Everyone Has Their Own Path

Watching the old man's figure disappear into the distance, Liang took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

"Let's go to the hospital."

He muttered to himself.

Chapter Four: Everyone Has Their Own Path

"Liang is a child without talent."

Compared to Qiu, it's almost as if she's not my biological daughter.

Although I've forgotten almost everything from my childhood, this particular sentence still inexplicably appears in my dreams.

The father, standing in the hazy, distant distance, looked down upon him.

Liang's biological father was once a star Actor in a local Theater Troupe. Although Liang and Qiu had never seen him perform in person, the stories on stage and under the spotlight were told to them by this man as if they were bedtime stories.

"--I hope that you can also become theater Actor, preferably as good as me."

At the end of the story, the man always ends with this sentence.

At their father's request, the two older boys began practicing drama.

"Then, let's become the best Actor together, Ryo."

In the midst of rigorous training day after day, the two of them needed a partner who could understand them, and thus their relationship quickly became closer.

Which of Shakespeare's four great tragedies is Liang's favorite?

Liang began reading the scripts, which were old drafts that her father had read before, always covered with dense notes.

After Ryo finished reading some scripts, Aki began to discuss theatrical issues with him.

"My favorite is still Hamlet. Why does Ryo like Macbeth? The character of Lady Macbeth is clearly not as good as Ophelia."

"Although both are love, the blossoming romance of a young girl is perhaps the most enviable."

Even in elementary school, Qiu displayed an outgoing personality that matched her appearance.

She displayed her charm without any hesitation in front of Liang. She lifted her long white dress, held the flowers in her hands, and gave Liang a pure smile.

"Ryo should like Hamlet just like me."

"Because only when they look exactly alike can they seem like real family."

"I want people to see us and know that we are siblings."

So Qiu and Liang wore the same color pajamas and the same style of slippers. They ate the same breakfast, carried the same schoolbags, and went to school hand in hand.

Because of her health condition, Hotaru often missed large chunks of school time, so at those times she could only lean against the window and wave to her older brother and sister.

"Liang, recite Act Three ten more times with feeling. I'll check back in an hour to see if you've improved! No slacking off!"

But as soon as she returned home, in the huge, soundproof room where there was nowhere to escape, Ryo would receive "guidance" from her father.

Undeniably, my father is very good-looking. Even though he is nearly forty, he still looks handsome and dashing, with a great demeanor. He really has the makings of Actor.

But his terrible personality makes him seem more like an apple that looks good on the outside but is completely rotten inside.

When he begins to use violence, his face becomes even more distorted, like that of a demon.

Ryo failed to demonstrate his talent in drama; he would unconsciously drift off into a daze and lose focus, and if his father discovered this, Ryo would face severe physical punishment.

If I perform well enough, this situation will definitely change.

Comforting herself with these thoughts, Liang, who was practicing desperately, was still making no progress day by day.

In stark contrast to coolness, autumn is an exceptionally gifted child.

"Qiu really resembles me. Her acting skills have improved remarkably. If she continues to improve like this, she won't be far from the level of a professional Actor."

My father often made such praises.

"Ryo really doesn't seem like my biological child. If she wants to keep up with Aki, she'll have to spend even more time practicing."

Liang and Qiu are compared by their father every day, and the other is punished according to their superiority or inferiority.

"Qiu will definitely become a famous Actor. Ah, one day my child will be seen by everyone. People will know that this is my child, this child is my daughter, and she will be the most dazzling jewel in this city!"

"Liang! Why are you daydreaming again today? You've practiced the lines for Act Two so many times, why can't you memorize them in one go? Feet! Movements, pay attention to your movements, don't just stand there like a wooden stake! Eyes! Where are you looking?"

As if he had two faces, the father reveled in this "survival of the fittest" game, encouraging Liang and Qiu to engage in a zero-sum struggle, bestowing rewards and punishments from the highest position.

The mother couldn't go against the father's wishes; she simply watched how things unfolded.

"Father... Father, dear..."

"Your sister has passed the audition for the group, and she will be debuting as a theatrical Actor tomorrow."

With a look of ecstasy on his face, the father brandished a ruler at Liang.

The hard ruler collided with Liang's right calf, and the pain that exceeded the limit even made Liang have the illusion that sparks were flying in front of her.

"Tsk."

"A father won't always be lenient with his child."

The man put away his baseball bat, stepped on Liang's waist with his right foot, and forced him to the ground.

"It'll be alright, don't worry, I won't hurt my face."

"But education is always accompanied by pain."

"Bang!"

Liang felt a sharp impact on his back.

My mind went blank, I started hallucinating, it felt like blood was flowing out, and I felt a rapid pain and burning sensation.

"Remember this pain, and then work hard from here on out."

In the snow-white world, Ryo only heard this one sentence and a scream from who-knows-who.

A foot kicked him in the stomach, but the child rolled several meters along the ground until he hit the wall and stopped.

I couldn't breathe properly, a dull pain spread throughout my body, my internal organs seemed to be groaning, and I couldn't see what was happening in front of me.

How long did this violence last?

After the violence that made Liang doubt whether he could survive, his father brought medical supplies from outside and carefully treated his wounds.

"Liang is a good child."

"Very hardworking, and did an excellent job."

The father spoke in a very gentle tone, as if praising his children for getting good grades.

"Cold...?"

"What, Father... why?"

Entering from outside the room was Qiu, who hadn't yet changed out of her stage costume.

"This is a lesson for losers."

"If you can't join the Theater Troupe and earn money for the family, what use are you to me supporting you?"

The father asked Qiu Fa, who seemed confused:

"Does it hurt to see your brother like this?"

"Ah... um."

Qiu answered in a daze; for a child like her, understanding the situation before her seemed far too difficult.

"Then remember this feeling! When you rehearse Hamlet in the future, when your character Ophelia sees Hamlet go mad, remember this feeling!"

The father roared as if he had gone mad, then ignored Qiu and pulled Liang, who was already in a daze, to her feet:

"Your opponent, Qiu, hasn't lost a single match against you. Why haven't you improved at all, Liang?"

"Shouldn't you all have the same blood flowing in your veins?"

"Your surnames are all [Beichuan]!"

For the next six months, Qiu, who debuted as a child star, enjoyed her peak, even starring in a performance at the Central Theater.

Each rise of autumn signifies the sinking of coolness.

The talented older sister steps onto the stage of the Theater Troupe, entering a paradise surrounded by flowers and applause, while Liang, lacking talent and forever unable to catch up, falls step by step into the abyss.

After several failed auditions, his father gave up on him completely.

As autumn's popularity grew, the Kitagawa Family's income also increased day by day. They moved into a larger and more spacious house, the father bought a luxury car, and the mother wore expensive jewelry.

People frequently come to visit their home, and Ryo, who has already been abandoned, and Hotaru, whose physical condition cannot support her to pursue a career in drama, become like doormen who receive visitors.

"Thank you! We are very grateful for your attention to the Kitagawa Family. If you would like to cooperate, please call the number on the business card."

Passing guests would also ask about Liang's situation, since they had heard that the siblings had studied drama together.

Given how outstanding her older sister is, her younger brother shouldn't be too far behind in his endeavors.

Liang himself would try his best to participate in some dramas, but because of his status, the directors of those Theater Troupe would often have higher expectations of him.

The results achieved through hard work are taken for granted, and in the end, they are only evaluated as somewhat mediocre and unusable.

Perhaps it would take him another ten years of hard work to catch up with his sister, but by then she would have already gone far ahead.

The same performance can be drastically different when done by a ten-year-old and a twenty-year-old adult.

In fact, from this moment on, Ryo was already shrouded in the shadow of the so-called "genius," and when he looked up, he could only see the corner of the other person's clothes and the footprints left behind.

They naturally take their loved ones ahead as role models, and futilely pursue and try to catch up.

Young children are forced to move forward by the simple idea of surpassing others. Perhaps at first they just want to gain the approval of others, but as they go along, they forget their original purpose.

I want to surpass her, to catch up with her.

Then what...

Have no idea.

So why set such a goal in the first place?

Because perhaps at this point, I already knew that I would never surpass the other person.

Those who follow in someone else's footsteps, even if they eventually catch up with them, can never truly surpass them.

Because if the other party stops, he himself will also be at a loss and stand still.

Walking on the path the other person has walked is also staying in a distorted comfort zone.

If you get used to walking, you won't be able to move forward on your own.

It wasn't until Qiu committed suicide on stage that Liang understood these things.

As the city's most famous child star, Qiu's most iconic role is Ophelia, the heroine in Hamlet. Every audience member who has seen her performance is amazed by her portrayal of death; the image of her drowning in the Flower River always leaves a deep impression.

So when the other person actually swallowed the poison and lay there quietly for a long time without getting up, most of the audience just thought it was a performance.

"Hey, Liang, where did my autumn go?"

Since Qiu's death, the father's condition has become very strange. He drinks heavily at home day and night, or gambles away fortunes at the casino.

Where did that child go? Where did my pride, my hard work, my masterpiece go?

He drank the wine in large gulps, the liquid dripping from his lips and spilling everywhere. He seemed to have aged suddenly, his face becoming more wrinkled, and he had lost his former dashing demeanor. He was clearly just a strong man in his forties, but now he looked like an old man in his twilight years, waiting for death.

"Father..."

Liang cleaned up the vomit and trash on the ground and spoke softly.

The mother and Ying hid in the room, too afraid to come out.

Hearing the cold sound, the father irritably threw an empty bottle on the floor. Because of the carpet, the bottle only rolled twice before landing under the sofa.

"Ah, why can't you switch places with Qiu? Why can't you die in her place?"

"Hey, Liang, do you know that compared to your sister, your acting is so bad that I can't even watch it?"

"I knew that from the beginning, so when you were training as kids, you were only fit to play supporting roles to her, ha, supporting roles."

While cursing Ryo, the father would also begin to fantasize about the days when Ryo was still alive, the most prosperous days of the Kitagawa Family, and the peak of his father's reputation.