Chapter 238: Please, Sister, Could You Leave?

I would do anything for her, so of course I want her to be happy. Jiang Lai is my husband, the only love of my life.

Shen Ruxue’s affection for Jiang Lai had long turned into an attitude of willingness to give everything for her. As long as she could be happy, she herself could become anything, even if it meant no longer being by her side—she could accept that.

But that was merely what she could accept; it didn’t mean Shen Ruxue was willing to let it happen before her eyes while she remained indifferent.

Shen Ruxue was human too—she got angry. But after waiting for such a long time, she had become far better than ordinary people at suppressing her own feelings and desires.

At this moment, facing her sister’s act of taking away her husband, no matter how rational Shen Ruxue was, she couldn’t suppress the pain and anguish inside.

“I knew you liked Jiang Lai too, and I kept telling myself… it’s okay, it’s okay. You’re my little sister, and on top of that, I was gone for so long. It’s only natural that things I never expected would happen. I understand everything. But if I could calmly accept all this, I wouldn’t be human.”

“Even with all that understanding, when I found out you liked Jiang Lai, I was still angry, furious inside. Because in my eyes, anyone can like Jiang Lai—except you… You’re my little sister. You saw everything between me and Jiang Lai with your own eyes.”

No matter how strong Shen Ruxue usually was, at this moment, all her tough exterior completely crumbled. Her eyes reddened more and more, and finally the first tear fell.

When that tear gently traced down her cheek, tears poured down like pearls from a broken string. All the pressure, grievance, and pain from this period could only be released through her tears now.

“I explained my true identity to you, Xiao Yu. We clearly agreed that we would compete fairly when the time came. After everything is over, no matter who Jiang Lai chooses, I’ll accept it willingly. That was our promise at the time… But what did you do?”

Shen Ruxue only knew that she had given ground again and again, even willing to hand over the person she loved most, agreeing to compete fairly with her sister just to preserve their sisterly bond.

But what did her sister do? While she was completely unaware, she got together with her own husband. How could she accept that?

This was outright betrayal.

Shen Ruxue couldn’t accept the reality now. Every time she thought about her husband Jiang Lai being with her sister, she almost sobbed uncontrollably, her body shaking violently with each gasp. She covered her face with her hands, as if trying to hide herself, to escape this cruel reality.

But whenever she thought of it, she was trapped in unbearable pain.

Chi Yingyu watched her sister sob in front of her. Ever since she grew up, her sister had always been a strong person, facing even the most difficult things without changing her expression—like a mountain collapsing before her.

In Chi Yingyu’s heart, her sister had always been incredibly strong, as if all difficulties were nothing to her. She had cried in front of her very few times. Aside from when they were children, the last time she cried was when she said goodbye to this world.

Nineteen years ago, on the verge of death, even without the doctor’s notification, her sister knew she was about to leave this world forever. So at the last moment, she tightly held the hands of both her and her brother-in-law.

Her tear-filled eyes were full of reluctance to part with them. That time, besides her farewell words, all her remaining strength turned into tears.

And the second time was now.

Chi Yingyu knew very well that in this matter, she was the one who betrayed her sister. But even though she had mentally prepared herself, when she actually heard her sister’s words, she was still pierced with pain.

“Because I couldn’t hold back… Sister, I know I’m wrong to do this to you, but when it comes to feelings, there’s really no way to force it.”

Chi Yingyu’s voice also became choked with tears.

“If you had never left, I would never have had such forbidden thoughts. I would only have been a bystander to your enviable love… But fate just loves to play tricks.”

Chi Yingyu actually didn’t know when her feelings for her brother-in-law had changed. Maybe it was watching him work desperately day and night for the family; maybe it was seeing him bring her to live with him to take care of her feelings; even though he wasn’t much older than her, he shouldered the entire family’s responsibility alone.

Shen Ruxue’s face was streaked with tears, and she couldn’t help but ask in pain, “So, is this your excuse for betraying me? Just because I left, you can disregard our sisterly bond and be with Jiang Lai?”

Chi Yingyu closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm the turmoil inside. But the scenes of the past became even clearer.

“Sister, do you know what our home was like during the years you were gone?”

She spoke slowly, her voice breaking.

“Back then, Jiang Lai… no, my brother-in-law, carried everything alone. The confusion about the future, the financial pressure on the whole family, the trivial and heavy housework—all of it pressed down on her. Almost all the family money went to the hospital; there was no savings at all.

The household was so tight back then that every expense had to be carefully calculated. Even our parents, who had just retired, had to look for work again. That home was a complete mess; anyone would have despaired seeing it.

But my brother-in-law said nothing, just silently kept the family going with her actions.”

“She had just finished your funeral, didn’t even have time to recuperate, and immediately threw herself into work. Every day she left early and came back late, her exhausted figure looking especially fragile under the dim light.”

“To earn a bit more money, she often worked overtime late into the night, and when she came back, she still had to muster the strength to take care of the household, take care of young Le Yi, and me, who was just as clueless back then.”

Chi Yingyu lowered her voice.

“Why couldn’t I have been more sensible back then? If I had helped her earlier, she wouldn’t have been so tired.”

“But at that time, I was completely sunk in the pain of losing you, and I even thought she was cold-blooded. You had just left, and she jumped right back into work. It wasn’t until one night, I woke up and saw her still going over the household expenses under the desk lamp, her face full of worry and her brows furrowed while on the phone… At that moment, I felt an indescribable mix of emotions—both pity and helplessness—and I only felt like a burden.”

“Back then, I even thought about dropping out of school to work.”

She gave a bitter smile.

“I wrote a letter and ran away from home. I didn’t want to be a burden to the family, didn’t want to watch her struggle alone, didn’t want her to break herself down for my tuition and living expenses.”

“I thought that if I left, it would lighten her load.”

“But reality was that I searched everywhere for work, and because I was young and had no qualifications, I hit dead ends everywhere. Alone on unfamiliar streets, I was both scared and stubborn, thinking I could live well on my own… In the end, I realized how wrong I was.”

“After my brother-in-law saw that letter, she panicked. She dropped everything she was doing and searched for me day and night, asking all our classmates and friends, searching every street and alley.”

“The day she found me, I was about to start working as a waitress at a small restaurant.”

Chi Yingyu’s voice trembled.

“The moment she saw me, she hugged me tightly and told me—leave everything to her, I just needed to focus on my studies. She said she had already lost you, and she absolutely couldn’t lose me too. She needed me by her side.”

In that moment, something inside her quietly changed.

“Maybe at first, it was just a tiny shift. But that hug, and her saying she ‘needed me,’ has been deeply etched in my heart.”

Chi Yingyu looked up at her sister.

“I know that hug back then was just her loving me because she loved you. I always thought I was just your replacement.

But she kept telling me that I was me—unique.”

Her voice grew more agitated.

“Sister, you should be eighteen now. That means after you left us, you were reborn somewhere else. I can understand that when you were little, you couldn’t come back. But why did it take so long? Eighteen whole years—was there not a single opportunity?”

“Why did you wait until we had almost forgotten you, until Jiang Lai had almost let go of you, before you came back?”

Chi Yingyu’s emotions began to spiral.

“Why now of all times?”

“Since you were gone for so long, why didn’t you just disappear from our world forever? Why come back and mess everything up?”

Her voice was cracking with near-breakdown.

“Sister… I’m begging you. Before you reveal your identity, leave us, okay?”

“We… don’t need you anymore.”