The Young Miss Refuse To Love-Chapter 129: I saved her

Seeing He Zeqing remain unresponsive, Su Yunfei felt an overwhelming wave of despair crash over him. He hated this aloofness, this infuriating silence that seemed to mock his pain.

"Just say something, Zeqing. Please..." His voice cracked, trembling as he softly begged. He didn’t care what He Zeqing said—an explanation, an excuse, even a lie—anything was better than this unbearable silence.

He Zeqing took a deliberate step back, putting distance between himself and Su Yunfei. The action was subtle, but to Su Yunfei, it spoke volumes. Noticing the movement, he chuckled bitterly, his laughter hollow and tinged with pain.

"My sister admired you so much," Su Yunfei began, his voice lowering to a whisper, each word laced with raw emotion. "And yet, even after seven years since her death, the man she loved never once visited her grave. Not once. Even when she was alive, you barely looked at her. You ignored her, dismissed her as if she were nothing."

His lips curled into a self-deprecating smile as he continued, "I turned a blind eye to it all back then. I told myself it didn’t matter, that she’d move on eventually. But now... now I realize how heartless you truly are. Thinking about the fact that you were the last person she saw before she died, I—"

His voice broke, the bitterness in his tone sharpening like a blade. "I really want to kill you, Zeqing."

He whispered the words, but the weight of his anguish made them feel deafening.

Memories began to flood Su Yunfei’s mind, unbidden and vivid. Back then, he would often roll his eyes whenever his sister, Su Yunting, talked about her admiration for He Zeqing. It wasn’t real, or so he believed. Just the harmless antics of a young girl teasing her older brother. He’d scold her relentlessly, calling her shameless for trying to catch He Zeqing’s attention.

But Su Yunfei’s constant nagging was never meant to hurt her. It was just his way of deflecting his discomfort, of hiding the fact that the idea of He Zeqing becoming his brother-in-law repulsed him. He hadn’t truly believed she was serious.

In truth, Su Yunfei knew that Su Yunting didn’t actually have feelings for He Zeqing. Even He Zeqing knew that. Her so-called "crush" was a playful ruse, a way to tease both her brother and He Zeqing. She delighted in setting up little traps, knowing Su Yunfei would always fall for them.

But all of that changed when she died. Her teasing, her laughter, her harmless tricks—they all became memories shrouded in pain. And then came the most unbearable truth of all: her last moments.

The image of her begging He Zeqing for help haunted Su Yunfei. He had heard her desperate cries himself, the pleas she made as the fire consumed her. In her final moments, she had begged for her life, not for a date or attention, but for a chance to survive. And He Zeqing, like always, had turned his back on her.

Su Yunfei clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms as the memories threatened to overwhelm him. The weight of his guilt and resentment felt suffocating.

He Zeqing stood in silence, watching as Su Yunfei crumbled into despair. Every word Su Yunfei spoke about the past was like a sharp blade, cutting deep into wounds that had never fully healed.

An image surfaced in He Zeqing’s mind, unbidden and vivid—a girl’s face illuminated by the flickering light of fire, her smile radiant despite the chaos around her.

Her smile. It had been so full of life, so determined, even as the flames closed in around her. In that moment, Su Yunting had seemed invincible to him—a woman more powerful than anyone he had ever known.

She had been in pain, and there had been fear in her eyes, but still, she smiled. That smile wasn’t for herself. It was for him. A smile meant to reassure, to comfort, to give him the strength to leave her behind.

But that smile, meant to offer him solace, had become his eternal torment. It haunted his dreams, transforming into the cruelest of nightmares. It was a memory that refused to fade, a ghost that clung to his every waking thought.

"You could’ve saved her..." Su Yunfei’s voice broke the silence, soft and tired. He had whispered those words countless times over the years, each repetition carrying the weight of his grief and the torment of his unanswered questions.

He had spent seven long years trapped in a loop of "what-ifs." What if He Zeqing hadn’t left? What if he had chosen to save her instead? Was the man he had once trusted, the man he had called a friend, truly so heartless?

He Zeqing closed his eyes, as though the darkness might offer some reprieve from the storm raging inside him. When he spoke, his voice was soft, almost fragile, yet it carried the weight of a truth buried for far too long.

"I did..."

The words hung in the air, heavy and startling. Su Yunfei froze, his breath catching in his throat. Confusion etched itself onto his face, his red-rimmed eyes searching He Zeqing’s for clarity.

He Zeqing opened his eyes slowly, meeting Su Yunfei’s gaze directly. His expression was unreadable, but his words were resolute, each one carefully measured.

"I saved her, Su Yunfei."

The confession fell like a thunderclap, reverberating through the room. Su Yunfei’s confusion deepened, his mind racing to make sense of the words.

For seven years, he had lived with the belief that He Zeqing had abandoned his sister. And now, with just three words, that belief was shattered.

"What do you mean?" Su Yunfei’s voice trembled, his gaze locking onto He Zeqing. Each step he took toward the man seemed heavier than the last, as though the weight of the moment pressed down on him.

For seven years, all he had ever received from He Zeqing were muted apologies, repeated over and over like a broken record. But now, for the first time, he was hearing something different—words that carried a truth he wasn’t sure he was ready to face.

He Zeqing held his ground, refusing to break eye contact. He knew what he was about to reveal would not just crack the foundation of Su Yunfei’s world but utterly shatter it. Yet, the burden of hiding the truth for so long had become too much to bear.

It was time. Time to let go of the truth and take the first step toward healing—both for himself and for Su Yunfei.

"That night," He Zeqing began, his voice steady but tinged with a quiet sorrow, "when the fire broke out, I arrived late. Your parents were outside the house, trying desperately to get in and save you."

He paused, his mind replaying the scene as vividly as if it had just happened. "I saw them, Su Yunfei. Your mother and father, kneeling on the ground, begging anyone who would listen to go in and save you. Your father was injured, and they wouldn’t let your mother risk her life by going inside. The firefighters hadn’t arrived yet, and everyone else..." His voice faltered momentarily.

"Everyone else was too afraid to enter. They believed no one could survive that fire."

Su Yunfei stood frozen, his heart pounding in his chest. He had heard this part before—his mother begging He Zeqing for help—but hearing it now, with such vivid detail, made it all the more unbearable.

"When your mom saw me," He Zeqing continued, his voice softening, "she fell to her knees in front of me, begging me to save you. You should have seen her eyes, Su Yunfei. The desperation in them—it was something I’ll never forget." He closed his eyes briefly, as though trying to erase the memory that had haunted him for so long.

"And I went in," he said, meeting Su Yunfei’s gaze again. "I went in to save both of you."

Su Yunfei’s lips parted slightly, but no words came out.

"I found your sister first," He Zeqing said, his voice growing quieter. "She was injured. Her legs were burned, and she could barely walk. I told her I’d take her out first and come back for you. But she refused. She was adamant about finding you. She said you were likely still in your room, sleeping, and that you might have fainted because the fire had started near there."

He paused, the weight of the memory pressing down on him. "I tried to persuade her, but she wouldn’t listen. She was so scared for you and wouldn’t leave without you. So, we went to find you."

When He Zeqing spoke again, his voice was tinged with guilt. "She was right. When we found you, you were unconscious, lying on the floor. Thankfully, you weren’t injured, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t wake you up. Your sister..." His voice cracked. "Your sister told me to carry you out while she followed behind with her injured leg."

Su Yunfei’s hands clenched into fists, his nails digging into his palms as he listened.

"The stairs..." He Zeqing’s voice was barely audible now. "The stairs were completely engulfed in flames. The ceiling was crumbling around us. I wanted to carry both of you and jump down to the first floor, but she stopped me. She was worried you might fall if I tried. She told me to jump first and that she’d follow."

He took a deep breath, the next words seeming to stick in his throat. "But she didn’t jump, Su Yunfei. She didn’t jump in the end."

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