The entire city was drenched in a torrential downpour. The gray, heavy clouds seemed as if they would collapse at any moment and crush Xiao Die's frail body.
She walked toward the college entrance exam site, remembering how her father had brought her blood peaches and delicious food during the high school entrance exam. At this moment, she looked so very lonely.
She had imprisoned herself within sorrowful memories, turning herself into a captive.
Her father had worked as a laborer his whole life. Xiao Die often accompanied him to the countryside to haul goods. Watching her father's stooped silhouette, she had vowed that when she grew up, she would never become a burden to her parents.
She ranked first in her grade on every exam. Before the college entrance exam, her teacher reassured her that as long as she maintained her usual performance, she would surely get into A University.
A City's prosperity and beauty were like the city where a romance-novel CEO would live. But such a storyline didn't belong to her. All she felt was inferiority.
She answered the questions carefully, and performed to her true level. So on the days she walked out of the exam room, her expression was completely calm, without a trace of panic.
She just felt a little sad, and very envious of other students who had family picking them up.
So when she saw Su Mosheng waiting for her at the school gate, she couldn't control her tears. She had never expected that this neighbor gege would become the only morning light in her lonely life.
"I don't even know how to comfort you. I can only stand to the side and silently wish you well—wish you into the school of your dreams."
"How did you know I like blood peaches?"
Xiao Die saw Su Mosheng carrying blood peaches and prepared meals. She was both surprised and touched.
"In that short story you published a while back, you mentioned that you really missed that painful time in middle school when your mom and dad were still by your side."
"Dad was a laborer his whole life. He worked so hard, yet he was always just a poor man looked down on by relatives. But in my heart, Dad is the greatest man in this world."
"The misfortune of a laborer, perhaps, is proof that this world has never been fair. We can't change it. We can only accept it."
"Is that the reason Mosheng gege doesn't want to return to BR Group? Without money and power, you'll only be bullied by gossips like Auntie Li."
"If you were the president of BR Group, you'd probably do a better job than me."
Su Mosheng ended the topic there. He wanted to take Xiao Die somewhere.
They went to an orphanage in Y City. It had since been converted into a nursing home. The traces of those old years seemed to have been washed away by time.
Su Mosheng pointed to a group photo at the bottom of the staircase—a shy, delicate little boy standing in the corner.
"When I was little, I once made a wish like the little match girl. I wished that if I hadn't been living in an orphanage, if my parents were rich and powerful, then I would surely be happy."
"Perhaps heaven heard my wish. Su Yue, the chairwoman of BR Group, came to the orphanage and adopted me. I became her only son, and naturally, the sole heir of BR Group."
"Back then, young as I was, I didn't know that The Little Match Girl is a very sad fairy tale. My life, too, became a tragedy of illusions, just like hers—until I met you."
Xiao Die looked up at Su Mosheng. She had read that sorrowful fairy tale before. What she didn't know was what role she played in his tragedy.
"The little match girl found happiness in her fantasies, but it was fleeting. In the same way, I appear to be a wealthy heir on the surface, but inside I am truly insignificant. And one day, I will lose this seemingly noble identity and become a shooting star crossing the cold winter sky."
"In all that unbearable pain, only you are real."