Shattered by Fate, Restored by Truth

Chapter 1177: Seeing That Boy Again

"That night, the girl who wasn’t chosen was so upset she couldn’t eat. She hid in the corner and cried, unable to understand why she had lost, and not knowing how long she would have to wait for someone to pick her.

As she cried uncontrollably, the orphanage director appeared before her. He said it was her seventh birthday, and he had prepared a birthday cake and a gift for her.

A cake and a gift, things no child would refuse; she was no exception. But she never imagined that this birthday would be something she could never forget in her life."

Cheng Yao looked at Su Wanxin with a mocking smile and asked.

"Can you guess what kind of gift that was? You’re so smart, I’m sure you know."

Su Wanxin was speechless. Seeing this, Cheng Yao continued.

"A whole night of torment taught the seven-year-old that there are things in this world more painful than being alive.

The director said not to blame him, but to blame the girl who was supposed to stay but left in her place.

He said he had carefully prepared for this day for half a year, but when the girl was taken away, all the anger from not being able to have her was vented on her instead.

That night, she fainted from the pain several times, but was always awakened by cold water. By dawn, she thought everything was finally over, but she never imagined that it was just the beginning."

Su Wanxin gritted her teeth, listening to every word Cheng Yao said. She clutched her cold hands and asked in a trembling voice, "What happened then, did she escape?"

"Escape?" Cheng Yao laughed as if she had heard a joke: "Where to escape? Where could she go?"

It was a cage you could enter but never leave, regardless if you were a boy or girl. In the years since the orphanage was established, only one girl, just one, was ever successfully taken away, and that happened on her seventh birthday.

"After being tortured in the orphanage for years, she was sold to a foreigner. Her life didn’t change, just the food and clothes got a bit better, and the people she had to please each night just switched to a different group.

Day after day, the long and hopeless days made her think of death more than once. She tried many times but never succeeded, and each time she was discovered and brought back, she faced more brutal abuse and torment.

She also thought about living well, thought that maybe one day everything would end. Finally, everything did end."

She died the night of her twentieth birthday, tortured to death by several men.

In the end, she couldn’t overcome the fate that was arranged for her. From seven to twenty years old, for fourteen years, she had countless dreams of escaping that cage. Dreams of being like that girl named Su Yao, finally having a home of her own once again.

Cheng Yao looked at the woman in front of her, remembering the first time she saw her.

It was many years ago when she and Cheng Xia were brought by Alex to the Empire. In a hotel near the Emperor Trade Building, Cheng Xia recognized the young man who had appeared in her life years ago but didn’t choose her.

Even though years had passed, she had never forgotten what he looked like. Moreover, he hadn’t changed much since they were kids.

He was as dazzling as ever, someone you could spot in a crowd. He stood beside a girl, smiling and holding her hand, affectionately calling her name.

The Su Yao of those days was no longer that Su Yao; she had become Su Wanxin beside the young man.

Wanxin, long hair curling the gentleman’s heart.

Heh, how ironic.