My Online Girlfriend Has a Twin Sister

Sadness is a hateful emotion.

Children don’t understand sadness. Their world is simple: happy or not happy. The first time they experience sadness, they are struck by how peculiar an emotion it is. It doesn’t rush in like a gale-force wind. Instead, it’s slow, filling the entire body like a heavy, sluggish current.

It drags you down.

Until you’re torn from this bustling world and imprisoned deep in the dark earth, where you can hear nothing and your hands and feet grow cold and numb.

That’s why, when a child is born, parents always say, "I hope they grow up to be happy."

But when they truly grow up, they discover that sadness is unavoidable. No one can be happy forever.

It is this contrast with sadness that makes us cherish happiness.

And the misfortune and pain scattered across the world are not God’s cruel joke, but a reluctant act of kindness.

As the years pass, they discover that sadness lurks in every corner of life, and disaster finds ever-new ways to strike.

That is why the elderly all have weary eyes, weathered by a lifetime of hardship.

’Now it’s my turn to experience this kind of sadness...’ Jiangg Ning thought to herself.

She could already foresee the consequences of selling all of her assets.

Jiangg Ruxue wouldn’t necessarily appreciate it. In her mother’s eyes, taking on the responsibility for the employees’ severance pay was a completely superfluous act.

She would sell off all her assets and spend every last bit of her savings, only to get nothing in return. It would be thankless suffering, with no benefit whatsoever beyond upholding her own idealistic principles.

Down the line, Jiangg Ruxue might even start another business, chalking this disaster up to simple mismanagement before going on to create another one.

And just because she was her "biological daughter," she would probably have to clean up that mess, too.

What was life? This was life. A never-ending cycle of feeling pain amidst a chaotic mess of problems.

’Whatever. What else can I do...?’

"We should go over there, shouldn’t we?" Chen Yuan’s voice startled Jiangg Ning out of her thoughts. He gazed at the besieged building. "We should at least meet with her and talk it over, see what your mother is thinking."

"Huh?" Jiangg Ning thought for a moment. "We’re going...? You’re coming with me?"

"Yeah. We’ll both wear masks. Otherwise, those employees will cause trouble for you if they recognize you."

"Then let’s go now."

"Hold on. Let’s get the masks from my car first."

Jiangg Ning stood up, grabbed her bag, and followed behind Chen Yuan. It was hard to say what was on her mind, but in just those few seconds, her thoughts had clearly drifted off again.

But before they could walk out the door, a server in an apron and a flat cap hurried over to stop Chen Yuan.

"Excuse me, sir. You haven’t paid for the three coffees. The total is 108 yuan."

"We didn’t pay?" Chen Yuan froze for a second, then quickly pulled out his phone. "Right, I’ll pay you now."

A moment later, Jiangg Ning realized what was happening, her expression turning awkward.

As they left the cafe, crossed the street, and headed for the parking lot, Jiangg Ning kept fiddling with her hair before speaking hesitantly.

"Sorry you had to see that, Chen... My uncle’s just like that. Pretty unreliable. I’m used to it."

"You mean the bill? It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it."

Though he said that, Chen Yuan was complaining internally. ’That guy really is unreliable. He just dumps this huge mess on us and walks away. He even remembered to down his coffee in one gulp before leaving, but couldn’t be bothered to pay the bill, leaving it to the two of us younger ones.’

He had truly never met an elder like that before.

Chen Yuan was especially displeased by how the man had just casually dumped the entire situation on Jiangg Ning.

But no matter how annoyed he was, Chen Yuan couldn’t let Ningning see it. When he turned back to her, his face was wreathed in a smile.

"We’ve been busy all morning and haven’t even eaten. After we visit the company, let’s go grab a bite. You must be hungry, right?" Chen Yuan opened the car door and rummaged around, pulling out two disposable masks. "I knew I had some. Yaoyao brought them last time we went to the amusement park. Here, for you."

Tearing open the packaging, Chen Yuan put his on first.

He turned back and saw the mask on Jiangg Ning’s face, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"You put it on inside out."

"Huh?"

"I said, you put your mask on inside out."

"Oh... oh, right."

"Here, let me do it," Chen Yuan said, gently reaching out. He took the mask off for Jiangg Ning, and when he put it back on, he remembered to pinch the bridge piece to fit her nose.

He stepped back to look her over.

He couldn’t help but worry.

’Even with a mask, it’s hard to hide Jiangg Ning’s beauty and air. If she goes over there like this, won’t the employees recognize her? Then again, maybe not... After all, Ningning has never dealt with anyone from Meiruxue Company before.’

"Chen," Jiangg Ning said suddenly, her hand reaching up to touch the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah?"

"I’m sorry..."

"What’s wrong? Why are you apologizing all of a sudden?" Chen Yuan asked, looking at her in confusion.

"My uncle has always been like that. He’s not a bad person, just... spoiled rotten by my grandparents, so he’s completely incompetent and has no sense of responsibility... He’s done so many absurd things over the years. You wouldn’t believe it, but the year before I left for Lanjing, I even had to go pick him up from the police station."

"What did he do?"

"He went to a club to solicit a prostitute, got caught in a raid, and was too scared to tell anyone in the family, especially my mom. In the end, he called me—his niece—to come bail him out."

"Pfft—" Chen Yuan couldn’t hold back a laugh, finding the whole thing utterly absurd. "From what I saw, your uncle seems pretty well-off, and he has a wife. Did he really need to...?"

"Who knows what he’s thinking. Honestly, I’ve known he was unreliable since I was a kid. He’s scared of his wife and scared of my mom, loses money on every venture he touches, and the second he gets any cash, he ’invests’ it with his good-for-nothing friends and loses it all, only to come back asking for more... He’s only been stable these past few years because my mom set him up with a few businesses."

"If your mother treats him so well, that’s all the more reason he shouldn’t be hiding from this."

"He probably had to go explain things to my aunt first. My mom and my aunt have never gotten along; they fight every time they see each other. It’s... a very complicated relationship. It’s so embarrassing... You probably never imagined my family was full of such unreliable people, did you?" Jiangg Ning’s head drooped slightly as she spoke. "It’s a bit mortifying, especially since your parents are so wonderful."

It was for these very reasons that Jiangg Ning had never wanted Chen Yuan to know about her family.

On the surface, she came from a privileged background, born into a position many people could only dream of.

But she would rather have none of it, if it meant having a clean, respectable family instead.

She knew she could hide the truth for a time, but not forever.

She just never expected him to find out like this, in the most humiliating situation possible.

How much sordidness lay hidden beneath that seemingly glamorous facade? Now, there was no need to dig for it; it was all exposed under the harsh light of day. Forget what Chen Yuan himself might think—what would his parents think when they found out? And there was no way she could hide any of this from Jiang Zhengfeng.