I woke up with a baby in a swaddle right next to me. A mechanical voice, buzzing with excitement, echoed in my head. "You must abandon her! Leave her to her alcoholic, abusive father. She will grow up through endless hardship. Then, like a resilient wildflower blooming in adversity, she will catch the eye of the heir to the Sterling Group. Once they get married, you can return to acknowledge her as your daughter, and you will live the rest of your life in absolute wealth and luxury!" I stared at the baby, who was currently giggling at me, and remained silent for a long time. "What if I don't abandon her?" The System froze, seemingly shocked that anyone would even ask that question. Quickly, its tone turned mocking: "Then she will become the most ordinary, average person. She will go to a normal college, get a normal job, and she will never attract the attention of a billionaire CEO." I smiled. "That sounds like a pretty good life, doesn't it?" If the only purpose of her suffering was to attract the attention of some man... Then avoiding all that suffering was a much better deal, wasn't it? 01 I kept Lily. No, maybe I should call her Aurora now. Ignoring the System's protests, I changed her original, cliché novel name. She now shares my last name. I hated how in those romance novels, the female leads could never escape those repetitive, overly sweet names—always something delicate, soft, or weak. Meanwhile, the male leads always had names carefully selected by the author to sound powerful, profound, and dominant. I liked the name Aurora. Dawn's light, standing strong and facing the sun. I wanted my daughter to escape the fate of depending on others. I wanted her to live independently and freely. 02 When Aurora was seven, she started elementary school. She had a bright and cheerful personality, loved by both her teachers and classmates. Until one day, she came home crying. The pigtails I had carefully braided for her were messy and undone. I asked her what happened. She sobbed, "Tommy keeps pulling my hair during class." I knew Tommy. He was the boy who sat right behind her. I had seen him at the parent-teacher conference. He was a scrawny, overly energetic kid. I frowned. "Did you tell the teacher?" Aurora nodded. "I did, but..." She hesitated. "But the teacher said Tommy only pulls my hair because he has a crush on me." I didn't lose my temper in front of my daughter. Instead, I knelt down gently and said to her: "Let's go talk to Ms. Patterson together, okay?" In the classroom, the teacher, wearing thick red-rimmed glasses, looked up from her lesson plans with a teasing smile. She pointed her chin toward my daughter, whom I had seated a short distance away. "Aurora is a very pretty girl. A lot of the little boys in class have a crush on her. You know how it is—boys at this age don't know how to express their feelings, so they act out. They tease her a bit, pull her hair a bit." She seemed to want to use that subtle, knowing smile to group us into the same category. A category of women who had experienced the same "affectionate harassment" and were supposed to feel flattered by it. But in the face of my stony silence, her smile slowly froze. I said flatly, "I don't understand. All I know is that my daughter is being harassed. This is school bullying." The teacher seemed taken aback, as if the severity of the word "bullying" had offended her. She set her thermos down with a thud and sat up straight. "Aurora's mom, you're being a bit unreasonable. They're just little kids, what do they know about bullying? They're just playing around." "Playing around?" I repeated her words. "If it's just 'playing around,' then how about we move Tommy to sit right behind your daughter?" It was an open secret that Ms. Patterson's daughter was also in this class. The teacher, who had been arguing so righteously just a second ago, suddenly went mute. I understood perfectly. It wasn't that she didn't know this behavior was wrong. It was just that she couldn't be bothered to deal with it. Just like so many unspoken rules in our society. We all know it's wrong, but for hundreds of years, no one has ever stood up and said "No." Because breaking the mold is infinitely more troublesome than just conforming to it. It's so much easier to wave it off as "just playing around" than to put in the immense effort required to teach little boys to respect women from a young age. But I was going to break the mold. For my daughter. And for the countless girls in the future who would get their hair pulled. To tell them: This is not a crush. This is harassment. This is bullying. "Ms. Patterson," I snapped her back to reality. "You have two choices right now. First, move Tommy to sit behind your daughter. Second, separate my daughter and Tommy immediately, and teach the boys in your class that the correct way to show you like someone is never to bully them, but to respect and care for them." The teacher deflated like a popped balloon. "I'll choose the second option." I took my daughter's hand and walked out, satisfied. As we reached the door, Ms. Patterson couldn't resist calling out bitterly, "Aurora's mom, interfering this much is going to affect your child's normal socialization with her peers." I didn't even turn my head. My tone was absolute. "That is none of your concern." On the way home, I shared my concerns with Aurora. "Sweetie, if Tommy refuses to play with you anymore because of what Mommy did today, will you be sad?" Over the years, my daughter and I had an agreement: we always spoke our minds and never kept things bottled up. Aurora thought for a moment, then asked timidly, "Does that mean Tommy will never pull my hair again?" I nodded. "That's right." My daughter instantly threw her arms around me, her eyes sparkling. "Then you are the best mommy in the whole wide world!" Wrapped in her warm, soft little arms, all my doubts vanished instantly. I thought, This is truly the greatest compliment in the world. 03 That night, after my daughter fell asleep, the System popped up. Ever since I unilaterally decided to keep Aurora, it had rarely shown itself. It was its form of silent protest against my actions. But to ensure we completed our overarching mission, it would occasionally pop up to remind me. Like today— "Host, our ultimate goal is to get the Female Lead's Happiness Meter to 100%. You really need to step it up." I was suddenly curious. "According to the original plot, when exactly does her Happiness Meter hit 100%?" System: "When she marries the heir to the Sterling Group, obviously." I asked again: "And what about after the wedding? What is her happiness level then? Did your creators ever check?" The System suddenly went silent. I knew it. They never checked. It's just like the end of a fairy tale: it always stops at "and the Prince and Princess lived happily ever after." But what happens next? Does the Princess ever get homesick? When she's forced to learn suffocating royal etiquette, does she miss the days she ran free in the forest? Does she get dragged down by in-law drama? Does the Prince ever fall in love with someone else? All of this... no one cares. If happiness is fragile and constantly at risk of being lost, it cannot be called true happiness. Because something fleeting cannot support a lifetime. I asked again, "What is Aurora's Happiness Meter at right now? Can you check?" I wasn't asking out of a player's ambition, but out of a mother's genuine curiosity. My daughter... is she happy right now? The System disappeared for a moment, probably checking the data. A few seconds later, it returned, its mechanical voice glitching and screeching in disbelief. "54%... How is this possible?! This is the level of happiness she's only supposed to reach after enduring unimaginable suffering and being saved by Arthur Sterling during their first encounter! What on earth did you do?!" I looked down at my sleeping daughter and smiled. "I just did what a mother is supposed to do." Facts prove that the one who saves the Princess isn't always the Prince. It can also be the Queen. And I believe that in the near future, the one who saves the Princess... will be the Princess herself. 04 A few years later, Aurora entered high school. Her grades were excellent, especially in STEM subjects, where she showed incredible talent. She was almost always ranked number one in her grade for math. But one day, she came home looking incredibly defeated, not saying a word. I immediately sensed something was wrong and asked: "Are you upset about your scores on the midterms?" Her voice instantly cracked. "A new transfer student came to our class. He took first place on the very first midterm. Even in math." I understood her frustration. It's a terrible feeling to be beaten by someone in the very field you excel at. So I asked gently, "How many students are in your grade?" Aurora thought for a second. "Six hundred and forty-five." I smiled. "See? You didn't lose to one person. You beat six hundred and forty-three other people. That is incredibly impressive." Hearing my comfort, her mood visibly lifted. But she still looked a bit down. "Mom, our math teacher said that girls just aren't naturally good at STEM. Even if my grades are good now, once we hit senior year, the boys will eventually overtake me." I kept my smile and asked, "And which teacher made that brilliant deduction?" Again. Which. Teacher. My daughter sighed. "Our math teacher. He's also the Vice Principal." The System chimed in my head, gloating. "Uh-oh. This one isn't going to be so easy to deal with." I ignored it and thought for a moment. "Sweetie, do you want to transfer to a better private school?" Private schools have exorbitant tuition fees, but the upgrade in educational resources is undeniable. Most importantly, instead of treating students just as students, they treat students (and their parents) as clients. If anyone dared to say "girls aren't suited for STEM" there, I would have the absolute leverage to demand they be fired. But to my surprise, the one who reacted most violently wasn't Aurora, but the System. It screamed in my head: "Absolutely NOT!!!" I closed my eyes in exasperation. "Why are you freaking out?" The System frantically explained: "That transfer student is the Male Lead #2! He is a literal genius. He takes first place without even trying. At first, the Female Lead is crushed by this, but eventually, she starts looking up to him as a role model, and their relationship slowly heats up!" I was genuinely confused. "And?" The System sounded like it was pulling its hair out. "Do you not get it? He's supposed to be the beacon of inspiration on her path forward!" I maintained my confused tone. "Using your rival as motivation is just good sportsmanship. That just means my daughter has a great mindset. What does the specific identity of the rival have to do with anything?" The System seemed to choke. "But... but..." It stammered for a long time but couldn't form a coherent argument. I continued calmly: "Making the Female Lead suffer setbacks just so she can 'grow' isn't loving the Female Lead. On the contrary, it's just a cheap plot device to give Male Lead #2 a chance to show off. The underlying logic is still heavily male-centric. "True love means paving a smooth road for her, allowing her to step on everyone else as she climbs to the top." The System fell silent for a long time before finally saying weakly, "But in all the missions I've overseen, the plots are always like this. The Female Lead must be misunderstood, framed by villains, and endure every possible hardship before she can rise from the ashes and truly find happiness." I shook my head, pointing out the glaring flaw: "Then think back to the Male Leads in those stories. Don't they always come from generational wealth? The greatest hardship they ever experience in their entire lives is a mild stomach ulcer. The Female Lead's entire happiness relies solely on his love. What happens if he withdraws that love? She is left with absolutely nothing." I concluded: "These stories are categorized as female romance, but at their core, they are just male power fantasies." The System finally stopped arguing. It had been completely dismantled by my logic. After a while, it sighed. "But if she leaves Male Lead #2, that's another plot point missed that could have raised her Happiness Meter. How is the story supposed to progress now..." I didn't answer it. Because right at that moment, Aurora had finished thinking. Her eyes were dancing with excitement, though she hesitated. "Really? Can we really? But private school tuition is so expensive." I smiled and ruffled her hair. "Of course we can! Mommy has made quite a bit of money over the years." Over the years, aside from raising my daughter, I had been diligently running my own business. I hadn't just sat around waiting for my daughter to marry a billionaire so I could ride her coattails, like in the original plot. Aurora's eyes grew red, and tears rolled down her cheeks. She hugged me tightly. "Thank you, Mom. I know you're doing this to give me a better environment. I promise I will study so hard. I won't let you down!" In that moment, I thought: My daughter has truly grown up. In the past, I'd seen parents who loved "hardship education," constantly reminding their kids how hard they worked and how much they sacrificed for them. But what's the point? It just breeds unnecessary guilt. If you genuinely care for your child, they will naturally feel it. I wrapped my arms around Aurora. "Mommy's biggest hope isn't that you get perfect grades. It's that you are truly happy." 05 The transfer process went incredibly smoothly. With the dark cloud lifted from her mind, she became even more focused on her studies. I also hired a private math tutor for her. She was a female instructor who had graduated from the math department at MIT. Perhaps, currently, there are relatively fewer women who reach the absolute pinnacle in STEM fields. But that doesn't mean "women are naturally unsuited for STEM." On the contrary, it's precisely because there are so many voices of doubt on this path that girls become increasingly discouraged. More than just tutoring, my main goal in hiring this specific instructor was to provide a role model. Even if very few people walk this path, as long as someone has walked it, it proves the path is viable. If someone else can do it, I believe my daughter can do it too. Because she is so brilliant and so resilient. ... The day Aurora finished her SATs and college applications, my company was officially incorporated. Standing outside the testing center waiting for her, I asked the System: "Can you check Aurora's current Happiness Meter?" The System replied: "One moment." A few seconds later, it gasped in shock: "76%!" I didn't understand. "Is that high?" The System's voice was practically trembling. "Very high! Out of all the hosts who started missions at the same time as us, your score is the highest!" Just then, Aurora came skipping out of the testing center. She grabbed my arm, beaming. "Mom! The exams went so well! I'm confident—I guarantee you'll be getting an acceptance call from MIT!" I smiled and took her backpack. "Oh my goodness! Then I really am riding my little Aurora's coattails." In the original novel, the Female Lead had to work multiple part-time jobs just to scrape together tuition while attending college. Despite working incredibly hard, she was still inevitably dragged down by external drama. In the end, she only managed to get into an average state college. In this life, I cleared every obstacle in her path so she could study in peace. And she was able to unleash her full potential, securing a spot at the most prestigious university in the country. The path of her life visibly widened. Even if she never married into a billionaire family, she now had the power to build her own empire. The System sighed in my head. "Host, perhaps your choice was correct. You really did change the trajectory of her life, and you changed my perspective too." I smirked slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. 06 Aurora was accepted into the math department at MIT, just as she hoped. She was invited back to her high school to give a speech. On the auditorium stage, Aurora was radiant. After sharing her study tips, she concluded: "...And finally, I want to say this to all the girls here today. If a teacher ever tells you, 'Girls aren't suited for STEM,' or 'The boys will eventually overtake you,' please, absolutely do not believe them. "I am standing here today hoping that in the future, when you start to doubt yourselves or your abilities, you might think of me. Think of the person who got accepted into MIT's math program. And remember... she was a girl, too." When she finished, the auditorium erupted in thunderous applause. I saw with my own eyes several girls who had been staring at the floor with bored expressions suddenly snap their heads up, their eyes shining with a fierce light. I also saw the Vice Principal who had once belittled my daughter. His face was a sickly shade of green. The Principal standing next to him suddenly looked like he had an epiphany. As if he finally understood why, no matter how hard he tried to convince us to stay, he couldn't change my daughter's determination to leave. I don't know, nor do I care, how furious that Principal must have been at losing a brilliant student destined for MIT. Because we had already crossed mountains and sailed far beyond them. 07 After Aurora went to college, I fully dedicated myself to my business. We were both fighting hard in our respective fields. Some nosy acquaintances would tell me: "Why are you working so hard? You have a daughter, not a son. It's not like you have to buy her a house or pay for a wedding." I would just smile faintly. "Then it must suck to be your daughter. My daughter is lucky. The harder I work now, the less she has to suffer in the future. Everything I have is hers, and it's definitely not going to be limited to just a house or a measly wedding fund." The person's face would sour, and they'd quickly shut up. After they left, the System asked me: "Host, I don't really understand human emotions. Did she say that because she has a son?" I shook my head. "No. She has a daughter too. An only child." The System was surprised. "Then why did she say that to you? Does she not love her own daughter?" I fell silent for a long time, unsure how to explain the complexities of human nature to a machine. "Maybe she does love her. But clearly, even though she gave birth to a daughter, she still values sons more." The belief that you have to grind and hustle if you have a son, but you can kick back and relax if you have a daughter... It's an insidious form of deeply ingrained sexism. In their hearts, they probably hold more affection for the imaginary son they never had. And because of that, they project those feelings onto sons-in-law or nephews. So, is it love? Maybe it's love, but it's a very conditional love. After all, "put your money where your mouth is" is the eternal, unchanging truth.
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