Thirteen years ago, Xu Tingyu was not yet fifteen.
She was a blooming young girl in the prime of youth, like a newly - opened rose, delicate and beautiful, symbolizing all that was good.
Inheriting the best features of her parents, she had been good - looking since childhood. By the age of fourteen or fifteen, she was not only beautiful but also full of grace.
At the beginning of her freshman year in high school, she was voted the most beautiful campus belle in the school's history.
Even when she went to the restroom during the break, she would attract a crowd of gazes.
But at that time, she was well - protected by her family and was innocent and naive when it came to such things.
When she received love letters, she would seriously read out the school rules against puppy love to the senders.
Of course, the first time she got a love letter, she had this attitude. The second time, she would simply refuse to accept it and give a warning with annoyance.
As time went by, everyone knew that this seemingly delicate campus belle was not to be trifled with.
Normally, besides her childhood friends, she only hung out with girls. Su Yue was one of her good friends.
Everyone knew that Su Yue was adopted by the Su family, but no one mocked her. Instead, they were all kind to her.
Su Yue was beautiful and sweet - tongued, and she had long integrated into the group.
At that time, Su Yi was also in the same high school, one grade higher than them. He would come to Xu Tingyu's class in the evening to wait for Su Yue to go home together.
Every time he came, he would bring some snacks and small trinkets. When he gave them to Su Yue, he would always remember to give Xu Tingyu a share.
At first, Xu Tingyu refused to accept them, but since Su Yi insisted, she had no choice but to take them.
In fact, she never ate any of those snacks. She always gave them to her deskmate.
As for the small trinkets, after she received them, she would buy something for Su Yue as a return gift after a while.
Originally, there was nothing wrong with all these.
After all, they had known each other since childhood.
But for some reason, things changed in Su Yi's mind.
The way he looked at Xu Tingyu became more and more strange.
Su Yue was the first one to notice this.
One day on their way home, she asked Su Yi, "Brother, you like Xu Tingyu, don't you?"
Su Yi had always been annoyed by this younger sister, and when he heard this, he had no intention of answering her.
"Every time you say you're here to wait for me to go home, but actually you just want to take one more look at Xu Tingyu," Su Yue didn't give up.
She hated the way Su Yi treated her.
Although she had been his sister for seven or eight years, he still couldn't accept her.
Most of the time, he was extremely cold to her. Only in front of Xu Tingyu would he play the role of a good brother.
Su Yi finally reacted to her words, but he was full of impatience. "What do you want to say?"
"I just want to say that Xu Tingyu is very slow in matters of the heart. Your way of chasing her won't work."
"Look, when have you ever seen her really eat the things you gave her? Have you ever seen her hang out the little pendants you gave her?"
"We've all grown up together, and it's obvious that she's closer to Shen Yan."
"By the way, Shen Yan also likes her. You can't be blind to that, right?"
The more Su Yue talked, the more excited she became. She finally saw a crack on Su Yi's perfectly - masked face.
Just as Su Yi was about to lose his temper, she suddenly said, "But I can help you. You know, brother, I've always been on your side."
Sometimes, teenagers are easy to be coaxed.
Su Yi, who had always disliked his sister and thought she was too calculating, was actually touched by these words.
After that, Su Yue really became Su Yi's messenger.
In front of Su Yi, she would tell Xu Tingyu how great Su Yi was.
She would also say intentionally or unintentionally that she wanted someone like Xu Tingyu to be her sister - in - law in the future.
Even later, she would deliberately push Xu Tingyu towards Su Yi.
At first, Xu Tingyu would tell her not to make such jokes, as she didn't like them.
As time passed and seeing that Su Yue showed no sign of stopping, Xu Tingyu simply distanced herself from Su Yue.
Even some of their childhood friends noticed something was wrong and asked them what had happened.
Xu Tingyu couldn't very well say that Su Yi wanted to date her and that Su Yue was trying to match - make them, which made her uncomfortable.
So she just glossed over it.
As for Su Yue, she didn't mention Su Yi at all. Instead, she shifted the blame to their recent exam results.
In the recent monthly exam, Xu Tingyu had fallen behind a lot because she had been busy with a dance competition, causing her ranking in the monthly exam to drop by seven or eight places.
Su Yue, on the other hand, had performed well and took Xu Tingyu's previous position.
So, although it was actually them who made Xu Tingyu uncomfortable first, under Su Yue's guidance, it seemed that Xu Tingyu was being petty.
In a fit of anger, Xu Tingyu simply admitted, "Yes, yes, yes. I'm jealous of her good grades, so I don't want to play with her anymore."
After all, they were just kids at that time. How could she handle this matter maturely?
She simply decided to let things go.
Wherever the Su siblings appeared, she would turn around and leave.
Of course, Su Yi was anxious about this.
He used to be able to talk to Xu Tingyu and was at least her friend.
Now, they couldn't even be friends.
He scolded Su Yue severely and told her not to interfere anymore.
She was just making things worse.
After this argument, Su Yi basically stopped talking to Su Yue.
At this time, the old master of the Su family had publicly stated more than once that in the future, the Su family's business would be handed over to Su Yi.
Seeing that everyone's attention had returned to Su Yi, Su Yue came up with a bad idea for some unknown reason.
On the eve of Su Yi's sixteenth birthday party.
She found Xu Tingyu and sincerely apologized, saying that it was all her fault. It wasn't Su Yi who asked her to do those things, but she did them for fun.
Now she knew she was wrong.
Her brother was very sad about this. Since they had grown up together, she felt bad that their relationship had become like this.
Now that she knew her mistake, it didn't matter if Xu Tingyu didn't forgive her. She just hoped that Xu Tingyu could attend Su Yi's birthday party.
Otherwise, he would definitely be very sad.
Xu Tingyu was soft - hearted after all. Since Su Yue had admitted her mistake, she didn't pursue the matter anymore.
Moreover, there were business dealings between the Xu and Su families, and she couldn't avoid contact with the two siblings for the rest of her life.
So she still bought a birthday gift and attended Su Yi's birthday party.
But she didn't know that while Su Yue was apologizing to her, she also told Su Yi that she would give him an unforgettable birthday gift.
On the day of the birthday party, after Xu Tingyu took a drink from Su Yue, she started to act strangely.
Su Yue said that she had informed Xu Tingyu's parents to come and that she would take her to rest. Then she helped Xu Tingyu to Su Yi's room.
When Su Yi returned to his room, he saw Xu Tingyu with the zipper of her dress half - pulled down.
"Brother, do you like my gift?"
"What's the use of just liking? She doesn't like you at all."
"But we all know that the Xu family is conservative. If you two have a done deal, given the friendship between the two families, they won't pursue it. They'll just let you two get engaged."
"Brother, this is your chance to pursue your love."
The young girl's fair skin was like the finest porcelain. Along with Su Yue's devilish whispers, it exuded a fatal temptation under the light.
Su Yi, who was originally going to call for help, gave in to his greed.