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Chapter 215. Have you never been loved?

When those words came into view, an indescribable flutter of emotion stirred within Jiang Jianxin.

She pursed her lips and subconsciously clicked on Xie Yan's Moments, wanting to give her a like as well.

However, as her fingertips slid across the screen, her movements gradually froze—Xie Yan's WeChat Moments were pitifully few, and there was an indescribable eeriness to it.

Her earliest post on WeChat Moments was a family photo. During the events in Zhenbei City, Jiang Jianxin had seen Xie Yan's "father" and "mother" through the blade of the Tangguang sword.

They were two deformed monsters, following Xie Yan step by step, invisible to anyone without the ability to see through falsehoods.

But in Xie Yan's social media posts from years ago, Jiang Jianxin saw the normal side of her monstrous parents—

A middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses holds a newspaper, exuding elegance and refinement, while a woman in a floral apron smiles gently at the camera.

Standing in front of her parents, Xie Yan wore a baseball cap and looked energetic, while Xie Yan, wearing a tutu, held her brother's arm and looked like a little princess who was being pampered.

Four smiling faces, framed by a warm-toned filter, perfectly embody the definition of a "happy family."

Jiang Jianxin scrolled up and saw that Xie Yan's second post on WeChat Moments was three years later. The drastically different style of the photo made her gasp.

In the stark white backdrop of the funeral hall, Xie Yan, dressed in mourning clothes, sat blankly in a chair, tightly clutching her parents' portraits.

Beside him, Xie Yan, also dressed in plain clothes, was hunched over, his red and swollen eyes filled with broken tears.

Xie Yan's expression, however, resembled that of a soulless shell, with something more terrifying than sadness frozen in her unfocused pupils.

Jiang Jianxin stared intently into Xie Yan's eyes at that moment. Her gaze was strange, a mixture of confusion and clarity that sent chills down one's spine.

She frowned and scrolled up again.

This photo, taken a year ago, is closer to Jiang Jianxin's impression of the brother and sister.

Xie Yan, dressed in a purple robe with long hair cascading over his shoulders, had a complex and indescribable emotion in his eyes. He stood to the right, his gaze slightly lowered, as if staring at his sister, yet also as if looking through her at something else entirely.

Xie Yan sat in the chair, her bright red coat making her skin appear even paler, her pigtails slightly upturned, giving her a childlike playfulness.

Her yellow backpack was open, and several bright yellow birds perched on her shoulder, tilting their heads as if curiously examining the camera. Most striking were the two photo frames she clutched tightly in her arms—

Instead of black-and-white photos of their parents, there was a cartoon monster wearing glasses and rolling up a newspaper with its tentacles, and another cartoon wolf wearing an apron and wielding a frying pan.

Xie Yan's smile was so bright it was almost blinding, with a sweet curve at the corners of her mouth, but her fingertips gripped the edge of the photo frame tightly, as if afraid that if she let go, the photos would slip away from her arms.

The whole photo was eerie, making Jiang Jianxin feel uneasy.

She hissed and quickly closed Xie Yan's WeChat Moments.

Across from him, Yin Ju gulped down a large mouthful of soup, then noticed Jiang Jianxin's complicated expression and asked curiously:

"Are you browsing forums? Did you see some bad news?"

"No, I added a friend named Fool as a friend and saw some strange things on her Moments."

Jiang Jianxin picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and mumbled something as he ate.

Yin Ju wasn't interested in the Fool, nor was he curious about which Fool she had added as a friend. He simply said:
"That's normal. Fools' worldview is inherently distorted—that sequence, the more insane, the stronger."

Yin Ju thought for a moment, then reminded him:

"Generally, only those who have experienced painful pasts and suffered from deep-seated psychological trauma will become fools."

"I advise you to stop browsing their WeChat Moments. Don't let your mind be corrupted." Jiang Jianxin was still a little shaken, and she agreed with Yin Ju's words.

Xie Yan looks perfectly normal and communicates like a normal person, but seeing these three strange group photos on her WeChat Moments really scared her.

Jiang Jianxin ate his rice while lost in thought.

After swallowing the last mouthful of rice, Jiang Jianxin took a sip of soup and suddenly asked:
"What's it like to have a mom and dad?"

Yin Ju's chopsticks paused in mid-air, and his gaze softened.

He put down the bowl, gently wiped the corner of his mouth, as if sorting through long-forgotten memories.

"It's a kind of..."

He suddenly smiled, and fine lines appeared at the corners of his eyes:

"It's like hugging a heater in winter; it's so hot you want to let go, but you can't bear to."

The setting sun slanted in through the window, casting two long shadows on the table.

Yin Ju stretched out his hand, his fingertips gently tracing the boundary between light and shadow, reciting it as if reciting a familiar story:

“I remember that my parents would hold hands and take me to the amusement park. My mom was always worried that I would eat too much ice cream, so my dad would secretly buy me an extra one.”

"And...every time it rains, Mom always tilts the umbrella towards Dad and me, getting half of her shoulder wet, and then she laughs and says, 'A water mage as skilled as her loves getting wet in the rain.'"

"On winter mornings, my dad would warm my school uniform on the radiator before gently waking me up. When I was still half asleep and getting dressed, I could always smell the warm, sun-kissed scent on it."

His gaze drifted further and further away, as if passing through time, and he saw those ordinary yet heartwarming scenes again—

“When I had a fever, they would take turns staying by my bedside. My mother would put a cool towel on my forehead, and my father would clumsily cook porridge. Even though it was terribly salty, I thought it was the most delicious thing in the world.”

The afterglow of the setting sun reddened his profile, and those fragmented memories seemed to be gilded with a gentle golden edge.

Jiang Jianxin listened quietly, and suddenly felt something slightly warm in his chest, like a crack in the frozen lake surface, letting in a ray of warm light he had never seen before.

After speaking for a while, Yin Ju looked at her again and asked hesitantly:
"Have you...never felt your parents' love?"

Upon hearing these words, Jiang Jianxin felt as if he had been shot in the heart.

When she used to read novels, she never understood why the villains always disliked the protagonists.

Now she suddenly empathizes with those villains.

Someone has experienced a happiness she has never known, yet still asks her, "Have you never been loved?"

That sour, bitter feeling churned in her chest, as if something was gnawing at her heart.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Seeing that she didn't respond for a long time, Yin Ju seemed to understand something and quickly spoke again:

“It’s alright, Jiang Jianxin. My parents have both passed away now.”

"Spend the rest of your time learning to love yourself."

One more chapter is being written!