chapter 4

Zhou Ciye’s face was dark as he flung me aside.

“I know you’ve come back too.”

“I don’t want to dwell on past grudges. If you think I’ve wronged you, then I apologize.”

“But Xu Sisi, you should understand, our rebirth at this moment is a chance given to us by fate.”

“I will definitely protect Xu Nian. No one can take her away from me, not even herself.”

“I don’t expect you to help me, but don’t cause trouble, or I won’t let you off.”

Expressionless, I listened to Zhou Ciye’s affectionate words and warnings.

When he finished, under the glare of his anger, I let out a cold laugh.

“Who do you think you are?”

“Idiot!”

Everyone liked Xu Nian.

She was outstanding, kind, and beautiful.

At school, she was always Top of the Grade, a promising candidate to become the Gaokao Top Scorer and get into Tsinghua and Peking University.

She participated in all kinds of competitions, was talented in singing and dancing, and excelled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

But she never acted superior because of her excellence. To teachers and classmates, she was always gentle, with a faint smile on her face.

At home, she was her parents’ pride, the family’s hope, someone everyone praised.

She never disobeyed her elders, always obedient and sweet. No matter how high the demands, she would always nod compliantly.

But even someone like her, in the year she finished the Gaokao, the year she became the Gaokao Top Scorer, when her parents held a grand banquet and she received everyone’s envy and admiration, she climbed to the rooftop and jumped, ending her own life.

No one knew why she committed suicide.

Not even me.

It was only later, as the years passed and memories replayed over and over, that I caught glimpses of the cracks beneath the perfection.