How could that not break her heart?
Not to mention, the boy she had protected his entire life so he would never suffer any grievance had endured all that pain and forced acting this past month just so she wouldn’t worry.
And going even further back, the reason he had suffered so many injuries was because he had thrown himself over her body.
If not for that, when the car that had nowhere to escape crashed into them, it wouldn’t have been Su Ziyan’s back that was pierced by glass and metal fragments—it would have been her body and face.
Su Ziyan wouldn’t have gone blind either.
Because the point of impact from that car was exactly the driver’s seat of her car, not the passenger seat. The passenger seat hadn’t deformed nearly as badly as the driver’s seat.
At the moment of crisis, Su Ziyan had rushed forward first to protect her, shielding her from even the slightest harm while sustaining wounds on his own body that would never fully heal…
What made it even harder for her to accept was that during the accident, both of them had lost consciousness together, yet she had woken up after Su Ziyan.
She, the one who had been protected and suffered no injuries at all, had simply lain motionless in the driver’s seat, forcing the severely injured Su Ziyan to find a way to open the twisted, deformed car door!
At that time, Su Ziyan’s back wasn’t just covered in wounds—it was constantly being burned by flames.
Those flames may have helped stop the bleeding from the massive wounds on his back, but how much pain must Su Ziyan have endured during that process?
And after the car door was opened, even though she had already regained consciousness, she hadn’t helped him right away. Instead, she had lain in his arms while he carried her out.
Back then, Su Ziyan could barely even stand steadily. The doctors had considered it a miracle that he managed to get her out in that condition.
That was why she truly couldn’t accept that after going through something like this, she still had to watch Su Ziyan suffer grievances just to put her mind at ease.
Every time she saw Su Ziyan’s forced smile and exaggerated performance, she felt as if her throat was being strangled, unable to even breathe.
She really wanted to tell Su Ziyan to please stop putting on such an over-the-top act.
But every time the words were about to leave her mouth, a sharp pain would strike her heart. That intense heartache felt like a warning, telling her that saying it out loud would lead to something very bad.
Her intuition had always been accurate, so time and time again she endured the pain and buried the words she wanted to say deep in her heart.
Until today—Su Ziyan had been “performing” like this for a full month.
She really couldn’t hold it in any longer. Today was a good day; she needed to have an honest, open talk with Su Ziyan.
He should be relying more on her—as both his elder sister and the woman who loved him.
Today was September 3rd, her birthday, so naturally she and Su Ziyan would celebrate it together.
Su Ziyan’s birthday was July 17th. At that time he had still been hospitalized and emotionally unstable, so they had only celebrated it briefly and casually.
That was why, starting a couple of days ago, she had told him that this year she wanted to make up for his birthday, and they would celebrate it on September 3rd together.
Su Ziyan had naturally agreed to her request. Whether before or after the accident, he had never been able to refuse any request she made when she acted spoiled.
This time was no exception.
So today she had gotten up early, prepared a whole table of dishes, and ordered his favorite chocolate cake for him.
She knew that Su Ziyan’s claims about his sense of taste and smell slowly recovering were lies to her, but she hadn’t realized that he had now completely lost both his sense of smell and taste.
Right now she was still optimistically thinking that even if he only had a tiny bit of taste and smell left, eating food he liked would still make him feel happy in body and mind.
In truth, her cooking skills had already declined quite a bit. Ever since Su Ziyan had learned to cook, she had barely had the chance to cook when they were together.
Because their taste preferences were quite different. Just as she would always pick dishes Su Ziyan liked when she cooked, Su Ziyan would always choose dishes she liked when he cooked.
That was why every time Su Ziyan cooked for her and she watched his serious profile, Xu Duyan couldn’t help but hug him from behind.
After hugging him, she would also want to gently kiss the back of his neck, though she always held herself back.
There was also a reason for the chocolate cake. Besides it being Su Ziyan’s favorite flavor, it came from a very famous movie starring Fa Ge ( Chow Yun-fat).
In that movie, the protagonist lost his sense of taste due to an accident and could only taste food when eating chocolate.
Although most of the plot in the movie couldn’t be taken seriously, what if?
With that thought, she pushed open the bedroom door and saw Su Ziyan lying in bed, hugging the quilt while asleep.
This was the quilt she had deliberately tucked into his arms early on. Before he lost his sight, whenever Su Ziyan had the chance to sleep with her, he would find excuses to hold her.
But every time he did, his hands and feet would become dishonest, trying to take advantage of her.
Yet for some reason, ever since he went blind, his hands and feet had become very well-behaved.
Perhaps he simply lacked a sense of security and needed to hold something to fall asleep.
She reached out and gently shook Su Ziyan awake, then helped the groggy Su Ziyan to the bathroom and began washing his face and brushing his teeth for him like she was taking care of a child.
Although Su Ziyan was blind, he could still handle such simple tasks by himself.
But every time he tried to do it himself, Xu Duyan would look at him with a pitiful, aggrieved expression and ask if he was disgusted with his sister. He really couldn’t bear seeing her like that, so he could only agree. After doing it enough times, he stopped resisting and just let her do as she pleased.
The reason he no longer tried to take advantage of Xu Duyan while in bed was simple: he no longer wanted to be with her.
In the past, every time he thought about giving up it had been extremely difficult. But now, after this accident, he felt surprisingly at ease.
Because he was now a disabled person. Could a disabled person really be worthy of the elder sister he had loved for so many years?
To love someone, you needed to have the ability to protect them, right?
And right now, could he still protect Xu Duyan? Forget protecting her—he could only keep causing her trouble. He was clearly a huge burden.
Not only could he no longer give his beloved happiness, he could only bring her endless pain.
That was why, when the two of them lay in bed now, he naturally no longer groped or took advantage of her like before. He didn’t want to hold his sister back.
He wanted to tell her that from now on they should live separately. She shouldn’t keep taking care of him like this. Simple things should be left for him to do himself.
Things like washing up, for example.
He felt her gently shaving his beard and thought to himself that this should be the last time.
After all, today was a good day—perfect for having an honest, open talk.
Although he was blind now, his body had fully recovered. He needed to learn to take care of himself.
He couldn’t keep relying on his elder sister endlessly like this.