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nTranslator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

n“Xia Ruoxin is an ugly duckling. Her father’s not fond of her, and her mother does not love her. Nobody even likes her bald head…” the children at school mocked and bullied her. She sat alone on her seat at she opened her little school bag that contained her long locks of hair.

nNo… no… she was not ugly. She wasn’t ugly. She had a father and a mother. But no one loved her.

nThat year, Xia Ruoxin was seven and Xia Yixuan was six.

n“Daddy, Mummy, I scored eighty marks for my test!” While Xia Yixuan coyly showed off her test paper with eighty marks, Xia Ruoxin hid in her tiny room. She was clutching the two test papers with one hundred marks.

n“Mummy, Xinxin scored one hundred marks…”

n“Oh yes. How much did Ruoxin scored?” Xia Mingzheng began to remember that he had another daughter. Shen Yijun’s demeanor changed slightly, “She is dumb, only scored sixty.” At the mention of sixty, Xia Yixuan began to laugh even more gleefully.

n“That’s alright,” Xia Mingzheng simply comforted his wife, “even if Ruoxin only scored fifty.” Their family could still afford to feed that daughter.

nXia Ruoxin could only look at the family of three and closed the door.

nWhen night fell, Shen Yijun amended the marks on all her test papers and wrote a big ‘ sixty ‘. “Remember, Ruoxin, do not tell Yixuan that you scored one hundred. You cannot do better than Yixuan because you are her older sister. You must give in to your sister.”

nXia Ruoxin nodded her head already knowing the drill. As her older sister, she must give in to her younger sister.

n“Ruoxin, you must apply for music. Do you understand?” Her sister was feeling lonely. Xia Ruoxin kept her easel without any feeling. She had wanted to apply and major in arts. But she knew that with the type of family she has, she was powerless to change anything. She could only do what they wanted her to do.

nSo, she gave up her favourite subject—art. She applied for music which wasn’t what she was good at. Xia Yixuan had always been the princess and she was just a prop in the background. She couldn’t be prettier, couldn’t be better, couldn’t score higher grades. Even when she applied for university, she could only apply for those in the ‘D’ league because Xia Yixuan was applying for the ‘C’ league. In actual fact, with her results she could have applied for those in the ‘A’ league.

nThat year, she held her exam paper in one hand and a pen in the other. Finally, she wrote her name on the paper but she only answers half of the questions in the paper.

nShe thought that was all there was to her life. Her family would continue to control everything about her, including her life and her marriage. She did not realize she was wrong until she saw him on that day.

n“Sister, look. This is my boyfriend.” Xia Ruoxin smiled so sweetly. Her arms were looped around a man’s. He looked matured and introverted. And with the hand-made tailored suit with a matching shirt that he was wearing, he stood among the crowd with an air of exceptional grandeur.

nHe was exceptionally handsome. Aristocracy was written all over his face and one could not help but notice a domineering edge about him. There was depth in his long, narrow gaze, almost as if it was extremely invasive.

nXia Ruoxin felt a little finger tug tightly at her heart.

n“Little brother…”

nShe could recognized him with one look. He as the one who told her to wait for his return. Her little brother. He had changed. She almost couldn’t recognized him, but somehow she still did.

n“Mmm.” The man nodded in Xia Ruoxin’s direction with indifference before he turned away. He moved his hand towards Xia Yixuan and carressed her hair. Finally he rested his hand on the amulet that hung around her neck. His eyes glimmered with a faint look of warmth.

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