Chapter 1768: Unlucky Heiress (35)

She had picked up this stone by accident when she was very young.

One side was snow-white, smooth and flat, like a sheet of paper. The other side was covered in intricate symbols whose meaning she could not understand.

On the left side of the stone were words she recognized—Lucky Charm. On the right side was another line of tiny words: Write down your wish, and I will help you fulfill it.

At first, she had never thought the stone was anything special and had simply regarded it as some sort of toy. She remembered things unusually early, perhaps because her parents had argued constantly and her mother often took out her frustrations on her. Even now, she still clearly remembered things from when she was only one or two years old.

Whenever her parents fought and her mother scolded or beat her, she would clutch the stone and hide in a corner crying. Feeling the pain all over her body, she would say to the stone that if only her parents would stop fighting and her mother would stop hitting her, that would be wonderful.

Unexpectedly, her parents later died in an accident. There was no longer any chance for them to fight, and her mother could never hit her again. After being sent to an orphanage, she was bullied and ignored by the other children. Only then did she begin to miss the days when she still had parents.

Even if she was occasionally beaten and had to listen to their arguments, when they weren't fighting, their family had lived quite happily. At least she hadn't been bullied by other children, nor had she often been robbed of her food or suffered from hunger and cold.

By the time she was five years old, she had already learned how to write. Sometimes, squatting by the orphanage gate and watching children with parents acting spoiled and spending time with their families, she would crouch in a corner, spread out the stone in her palm, and use a charcoal pencil to write down her wish:

To have a pair of loving parents and live a life of prosperity.

She had never expected those words to come true. Her parents were already gone from this world. Writing them down was merely a form of comfort.

Yet only some time later, the headmistress informed her that a couple wished to adopt her. They were a kind-looking man and woman who appeared to be genuinely good people.

The moment she met them, she accepted without hesitation.

After arriving at the Tang family, she began living like a princess. Her adoptive parents loved her, and she naturally enjoyed a wealthy life.

She remembered the stone called the Lucky Charm, and her heart pounded wildly. For the first time, she believed that perhaps everything she had now had truly been brought to her by the Lucky Charm.

Now that she had everything, she was content. She dared not ask for more. Carefully placing the Lucky Charm into a box, she hid it in the most secret place.

She didn't dare make wishes recklessly either, afraid that too many wishes would make it lose its power. She even feared that Heaven might consider her too greedy and one day take away everything she possessed.

Thus, after entering the Tang family, she had never opened the box again over the past decade. If she hadn't accidentally found it tonight, she might have forgotten that she even possessed such a miraculous object.

Staring at the Lucky Charm, Tang Yi discovered that the place where she had written her wish had returned to being smooth and clean, with no trace of writing left.

The other side was still covered in those complicated and incomprehensible symbols.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but she felt they looked even more intricate than before.

Or maybe she had simply remembered them incorrectly as a child.

Thinking back on everything that had happened recently, especially Tang Kui's continued coldness toward her, her heart tightened.

She liked Tang Kui deeply.

She only dared to steal glances at him and cautiously approach him.

She didn't even have the courage to confess.