Chapter 1

“Mom!”

At Xiao Ran’s shriek, the bottle of toner slipped from my hand and shattered across the floor.

She stormed out and wailed to our mother, who had come running at the sound. “She used my toner behind my back! Mom, look at my face. Doesn’t it feel rougher?”

Her voice was sharp and tearful.

Mom’s heart nearly broke. She stroked Xiao Ran’s cheek and blew on it soothingly. “Are you all right, baby?”

Xiao Ran whirled around and pointed at me, her eyes vicious. “It’s all her fault!”

Mom followed her finger. The instant she saw the broken bottle, her expression darkened.

She strode over, seized me by the ear, and dragged me out of the house.

“What did I tell you? How dare you put that stuff on your face behind my back?”

“Were you trying to hurt your sister?”

I bit down hard on my lip and said nothing.

Furious, she kicked me several times, then ordered me to stand outside beneath the blazing sun. She turned around and went back in to comfort Xiao Ran.

It was August, the hottest part of summer. Sunlight seared my face.

I narrowed my eyes. My tears ran over my skin, making it sting even worse.

Xiao Ran’s delighted voice drifted from inside. “Mom! Look—haven’t I gotten even fairer?”

Almost no one could tell that Xiao Ran and I were twins.

She was fair-skinned, tall, and an excellent student.

I was dark, fat, and had dropped out of school.

All our lives, our parents told outsiders that I was a relative’s child from the countryside.

But once, Xiao Ran and I had looked exactly alike.

When we were two, a Taoist priest passed our house and asked for a bowl of water. He spotted us playing with pebbles by the door.

“Are they twins?” he asked in astonishment.

Mom smiled. “They are.”

He clapped his hands. “These are no ordinary twins! They’re Yin-Yang twins, a pairing seen only once in a century!”

Twins born of yin and yang. As one waned, the other waxed.

That was the nature of Yin-Yang twins.

Countless incidents throughout our childhood seemed to prove him right.

Whenever one of us fell sick, the other overflowed with energy.

When one gained weight, the other grew thinner.

When one girl’s grades dropped, the other’s soared.

It was miraculous.

And that miracle plunged me straight into hell.

Our parents were painfully vain. When they saw other people’s clever, charming children while both of their own daughters remained ordinary, envy and anger ate at them.

When we were five, they made a decision.

They would sacrifice one daughter to create a prodigy out of the other.

I, Xiao Ying, was the one they chose to sacrifice.

To preserve Xiao Ran’s flawless complexion, they made me stand in the midday sun every day.

My face had been hurting terribly for days. I could no longer bear it, so I sneaked some toner to soothe the pain.

I never expected Xiao Ran to catch me.

My vision dimmed. The heat left me dizzy and faint.

Just as my legs were about to give way, the door opened behind me.

“Hey, pig. Dinner.”

It was Xiao Ran.

Relief washed over me. I turned slowly and went inside.

My meal was already waiting beside the table: an enormous basin of food fit for a pig.

They forced me to eat that much for one reason—to keep Xiao Ran slim.

They wanted to send her to acting school. They dreamed of her entering show business and becoming a star known in every household.

The next day, Xiao Ran was due to attend a mock arts entrance audition. Some schools were rumored to scout students there, so the whole family fussed over her and prepared everything she might need.

I washed dishes and tidied the kitchen like I was invisible.

That evening, Xiao Ran began to look unwell.

She scowled at Mom. “This is all your fault for buying me ice cream at noon! I think I’m coming down with a cold!”

“My audition is tomorrow. If a fever ruins it, I’m quitting school!”

Mom soothed her while rummaging for medicine.

Dad came home and stopped when he saw them. “What happened?”

“Ranran has a slight fever,” Mom explained. “I’m afraid it’ll affect her audition tomorrow.”

Dad frowned in thought. A moment later, realization dawned on him.

“Why make it so complicated? Don’t we already have the perfect medicine?”

Then he turned to look at me.

In an instant, every pair of eyes in the family fixed on me.

I stepped back without thinking, my heart pounding.