Chapter 4

Soon it was senior year.
Qin Ziyao’s grades were poor; Qin Yuanhang had already planned for her to study abroad in America.
Of course, with my equally poor grades, I had no right to study abroad.
I had to stay in Beijing, ready for bone marrow extraction at any time.
While I took the college entrance exam, Qin Ziyao flew to Switzerland.
Her entire summer was Swiss mountains, Egyptian pyramids, skydiving, and surfing.
She said life is a vast wilderness.
Soon, exam results came out.
I overperformed and got into a top university in Beijing.
This was the first time Qin Yuanhang truly acknowledged me as his daughter.
Before that, he didn’t even know what schools I’d applied to.
He unusually called me to the dinner table.
At the table, he said he could grant me one wish.
He Shu was kind to me for once.
Seeing their attitudes, my tears fell drop by drop.
I said I had only one wish: for Brother to get better soon.
My words didn’t seem fake to them.
They knew I visited Qin Yu twice a week.
The prayer room had thick stacks of scriptures I’d copied for his blessings.
What I did, even Qin Ziyao as his real sister couldn’t match.
Qin Yuanhang’s eyes moistened; he patted my shoulder: “It will come true.”
He Shu looked at me with complex emotions. After a while, she placed a piece of sea cucumber in my bowl.
I earned the right to eat at the table.
Most of the summer, I cared for Qin Yu in the hospital.
Qin Yu spoke little; perhaps because I was his lifesaver, he didn’t resist me.
To outsiders, we seemed like real siblings.
He Shu spent most of her time in the hospital.
She’d grown used to my presence.
She even showed concern for me occasionally.
On the first day of freshman year, Qin Yuanhang sent the driver and Aunt Liu with me to school.
Everyone in the house noticed my rising status.
Except Qin Ziyao, already studying in America.