My Sister Ah Wan

Extra 2 (Xie Bo Yan's Perspective)

Xie Bo Yan's surname was Xie, but he wasn't the biological child of the Xie family.

He was adopted from an orphanage.

As a child from the orphanage, he knew his place.

Be obedient, be sensible, don't cry or throw tantrums, and don't hope for things you shouldn't hope for.

In the beginning, during the first year, the Xie parents treated him very well, so well that he almost lost himself in it.

But after the Xie family had their own biological child, all they felt for him was a sense of obligation.

Xie Bo Yan was grateful—grateful that he had kept his boundaries.

Otherwise, receiving love only to be abandoned later would have been more painful.

So when he first saw Fang Wan, he felt a bit of jealousy.

Fang Wan was so fortunate; she had parents who loved her more than anything in the world.

His first interaction with Fang Wan happened when she approached him.

Fang Wan handed him a piece of candy. "I'm sick and can't eat this. Can you try it and tell me what it tastes like?"

Xie Bo Yan hesitated for a long time, but eventually, under Fang Wan's earnest gaze, he took the candy.
Fang Wan asked eagerly, "Is it sweet?"

Xie Bo Yan nodded. "It's sweet."

"How sweet?"

"Sweet like honey."

"Honey? Is that from bees? I've never had it before. Is it very sweet?"

In truth, Xie Bo Yan had never had honey either, but he still nodded. "Very sweet."

"Does eating something sweet make you feel happy?"

Happy?

Xie Bo Yan thought, maybe it does!

The next day, Fang Wan came to him again, this time with a piece of bread.

"Can you try this bread and tell me if it's sweet or salty?"

On the third day, it was a piece of cake.

"Try this. Does it taste the same as the bread from yesterday?"

It wasn't that she couldn't eat these things. She was clearly using that as an excuse to show pity for him.

"Are you pitying me?"

Fang Wan looked puzzled. "Are you talking about these snacks? I really can't eat them because I'm sick. I was saving them for my sister, but my parents won't bring her home, so I'm afraid they'll go bad, and that's why I'm giving them to you."

"But don't worry, they're not expired."

Fang Wan was troubled. She didn't know what else to do to get her sister brought home.
Crying didn't work, pleading didn't work, and reasoning didn't work.

Once, her emotions got so out of control that she ended up in the hospital, but still, her parents wouldn't relent.

Xie Bo Yan listened quietly as Fang Wan spoke.

When she finished, he said, "It has to be that you need her, not the other way around."

"What?" Fang Wan didn't understand.

Xie Bo Yan explained, "She needs to have value to come back. It's not about what she needs, but what she can offer. Otherwise, she's just a burden, and burdens get discarded."

Fang Wan felt deeply saddened after hearing this.

After a long silence, she nodded, "I understand."

Xie Bo Yan felt a pang of heartache for that child he had never met.

He could imagine her not having a good life, but he didn't realize just how bad it was.

That child was born for Fang Wan.

Yet her cord blood wasn't a match.

The doctor said this was common, but Fang Wan's family couldn't accept it.

Their first thought was that the child had been switched at birth.

What a joke—it was the cord blood that was tested, yet they believed the child was the mistake.
Fang Wan's parents even obsessively conducted a paternity test.

The result was as expected.

But the elders in the family didn't trust what they called "scientific proof."

If other people's cord blood worked, why didn't theirs?

Even if she was biologically theirs, they insisted that something was wrong with her on the inside.

So, giving her food and not letting her die was already more than enough kindness.

That child was raised by the elders like livestock.

At three and a half, she could barely speak.

Xie Bo Yan couldn't bear to think about the Fang Yin he first met.

Every time he remembered, his heart filled with sharp, stinging pain.

So when Fang Wan entrusted her to him, he agreed without hesitation.

Someone once asked him whether he liked Fang Wan or Fang Yin.

Xie Bo Yan found it laughable.

People like them, just surviving was hard enough.

Love was something they never even considered.

The three of them huddled together for warmth, supporting each other as they moved forward, and that was more than enough for him.

But Fang Wan's body had reached its limit.

Fang Wan said that it wasn't worth exchanging Fang Yin's kidney for a body that was failing.

Xie Bo Yan silently agreed.

But watching Fang Wan slowly die filled him with despair.

Fang Wan begged him, "Take care of Yin Yin for me, take care of her for a lifetime."

She didn't need to ask.

He had raised that little girl himself, and he would take care of her for a lifetime, without missing a single moment.

But the little girl had grown up and had her own ideas.

She said that giving one kidney to extend Fang Wan's life by a year or two was more than worth it!

And Xie Bo Yan found himself unable to argue with her.

He knew that once the little girl found out, it would no longer be something he could control.

A year or two.

To be exact, it was a year and a half.

The little girl sat on the balcony, and Xie Bo Yan was so terrified that he couldn't breathe.

But the little girl smiled and said, "A year and a half, I've won!"

Xie Bo Yan pleaded, "Yin Yin, be good, don't move."

The little girl turned to look at him.

"Brother Bo Yan, don't be afraid. I'm not going to kill myself. I still have to stay with you. If I die too, what will you do?"

Xie Bo Yan, trembling, went forward and lifted the little girl off the balcony.

He said, "That's right, stay with me. You have to stay with me!"

From then on, it was just the two of them left in this world.

(The End of Extra 2)