Ruan Jiaojiao listened to these words, feeling like her chest was churning. She wanted to speak, but her mouth just wouldn't open. At that moment, she heard another voice, gentle beyond comparison, ringing beside her ear.
"Jiaojiao, Jiaojiao…"
"Come here, what are you doing standing by the ditch, silly girl? What if you fall in?"
"Aren't you cold? Come to Mommy, let Mommy hold you, okay?"
"…"
Ruan Jiaojiao was submerged in the icy water, shivering all over. Instinctively, she reached out, wanting to be lifted up, but she wasn't. Instead, she saw another little girl, identical to her, being picked up and carried away on the woman's shoulder.
She grew anxious and wanted to call out for the woman to stop; she was still in the water, she hadn't gotten up.
But it was then that the little girl in her arms turned to look in her direction, her pitch-black eyes like a void without any edge. Even though she heard nothing, she knew what the other girl was saying.
