Even if her biological parents had abandoned her, there were still people in the world willing to take her in.
So even after arriving at the Xuan family, facing the abnormally strict discipline and pressure far beyond her peers, she still believed she had received love, a home, and a family.
Until the day Xuan Yao returned to the Xuan family, when she saw her adoptive parents holding her, tears streaming down their faces, looking at her as if they had found a lost treasure, their eyes full of her.
Xuan Yang finally understood that in the past thirteen years, she had never gotten what she wanted.
If only she had chosen a different foster family back then, if only she hadn't been moved by Chen Yinrou's grief over losing her daughter.
Maybe if she had gone to an ordinary middle-class family, she could have had the loved ones and warm home she longed for.
...
Xuan Yao was right. She was just an unwanted orphan.
She wasn't even a substitute; at best, she was a consolation prize.
Her adoptive parents' love for Xuan Yao was true parental love.
That was something she had never experienced.
Her thoughts gradually returned. Xuan Yang smoothed over the knot in her heart and slowly relaxed her brows.
She looked calmly at Xuan Yao, expressionless: "So that's why you cried and made them send me abroad back then."
Nine years ago, Xuan Yang was eighteen.
On that rainy night after the college entrance exam, she had just calculated her scores, her heart full of beautiful plans for her future college life.
That night, she was originally going to discuss her college applications with her adoptive parents. Aunt Wang said Xuan Yao was afraid of thunder, and they were all in Xuan Yao's room coaxing her to sleep.
Xuan Yang wanted to help too.
But as she reached the door of Xuan Yao's room, she heard through the slightly open door a girl's weak, tearful plea and complaint.
Xuan Yao didn't want to acknowledge this cheap sister; she wanted all of her parents' love.
She cried about the grievances she had suffered in the past thirteen years, and then cried that Xuan Yang, raised by their parents, was too outstanding, making her feel inferior.
After that, Xuan Yang was forcibly sent by her adoptive parents to New York to fend for herself.
As if that could make up for their debt to Xuan Yao.
Xuan Yao hadn't expected her to know about this.
Back then, their parents sending Xuan Yang abroad was indeed her idea.
She simply couldn't accept that Xuan Yang, who excelled in everything, had actually taken over the life that should have been hers.
Every time she looked at Xuan Yang, seeing her shining like a bright pearl, she couldn't help but think—
The only reason she was so outstanding was because she had stolen her life.
If she had grown up with her parents, she would definitely have become more outstanding, more beautiful, more dazzling and unattainable than Xuan Yang.
Xuan Yang was a thief!
She had stolen her wonderful life!
That's why she cried to her parents, driving Xuan Yang abroad to fend for herself.
That was the life Xuan Yang deserved.
But these thoughts of hers, and the matter of driving Xuan Yang abroad, had always been deep secrets Xuan Yao dared not reveal.
Now Xuan Yang had brought it up so casually.
Xuan Yang felt guilty.
It was like a beam of sunlight suddenly shone into the darkest corner of her heart, destroying the glorious image she had built over nine years.
After a long silence, Xuan Yao opened her mouth to say something to make up for it.
But meeting Xuan Yang's calm and unruffled gaze, she choked on her words.
Xuan Yang looked at her for a moment, and when she had nothing more to say, she stepped up two stairs and stood before her.
She looked at Xuan Yao's delicate, fair face and spoke coldly and calmly: "You call me your substitute, call me an orphan. I admit both."
Actually, "substitute" wasn't quite accurate. Xuan Yang thought she was more like a "consolation prize."
Because she had never replaced Xuan Yao in receiving the love of Xuan Yinnian and Chen Yinrou.
"But I'm not a 'thief,' nor did I steal your life." Xuan Yang continued, "We're all adults. It's better not to be so childish and ridiculous, don't you think?"
Xuan Yao's face flushed red, unwilling to show weakness: "How not? Dare you say that those thirteen years in the Xuan family weren't stealing my life?"
Xuan Yang was amused by her strange logic, her eyebrows slightly raised, her tone even: "Of course not."
"Even without me, the fact that you were lost for thirteen years wouldn't change."
"Your life was never stolen by someone else; it was you who ran away from home under pressure back then and lost it yourself."
"So, stop fooling yourself with that theory of a fake daughter usurping the true daughter's life. Your suffering has no causal relationship with me."
Xuan Yang stopped there, not continuing.
Because Xuan Yao's face had turned pale, as if she had suffered a huge blow.