Chapter 11: I Won’t Pursue You Anymore

“It’s not like we’re meeting the parents or anything. We just broke up, that’s all.”

Su Ziyan simply smiled and shook his head. He couldn’t figure out what strange things Xu Duyan was always thinking about, so he stopped trying.

Anyway, she wouldn’t hurt him.

If she wanted to deceive him, then let her. He was even willing to sink into her gentleness.

“What a shame.”

Xu Duyan finally looked up, her face expressionless as she spoke: “After all, we dated for more than four years.”

Su Ziyan stared at her face for a moment, thinking that his elder sister still had some conscience. At least she hadn’t laughed and teased him right after hearing about the breakup like before.

Then came a brief silence. The two continued forward in this quiet atmosphere until they reached the parking lot. Su Ziyan finally couldn’t hold back and spoke first:

“My dear elder sister, your younger brother has just gone through a breakup—this heartbreaking thing—and you won’t even comfort your little brother?”

“Oh? Then how do you want me to comfort you?”

The corners of Xu Duyan’s mouth curved into a faint, almost imperceptible smile as she looked at her younger brother and asked, “I think you don’t actually want my comfort at all. You just want to take advantage of me.”

However, Su Ziyan was completely unaffected by her words. Instead, he shamelessly replied, “That’s right. I do want to take advantage of my elder sister.”

Xu Duyan hadn’t expected Su Ziyan to be so direct. She simply waved her hand, and after he lowered his head, she gave him a light, fleeting kiss on the forehead—like a dragonfly skimming the surface of water.

Su Ziyan didn’t make a fuss. He simply stepped forward, pressing Xu Duyan against the car door, then slowly leaned closer until both of them could feel the warm, moist breath on each other’s faces.

Xu Duyan said nothing. She just looked at Su Ziyan with an expressionless face. Her wine-red eyes sparkled under the dim streetlights, as if they were trying to pierce into someone’s heart.

Su Ziyan stared at her lips, which were as crystal-clear as jelly. He paused for a long time, but when he saw no change in Xu Duyan, he simply tilted his head and gently kissed her on the cheek.

“That one just now was way too half-hearted, Sis.”

Su Ziyan smiled as he released Xu Duyan, walked around the car, and sat in the passenger seat. “But this is fine. I’m not a greedy person.”

“Alright.”

Xu Duyan smiled and nodded.

“From now on, no matter the situation, if it’s a kiss, I’ll definitely kiss you like that.”

“That won’t do.”

Su Ziyan protested.

“What if the two of us get together?”

“Don’t say such unrealistic things.”

After getting into the driver’s seat, Xu Duyan shot a glance at Su Ziyan in the passenger seat.

“After all these years, you still haven’t given up?”

“I’ve never given up.”

Su Ziyan responded without hesitation.

“Besides, we’re both single now. Wanting to pursue you isn’t against the law.”

“Oh wow, how romantic.”

Xu Duyan started the car.

“By the way, that girlfriend of yours—you didn’t just make her up to trick me, right? All these years, not only have I never met her, I’ve never even seen a single photo of her.”

If I really let you see Cheng Qingyun’s photo, that would be the end of it.

Su Ziyan secretly complained in his heart. He wondered—if he told Xu Duyan that his girlfriend was fake and he only did it to make his sister jealous—would she hold him while sleeping tonight?

The thought only appeared for a moment before Su Ziyan dismissed it. Cheng Qingyun was not Xu Duyan. She was another woman he had met in his life.

Even though she didn’t love him, and her attitude had left him physically and mentally exhausted, he was certain that he had once loved her.

Because he wasn’t a cold, heartless person. Someone who understood him so well and had treated him unconditionally well for so many years—he naturally felt moved.

“No, she was real. And I did love her.”

Su Ziyan’s words made the previously warm atmosphere in the car freeze over, turning icy cold.

“Oh, well, isn’t that good too?”

Su Ziyan didn’t reply. He turned his head to look out the car window, where Xu Duyan’s face was reflected.

They really looked alike—Xu Duyan and Cheng Qingyun.

It was just a pity that apart from their faces, Xu Duyan and Cheng Qingyun were almost completely different. There was only one thing they had in common.

Neither of them had ever said they loved him.

“I love you.”

Three simple words. They could be sweet talk, empty promises, or a comforting placebo in a tiring life.

Perhaps it was psychological, but if couples never heard that sentence, they would feel the relationship was exhausting—until they were too tired to continue.

That’s why he and Cheng Qingyun broke up.

To be fair, if she had clearly said she loved him…

Maybe he really would have stepped into a new life and chosen to spend the rest of his days with her.

“Sis.”

Su Ziyan said very seriously, word by word: “Actually, I was just joking earlier.”

Xu Duyan, who was driving, was stunned for a moment and casually asked, “Joking about what?”

“I never gave up—that sentence.”

Su Ziyan said softly. “I don’t know why you’ve always rejected me, but I’ve given up now.”

“I thought about this a long time ago, but I could never say it out loud.”

“If you don’t like it, I shouldn’t force it.”

“Xu Duyan, although I love you, I won’t pursue you anymore. I won’t think about being with you anymore. From now on, we’re just siblings.”

“This time when I come back, I don’t plan to leave. Let’s live well as brother and sister, just like when we were kids.”

“You have a bar, right? When I’m free, I can go perform there. You can listen to me sing from below while mixing a drink for me.”

After saying the words that had been weighing on his heart for so long, Su Ziyan felt all the pent-up frustration in his chest finally release.

It was pretty good.

No need to make things difficult, and no need to overthink.

“I’m sorry. All these years, it was me being immature and causing you trouble.”

Su Ziyan turned to look at Xu Duyan, only to notice a hint of mist in the corners of her eyes. He didn’t know what it meant.

“Don’t cry, Sis!”

Su Ziyan was startled. “We’re still on the highway. Should we pull over first?”

“Okay…”

Xu Duyan replied softly and pulled the car over to the side of the road, turning on the hazard lights.

“I’m just a little relieved. My younger brother has finally grown up. In the future, we siblings can work together to build something big and create new glory.”

She waved her little fist, but the smile on her face couldn’t hide the bitterness.

Su Ziyan was just about to say something when his vision suddenly blurred. How could there be high beams from oncoming traffic in the middle of the night?

But in the next moment, cold sweat poured down his back.

How could high beams from the opposite side of the highway be this blinding?

He looked up and saw a car driving the wrong way on the highway, heading straight toward them.