The Black Swan Trap - chapter 1

Reading Note: The heroine is very smart, but she’s not a strong, domineering type.

She has zero combat ability, no background, questionable values, and has always relied on her own means to change her fate.

In the early part, the heroine will win over multiple characters to achieve her goals. High-morality readers, please don’t judge-don’t overthink it~

Later, she is redeemed by the male lead, who appears late in the story. The ending is 1V1.

If you like it, keep me company for a while; if not, see you in the next book~

-For Your Consideration-

A bowl of water can never be perfectly balanced.

Wen Ning understood this truth from a very young age.

It became especially clear to her when she was eight years old.

Wen Ning’s mother was born in the watery towns of Jiangnan-gentle and beautiful, she was drawn to the handsome and refined Wen Jiming.

Soon the two fell in love, settled in Yunzhou, and had two lovely daughters: Wen Hua and Wen Ning.

Wen Hua, the elder sister, was their first child and received all their love and attention.

Three years later, Wen Ning was born, but Wen Hua remained the most favored.

When Wen Ning was born, Wen Hua was three.

Three is the most adorable age for a child-and also the age when they need the most care.

There’s a common saying: when the second child is born, parents become biased and the eldest is neglected.

So, when Wen Ning was still in her mother’s womb, everyone around them kept counseling the parents, worried that the adorable Wen Hua would be treated unfairly.

Perhaps Wen Ning’s parents wanted to break this stereotype, or perhaps they truly adored Wen Hua.

So after Wen Ning was born, she never received the meticulous care given to the first child.

Instead, her parents, afraid of upsetting Wen Hua, poured even more affection into her.

From the start, Wen Ning always wore her sister’s hand-me-down clothes and played with her leftover toys.

Even their violin classes were chosen according to Wen Hua’s interests.

In such a household, Wen Hua became ever more dazzling, generous, and confident, while Wen Ning grew quieter and more withdrawn, shutting herself off.

When Wen Ning turned eight, her father’s family finally tracked them down.

Only then did she learn that Wen Jiming belonged to the Wen Family in Jing City-a powerful clan her mother could never have imagined reaching.

What’s more, Wen Jiming already had a wife from an arranged marriage, Zhao Qianru.

Because of her health, Zhao Qianru couldn’t have children, and since Wen Jiming couldn’t afford to lose the Zhao Family’s support, he never divorced her.

Thus, he traveled between Jing City and Yunzhou, secretly having children, which forced Wen Ning’s mother to become a mistress against her will.

When the truth was revealed, the Zhao Family used various business partnerships as leverage, forcing Wen Jiming to separate from Wen Ning’s mother.

Since it was their daughter who was infertile, the Zhao Family reluctantly allowed Wen Jiming to bring one child back to the Wen Family to raise.

Naturally, Wen Hua became the object of both parents’ desire.

In the end, Wen Hua was taken by Wen Jiming, leaving Wen Ning and her mother to get by on their own.

Wen Ning’s mother suddenly went from a happy woman to a reviled mistress.

She changed from gentle and kind to resentful and harsh.

Wen Ning’s life turned into hell.

For Wen Hua, it was the exact opposite-her life only got better.

She looked like her father, bright as the sun.

Carefully nurtured since childhood, she naturally excelled in grades, looks, and character.

Very quickly, the childless Zhao Qianru grew fond of her and accepted her.

While Wen Hua basked in her father and stepmother’s affection, Wen Ning’s mother lost her job due to psychological problems and languished at home.

While Wen Hua transferred to a prestigious school in Jing City and made friends among the wealthy,

at ten, Wen Ning was already washing clothes and cooking for herself, taking care of her half-crazed mother.

While Wen Hua played the violin gracefully under the guidance of renowned artists,

at fourteen, Wen Ning was juggling school and working off the books to support herself and her mother.

While Wen Hua drove luxury cars and wore designer brands, entering Jing City’s high society,

at eighteen, Wen Ning gave up college to find a job and make her way in the world.

Wen Ning’s mother always naively believed that Wen Jiming loved her, and that Wen Hua was the daughter she’d cherished from childhood.

She kept waiting, convinced that when the time came, they would come to take her away.

She waited, and waited.

But they never came-instead, she lost her mind completely.

And the one who suffered was always Wen Ning.

At first, she only berated Wen Ning; then she started hitting and kicking her.

Wen Ning’s bedtime stories became her mother’s tears and insults.

The phrase she heard most: “Why was it you who stayed!”

If it had been Wen Hua left behind, Wen Jiming would have surely come back for them!

Those long, hopeless days finally ended when Wen Ning was nineteen-the year her mother died.

After all, she was Wen Hua’s biological mother, so when the Wen Family learned of her passing, Wen Jiming brought Wen Hua back to Yunzhou to pay their respects.

Times had changed-the Wen Family and Zhao Family’s partnership had shifted to one dominated by the Wen Family.

People grow nostalgic with age. So this time, returning to Yunzhou, Wen Jiming took the now homeless Wen Ning back to the Wen Family, and Zhao Qianru could only agree.

It was Wen Ning’s first time on a plane.

As the cool air brushed past Wen Ning’s bony collarbones, she stared out the window, watching Yunzhou shrink away, inch by inch.

That cramped house, those damp, moldy walls-all now just blurry black dots, thirty thousand feet below.

Wen Ning knew very well:

This time, heading to Jing City, if she was as laughably passive as she’d been as a child-relying on Wen Jiming’s pitiful affection and charity-
she would end up just like that tiny black dot, turning to dust.

“Miss, would you like a blanket?” the flight attendant asked, bending down.

Wen Ning curled her reddened fingers. Years of malnutrition had left her with a touch of sickly color at the corners of her eyes as she looked up.

“Thank you… I’m not cold.”

Wen Ning’s voice was cold and hoarse, carrying the damp chill of Jiangnan’s rainy season.

But her Yunzhou accent was nowhere to be heard.

“All right. If you need anything, just press the call button.”

The flight attendant refilled Wen Ning’s juice, adjusted the air conditioning, and left with a gentle smile.

It was the first time she’d ever been served by someone else.

Wen Ning suddenly chuckled softly, a sweet dimple appearing at the corner of her lips, her eyes as cold as a deep pool.

How ridiculous-so the distance from the mud to riches is only a plane ticket away.

Wen Jiming, Zhao Qianru, Wen Hua, I’m coming.