Chapter 43: with translation of chapter title: 43

43 「Little Xue, live well, big sister will always love you. 」

Three years ago, on that Spring Festival morning.

The family of four happily prepared New Year goods, planning to drive back to their hometown to celebrate the New Year.

Their hometown was not far away; after passing Hu Cheng Gao Su, they would arrive.

But unfortunately, on that stretch of highway less than a hundred kilometers long, a sudden dense fog caused a chain-reaction collision.

The vehicles on the highway were not slow.

Each "bang bang bang" was heart-wrenching.

There were survivors and lightly injured people who quickly got out of their cars and fled to the median strip, while warm-hearted people ran to the rear of the accident scene, frantically waving their hands and loudly shouting for the vehicles behind to slow down.

But it was to no avail; the visibility in the heavy fog was extremely low, less than ten meters.

Behind them, vehicles kept crashing in one after another.

The air was filled with the smell of gasoline and blood.

Many vehicles had been crushed out of shape, with severed limbs still hanging outside through the windows.

At the scene, the cries and shouts for help of men, women, old and young intertwined.

Over thirty vehicles were involved, including many vans and trucks, and even a fuel tanker; the severity of the scene can be imagined.

And unfortunately, the Shang Family happened to be caught up in this accident.

But fortunately, Shang Guojun noticed the accident in time, reacted relatively quickly, reduced his speed, and then changed lanes toward the side of the highway guardrail.

There were fewer accident vehicles there, so their collision was not too serious.

They had thought it was fortunate, but unexpectedly, as he urged his wife and two daughters to quickly get out of the car and move to a safe spot, a loud honk sounded from behind, accompanied by a booming rumble and the clanging of metal.

It was a sixteen-meter-long flatbed truck loaded with steel bars that slammed into them.

Probably the driver knew his truck was carrying steel bars, and if he couldn't stop and plowed in, the accident would have been even more horrific.

In the split second between life and death, he could only brake while steering to hit the guardrail, hoping to use its resistance to slow down.

But at that speed, it was impossible to stop within just under ten meters.

With a crash, the steel bars, propelled by inertia, shot over the truck's cab, killing the driver instantly.

And on the guardrail side, the Shang Family's vehicle was not spared; one of the flying steel bars pierced through the side door and went through the rear seat.

Shang Guojun and Liu Xiujuan's first reaction was to try to pull their two daughters from the back seat, but there was simply no time.

A single steel bar pierced through both sisters' bodies.

At that moment, Shang Guojun and Liu Xiujuan felt they could not breathe; even if they wanted to shout, they could not make a sound.

Watching their two daughters shout at them, "Dad, Mom, it hurts so much."

Both were willing but unable.

Because the steel bar was long, it not only threaded through the sisters but also was lodged in the door; they dared not move, fearing that prying open the door would cause secondary injury.

The rear seat was soaked with the sisters' blood.

Their consciousness also began to fade.

Liu Xiujuan's voice trembled, but she forced herself to stay calm; she couldn't let her daughters follow her into fear, and she said:

"Don't be scared, my darlings, Mom is with you; the rescuers will be here soon, you'll be saved shortly, let's wait a bit more, you're the best, please don't fall asleep, okay?"

She soothed the sisters over and over, also comforting herself.

Because their only hope now lay in the rescuers arriving quickly, as someone ahead had already been shouting to run, as the fuel tanker seemed to be leaking oil.

When the rescuers arrived.

At that moment, Shang Yu was about to lose consciousness; the steel bar had pierced her chest, and her bleeding was twice that of Shang Xue's.

Seeing the rescuers rush in, Shang Guojun scrambled and crawled over to call for help for his daughters.

To make matters worse, a nearby vehicle began to drip oil, and because the vehicles were deformed and squeezed, the cramped space made it hard to operate cutting equipment.

Moreover, the key point was that they had estimated the oil leakage situation there, and the rescue time would far exceed the time until the vehicle exploded.

Evacuation had already begun up ahead.

The rescuers quickly assessed the two children's injuries, combined with the overall difficulty of extrication at the scene, and then chose to start the demolition from the side with more space.

After the steel bars were cut with hydraulic shears, Shang Xue was the first to be rescued.

A doctor had been waiting nearby, who placed Shang Xue on an ambulance to begin monitoring and resuscitation.

Next came Shang Yu, but the rescuers found that one of her legs was trapped in the gap between the deformed vehicle body and the passenger seat, unable to move at all.

Meanwhile, the gasoline leaking from the fuel tanker had spread over a wide area, and the foam could not possibly cover it completely.

The flammable-explosive concentration was rising rapidly, about to reach the critical point, while Shang Yu's condition was complex, making rescue impossible before an explosion.

To avoid unnecessary casualties, all personnel needed to evacuate the scene as quickly as possible.

Liu Xiujuan had even cried until her vision went dark; she clung to the guardrail, unwilling to look at Shang Yu inside the car, and was dragged away by the rescuers.

Shang Guojun powerlessly pleaded, watching helplessly as the flames ignited.

"Bang!"

Around the safety zone, there were cries and wails.

Everyone was shouting about the loved ones and friends who could not be rescued and would remain forever on the road.

Liu Xiujuan fainted.

This Spring Festival day should have been a day of family reunion.

But on this day, they permanently lost a daughter.

Little did they know, at the moment Shang Xue was lifted onto the ambulance, she was conscious.

She saw her sister engulfed by the raging flames, and in her ears kept echoing the sentence her sister had just whispered beside her with her last breath:

"Little Xue, live well, big sister will always love you."

That remark, even to this day, Shang Xue still hears phantom voices whenever she rides in a vehicle.

Could it be that she feels no grief or sorrow over her sister's death?

But the dead are gone; they must eventually move on.

Seeing that every day before a meal, her parents must offer incense at her sister's tablet, and if the incense doesn't burn completely, none of them are allowed to eat.

Each week they set aside an entire day to fast and kneel in that pitch‑dark room, punishing themselves.

Furthermore, for three years the mother has spent every evening wiping her sister's tablet while washing her face with tears, resulting in an eye ailment that blurs her vision so she can't see clearly.

Every Lunar New Year, which is her sister's memorial day, the house is draped in white mourning cloth and all the food served are offerings.

At first she also tried to persuade them, but after three years of day‑in‑day‑out futility, she changed tactics, resorting to making a scene and even hoping to shout them into awareness.

Besides, she and her sister have always shared a telepathic bond; she constantly feels her sister's presence and can sense that her sister, too, is saddened by seeing the family in this state.

Yesterday's durian pastry was merely the spark that ignited this family, which looks harmonious on the surface but is already shattered within.

Lately, whenever she lashes out, her parents berate her, calling her a white‑eyed wolf and even saying they themselves deserve to die, among other things.

And this time she received the same outcome as before.

Liu Xiujuan snapped out of her shock, snatched Shang Yu's tablet back to her chest, and pointed at Shang Xue's nose:

"You! You! She is your sister! How dare you want to burn her tablet—she protected you most when she was alive, you white‑eyed wolf!"

By now Shang Xue was crying uncontrollably, and she pleaded, "Mom, Dad, forgive yourselves and let go of sister, please?"