Xu Yanfeng wasn't interested in other people's private affairs, but he had to admit that back in college, he'd been quite jealous of Zhou Du and curious about the relationship between him and Xia Xi. It was a relationship much closer than just friends, but not quite relatives.
"I have a sister who is from the same mother as me. She was born on the same day as me, just a dozen minutes later." Zhou Du looked at the stars in the distant sky, raised his goblet, and took a big sip of wine.
Xu Yanfeng's thoughts froze, and he stared at him in disbelief: "Xia Xi is your biological sister?"
Could it be that there is something else hidden in Xia Xi's life story...
In an instant, Xu Yanfeng's thoughts diverged, and he thought of many situations, even involving the emotional relationships of the previous generation.
Zhou Du was originally in a depressed mood when he mentioned this matter, but after being disturbed by Xu Yanfeng, all the negative emotions disappeared, and he was left with only speechless laughter.
He looked at Xu Yanfeng as if he was looking at a person with intellectual disabilities: "Mr. Xu, you are still drunk."
Xu Yanfeng: “…”
Zhou Du let out a deep breath and put the wine glass aside: "My sister died when she was seven years old."
Xu Yanfeng was silent, and the messy associations in his mind cleared away in an instant.
"She's very beautiful. Although we're twins, we don't look alike," Zhou Du said. "She's very clingy to me. No matter what I do, she follows me around like a tail. Sometimes I find her annoying and sneak out to play without her."
There was a pause of several seconds. Zhou Du seemed reluctant to talk about what happened next, but he finally said, "I killed her. That day, she looked at me eagerly and begged me to take her with me when we went out to play. I softened my heart and allowed her to come with me and my friends. We went to the wild, and a friend suggested we wade across the river to the temple opposite to play. I wanted to carry her across, but she insisted on doing it herself. I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but I actually agreed. I was in front, and when I turned around, she had already fallen into the river. It had rained a few days ago, and the water level rose. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared..."
His sister could not be saved.
By the time the professional search and rescue team pulled her out of the water, she was no longer breathing.
My grandparents cried heart-wrenchingly, my mother fainted on the spot, and my father seemed to have his spine broken, his back was hunched, and he looked several years older.
They blamed him for being so playful and for not taking good care of his sister. But after blaming him, they thought that he was also a child who had witnessed the scene with his own eyes and could not let it go, so they hugged him and cried.
She scolded him and cried at the same time.
Zhou Du himself knew that there was no room for exoneration in this matter. It was his fault, his carelessness, that killed his sister. He alone caused the tragedy of his entire family.
Time may heal wounds, but it cannot erase memories.
During that time, he had dreams every night—sometimes nightmares, sometimes pleasant dreams. The nightmare involved him watching his sister being swept under the water, swallowed by the murky water, while he stood on the shore, sweating profusely, helpless to help. The pleasant dream involved him jumping in, grabbing her hand amidst the turbulent current, and pulling her out.
But when I woke up from the dream, there was nothing.
His sister will never come back.
He lived in self-blame and guilt, like he was stuck in a quagmire, unable to escape no matter how hard he struggled. He even thought about jumping into the water where his sister fell, just to be with her. Since she loved playing with him so much, he should go and accompany her. Otherwise, the little girl would be too lonely and scared.
But he couldn't do that.
Everyone around him said to him with sympathy and love, Zhou Du, you are the only child your parents have left, you must grow up healthy and safe, and be filial to them in the future.
His grandparents often told him, "You must be obedient and not do anything dangerous. If something happens to you, our whole family will die."
He lived in a daze, a painful and tormented life, carrying the hopes of his family.
After summer vacation, he went to school and ran into Xia Xi. She seemed to have suddenly changed. Two moles had grown on her arms, which hadn't been there before. Zhou Du looked at her and, in a trance, it was as if he saw his own sister. The positions of her two moles were exactly the same as his sister's, one larger than the other.
Zhou Du felt that his sister must have been reluctant to leave him, so she came back to accompany him in another way.
Xia Xi heard about his family's situation. Although she couldn't agree with his ideas, he looked like he was about to die, so she made the best of it and gave him a lot of comfort. She treated him like a brother, chatting with him whenever she had time and trying to make him happy.
Her existence was more like a source of comfort for Zhou Du at that time.
As they grew older, they both matured and Zhou Du gradually realized his own absurdity, but he had also gotten used to treating Xia Xi as his own sister.
Xia Xi also didn't want him to live in the shadow of killing his sister, burdened with guilt for the rest of his life and unable to lead a normal life, so she began to deliberately guide him and stopped calling him brother.
Later, after many years, Zhou Du completely came out of it and began to live for himself. He was carefree and looked like a free and easy playboy, without any worries.
Xia Xi knew that he was alive, and only called him "Brother" in a cute way when she occasionally asked him to do something. He did not react and accepted it calmly.
However, every time he heard Xia Xi calling him brother, he would still think of his sister and could not refuse any of her requests.
*
The party didn't end until late at night, and Xia Xi was really sleepy.
Rooms were booked in the hotel, and everyone could go and rest if they were tired, but Xu Yanfeng insisted on taking Xia Xi back to their home, not the home they usually lived in, but the newly renovated villa.
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