Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My name is Jiang Jin’an. My nickname is Jiang An’an.

Ever since I was old enough to remember things, I realized I was different from everyone else.

A long string of symbols would always appear before my eyes. At first, I thought everyone could see them. It wasn’t until I pointed at the air and asked Mom about them that confusion appeared on her face.

She asked, “Baby, what are you talking about?”

I quickly realized that only my world had those scrolling, densely packed symbols.

Once I got used to them, they didn’t seem like a big deal.

That changed when I started learning to read.

I realized the scrolling symbols were starting to look more and more familiar.

I was smarter than other children. Mom had known that for a long time, so when I was even younger, she had already started teaching me characters and arithmetic.

When I turned four, I finally understood those strange symbols-something called [bullet comments].

[The female lead is still desperately staying up late working to earn money to raise her daughter. She has no idea she already has cancer. If this drags on, the child is going to lose her mom!]

[If either the male lead or the female lead knew how to talk, there wouldn’t be a “run away while pregnant” plot at all.]

[Their daughter is the pitiful one. She loses her mother at six, and the male lead never even knows the female lead died after giving birth to his daughter. He just lives out the rest of his life alone.]

[Xiao Bao has it the worst. She clearly has a rich father, but she still gets sent to an orphanage…]

The female lead? Like the heroines in the TV dramas Mom watched?

I didn’t really understand. I lifted my chubby little hand and scratched my head.

When Mom came home from work that day, she looked at me with a conflicted expression.

“An’an, in a couple of days, Mommy has to go on a business trip to another city. Would you stay at Auntie Shen Xi’s place? She can take you to kindergarten.”

Those strange bullet comments suddenly appeared again:

[I can’t bear to watch this. If the female lead went for a checkup right now, it would definitely still be treatable in the early stage.]

[The city she’s going to on this business trip is her last chance to reunite with the male lead, but they still end up passing by each other. I’m seriously crying.]

[Jiang Yuan, go to the hospital and get treatment already, ahhh! Stop worrying about that stupid job of yours, sob sob sob.]

[Xiao Bao is really so well-behaved. She even feels bad that her mom has to work so hard to make money, and she has no idea how rich her real dad is.]

[Sob, sob, sob. By the time the female lead finds out she has stomach cancer, it’s already late-stage. To leave a little more money for her daughter, she gives up treatment entirely. This is killing me-my tears are worthless…]

[…]

I froze.

Jiang Yuan-that was Mom’s name!

Was the sick person my mother?

I whipped my head around to look at Mom. She still looked gentle and beautiful, but she did seem thinner. She’d also been eating so little lately.

Was she really sick?

Mom’s voice rang out again. “Baby, why are you spacing out again? Mommy’s talking to you. Do you want to stay at Auntie Shen Xi’s place or not?”

“No!” I refused without thinking.