Chapter 3

Chapter 3

At lunchtime, there were still four people at the table.

Me, my brother, my mother, and Du Ruoqing, who had been dressed up like a dopamine doll.

A luxurious gown, exquisite jewelry, and a high-topped hat.

Not haute couture. Literally high couture.

I looked at the eight-tier cake decoration balanced on her head and the powder on her face that made her look like a medieval ghost, and my sympathy overflowed.

Ever since I was little, my mother, as an international film queen, had been devoted to creating the most beautiful doll.

Unfortunately, my natural gifts were poor, and I was also happily lazy, so I always made her retreat in defeat.

As for my brother, though he was dazzlingly talented, he had perfectly inherited my father’s financial-tycoon aura. Since childhood, he had learned how to kill with his eyes, sending my mother back defeated every time.

But I knew that even though my mother had quieted down, she had never given up. She owned piles of dolls and had even ordered life-size dolls in my father’s name.

That matter had once become a wealthy-family scandal.

Returning from my thoughts, I looked at Du Ruoqing, whose corset was so tight she couldn’t sit down at all and had to stand while eating.

When she reached for food, the eight-tier cake on her head swayed dangerously. When she lowered her head, the face powder dropped into her bowl.

My brother said, “It isn’t Christmas. Why set up a Christmas tree?”

“Pfft.”

I usually don’t laugh unless I can’t hold it in.

My mother immediately became unhappy.

“Doesn’t it look good? She looks just like a doll…”

Her peach-blossom eyes blinked and blinked.

My brother said, “Dolls don’t need to breathe. She’s about to suffocate.”

My mother felt guilty.

She looked at Du Ruoqing with concern.

But I truly did not know what Du Ruoqing, whose face had already turned purple from being squeezed, was thinking. Faced with my mother’s rare softness, she forced herself to rally and squeezed out a smile uglier than crying.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Don’t force yourself,” I kindly reminded her.

But she did not appreciate it. Instead, she mocked me in a strange tone.

“You don’t understand at all. A parent’s love for their daughter is as heavy as a mountain. What I wear is not a shackle. It is the heavy love of parents!”

The moment she finished saying “heavy love,” a crisp crack sounded in the air.

Du Ruoqing’s expression began to twist, and her body began to tremble.

Finally, under the effect of the eight-tier cake topper, her whole body toppled backward and smashed down with an earth-shaking thud.

What followed was complete chaos.

As expected.

A parent’s love was as heavy as a mountain.

When Du Ruoqing came back from the hospital, my father had also returned.

I watched my parents escort Du Ruoqing, who was wrapped up like a mummy, upstairs. Silently, I raised my head, looked at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, and fell into thought.

“Miss, please don’t overthink it. After all, you have lived in the Su family for eighteen years.”

Wang Ma walked to my side, draped a blanket over me, and spoke in a comforting tone.

I turned back. My gaze slowly shifted to her face, and I said solemnly, “Wang Ma, I’ve figured it out.”

“The nurse who switched Du Ruoqing and me back then was an expert.”

Wang Ma froze, her gaze complicated.

I raised my hand, placed it on her shoulder, and continued, “She calculated that Du Ruoqing and the Su family were incompatible by fate.”

Wang Ma’s mouth fell open.

“She only came back twice and already ended up like this. If she had spent all eighteen years at home, would she have survived to adulthood? It must have been an expert who swapped me in to block disasters for her!”