" Ying'er, are you in there?" Xua Yenay knocked on the bathing room's door when she did not see her sister inside the small room in which the two of them were staying. She was worried that Xua Ying Yue might end up falling sick because she did not boil the water to take a bath—— why was this girl so reckless? Xua Yenay could not help but feel her heartache for her sister.
Xua Ying Yue who was changing her clothes inside the bathing room paused when she heard the voice of her sister but she only paused for a few minutes before she continued to change her clothes and once she was done changing her shirt and dumped the one which was dripping with water in the laundry basket, she walked out of the bathing room only to meet with Xua Yenay's slightly frustrated face.
" Ying'er, I know that you do not like lighting gas stoves but you could have waited for me to come, if you wipe yourself with cold water, aren't you just looking for a way to catch a cold?" Xua Yenay could not help but scold Xua Ying Yue, though Xua Ying Yue did not show any signs of being affected by the incident where her hands were burned by the fire in the furnace, she was extremely reluctant to get any closer to anything which was related to fire.
" I will be fine with sister," answered Xua Ying Yue with a pale face, even though she was nowhere close to catching a fever, Xua Ying Yue was born with an extremely sickly complexion because of this even though she was not sick, she looked like she was going to fall sick.
Sometimes even Xua Yenay questioned how could those children bully her sister and that too so harshly, her sister looked so sickly and petite was there any need to harm her like such?
Though Xua Yenay questioned the hearts of those evil kids, she did not dare to say such words out loud lest she scraped a wound which was yet to be healed.
" How can you even be fine? Look at the chill in the weather and then take a look at you, you look like you will be blown away by just a gust of wind!" As Xua Yenay spoke she walked over to the kitchen where she started to boil water for Xua Ying Yue to take a bath. " I will boil some water for you, go and take a bath to take care of the chill if you fall sick then I am afraid that you will miss the first week of college which will only reflect badly in front of your teachers, even though sister has never went to college, I still think that it's not right for a young college student to miss the first week which is considered to be crucial."
Seeing that Xua Yenay was bent on sending her to take a bath, Xua Ying Yue had no other choice but to follow her orders. She took a bath after her sister was done boiling water and then sat down in front of her sister, allowing her to wipe the water off her hair.
" I have to say that you have surprised me, Ying'er," Xua Yenay praised as she patted Xua Ying Yue's long hair. " I thought that you will ignore that little girl but by stepping out for her, you have shown that you are still the same as you were when you were young. My little big-hearted princess."
When the two were young, her sister would often help those who needed help. In fact, she still remembered that incident where her sister would share her lunch box with a young girl in the class who was ostracised because she peed in her skirt when she was young.
She was afraid that after suffering in the hands of those children, her sister was going to change but Xua Ying Yue was still the same.
Was she still the same? Xua Ying Yue questioned in her head, with her knees drawn close to her chest, she looked at the window which showed the white snow which was falling from the sky like sugar dropping on a cake like icing.
Her lips curled into a smile and she carefully thought over the incident in the restaurant, she indeed helped Jia Lu Li but she did not help her out of the goodness of her heart. When she said that every relationship was built on give and take, she was warning Jia Lu Li that if she tried to get close to her, then she will definitely take something in return.
From what she learned from the conversation of the three girls, she knew that Jia Lu Li's father was a garage owner and for the task that she had in her head, needing several cars was just as important as having a plan. There will be a time when she would need a car which had no plate and in such a scenario, she knew that Jia Lu Li's father would come to be a great help.
Thus, if Jia Lu Li was to befriend her knowing her thinking then she could not blame her for taking advantage of her.
So was she still as naively kind as she was when she was young? Xua Ying Yue did not think so.
….
The next morning when the snow stopped falling Xua Ying Yue stepped out of the restaurant because the snow was covering the street in a thin sheet of ice many people were wearing boots which stopped them from falling on the road because of the thin sheet of ice, Xua Ying Yue who was walking down the narrow slope which led to the small library to the other end of the street heard a loud crunch behind her followed by a voice with which she was quite familiar with and turned around with an exasperated look on her face.