From a young age, my parents favored my younger brother over me. The most common phrase I heard was, "You will marry and leave, but your brother is different. He can always stay with our parents."

"You should help him more."

My brother was mischievous, and whenever he did something wrong, I would be the one to take the blame. When my parents punished me, they would be merciless, venting all their anger on me.

At night, my brother would come to my bed, hold my hand, and as a chubby little boy with round cheeks, he would sob uncontrollably, saying sorry to me, promising that he would never do it again.

Anything delicious or fun would always be given to my brother first. As the eldest sister in the family, my opinions and thoughts didn't matter.

It wasn't until my brother turned fifteen that he would act disdainful towards me in front of our parents, pretending to dislike and look down on me. But secretly, he would slip me money, saying, "Sister, you must get into a good school and find someone who loves you, then leave our parents."

I would pat his head and say, "Okay, sister will come back for you."

Due to poverty, my parents quarreled day and night. The last time I saw my mother, she packed her clothes and left the house without saying a word.

I held back my tears and studied day and night, becoming the first student from our village to attend a prestigious university, leaving the mountains behind.

On that same day, my brother, Qi Yue, fell off a cliff while saving a girl who had been abducted in the village.

My father, in a confused state, drunkenly called me, saying, "You better come back quickly. You don't even attend your brother's funeral? You heartless person."

The village chief messaged me, urging me to stay in the city for the rest of my life. If I were to return, my father would immediately arrange a marriage for me.

At that moment, I thought, I want to stay here and have a home of my own.

There was a boy in my class who sent me a friend request. I thought I would delete him as soon as I found the time, but unexpectedly, he suddenly confessed his feelings to me.

Was it a game? A grand adventure?

I replied, "I'm sorry, thank you for your affection."

I remember this boy's name was Zhang Qiao. He was a very talkative person and introduced himself without any shyness.

I was busy with part-time jobs, not knowing anyone in my class and not participating in group activities. However, Zhang Qiao seemed to have taken a liking to me. He would occasionally send me messages, pretending to bump into me, and he managed to enter my life.

One late night, I missed the last bus and was hiding from the rain at a bus stop. My phone had run out of battery and was turned off. I sat in a corner, hugging myself, sighing about how unlucky my day had been.

He somehow found out that I hadn't returned to the dormitory and searched for me at each of the part-time job locations I had mentioned before. Drenched from head to toe, he finally found me and his first words were:

"Are you okay, Zhao Zhao?"

He worriedly handed me his umbrella, relieved, and said, "I'm glad I found you. Let's go, I'll take you back to school."

The places where I worked part-time were not close to each other.

In such a stormy night, I wondered how he managed to endure and find me.

He lowered his eyelids, his bangs covering my inquisitive gaze. He didn't care about his own disheveled appearance and smiled brightly:

"As long as you're safe."

At that moment, his expression was so much like Qi Yue's.

I no longer resisted his presence and would occasionally respond to his unrelated topics.