If a person’s voice trembles when they speak, then that person must be very fragile right now.
Just like Shi Lingge was at this moment.
Although Su Ziyan couldn’t see her face clearly, he could hear the quivering fear in her voice.
Combined with the fact that her voice was genuinely pleasant, it was enough to break one’s heart.
But for Su Ziyan, that heart-wrenching feeling was no longer there.
It wasn’t that he felt nothing at all, but Shi Lingge could no longer stir his emotions as easily as before.
So he sat up cross-legged to face her and spoke seriously.
“Actually, people are very emotional creatures. They get swept away by hormones.”
“Just like you are now. If what you said is true—if you really treat me as someone special—it’s only because of what I said last night.”
“That was a momentary impulse. Because our first meeting was still pleasant in your eyes, and because I happened to have what you needed, you thought I was so special.”
“But in reality, we don’t know each other that well, do we?”
“So right now, you’re looking at me through a filter. As time goes on and we get to know each other better, that filter will slowly disappear, and you won’t think I’m so special anymore.”
His voice was so earnest, but his eyes wandered, as if he wasn’t really focusing on Shi Lingge in front of him.
And that was exactly the case.
His attention was actually on himself.
The words he spoke weren’t so much for Shi Lingge as they were for himself.
We met, we got along well enough.
So don’t make things difficult, and don’t flatter yourself.
How could two people decide they were destined to be siblings for life within twenty-four hours?
Su Ziyan said this to himself, as if forgetting the conviction he had held before.
Earlier, he had always believed that the depth of a relationship shouldn’t be measured solely by time.
“So, is this why you’re treating me like this now?”
Shi Lingge looked up at Su Ziyan, whose gaze was unfocused, and struck straight to the heart.
“Your filter for me was broken, so your feelings for me gradually cooled.”
Hearing her counter-question, Su Ziyan couldn’t help but frown.
The reason was simple: even though his earlier words were meant more for himself than for her.
Shi Lingge had seen through everything so easily, making him feel a sense of awkwardness, as if his excuse had been effortlessly exposed.
At the same time, he felt like she had seen right through him.
He didn’t like that.
But unfortunately, even though he was annoyed, he couldn’t find a valid excuse.
“But I don’t want you to be like this,” Shi Lingge continued.
“Because I truly see you as my brother, and I truly treat you as someone special. This isn’t fast-food emotion. I’m sure it’s real.”
So what, am I just fast-food emotion?
After hearing her words, Su Ziyan became even more irritated, but he still had no excuse to refute her.
Her sincere, burning gaze was fixed on him.
Even though he couldn’t see, he could clearly feel her emotions.
Just like last night.
“It’s not about what you want or don’t want,” Su Ziyan replied.
“When this impulse fades, you won’t think that way.”
“Right now, you’re in the middle of that impulse, so everything looks beautiful to you. When the emotional tide recedes, you’ll find everything bland and tasteless.”
Su Ziyan hated people who always spouted grand principles.
But now, he had become the kind of person he used to hate the most.
“Words are useless by themselves,” Shi Lingge stood up.
“Time will prove whether my recognition of you was just a momentary impulse, Brother.”
She bent down, pressed one knee onto the bed, leaned forward, and hugged Su Ziyan.
“So now I understand why you’ve become like this. That’s why…”
Her warm breath brushed against Su Ziyan’s ear.
“Brother, don’t be afraid. None of your feelings are self-gratification.”
Su Ziyan’s body stiffened, whether from her words or her breath.
Then he once again caught that fragrance from her, which hadn’t been there when she first hugged him.
But the moment she finished speaking, the fragrance suddenly appeared again, as if it had been there all along.
But hearing the words “self-gratification” was bad enough when he thought it himself.
Hearing someone else say it out loud was downright embarrassing.
“What self-gratification? I’m not an idiot.”
Su Ziyan, somewhat annoyed, grabbed her shoulders and pushed Shi Lingge away from the hug she had initiated without warning.
“I’m the older brother here. Don’t just suddenly hug me like you’re the older sister.”
Shi Lingge, pushed back by the shoulders, just laughed softly.
Just now, she had been truly terrified.
It was just a normal conversation, but it gave her an inexplicable feeling of panic, as if if she didn’t make a change, she would lose him.
She didn’t want to lose Su Ziyan.
Because Su Ziyan might be the only person in this world she could freely act spoiled with, the only one in whose arms she could cry without restraint.
So when she sensed something was wrong, she chose to clear the air immediately.
The result was quite successful.
At least he was willing to keep calling her “sister” instead of her name, right?
Su Ziyan listened helplessly to her silvery laughter, paused for a moment, and then let out a helpless laugh himself.
He realized that even though she had been so open and honest, his view of her still hadn’t regained the old filter.
That’s right.
When he looked at Shi Lingge now, he no longer carried that beautiful first-impression filter.
After all, that kind of filter wasn’t something that could be refreshed.
But after their conversation, Su Ziyan suddenly realized he had walked into a dead end.
He had been too focused on the contrast caused by the disappearance of that beautiful first-impression filter.
But actually, even without that filter, Shi Lingge was still such a wonderful person.
She was still so good to him, so sincere, so decisive.
He had just been overthinking things.
“Stop laughing, you’re being silly,” Su Ziyan said helplessly.
“Cut it out.”
He reached out and pinched Shi Lingge’s face, who was sitting opposite him on the bed, getting back at her for all the times she had touched his face.
“But I’m happy now. You’re willing to call me sister again.”
Shi Lingge didn’t mind him pinching her face at all, even though it had that fearsome scar—the thing she had once been most afraid to show others.
“So, did the filter come back?”
“How could something like that come back? I just realized that even without the filter, you’re still a wonderful person.”
Shi Lingge was stunned for a moment, then laughed even more joyfully.