The lights within the elevator were still so bright, yet the underground living layers after stepping out remained so dim, the chaotic graffiti and rust stains making it difficult to associate with anything pleasant, however, Hexia was still very happy.
Because life was no longer monotonous.
Walking between puddles and trash, she hopped over them lightly, as if playing the childhood ga of hopscotch.
Her body leaped gracefully, twirling slightly in the air, her skirt fluttering in the wind before descending again.
People always use such dirty and disorderly environnts, scenes like those of old ruins, to highlight the world's sorrow and cruelty, but this is incorrect.
Those who truly live in such surroundings don't feel this way; they know the smoky restaurant actually serves great food, the ground may have trash and puddles, but it is stable, without mud pits or sinkholes, and the pedestrians on the streets that seem unsettling to outsiders are actually long-acquainted folks, beings that one could converse with at any ti.
Those who have long been accustod to these experiences don't consider them suffering, but rely a part of life.
Perhaps this is a kind of numbness and a mistake, but at least this mistake allows them to live in such environnts without too much sadness.
Too sensitive a rabbit would die young.
Hexia unexpectedly thought of this saying, its original aning was probably not this, but thinking of it this way wasn't a big issue.
She had long grown accustod to the insignificance in life—with being bullied and laughed at, just ordinary occurrences. The harsher the environnt, the more aggravated people beca. Her classmates weren't very nice, but she understood that perhaps if everyone had affluent family backgrounds, they might beco polite and elegant.
She had seen such a world in her childhood.
The place where her sister went to school was what people considered a prestigious academy. It was a gathering of young ladies and rich kids, and she had been brought along by her sister to participate in so events during her younger years, witnessing such environnts.
It is precisely because of such mories and understanding that she could draw so conclusions through comparison.
The anxiety of a family can be contagious. Due to the hardships of life and scarcity of resources, parents are more likely to argue over trifles, and this impatience can be transmitted to their children.
A slight setback in studies or a slight flaw in performance would bring about reprimands, which is the most effortless way to educate, requiring no patience to analyze and consider the underlying reasons, no empathy to understand the fragile and troubled spiritual world of the child, simple and rough.
After a day of hard labor, one's mood and energy are severely drained. Do not expect such parents to have much energy left to invest in educating their children. Even if they did, it's probably out of irritation and despair.
Being introverted and timid, Hexia always tried to learn and think or lick her wounds slowly in a corner, then kept searching for ways to understand this chaotic world. Because only by understanding the cause could she ease the disquiet in her heart little by little.
The unknown is always frightening, but once known, even if it cannot be changed yet, one can at least gain so acceptance and a direction for solving the problem.
As she reminisced about the events of the day, Hexia unknowingly arrived in front of her ho.
Oh no, today I got lost in thought and forgot.
She looked at the narrow door before her, only then rembering that she was ant to visit Grandma He's house.
But since she was here, she might as well enter and have a look; it's been almost a month since she last stayed here.
Pulling open the dust-covered door, Hexia called out softly, 'I'm back.'
But of course, there was no response inside. She took off her shoes, found the slippers she used to wear, and walked into the dark room, then turned on the light.
The small living room was cluttered with miscellaneous items, just as she had left it, with so dust settled on the floor and tables.
She walked all the way to the room at the end, which was once her parents' bedroom and now her own. With all the family gone, she had beco the sole master of this ho.
Pushing open the door, the setup inside was still the sa, with family photos hanging on the wall—her mother smiling tenderly, her father looking sowhat hesitant, her sister glancing aside, appearing sowhat aloof, while she herself looked bewildered in her mother's arms.
She flipped over on the bed to search, then pulled out a small box from beneath the mattress.
Sitting on the bed, Hexia opened the small box, which contained a delicate lamp base.
She activated the magic power, the lamp holder lit up, then automatically projected a lifelike image. It showed a family laughing and talking on the grass, then facing the cara.
The entire process took no more than 30 seconds, but the sounds of joy and laughter seed so distant, instilling a sense of unfamiliarity.
After watching silently for a while, Hexia turned off the lamp holder. She no longer cried tears like she did when she was younger.
At the bottom of the box, there was also a diary, left to her by her mother. It sporadically recorded the growth of her and her sister, with her sister occupying three-quarters of it, and she only one quarter.
Compared to her dazzling sister, she was still young at that ti and didn't have much to speak of.
[Temisia went to Saint Ingo Academy today, the number one high school on Erald Skirt Planet. I'm worried about whether she could adapt to the environnt there, as most of the students co from highly distinguished backgrounds, or are rare talents.]
[The mid-term academy activities have begun, and I finally got the chance to visit the academy. To my surprise, Temisia is very popular at school. She commands her classmates like the leader of the pack, a trait of pride that I do not possess.]
[The teacher called , saying Temisia's talent is exceptional and that she might beco a great person in the future, so they want to be more disciplined with her. So parents have complained that Temisia is too dominant at school, causing their children to get hurt.]
[I asked Temisia, and she said they provoked her first, and she was just striking back. After knowing the teacher called , Temisia seed quite unhappy.]
[The matter was resolved, the other child's parents apologized over the phone, admitting they hadn't disciplined their child well.]
[I don't know what happened, but Temisia said the other side must have co to their senses, though the reason seed far-fetched. I started to sense vaguely that this child was no longer within my control.]
[Temisia's growth far exceeded the expectations of her father and . At the Winter Festival gala in her second year at the academy, I saw her at the center of the racetrack and stage, taking first place in both. The whole academy was filled with cheers, and the teachers and principal congratulated us, saying she would beco a legend, a rising new star.]
[As graduation approached, Temisia went with her group to the Flying Feather Star Domain of the Federal Center to take part in the admissions assessnts for top federal universities there.]
[The admissions assessnt ended, but Temisia did not return happy. For the first ti, she asked about Hexia, then spent a long ti by Hexia's bed.]
[Temisia locked herself in her room for several days. When she ca out, she started to say strange things to us, as if she was about to travel to a distant world. Perhaps it was because she knew the bustling Central Star Domain was far away and that she couldn't be with us in the future.]
[Temisia is gone...]
Hexia closed the diary and put it back in the box.
Since her sister's death, their mother had fallen ill and spent most of the family's wealth. To leave the place that saddened their mother, they also moved to the lower residential district of Payin City.
The image of her sister went through several phases in her heart. As a child, her sister was a dependable and reassuring family mber, taking her out to play, buying her small gifts. But as her sister moved on to middle and high school, she grew colder, almost as if she resented her own nature and had no patience for it.
However, in the last period of her sister's life, she suddenly changed again, becoming extrely gentle. She told her about many school stories, how to deal with bullies, and how to utilize various adult influences, but unfortunately, Hexia never learned any of it.
In the end, her sister ended her own life at ho, without leaving any note.
After her departure, everything at ho began to change drastically, until it beca what it was now.
"I haven't suffered any misfortune or extrely bad things, I was just an accident of birth... Hexia won't understand this, but you are different from . You will have a more brilliant life." These were the last words left to her by her sister, Temisia.
Lying in bed reminiscing about the past, Hexia unknowingly fell into a deep sleep until she woke up half an hour later.
She got up and went to the washroom, planning to splash her face with cold water to wake up before heading to Grandma He's house, otherwise it would be too late and cause worry.
As the cold water moistened her face then fell away, in the dim room, Hexia turned off the tap and looked up. The other Hexia in the mirror smiled at her, and there was a light purple glow in her eyes.
This is!
Hexia was shocked, blinking furiously, but the image in the mirror returned to normal, and even when she used her magic power to reveal her talent, only her blue eyes and black hair appeared.
The scene from monts ago was like an illusion in her mind. After failing to find confirmation in the mirror for more than ten minutes, Hexia gave up trying.
She probably missed those people in her mories too much.
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