This was also normal.
After all, if Cheng Qingyun had not looked so much like his blood-related-less elder sister, Su Ziyan would never have gotten together with her.
Because the person who had always been in his heart was his elder sister, Xu Duyun, who was ten years older than him and had no blood relation to him.
And Cheng Qingyun was merely a substitute.
Long ago, on that hazy night, Cheng Qingyun had asked him if he wanted to try dating.
Through the hazy night, Su Ziyan looked at her face, but in his heart he was thinking of another woman who had rejected his confession.
In the end, as if possessed, he agreed.
That was how their ill-fated relationship began.
The reason he always swallowed the words every time he wanted to suggest breaking up was also because he could not resist this face’s hugs and kisses.
After all, for some reason, Cheng Qingyun’s eyebrows and eyes resembled Xu Duyun’s by at least seventy or eighty percent…
But none of that mattered anymore.
They had already broken up.
Thinking this, Su Ziyan leaned back onto the bed, only to bounce up again because of the damp sheets.
In the end, he could only get up sheepishly and change the bedsheets.
He had originally planned to just go to sleep like that, but after all the fuss, he actually felt much more awake.
Thoughts began to surge continuously in his mind.
Su Ziyan had seen this kind of situation online.
It seemed to be called breakup syndrome.
No matter how things were while together, after so many years, there would always be some feelings of gain and loss after breaking up.
Just like him right now.
Yet among the surging thoughts, what Su Ziyan thought of was not his ex-girlfriend, but his elder sister…
His first impression of Xu Duyun had not been very good.
The first time they met was when he and his father had just moved.
Their next-door neighbor was Xu Duyun, who was already in middle school.
Logically, little boys should all like kind and pretty older sisters who were good with children, but at that time, Xu Duyun’s appearance almost encompassed every stereotype of a delinquent girl in Su Ziyan’s eyes.
She wore a stud earring in one ear and often squatted in the hallway smoking cheap cigarettes.
No matter how you looked at it, she was the kind of person his upbringing taught him to stay away from.
But the two families interacted more than expected, and later he gradually learned about her family situation.
Xu Duyun’s parents had died in an accident, and she depended on her grandmother, who had poor health.
The “delinquent girl” appearance was just a disguise so the girl would not be bullied.
In reality, she was a gentle and good child, and she was also full of kindness toward the little neighbor kid—that is, Su Ziyan.
Su Ziyan’s father was also a kind person.
He often helped the elderly neighbor with heavy chores.
The two families gradually interacted more, and at that time Xu Duyun would often come over to play with Su Ziyan and tutor him with his homework.
Under that delinquent girl appearance was actually a straight-A student who could win scholarships.
From that period onward, the two of them addressed each other as siblings.
But if the story had only developed that way, they would have been nothing more than ordinary, friendly neighbors.
Perhaps in some future year, when one family moved or left, their contact would lessen until they became strangers lost in the crowd.
Until some chance encounter, Xu Duyun would smile and say, “We used to be neighbors. I even tutored you on your homework.”
And Su Ziyan would scratch his head and smile in agreement, because at that time he was still in kindergarten and could not remember any of those things.
But unfortunately, fate was not so ordinary.
In Xu Duyun’s second year of high school, her grandmother died.
It was not from an accident or illness, but from being angered to death—by Xu Duyun’s uncle.
The man was an unemployed rascal who often claimed he wanted to adopt Xu Duyun.
But he could not even support himself.
The reason he said he wanted to adopt her was simply to get the money left behind by her parents.
That time, he blocked Grandma Xu, who was just about to go out to buy groceries.
After a fit of throwing a tantrum and acting shamelessly, he angered the old lady so much that her eyes rolled back and she fell down the stairs.
When he saw the old woman in trouble, he got scared and ran away without even calling an ambulance.
It was Su Ziyan’s father, returning from work, who saw the elderly woman lying in the hallway and rushed her to the hospital.
But it was not in time.
Grandma Xu could not be saved.
Xu Duyun did not have many relatives she could contact.
In the end, it was Su Ziyan’s father who arranged Grandma Xu’s funeral so the old lady could rest in peace.
Xu Duyun had no choice but to live on strongly.
The thought that supported her was her grandmother’s wish for her to get into a good university and make something of herself in the future.
At that time, Su Ziyan’s father often made an extra portion of food so she could come eat with them after school.
No one expected that less than a month after Grandma Xu was buried, that thug uncle of hers would show up at the door again, shamelessly demanding to adopt Xu Duyun.
That way he could swallow the remaining money and the property.
At the time, the underage Xu Duyun had no way to resist.
It was Su Ziyan’s father who stepped forward to confront him.
In the end, no one knew what method he used, but he adopted her as his daughter and sent her uncle to prison.
The details were what Xu Duyun told him later.
At the time, seven-year-old Su Ziyan only knew that his father had brought the neighbor sister home and said to him, “From now on, you should call her Sister Xu Duyun.”
Su Ziyan had already called Xu Duyun “sister” before, so he did not fully understand the change.
He only knew that on that day, tears kept flowing from the corners of his sister’s eyes.
Three more years passed.
Xu Duyun got into a prestigious university and was already in her second year, while Su Ziyan was ten years old.
That year, Su Ziyan’s father died suddenly from overwork.
The flustered Su Ziyan had no idea who to contact.
From childhood to now, he had never seen any relatives, nor had he ever seen his own mother.
His father had been his only family.
In despair, he could only call Xu Duyun, who was studying at a university on the other side of the country, and cry to her over the phone.
That very night, Xu Duyun took a plane back to the city.
When the sky was just beginning to brighten, she pushed open the door of the house and pulled the sleepless Su Ziyan into her arms.
She said to him, “Don’t be afraid. Sister is back. Sister is here.”
Just as Su Ziyan’s father had arranged Grandma Xu’s funeral, Xu Duyun personally handled his father’s funeral as well.
And to take care of the ten-year-old Su Ziyan, Xu Duyun chose to drop out of university and stayed in this small city to find a job.
At that time, Su Ziyan really felt that his sister was like the sun—bright and warm.
The next setback came two years later.
Su Ziyan, who had just entered seventh grade, got into a fight with several classmates because they were spreading rumors that his sister was the little mother his dead father had found for him.
It insulted his deceased father and also insulted his elder sister, who had given up her studies to come home and take care of him.
So he grabbed a wooden stick and blocked their way after school.
With fierce determination, he beat them until their heads were bloody.
Their parents directly sent him to the police station.
When facing the police’s questions, Su Ziyan, who did not want to cause trouble for Xu Duyun, simply said he had no relatives and that his parents were already dead.
However, unexpectedly, the police who checked the records actually called his mother and asked her to come pick him up.
It was only that day that Su Ziyan first learned his mother was still alive.