"Na'er, why did you buy all this stuff? Are you... eating it yourself?"
Gu Yue's mouth twitched, and she instinctively kept a safe two meters between herself and Na'er.
She knew Na'er liked to eat, but she'd never imagined that her own clone would have such a... unique, niche taste.
Tiger penis, deer penis, goat penis, ox penis, horse penis... Could you even eat this stuff?
Under Gu Yue's frank gaze, Na'er's cheeks instantly flushed crimson, shame flooding half her face.
She hurriedly lowered her eyes, not daring to meet Gu Yue's gaze. Her slender little hands twisted nervously in her skirt. How embarrassing...
How could she answer a question like that?
"Tsk!"
"Na'er, why are you blushing?"
"Give me the black card. I'll go shopping by myself."
Gu Yue knew that with Na'er's shy, gentle nature, pressing her further wouldn't get her a single useful answer.
Looking at her own weak, spineless clone, Gu Yue knew she couldn't count on Na'er after all. Impatience rose in her heart, and irritation swelled through her.
Gu Yue simply stopped pushing the matter. She planned to wander around alone and clear her head, and to run up Su Jiu's black card as much as she could, venting her anger and taking revenge on him for making her clone Na'er so infatuated with him that she'd strayed from her true nature.
At the same time, Gu Yue furrowed her brows without realizing it. Her original, world-shocking plan had developed a crack, and even seemed on the verge of collapsing halfway through.
The conviction in Gu Yue's heart began to waver, and she grew increasingly hesitant and uncertain.
A-Jiu, will the plan conceived by the Dragon God's World-Shocking Wisdom really work?
Dragon God: "..."
A-Jiu: It's doomed.
Suddenly, Na'er took several quick steps backward and clutched the black card tightly to her chest, protecting it.
Her whole body tensed as she instantly went on guard, staring at Gu Yue as if facing a formidable enemy.
"No! Big Brother Su gave this to me, so it belongs to Na'er. I can't give it to you!"
Na'er's words immediately displeased Gu Yue.
In Gu Yue's heart, what was yours was hers, and what was hers still belonged only to her.
A mere clone had dared to defy her, the original, time and again. A flash of undisguised impatience and distaste crossed her eyes.
She believed she'd always been especially tolerant and accommodating toward Na'er, but that didn't mean Na'er could brazenly defy her again and again.
Such behavior was no different from trampling Silver Dragon King's pride and dignity underfoot.
"Na'er, remember your place!"
Gu Yue's gaze was icy, her tone leaving no room for argument.
"You've always been nothing more than a dispensable clone of mine. Your life and everything you have are decided by me with a single thought. Don't think that just because Su Jiu's backing you, you can do whatever you want, defy me, and forget the difference in status between us that we were born with!"
"Hmph!"
After dropping those icy words, Gu Yue didn't look at Na'er again, nor did she keep asking for the black card.
She lifted her chin slightly, letting her black ponytail sway behind her, and turned around, heading straight into the bustling street without a second glance at Na'er, whose expression had turned strange.
Heartbreak
A clone... dispensable... forgetting her place... her life and death controlled by someone else...
Na'er stood rooted in place, murmuring Gu Yue's utterly cold words over and over again.
Her lips still held the faintest, forced smile, but it was filled with bitterness and helplessness she couldn't hide.
The small world she'd always lived in shattered at one corner. Sharp aches stabbed through her chest again and again, and even breathing brought a suffocating, painful tightness.
Everything told her plainly that this wasn't a nightmare, but a cold, cruel fact.
Being rejected by the one who shared her blood, feeling as if she had no place in the world... It hurt so much. Her heart ached...
Na'er's small body staggered backward several times, beyond her control, until her back hit the corner of a wall. Only then could she steady her weakened frame and keep from collapsing to the ground.
She slowly raised her head. Her once-bright silver eyes were now utterly lifeless, empty and dim. Her little face was as pale as paper, without a trace of color. It was as if her soul had been completely ripped away, leaving behind only a numb and helpless shell.
She slowly crouched down, wrapped her arms tightly around herself, and curled into a ball, doing everything she could to find even a sliver of the meager sense of security she had longed for with all her heart her entire life, but had never possessed.
But all around her, vendors shouted, diners praised and cursed the food, and people haggled over prices... The noise was so loud it nearly swallowed Na'er whole.
Grievance, irritation, despair, insecurity, self-doubt, indifference, numbness, emptiness, unease, panic, confusion, loneliness, heartache, desolation, sorrow, hopelessness, weariness of life...
Wave after wave of dark emotion completely engulfed Na'er.
So she really had always been that dispensable clone. But all she'd ever wanted, deep down, was to be herself.
She only wanted to be Na'er. She only wanted to be a Na'er who could firmly control her own fate and live freely, a Na'er entirely independent of Gu Yue, independent of the supreme Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena, a Na'er who belonged only to herself. She'd never wanted to be anyone's shadow, and even less did she want to be a puppet controlled by others!
Success through the Silver Dragon King Bloodline, ruin through the Silver Dragon King Bloodline. Those words were the cruelest nightmare of her entire life in the original story.
And this Silver Dragon Bloodline, something she'd been born with and could never escape, was the thing she hated and loathed most in all the world!
Tears as big as beans could no longer be held back. One after another, they rolled down her face, clinging to her long lashes before falling. Cold tears soaked into the front of her clothes, slowly dampening her thin garment. She looked so frail and small that anyone seeing her would feel their heart ache for her.
Just then, a heavy shadow suddenly descended from above, completely enveloping Na'er as she curled up in the corner. It blocked even the last bit of warm sunlight falling on her, stealing it all away.
"Kiddo, why are you crying again? If you cry your face all puffy, your Big Brother Su is going to feel awful..."
Na'er didn't react to the sudden arrival. She kept her head buried between her knees, lost in her own world, crying like a flower drenched in rain, making her impossible not to pity.
Su Jiu was at a loss. He'd only just finished up with his wife Yao Zhu when, through A-Jiu's eyes, he'd accidentally caught sight of Na'er's emotional breakdown. He'd immediately pulled up his pants and rushed over.
He stepped forward, gently gathered the helpless little crybaby into his arms, and began to comfort her softly.
"Na'er, go ahead and cry. Once you've cried it out, you'll feel—"
Su Jiu: ???
Wait, he hadn't even finished speaking, and Na'er had already stopped crying?
What the heck?
Na'er, her eyes wet with tears, looked straight into Su Jiu's dark eyes. Her gaze was resolute. She took a small breath and asked with the determination of someone burning their boats,
"Big Brother Su, you're A-Jiu, aren't you?"
"I..."
"Na'er doesn't want to hear a lie. She only wants the truth!"
Su Jiu kept up his concerned, comforting expression, but inside, a tempest surged through him.
Wasn't Na'er supposed to be a little airheaded in the original story? Recognizing that he and his A-Jiu persona were the same person was a move Na'er could pull off?
Did that make any sense?
"Ah..."
"Na'er, Su Jiu is A-Jiu, and A-Jiu is Su Jiu. I'm sorry I've been deceiving you all this time by pretending to be A-Jiu... It was really bad..."
But Na'er covered Su Jiu's mouth with her hand and shook her head, her expression earnest.
"Big Brother Su, Na'er doesn't hate you. She actually likes you very much, no less than Sister Leng!"
"You know..."
Na'er choked back a sob and spoke softly, her sweet voice hoarse from crying.
"Everything I have was bestowed on me by Gu Yuena. My world used to be clean and simple, lonely and desolate. In all that vast world, there was originally only A-Jiu.
"But later, I found out that A-Jiu was you, Big Brother Su.
"I could clearly feel the warmth and sincerity you gave me.
"When I was with you, I was so happy, and so blessed.
"You were the one who let lonely Na'er see the beauty of the world for the first time, and experience the gentleness and kindness in people's hearts...
"So... Na'er really, really likes you."
"I like you too, Na'er..."
Su Jiu tightened his arms around her once more, sheltering little Na'er in his embrace.
"Na'er, do you believe me?"
"I do! What wife wouldn't believe her beloved husband?"
"Na'er, I'll help you become an independent, free Na'er, a Na'er who'll never again be bound by the Silver Dragon Bloodline!"
Across the sea of people, Gu Yue saw what had happened and couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief. Only after A-Jiu had given her a thorough talking-to did she realize her mistake.
Wasn't Na'er family, bound to her by blood?
As Na'er's older sister, wasn't it only natural for Gu Yue to dote on her little sister?
But when she saw Na'er smiling happily in Su Jiu's arms, she actually felt a little envious of her...
Before you continue