Martial arts have become extinct worldwide, yet I am forced to have a large family.

"I...I...I'm willing!"

"Why wouldn't I be willing? I enjoy being the center of attention! I love everything I have now!"

What's wrong with making substitutes?

Xu Huanhuan retorted forcefully.

But two clear lines of tears had appeared on her face without her noticing.

Yang Xian looked at her like this, but his expression remained calm.

"Wearing a mask for too long can feel stuffy."

"Perhaps you should take it off...to let it breathe."

Being too concerned about other people's opinions and expectations can easily lead to losing yourself.

Yang Xian suddenly remembered himself.

When I was little, in order to get praise from my elders, I wore the mask of a "good child" and suppressed all my mischievous nature.

When I was in school, in order not to be seen as an oddball by my teachers and parents, I put on the mask of a "good student" and pretended to enjoy those boring knowledge.

After graduation and entering society, we still have to wear the mask of a "reliable adult," hiding all our vulnerability and confusion in our hearts and pretending to be omnipotent.

This feeling is so tiring and so oppressive.

Sometimes, when I'm so tired that it's late at night and I look back on it, I realize...

Do you ever wonder if you really wanted to do that back then?

How many of those choices were made from the heart?

Perhaps, the girl in front of him was even more deeply entangled than he was.

She completely surrendered her face and her life.

"What you wanted was never to become 'Xu Huanhuan'."

"What you want is to become as excellent as her, or even better than her!"

Yang Xian looked at her and said clearly.

"Even better than her...?" Xu Huanhuan muttered to herself, then shook her head violently.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible..."

"Yang Xian, you don't understand my thoughts at all! You understand nothing!"

She couldn't stay any longer and ran towards the door.

In front of this man, all the resentment and pain that had been deliberately buried deep inside were brought to the surface.

That was so embarrassing!

Xu Huanhuan couldn't possibly have become this disheveled!

"..."

Yang Xian stood there, gazing in the direction where the girl had disappeared, and shook his head slightly.

He is not a spiritual mentor, nor does he understand psychological counseling.

The reason I said all that was because he seemed to see another version of himself in that white-haired girl, a shadow also bound by a mask.

I just felt a bit of empathy for a moment.

Whether she can escape this cage she built herself depends entirely on herself.

------

Xu Huanhuan returned to the small shop she ran on campus.

She locked the shop door from the inside, leaned against the door panel, and slid limply to the ground.

It was quiet all around, except for her own heavy breathing.

Yang Xian's words kept echoing in his mind.

Wearing a mask for too long can feel stuffy...

[Take it off when appropriate...]

"Shut up! Shut up!"

Xu Huanhuan covered her ears, but the sounds seemed to be ringing directly in her head, and she couldn't block them out no matter what she did.

She sat on the cold floor, clutching her chest, gasping for breath.

My heart was pounding, and an indescribable feeling of suffocation surged from all directions.

"Maybe I was just too tired from all the work tonight."

"It's also possible... that bastard Yang Xian hit the nail on the head regarding his most unacknowledged secret."

The girl struggled to her feet and staggered to a chair in the inner room.

The next second, she suddenly raised her hand and ripped the mask off her face.

She raised her hand and waved it, and a mirror appeared out of thin air in her palm.

In the mirror was a pale and unfamiliar face.

Her long, snow-white hair clung messily to her cheeks, her beautiful eyes were bloodshot, and there were still tear stains at the corners of her eyes, making her look fragile and pitiful.

"Take off the mask... Even if you take off the mask, what then?"

She spoke to herself in the mirror, as if questioning her, or perhaps mocking herself.

"I've lived in 'her' shadow my whole life! I'm just a substitute! A born imposter!"

"Nobody cares about the old me! All eyes are on 'her'! Everyone adores the dazzling genius of the Xu family!"

"Only an idiot like Yang Xian would care about such a stupid question!"

She growled, and by the end, her voice had become tearful.

She lay face down on the table, burying her face in her arms, her shoulders heaving violently, and the sobs she had suppressed for so long finally burst forth.

I don't know how long I cried, but by the end, my consciousness was starting to blur.

When she woke up again, the sunlight streaming in through the window stung her eyes.

"How did I fall asleep like this last night?"

Xu Huanhuan rubbed her sore eyes and looked blankly at the bright sky outside the window.

"It's all that bastard Yang Xian's fault, he made me cry for so long!"

She muttered something, reached for the mask on the table, and instinctively tried to put it on.

But her movements stopped when her fingers touched the cold edge of the mask.

As if guided by some unseen force, she put the mask back on the table, then stood up and pushed open the door of the small shop.

The morning sunlight on my face brought a feeling that was both familiar and strange.

It feels familiar because the sun is the same every day.

It felt unfamiliar because... she couldn't remember how long it had been since she had used this real face to feel this warmth.

"How long has it been since I've sunbathed like this, showing my true face?"

She closed her eyes, greedily savoring this moment of peace.

Just then, a lively voice came from not far away.

"Mr. Xu! Mr. Xu... I'm sorry, I mistook you for someone else."

Xia Ming was humming a little tune as he walked this way when he suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

The moment she heard the sound, Xu Huanhuan froze.

She instinctively turned her head away, covering her face with her hair, and then walked quickly in another direction without saying a word.

"strangeness!"

Xia Ming watched the white-haired girl's hurried departure, then looked at the still empty shop and scratched his head.

"That person just now looked a lot like Boss Xu, even their build was similar."

"Could they be a relative of Boss Xu?"

……

On the other side, Xu Huanhuan quickly turned into a deserted corner, her heart pounding.

She took out her phone, the screen lit up, and a new message popped up.

It was sent by her father.

[Huanhuan, you've been at school for a few days now, have you won over Yang Xian yet?]

Upon seeing this message, the vulnerability and confusion in Xu Huanhuan's eyes vanished instantly.

She typed a reply quickly.

"Don't worry, Dad, everything is going according to plan!"

After sending the message, she propped her chin up and pondered her next move.

Taking a hard line is no longer an option.

Yang Xian is too vigilant; he would never fall for the same trick twice.

"Ugh—!" she said irritably, scratching her white hair.

"We were so close last night! We were just a tiny bit away from succeeding!"

If it were "her"... if it were that genius Xu Huanhuan, what would she do?

As soon as the thought popped into her head, Xu Huanhuan quickly shook her head.

"No! No, no!"

"Yang Xian hates 'imposters' the most!"

"Trying to approach him again using 'her' identity and methods will only make him dislike you even more."

"But……"

"But if I were to use myself as I am now... would he really like it?"