I Do

Xia Yueshan walked into the kitchen with a nervous heart, expecting to see his older sister washing dishes or cleaning up.

To his surprise, Xia Muzhu was silently eating alone in the kitchen.

"Sis, you haven’t eaten yet?" Xia Yueshan asked, his expression one of bewilderment.

He had texted her earlier in the evening while eating at Kentucky Goose, telling her not to wait for him since he was dining out.

So why…?

Xia Muzhu stood by the counter, holding a ceramic bowl of rice in her left hand and chopsticks in her right. She turned to look at him, forcing an awkward smile that tugged at his heart.

"I... I thought, what if Lin Yu came back like before?"

"With you."

"It wouldn’t be right to serve him leftovers."

"So I thought I’d wait for you both..."

"..."

She paused, then suddenly brightened with a naive, cheerful tone.

"Actually, I wasn’t that hungry tonight anyway."

"I was just waiting for you and Lin Yu casually."

Faced with her forced smile, Xia Yueshan knew he should respond with a wide, toothy grin of his own.

That would let them brush past the topic, like martial artists laughing away their grudges, tossing all the awkwardness and heaviness out the window.

But he couldn’t bring himself to smile. Xia Muzhu’s expression pained him—especially knowing he still had to tell her that Lin Yu was leaving. The thought made his chest tighten, as if a boulder had settled there, suffocating him.

Xia Yueshan didn’t smile. Without mutual agreement, the "laughing away grudges" tactic failed.

Xia Muzhu’s smile stiffened, then slowly faded.

She turned slightly away, no longer looking at him, and instead faced the still-warm dishes on the counter. She resumed eating slowly, as if trying to escape—though whether from her little brother, whom she’d watched grow up, or from the person whose very mention brought sorrow, he couldn’t tell.

"Sis."

Xia Yueshan’s eyes flickered as he called out softly.

"What is it?"

Xia Muzhu turned to him again. Maybe it was his imagination, but her eyes seemed slightly red.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Xia Yueshan finally steeled himself and spoke with difficulty.

"Lin Yu is leaving."

Xia Muzhu didn’t seem surprised. She nodded.

"I know. He took the college entrance exams this year."

"Of course he’ll go to university."

"Oh!"

"How did he do?"

"Did he tell you today?"

Xia Yueshan nodded.

"He did."

"He said he scored well—over five hundred. He got into his dream school, a first-tier university."

Xia Muzhu exhaled deeply, as if a weight had been lifted, and a genuine smile finally appeared on her face.

"That’s good."

"When is he leaving?"

She added,

"He still has some money with me."

"We agreed I’d keep it for him until he started university."

"Day after tomorrow, or the day after that..."

Xia Yueshan replied gloomily.

"Huh?"

"So soon?"

Xia Muzhu’s lips parted in shock, frozen mid-breath.

The timing was completely unexpected. She had thought there was still plenty of time...

"He said he has things to take care of."

At this, Xia Yueshan’s tone grew even more dejected as he continued,

"He also said... he might never come back."

"He doesn’t have a home here. No family, no relatives."

"He’s alone—wherever he goes, that’s his home."

"His university is really far from here..."

"He might really never return."

After saying this, Xia Yueshan watched his sister, unsure how she would react.

The sudden news stunned Xia Muzhu. She stood frozen for several seconds before blinking rapidly, shattering the glistening moisture in her eyes.

"Oh."

"I see."

She forced a weak smile, trying desperately to appear calm and unaffected.

But she didn’t realize—her clear whites were tinged pink with bloodshot veins, and the unshed tears hadn’t vanished. They clung to the surface of her deep blue eyes and her long, curled lashes.

Perhaps sensing something in Xia Yueshan’s increasingly sorrowful gaze,

Xia Muzhu pressed her lips together and hurriedly tried to set her bowl and chopsticks down, eager to leave.

In her haste, her hand missed the mark—the bowl’s edge struck the counter, and before she could steady it, the ceramic bowl slipped from her grip.

It shattered on the floor with a crisp crack, splintering into pieces.

Xia Muzhu froze for a second before quickly crouching down to gather the shards.

She picked up the fragments one by one, but as she did, she suddenly lifted her arm to wipe her eyes.

Then she reached for the pieces again—but after collecting only a few, she stopped.

She lowered her head, burying her face in her knees, arms loosely wrapped around her legs. Her shoulders trembled slightly, and her quiet sobs were like an invisible flood, drowning the world that belonged only to the two siblings in sorrow.

"Sis."

"Do you still like Lin Yu?"

Xia Yueshan couldn’t hold back the question any longer, asking softly.

Xia Muzhu didn’t lift her head. She kept her face hidden, her muffled cries the only response—but after a moment, she nodded slowly.

Xia Yueshan’s heart ached as he watched his sister curled into a small, pitiful ball on the floor.

The thought he couldn’t shake—the one that had haunted him—resurfaced, prodding at his tender heart with growing insistence.

His eyes filled with conflict.

But as he listened to her quiet weeping, the hesitation in his gaze faded, replaced by resolve. As if making some monumental decision, he asked,

"Sis, if you had a chance to be with Lin Yu right now... would you take it?"

Xia Muzhu finally looked up at that, her eyes red-rimmed, her voice choked with sorrow as she asked,

"What kind of chance is that?"

"Never mind that."

"Just a hypothetical. Would you?"

Xia Yueshan dodged the question, pressing further.

Xia Muzhu didn’t hesitate. She nodded.

"Yes."

"What about marriage?"

To confirm her feelings, Xia Yueshan pressed again,

"Right now, if Lin Yu suddenly appeared in front of you and asked you to marry him—to get your license at dawn—would you say yes?"

A flicker of confusion passed through Xia Muzhu’s deep blue eyes, as if she’d never considered the question before.

She lowered her head, thinking for just a few seconds—then lifted it again, all uncertainty gone.

"I would."