Yu Xiang was practising qin[1] in the room when she suddenly felt a sharp and severe pain in her chest. The qinâs string at her fingertips unexpectedly snapped. She paled. Rotating her wheelchair, she frantically rushed to the door. Upon opening it, she saw her mother standing outside, a sorrowful expression etched into her face.
âElder brother has a heart attack?â Although it was a question, her tone was very certain. She and her brother were twins with congenital disabilities; one was born with congenital heart disease while the other was born paralysed. Ever since they were young, they stayed in a sanatorium and were practically never separated. While other twins are considered mostly to have good relationships with each other, their relationship was so good that there is no distinction between themselves, and they have a strong telepathic bond.
When her elder brother was in pain, she would be in pain too. When her elder brother is happy, she would also be happy. When her elder brother was sad, she would also be sad and cry with him. When her elder brother was in danger, she would feel uneasy. No matter how far apart they were, those intuitions were unerring and would never fade.
Her mother was not surprised by her question. She looked down at her daughter before suddenly collapsing to her knees, after a long pause, pleading, âXiangâer, give your heart to your older brother! He has an RH blood type. We are still unable to find a suitable heart, and it canât be delayed anymore! The doctor made a comparison between the two models, and all full twelve variants were compatible. Xiangâer, Mother begs you, save your older brother. If he dies, the Yu family will be ruined!â
Though she had always known that her parents didnât care about her, once she was confronted with the reality at this point in time, she felt that the skies were falling, the earth was torn apart, and her heart was as dead as embers.
âGet lost, get out of here!â She raised her voice and shouted at her mother, who was kneeling at her feet, and her veins on her neck throbbed because she used too much force.
She returned to the room and began smashing every breakable item she saw. The back of her hands were riddled with cuts from the broken porcelain shards. As a mother, how could she persuade her own daughter to die? How could she be so cold-hearted?! How was she so cold-hearted?!
She hated her cold and detached parents. She hated everyone in the family, but she was unable to hate her elder brother. Hand in hand, they had come into this world and grew up together. Without her elder brotherâs support and protection, there was no way she couldâve learned to live as proudly and wilfully as a paralysed person.
Unknowingly, tears had begun streaming down her face. Once she had calmed down, she turned to her mother, who was still kneeling by the door and said, âGet ready for the surgery. Quickly, elder brother canât take it anymore?â
âItâs good that two incomplete people can keep on living as one complete person and continue to live a healthy life.â That was the last thought that went through her mind before she closed her eyes, succumbing to the influence of the anaesthetic.
**********
Yu Xiang blearily woke up and touched her aching legs with surprise. These legs had no consciousness since birth, so why was it so painful now? But soon, she was suddenly struck with the swift and stupefying realisation that her heart was still beating steadily in her chest.
âAhâŚâ
However, this abnormality was not the reason for her to inhale a breath of cold air. She realised that she had actually shrunk. These short hands and legs appeared to be those of a seven to eight-year-old.
Remnants of memories flooded her mind. With a hand on her forehead, she slowly processed the information and moaned pitifully. What a tragedy! After suffering so much hardship in her past life, she had unexpectedly been given a chance at rebirth, and her legs were still paralysed. That was fine, but she had transmigrated into a novel and became the novelâs most unfortunate cannon fodder female character!
In fact, the novel was bought by her nanny, who thought it was a little white novel that would help Yu Xiang loosened up and relaxed due to its simple storyline. Yu Xiang had read the prologue and the first two chapters. She noticed not only does she have the same name as the female supporting character, but that she was also similarly bedridden. Annoyed, she had simply dumped the novel beside her pillow. Before she had the chance to throw it away, her elder brother had gotten sick, and she died.
If she had known this would happen, she would have read the whole novel before she died! Currently, all that she knew was that âYu Xiangâ had been an ill-fated child. Her tragic lifetime had begun three days earlier, and she had transmigrated just a little bit too late to save herself!
Three days ago, âYu Xiangâ wet nurse passed away. At her deathbed, she revealed the truth about the children being switched at birth to âYu Xiangâsâ mother, Lin Shi. Lin Shi was amorously in love with her husband and had been unable to accept the reality of his death. She became thoroughly disinterested in all of her duties, neglecting her daily routines, children and elders. Instead, she just spent her days locking herself in her courtyard, hugging her husbandâs memorial tablet tightly to her chest and subsisting by reminiscing sweet memories. She blamed the death of her husband on âYu Xiangâ, proclaiming that âYu Xiangâ was a jinx that bane of othersâ existence who brought nothing but death to their kin and she should have strangled her to death when she was born. If not, this calamity would not have befallen her husband.
Even in the beginning, Lin Shi had hated âYu Xiangâ. After learning the truth, her hatred only intensified, and she instructed her son, Yu Pin Yan, to send âYu Xiangâ to the faraway countryside to keep her out of sight. Had it not been for the old madamâs objections, she would have banished âYu Xiangâ from the ancestral registry.
But the worst was not over yet. When she was on the way to the countryside, they were attacked by mountain bandits. Yu Pin Yan sustained only minor injuries. Under strange circumstances, âYu Xiangâ lost her balance and tumbled onto Yu Pin Yanâs body. This caused her to receive two knife slashes on her legs, and her bones were broken immediately in his stead. She could never stand up anymore.
After paying such a high price in saving Yu Pin Yan, it would be heartless to continue sending âYu Xiangâ to the countryside. Upon receiving the news, Old Madam promptly instructed for her return.
As soon as the tragedy began, Yu Xiang had transmigrated and thus would be suffering in âYu Xiangâs stead. Without having read the rest of this melodramatic plot, Yu Xiang was confident she would not have any good endings once the female lead returned!
As Yu Xiang ruminated over this, she only felt that the throbbing in her temples was more painful, which compelled her to pull her own hair. Why is her life so miserable! Which deities have she offended!