Chapter 48.1: Not a Date (1)

The younger sister is smart too, but she seems a little lacking compared to the older sister… 

Such was the evaluation Ji Xinxin often heard from others in her childhood.

Ji Xinxin wasn’t a slow learner. On the contrary, she was actually smarter and more mature than her peers. She would have easily been the pride of any family, if not for the fact that her older sister was a true prodigy.

Her child mind couldn’t comprehend why she was unable to keep up with her older sister’s footsteps, no matter how hard she worked. Weren’t they supposed to be twins?

While Ji Xinxin was trying her best to get first place in school, Ji Fanyin had already clinched a tier-1 prize from Hua Luogeng’s Golden Cup. 

While Ji Xinxin was desperately revising Olympiad questions, Ji Fanyin had already claimed its golden trophy. 

While Ji Xinxin was revising educational material three years ahead of her peers, Ji Fanyin had already finished a bunch of university textbooks that were now piled up by the corner of her room. She was even able to help their undergraduate neighbors with their assignments! 

While Ji Xinxin had just started learning about Picasso and Beethoven, Ji Fanyin was already making robots that could play any music sheet in the world.

Everyone always had their eyes focused on Ji Fanyin. Their compliments were always reserved for her. It was almost as if everything good in the world belonged to her.

Even their names were so different.

Fanyin (Vivace), Xinxin (Joyful).

No matter how hard their parents tried to explain that they had taken their names from the ancient poem—’the five notes resonate in a harmonious vivace, joyfully wishing the emperor good health’—she was still unable to curb her feelings of jealousy.

As Ji Xinxin slowly grew older and her attempts to chase after her older sister’s footsteps always ended in failure, she began to realize one thing. 

No matter how accomplished she was compared to her peers, as long as Ji Fanyin existed, she could never become the center of attention. There was no way she could ever catch up with her older sister. 

Never. 

This despair drove Ji Xinxin into illness. 

It was just an ordinary cold at the start, but she made a huge fuss and screamed that she was in excruciating pain. Their parents anxiously sent her to the hospital to conduct a full body check-up, but of course, they were unable to find anything wrong with her. 

That very moment, their hearts were with her and her only. They were so worried about her that they even stayed overnight at the hospital. 

It was a night of just Ji Xinxin and no Ji Fanyin.

That was her moment of realization.

I don’t need to be more outstanding than my older sister to make everyone see me. 

It could have been karma arising from her pretense, but she really fell severely ill shortly after, to the point where she became delirious. 

In her dreams, she saw herself becoming no more than an accompanying shadow living under her older sister’s towering success.

At the same time, she also saw a woman whose name was also ‘Ji Fanyin’ but was living a life completely different from theirs. That ‘Ji Fanyin’ had an incredibly beautiful appearance. She had no lack of money, and she was revered by everyone around her. 

Countless people would willingly become slaves under her skirt at her command. That was how loved she was. 

Even when Ji Xinxin finally awoke from her dreams, she still couldn’t forget about the other ‘Ji Fanyin’.

So, she started copying her actions and behaviors. One step at a time, she slowly found her own path and finally became someone who was more eye-catching than her twin sister. 

But even so, there were still two things which Ji Xinxin dared not to let her guard down on.

One was her older twin sister, Ji Fanyin. She knew that Ji Fanyin would soar like a phoenix as soon as she regained her confidence, so she was constantly keeping an eye on her.

The other was the ‘Ji Fanyin’ she saw in her dream.

It was out of deep admiration for the other ‘Ji Fanyin’ that convinced her to copy the latter’s actions and behaviors, and she eventually became the current her. But at the same time, she also feared ‘Ji Fanyin’, who had unwittingly imparted to her all of her current skills.

Ji Xinxin had looked it up on the internet several times over the years, and there was no film empress going by the name of ‘Ji Fanyin’. There was no such person during her childhood days, and that remained the case even after she graduated from university. 

Maybe it’s just a dream. Maybe it’s a revelation from heaven upon hearing my wish.

… Ji Xinxin was ready to accept it as such, but the two Ji Fanyins suddenly converged into the same person. 

TL Note: Fanyin (Vivace) has a more sophisticated tone to it whereas Xinxin (Joyful) sounds a little perfunctory for a name. The Chinese value the significance of their name quite a bit