A Heart Full of Pride

Nancheng was the place Xie Yunzhao wanted most to escape: her birth mother had disappeared, her birth father was a drunk, and her stepmother had died of illness.

At the time, she was in high school.

The college entrance exam was her only way out of this muddy city.

She played the role of a pure, pitiful, resilient little white flower,

just as she hoped, making her clumsy, quiet stepbrother, Lin Jiping, willingly give her up and help her get ahead.

Xie Yunzhao held her admission letter to Jing University and suddenly burst into tears.

Even trapped in the mud, she was still proud. If only she left everything in Nancheng behind, she could start over.

But when it was finally time to go, she realized she wanted Lin Jiping, the one she was leaving behind in Nancheng.

*

Lin Jiping never thought that one day his sister would suddenly change, pressing him at every turn. She teased him, deceived him, and set him up, all for the sake of her mad obsession.

After one wild, debauched night of intimate entanglement, she finally got what she wanted, and he fled in panic.

Nancheng was left far behind them.

Thousands of kilometers from Nancheng, in the windblown, sandy city of Pansha, they unexpectedly met again.

Xie Yunzhao asked him, "Brother, why did you leave me? Am I not good enough?"

Lin Jiping said nothing. She was good, of course she was.

But she should always shine above the clouds, not be dragged into the mud by someone as wretched as him.

Xie Yunzhao didn't care what Lin Jiping thought. She only knew that this time, she would never let go.

P.S. There are no romantic feelings depicted while they remain related by law!

The completed companion pseudo-sibling novel is Heartbeat Over the Line.

Synopsis:

When Lin Xu was six, her father remarried, and she was about to move in with his new wife's family.

On the way there, she saw her father, who had been exhausted and worried because of her illness, smiling with relief. She secretly made up her mind.

Even if her father's new wife and that woman's son were as difficult as Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters, she would put up with them. She was prepared to be mistreated.

But the moment the door opened, she saw Zhou Jiaxian, five years older than her. The young boy was going through puberty, his voice hoarse and unpleasant, but his eyes were clear and gentle. "Uncle, is she going to be my little sister from now on?"

Later, that boy truly became the perfect older brother. But she changed her mind. She didn't want to be just his little sister anymore.

*

Zhou Jiaxian never imagined that the biggest mistake of his life would come from Lin Xu, the little sister he'd treasured and protected since childhood.

He knelt on the floor while their parents beat them both, and she sat on his bed clutching a quilt, pretending to be the victim even though she was the one who started it.

His heart gradually grew cold. He spoke to her harshly. "You're despicable and twisted. I don't have a sister like you."

Zhou Jiaxian got the reaction he wanted: her face suddenly went deathly pale. Later, under pressure from their parents, they got married.

After the wedding

"I'm the one who's despicable and twisted. It's all me. Can I come into your room tonight?"

"Lin Xu, don't push it. I'm your husband, not your brother. You want me to play both roles? You're going to give me a split personality at this rate..."

Make him wear a husband's skin while living a platonic married life with her, and keep acting like her brother? Not a chance!

After Zhou Jiaxian was driven to the brink of madness, he looked at her on the bed:

If she's so afraid of the lust in his eyes, then... he'll cover her eyes and tell her he's her brother.

No one knew better than he did how much the word "brother" meant to her. As long as he wore the mask of her brother, he could do whatever he wanted to her.

Theme: Live your life well.