chapter 6

Shen Fang was taken away.

After she kept resisting, scratched a police officer’s neck, and even threatened to kill me, she would be facing 24 hours of detention.

The police officer looked at me with pity and asked if I needed help contacting other family members.

He gently told me that there was only so much they could do, and that if I insisted on having Shen Fang detained, I might end up in an even more embarrassing situation when she got out.

I nodded repeatedly in response and thanked him.

But I still insisted that she had to be detained.

“No matter what, at least I’ll get a good night’s sleep.”

The police officer looked at me with even more sympathy.

At the same time, he pointed at Xu Nian.

“Is that your older or younger sister? Is she alright?”

Compared to my pitiful appearance, the always-expressionless, detached Xu Nian seemed even more worrying.

I gave a bitter smile, tapped my own forehead, and said in a voice loud enough for Xu Nian to hear, “Her? There’s something wrong with her head. She’s a fool!”

Xu Nian froze, seemingly gritting her teeth.

Out of humanitarian concern, the police contacted our father-the one who was always away, working desperately, only coming home during holidays or when Xu Nian achieved something significant.

He politely apologized to the police, saying he would return as soon as possible and would restrain his wife’s behavior.

But I knew, at least for the next two days, he wouldn’t be coming back.

After the police left, I yawned.

Xu Nian looked at me with an unreadable expression.

I stretched lazily, then walked straight into Xu Nian’s bedroom, plopped onto her bed without a hint of politeness.

About five minutes later, I heard footsteps.

When I opened my eyes, Xu Nian was standing at the bedside, looking at me with a stern face.

“This is my room.”

“Oh.”

“Please leave.”

“And if I don’t?”

“This is my room.”

Is that the only line she knows how to say, over and over again?

Doesn’t she use her essays as model answers every time?

“What? Is this bed your treasure or something? Do you love it that much?”

Xu Nian fell silent again, her lips pressed even tighter, and her gaze grew even deeper.

“Since you don’t like it that much, just lend it to me for one night. This is the first time I’ve ever slept on such a soft bed, under such fluffy covers.”

“Fine, go ahead. When you leave, remember to close the door for me.”

I closed my eyes and ignored her.

I didn’t know how long it was before she finally left, actually closing the door for me.

Though the door wasn’t closed gently.

Heh, so she does have feelings after all.

I thought she was truly otherworldly and untouched by human affairs.

I turned over and burrowed under the covers.

What I said to Xu Nian wasn’t to mock her.

In this three-bedroom apartment, I didn’t have a room of my own.

At the beginning, I did-it was the smallest, darkest study.

Later, when Xu Nian started learning piano, in order to make room for a piano worth more than a hundred thousand yuan, Shen Fang cleared out my room and installed a sliding partition on the balcony.

The space there was so small, it couldn’t even fit a single bed.

So Shen Fang bought a folding bed.

Xu Guoyong disagreed: “This is too much. Where is Sisi supposed to sleep?”

Shen Fang was dismissive: “What else can we do? The house is only so big. Teacher Bai said Niannian is very talented at piano, she could become a master. For Niannian, we all have to compromise. If she was as capable as Niannian, I’d prioritize her too.”

After hearing all this, Xu Guoyong stayed silent for a long time, then sighed and said nothing more.

From then on, I lived on the cramped balcony.

Nearly ten years passed like that.

I have hated Shen Fang, and I have hated Xu Guoyong.

But the one I hated most was Xu Nian.

She enjoyed everything with a clear conscience. Facing Shen Fang’s harshness, neglect, and even beatings towards me, she never spoke a word in my defense.

I looked at her with hope countless times, only to end up disappointed each time.

Sometimes I even felt her gaze toward me was cold, aloof, and satisfied.

She hated me, just as I hated her.

But what reason did she have to hate me?

That night, I slept in a daze, dreaming endless dreams.

Shen Fang was in them. Xu Guoyong was there too.

But mostly, there were Xu Nian and Zhou Ciye.

Xu Nian, who fell from a tall building, her skull shattered, face beyond recognition.

Everyone was screaming, breaking down.

One after another, people shook my shoulders, demanding, “Why wasn’t it you who died?”

Those twisted faces gradually came into focus-one of them was Zhou Ciye.

He grabbed my neck, grinding out the words through clenched teeth.

“Why wasn’t it you who died?”