the flower shop across the street, not far away.
Then…
Whoosh—Screech—
BANG—!
A car, out of control, swerved from the side and crashed straight into the two elders.
With the violent sound of the collision, the scene immediately descended into chaos.
Jiang Xiaotang’s first suggestion did not bring a happier future.
Instead, it brought… a bottomless despair.
Ding-ding-ding-ding—!
The bell signaling the end of the exam rang.
Jiang Cheng, having finished her answers, was jubilant and dashed out from inside the school.
And then, what greeted this overjoyed girl was not an enthusiastic family of three.
It was two bodies lying on the ground, on the verge of death, and one girl completely unharmed.