My sister, whom I raised, has turned evil after faking her death for three years.

However, things did not return to the right track she had envisioned despite her efforts.

In the few days since returning to Linjiang, Gu Lei has hardly had a full night's sleep.

The Nancheng project ran into trouble on the very day she returned to Linjiang. First, the partners suddenly lowered the price, then the upstream supply chain cut off the supply without reason, and then several investors who had already reached an agreement simultaneously proposed to review the contract terms.

Each problem, taken individually, is not fatal, but when they are combined, they are like a carefully arranged set of dominoes, which, with a gentle push, fall uncontrollably in the direction she least wants to see.

She worked non-stop in the office for three days, putting all available resources into action in an attempt to plug the ever-emerging gaps as quickly as possible.

But every time she pressed down a piece of the puzzle, a new crack would appear on the other side, as if someone in the shadows had precisely calculated the maximum force that each of her remedial measures could mobilize, and then added another straw to that limit.

Even so, she was still able to hold on.

She has weathered far more storms on her own over the years. Given enough time, she will always find a way out that others cannot see.

What truly exhausted her wasn't the mountain of documents and phone calls, but the fact that she hadn't had a proper night's sleep for a week. Even though Baozi would hum that familiar tune softly on the phone every night, she would still wake up in the early hours of the morning, staring at the ceiling and counting down the days until dawn.

On the seventh day after returning to Linjiang, a piece of news caused all the barely maintained balance to collapse in an instant.

She was in a meeting room negotiating with the investors' representatives when she received the call. Her phone vibrated three times in her pocket, but she didn't answer.

When she called back after the meeting, every word on the other end of the line sounded like it had been muted. She could only see her fingers slowly clenching on the table, her nails digging into her palms.

Gu Lei's condition worsened, and despite all efforts to save him, he died.

She stood in the hospital corridor, smelling the familiar scent of disinfectant, and suddenly remembered that many years ago she had stood in the corridor of another hospital in the same way.

When she first arrived at the Gu family, Gu Dongshan took her hand and led her to her bedside, telling her that this was her brother and that they should get along well from now on.

The boy in the hospital bed had just undergone surgery for a broken bone. He was pale and leaning against the pillow. The moment he saw her, he frowned, turned over, and turned his back to her.

She later learned that the fracture was caused by a fight with his classmates. The reason for the fight was that he lost a bet and insisted on proving that he could jump from the second floor without any problems.

Despite the absurdity of the reason, Meng Yan, his mother, stayed by his bedside for three days and three nights without closing her eyes, preparing different kinds of soup and meals for him every day.

She stood at the door of the ward watching this scene, clutching her certificate for being first in her grade in the final exams, thinking that her brother was sick and her mother must be very worried.

She planned to show it to her mother when she was less busy.

She later tucked the certificate into the bottom of her drawer and never took it out again.

That happened many years ago.

Later, similar things happened so many times that she could no longer remember the details of each one.

All she remembers is that in those years she was like a moth flying around a campfire, circling again and again, trying her best to be seen.

But that fire would never ignite for her. Every time she rushed towards it, she would be burned all over, and then, under the indifferent gazes of others, she would lick her wounds alone.

She stood in the ward, looking at the motionless person on the hospital bed.

  

Gu Lei lay there quietly, his face, which bore a resemblance to hers, devoid of any color. The screen of the electrocardiogram monitor was completely black, devoid of the green ripples she had seen countless times before.

Gu Dongshan, whose hair had turned gray, stood by the bed, his face streaked with tears. His hunched figure looked particularly frail under the dim light of the ward.

Her mother, Meng Yan, collapsed onto the hospital bed, embracing the lifeless body, crying her heart out, repeatedly calling out, "Xiao Lei, open your eyes and look at Mom, open your eyes and look at Mom!"

Gu Lei stood at the door watching this scene.

The person in the hospital bed shares half the same blood as her.

They used to be separated by two desks. He copied her homework, snatched her paintbrushes, kicked over the blocks she had painstakingly built, and then laughed when she cried, saying that crybabies are really pathetic.

She's a girl, so she doesn't deserve the best piece of cake.

She's a girl, so the reason she got first place in her grade was simply because she studied hard.

She was a girl, so he could grab her by the braid and push her down the stairs, while her mother would just say, "Your brother is just joking with you."

She is a girl, so she shouldn't be entitled to the entire Gu family fortune that only boys can inherit.

How could she be sad? She should be sad; that's her own brother.

But as she stood there, looking at the face that resembled her own but would never open its eyes again, she found that she had nothing in her heart.

There was no sadness, no regret, none of the emotions one would expect when a blood relative passes away.

She just stared at the corpse and suddenly felt that the only hope in the world that could free her had also died.

She waited for him for so many years... waiting for him to wake up, waiting for him to take everything back, waiting for her to finally take off this suit that didn't belong to her, give back the voice that didn't belong to her, and live her own life.

She waited for him to wake up for many years, and when he did, she told him, "I don't want what you owe me anymore. I'll return the Gu family to you. I'm leaving."

Then he died...

How could he die...

She stepped forward amidst her parents' shocked gazes and, before Meng Yan could react, grabbed Gu Lei by the collar.

She crumpled the hospital gown into a ball, her knuckles turning white from the force, and the veins on the back of her hand bulging.

Her voice was squeezed out of her throat, hoarse and suppressed, as if it were being torn out from the deepest part of her chest.

"How could you die! What right do you have to die! You've always taken everything from me since we were kids, and you even wanted to die before me! Wake up! Wake up! You haven't taken back the Gu family yet! What right do you have to die like this! What right do you have to make me live my whole life like you! What right do you have!"

"Snapped!"

A sharp crack interrupted all her screams.

Meng Yan's hand was still hanging in mid-air, her chest heaving violently, and her red and swollen eyes were filled with undisguised resentment, as well as a little bit of complicated emotions that she herself could not explain.

Her voice was shrill and hoarse, echoing in the quiet hospital room: "How could you... how could you do this to your brother! He was your own brother! He just passed away, and you wouldn't even let him leave in peace!"

Gu Lei turned her head slightly as she was slapped, and a clear handprint gradually appeared on her delicate profile, strikingly red against her pale face.

Her father, Gu Dongshan, rushed forward to check on her injuries, but Gu Lei dodged his hand as soon as he reached out.

The hand that was outstretched in mid-air froze for a few seconds before awkwardly retracting it.

He looked at the conspicuous red mark on his daughter's face, then at the lingering tear stains and anger on his wife's face. His lips moved several times, but in the end, he could only squeeze out a weak word of comfort.

Looking at her daughter's face, which bore a striking resemblance to her deceased son's, and at those large, somewhat unfamiliar, somber eyes, Meng Yan suddenly realized something.

Now that Lei'er is gone, the only person the Gu family can count on is this daughter.

She can't push this daughter away until at least the new arrangements are in place.

She took a deep breath, suppressing some of the sharp anger on her face, and her voice softened with a gentleness she had never shown to Gu Lei before: "Xiao Lei, Mom didn't mean to hit you, but your brother just..."

Her voice choked again as she spoke, tears streaming down her cheeks and dripping onto the bloodless sheets. "You shouldn't have done this to him. He's always been so good to you since you were little, always thinking of you. You're siblings..."

Gu Lei looked at the woman in front of her, at the tears streaming down her well-maintained but aging face, and at the way she spoke to her in a tone she had never used before… not because she had done anything wrong, but because she wanted her to continue playing the role of an obedient daughter.

She suddenly found it somewhat amusing, and then she actually laughed.

The laughter was very soft, so soft it seemed as if afraid of startling something, but in the quiet ward it was jarringly clear.

"What... weren't you waiting for your good son to wake up and inherit the Gu family? You didn't need me when he was lying down, but now that he's dead, you're saying such nice things to me."

A mocking smile played on her lips, her voice so calm it didn't sound like she was speaking to her own mother. "If he were still alive, this slap would probably have already landed... No, not just a slap, but I would have been forced to kneel on the ground, kowtowing until my forehead bled, and apologizing to your son."

Meng Yan's face turned extremely ugly in an instant.

She never imagined that her daughter, who always obeyed her and never argued back, would say such things to her face.

Her lips trembled several times, her tone filled with undisguised shock and anger: "Gu Lei, is this how you talk to your mother?!"

"Then what else do you want me to say to you?!" Gu Lei raised her eyes, her eyes surging with grievances and resentment that had been suppressed for twenty years and finally burst forth.

"Was it like when I was eight, when he pushed me down the stairs and I broke my arm, and you made me kneel before him and apologize, saying I shouldn't have made my brother angry? Or like when I was ten, when he burned all my paintings, and you made me stand in the yard as punishment until dawn, because he didn't do it on purpose? Or like when I was thirteen, when he failed his exam, but you called me a bookworm because I got first place in the whole school, and then tore up my award certificate and threw it in the trash? Or maybe like when I was sixteen..."

Her voice suddenly choked, but she quickly suppressed it. "He argued with me, and without saying a word, you slapped me across the face and made me kneel on the ground to apologize to him. I knelt down, but your son was still not satisfied. He wanted me to kowtow until my head bled before he would forgive me. Later, I kowtowed. I kowtowed for a very long time until he was satisfied, and only then did you let me stand up."

Meng Yan stared at her blankly, her expression changing from anger to a kind of bewilderment she had never seen on her mother's face before.

Looking at her like this, Gu Lei suddenly felt a little tired. It wasn't the kind of fatigue from not sleeping for several days, but a kind of cold that seeped from the very bones and couldn't be warmed up no matter what.

She chuckled softly, a chuckle devoid of anger or sarcasm, only a weariness akin to ashes.

"From childhood to adulthood, I have always done everything better than him. My grades are better than his, my abilities are stronger than his. I was able to manage his company when I was sixteen, while he couldn't even understand a contract when he was sixteen. Yet you only criticize and belittle me, while your son doesn't have to do anything and can get all your encouragement and applause. Even when he does something wrong, I'm the one who gets beaten."

She loosened her grip on the collar, straightened up, and gently touched the still faintly burning handprint on her face. "Now that he's dead, you finally need me, so you slap me and then say it wasn't intentional. But do you know that I've been waiting for those words for twenty years... not for myself, but for your son lying in bed. And even before he died, you wouldn't give me a kind look."

The ward was so quiet that only Meng Yan's suppressed sobs and the faint beeping sound of the electrocardiogram monitor plug coming loose could be heard.

Gu Dongshan leaned against the window, turned his face away, and covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

Meng Yan stood there, stunned, tears still streaming down her face, her lips moving but unable to utter a single word.