The Sickly Fake Daughter, But a Beloved Darling of All - Chapter 87

For a fleeting moment, Si Yu could not believe her own ears. She turned her head, her face filled with incredulity. “What do you mean?”

“If you don’t know what it means, then forget it.”

Xu Chengjin suddenly became shy as well. She clutched her clothes, lifting her head to look elsewhere. “Go out; I want to change my clothes.”

In the next second, she heard the sound of the room door closing. Xu Chengjin thought Si Yu had already left, and a sense of indescribable loss welled up in her heart. Yet, at the same time, she felt a sense of relief; after all, that request had been made subconsciously, and she hadn’t considered the consequences at all.

Just as she was preparing to take off her clothes, she suddenly heard the sound of footsteps walking toward her. Startled, Xu Chengjin raised her head and instinctively searched for the source, asking with uncertainty, “Si Yu? Are you still here?”

“Didn’t you invite me to change your clothes for you?” Si Yu’s tone didn’t sound particularly happy; instead, it gave off a feeling of extreme calmness. Xu Chengjin instantly gripped her clothes tighter and let out a light cough. “Mm.”

“Mm—”

Xu Chengjin felt Si Yu come to a stop in front of her. Her heart, which had been relatively steady, began to beat more violently. She held her breath and closed her eyes, waiting for what would happen next.

“Are you that nervous?” Si Yu was amused by Xu Chengjin’s reaction. She reached out and rubbed Xu Chengjin’s ear. “Don’t hold your breath; be careful or you’ll feel unwell later.”

Just as Xu Chengjin was about to open her lips to respond, her clothes were lifted slightly by the other woman in the next second. The skin that came into contact with the air immediately brought a different sensation to Xu Chengjin, and her body trembled involuntarily. “Si Yu.”

“Mm.” Si Yu gently grasped Xu Chengjin’s hand, then guided her to press down. She lowered her eyes and stared at Xu Chengjin’s lips. “You’ve lost so much weight.”

“I was sick, so of course I would lose weight…”

Xu Chengjin bit her lip hard. Her clothes had been lifted to her chest, and just a little bit more and it would…

“You are very fair; I knew it the first time I saw you.” Si Yu still didn’t look down further, her hands continuing to pull the garment upward. “Are you afraid?”

“What am I afraid of?” Xu Chengjin’s mouth remained stubborn. “Afraid you’ll eat me?”

Si Yu curled her lips into a smile. She completely removed Xu Chengjin’s top. The figure of the person before her wasn’t bad, but she was too thin; her entire being was so white she didn’t seem like someone belonging to this world. She curled her legs slightly, her eyelashes trembling incessantly.

Xu Chengjin could feel Si Yu’s gaze sliding inch by inch over her body. Did she hate it? She didn’t hate it, nor did she feel repulsed. It seemed that Si Yu’s gaze lacked the aggression she had imagined. “What are you doing?”

“Was it very painful when you were sick before?”

Si Yu looked at a scar left behind by a surgery on Xu Chengjin’s body, her eyes filled with an unmaskable heartache. “I couldn’t be by your side at that time; it makes me feel it’s such a pity.”

“I am by your side now.” Just as Xu Chengjin raised her hand, it was caught by Si Yu. She let out a soft laugh. “We didn’t even know each other back then.”

Xu Chengjin only began following her family to various social occasions when she was seventeen, and it was during that time she first encountered Si Yu. They were merely chance acquaintances every time, nodding in passing, and the words they had spoken previously were few and far between. If it hadn’t been for the drinking that day… they likely wouldn’t have developed to this point.

“Is that so?”

Si Yu finished changing Xu Chengjin’s clothes. There was nothing inappropriate about her movements. “Could you change your pants yourself in a moment?”

She took a deep breath. “Xiao Jin, I know the reason you are willing to agree to me. Let’s give each other one month. If you are unwilling, then I will never mention this matter again. We will both leave a way out for each other.”

She held Xu Chengjin’s hand with utter devotion. “Alright?”

Xu Chengjin remained silent for a few seconds. She shook Si Yu’s hand lightly. “Si Yu, do you know why I don’t tell the others that Jin Xi is the true child of the Xu family?”

“I don’t know, but I believe you definitely have your own difficulties.”

Xu Chengjin smiled upon hearing this. “You trust me that much?”

“Okay.”

She continued speaking on her own: “Actually, when I was fifteen, I had a dream. I dreamed that I was not my parents’ biological child, and I even knew what that child’s name was. I was terrified at the time, not knowing if it was true or false. But later, when I tried to tell my parents, I couldn’t say anything at all.”

Xu Chengjin’s tone was calm. “In fact, at that time I didn’t think much of it. But later, I discovered that in the dream, I would die. They discovered that Jin Xi was their true child, and I was just a thief who stole their affection. Jin Xi received a lot of love, everyone loved her, while I became the target of their attacks. In the end, I died a tragic death on the streets, with no one to collect my body.”

Si Yu gasped. She did not doubt the truth of Xu Chengjin’s words; only a sour, aching pain welled up in her heart. She said in a hoarse voice, “It won’t happen anymore. No one will bully you anymore in the future. I will be by your side.”

“I know.”

Xu Chengjin sat up and embraced Si Yu. She closed her eyes and leaned against the other’s shoulder, her voice muffled. “But Si Yu, do you know?”

“The person who drove me to my death on the street, who caused my corpse to lie in the wilderness, wasn’t Jin Xi, and it certainly wasn’t my parents—”

“It was you.”