On the day of my eighteenth birthday, Jiang Xue, the adopted daughter, shattered Mom's most treasured crystal vase.
She pointed at me, crying, "It was Sister! She was jealous that Mom and Dad were throwing me a birthday party and broke the vase on purpose!" I was born unable to lie. My face flushed crimson, and I could only repeat, "It wasn't me," over and over. But no one believed me.
Dad trembled with rage, pointing at my nose and shouting, "Ungrateful wretch! If you were half as sensible as our little Xue, we'd be burning incense in thanks!"
Mom's eyes were red-rimmed, her voice shrill: "Get out! Go kneel in the ancestral hall! Don't even think about coming out until you've properly reflected on what you've done!"
My brother, Jiang Chen, looked at me coldly, as if I were garbage:
"Jiang Yue, you're becoming more and more disgusting." I was locked in the cold, pitch-dark ancestral hall. Outside, I could hear the sounds of laughter and celebration from the living room as they held a make-up birthday party for Jiang Xue.
In that moment, I hated my mouth, cursed to only speak the truth.
*If I could lie too, if I could say the sweet words they loved to hear, would I still be discarded like trash and thrown in here?*
In the darkness, despair washed over me like a tide.
And just then, a *buzz* sounded in my head, followed by a cold, unfamiliar voice.
**[Lie-Detection System Activated.]**
*Lie-Detection System?*
I thought I was hallucinating from hunger.
The ancestral hall was cold and dark, the icy stone floor digging painfully into my knees.
I curled up in a corner, hugging my knees, burying my face against them.
My stomach was empty; I hadn't had a drop of water or a bite of food since noon.
Outside, the birthday song for Jiang Xue played again and again, accompanied by the exaggerated voices of my parents and brother Jiang Chen. Each sound felt like a poisoned dagger stabbing into my heart.
Jiang Xue had been adopted into our family six years ago.
She was sweet-tongued, knew how to read a room, and was an expert at coaxing. She quickly replaced me as the family's darling.
I, on the other hand, was dull, taciturn, and born with a strange condition:
—I couldn't tell a lie.
Any insincere words turned into a physical urge to vomit the moment they reached my lips, rendering me speechless.
The doctors called it a rare psychological disorder.
But to my family, I was just "low EQ," "unlikable," and "stubborn as a mule."
*Squeak. Squeak.*
A plump rat scurried out from behind the ancestral tablets, startling me.
And in that instant, the cold voice sounded in my head again.
The rat looked at me in terror, its mouth emitting squeaks.
[Lie: "I'm not tasty, I have no meat on me."]
[Truth: "Run! That two-legged beast looks hungry, she wants to eat me!"]
My eyes snapped wide open.
This wasn't a hallucination!
I really could hear… the truth behind the lies?
The door creaked open.
It was Jiang Xue.
She was wearing a brand-new princess dress, a sparkling crystal tiara perched on her head—like a princess straight out of a fairy tale.
While I, in my faded old clothes, knelt on the cold floor, looked like a lowly servant.
She placed a bowl of leftovers in front of me, towering over me.
"Sister, you must be hungry? Have some."