Midnight Rose

"Grandpa, your precious darling is right here. My last name is Xia, and hers is Jing. Aren't we the only ones 'family'?"

Alluring but straightforward, she never once took the feelings of others into account. She spoke and did things as she wished. Brash, flamboyant, garish, and beautiful, like the multiflora rose that bloomed at midnight… This was Wushuang's cousin, Xia Ziwei.

Her cousin had been repeating this sentence since childhood. Xia Ziwei would always remind Wushuang that her last name was Jing and, strictly speaking, was not part of their family.

"What are you saying, Weiwei? This isn't appropriate behavior for a grown woman; I've told you this countless times. Shuangshuang is family, regardless of her last name."

The person who spoke was her aunt Liu Yun, who was always on Xia Ziwei's side and ridiculed her. She always played the mediator yet never showed any sincerity. A child's words were the most sincere. She knew this from the start but never took it to heart; she knew she was living on another person's charity.

She did not understand this when she was younger. Both she and Xia Ziwei were related to Grandpa by blood. They were the same biologically, yet a mere last name made so much of a difference.

"Weiwei, I don't want to hear these words ever again." Grim was Xia Jingshan's expression.

It was obvious that his two granddaughters did not get along. Wushuang was introverted while Ziwei was flamboyant. Wushuang was younger by two years yet was the one that accommodated her elder cousin. When the lively Xia Ziwei performed this when she was little and received the praise of her elders, she would stare at Wushuang in a taunting manner.

Wushuang was supposed to be born a beloved princess with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she could only watch silently by the corner due to her wayward mother. She would neither cry nor make a fuss. Whenever Xia Jingshan saw the look in her eyes, his heart ached incessantly.

When she was little, she would stare into her grandfather's eyes with her large grape-like pupils as she hugged his neck and say, "Grandpa, a person with no parents by their side has no right to be unruly. I'll be obedient."

Xia Jingshan has always regarded her as his precious granddaughter and would constantly address her as his precious darling to show this sensible girl some love. 

Xia Ziwei had always been possessive and competitive since childhood, and she even felt that every single thing in the house belonged to her... Then came along a soft and weak little sister who seized her grandpa's love and even some of her father's love, too. Even the swing that was hand-built by her father must be shared with her. It was one thing if her last name was Xia, but it was Jing instead. Therefore, she troubled and embarrassed her every chance she got, and that was the start of a rivalry between them.

Xia Ziwei looked at her grandfather's expression and curbed her mirth, like a naive child that made a harmless bad joke. "I'm just kidding. Am I not Grandpa's precious sweetheart?"

Wushuang smiled indifferently. She had heard this far too often since she was a child that she was already numb to it.

She greeted her aunt and elder cousin before she sat down comfortably beside her grandfather. She spontaneously brewed Kung Fu Tea1 as she chatted with the elder.

After a moment, Xia Jingshan was smiling again.

Xia Ziwei hated this version of Jing Wushuang the most, always pretending to be clever and lovely to garner the favor of her elders.

She had just returned to the country and her grandfather had already cherished her presence. Before Jing Wushuang came back, she was Grandpa's precious sweetheart. Now with Jing Wushuang around, she was nothing. How could she not hate Jing Wushuang?