Chapter 111

Chapter 111

Wrapped in comfortable warmth, Qiao Ying dreamed for the first time in a long while.

In the dream, she stood beside her parents and saw a boy whom Second Uncle had brought home.

The seven or eight-year-old boy wore tattered clothes, but his eyes were exceptionally bright. Like a wolf from the wilderness, they held a trace of untamed wildness.

Second Uncle said, “I found this child beside the road. In this bitter cold, he was nearly frozen to death. My heart softened, so I brought him home after all. His name is Luo Xuan, and he’s very clever.”

Qiao Ying’s father asked, “Do you intend to keep him in the manor as a servant, or do you want to adopt him?”

Second Uncle considered the question, then said, “Elder Brother, you have only one daughter, Yingying, and I have only Mianmian. Neither of us was fated to have a son. I want to adopt him. Once you and I are gone, it would be good for Yingying and Mianmian to have a brother in their maiden family who can support them.”

Qiao Ying’s father nodded and gently pushed his daughter’s shoulder. “Yingying, go meet your new little brother.”

Qiao Ying was only nine at the time. Dressed in a jade-green padded jacket, she looked like an unexpected touch of spring in the dead of winter.

She stepped out from behind her parents and met the boy’s curious gaze. A smile curved her lips. “Hello, Luo Xuan. I’m…”

An energetic voice drew near and interrupted her. “Father, I heard you picked someone up beside the road and brought him home!”

The little girl in pink was round and bundled up like a ball, making her exceptionally adorable. Bursting with energy, she crowded in front of the boy, circled him once, and swept a lively gaze over him from head to toe.

The boy lowered his head uneasily and unconsciously tightened his grip on the ragged hem of his clothes.

His clothes were ugly and torn, and his entire body was filthy. Anyone who came close might even smell the unpleasant odor clinging to him.

But the little girl stopped before him, raised her face, and showed him a huge smile. “Hello! I’m Mianmian. I’m older than you, so you have to call me Elder Sister from now on!”

The boy’s lips moved, but no sound emerged. His head drooped lower, and his body grew even more tense.

Qiao Mianmian enthusiastically pressed on. “Why won’t you call me Elder Sister? Are you mute? Can’t you speak? Can you write? I’ve learned lots of characters lately. I can teach you, and also…”

“Perhaps we should let him wash up first.”

Qiao Mianmian looked at Qiao Ying, who had suddenly spoken.

Qiao Ying said, “Maybe once he’s warm, he’ll be willing to talk to you.”

Qiao Mianmian looked back at the boy.

He did not seem accustomed to enduring such an enthusiastic stare. His feet edged backward. Inside his still-wet straw sandals, they had long since gone numb from the cold.

Qiao Mianmian suddenly came to her senses. Without the slightest disgust, she took the boy’s hand. “Come on. I’ll take you to wash up!”

She dragged the little boy from the room and disappeared in no time.

Second Uncle Qiao shook his head helplessly. “Mianmian is still so careless and unruly. She hasn’t learned a shred of proper conduct.”

Qiao Ying’s father laughed. “She’s a child. This is exactly the age when liveliness is most adorable.”

Second Uncle Qiao sighed. “If only Mianmian could be a little steadier, like Yingying.”

Qiao Mianmian and Qiao Ying had never played well together, even when they were very young. It was partly because the adults always compared Qiao Mianmian to Qiao Ying to emphasize how obedient and sensible Qiao Ying was, but also because Qiao Ying was simply no fun.

When Qiao Mianmian followed the boy up trees to raid birds’ nests, Qiao Ying was reading.
When Qiao Mianmian begged Shangguan Lingxiao to show her what a Yaoguai looked like, Qiao Ying was reading.

At a tender age, Qiao Mianmian had already “led Shangguan Lingxiao astray.” The two of them sneaked into a brothel on an adventure, and when the adults caught them and made them kneel in the ancestral hall as punishment, Qiao Ying was still reading.

Qiao Ying truly was far too dull.

But Qiao Ying did not find her life dull. The bizarre and fantastical stories in her books fascinated her. The more she read, the more curious she became about the world.

The following spring, apricot blossoms covered the branches.

Qiao Ying was leafing through a new storybook her mother had bought her when she faintly heard someone sobbing behind a tree.

The boy crouched there with his thin body wrapped in his own arms. He tried desperately not to cry aloud, but could not suppress his sobs.

Through his tear-blurred eyes, he suddenly saw half of a girl’s body pop out from behind the tree.

She tipped her head and asked softly, “Luo Xuan, why are you crying?”

The boy denied it instinctively. “I’m not crying!”

She looked at the tracks of tears on his face, then said, “Oh. I was wrong. You’re not crying. Your eyes are dripping snot.”

The boy was so disgusted that he stopped crying.

Qiao Ying asked, “What’s that in your hands?”

The boy tightened his arms around the object and replied quietly, “Elder Sister promised to fly a kite with me, but I accidentally tore it. She won’t play with me anymore. She went to find Shangguan Lingxiao instead.”

Qiao Ying blinked. “Then let’s repair the kite together. Once it’s fixed, you can go find her again.”

The boy’s eyes lit up. “It can still be fixed?”

Qiao Ying nodded. “Of course.”

Those words gave the boy the strength to stand. Holding the kite, he approached Qiao Ying step by step, and a smile gradually appeared on his face.

“Thank you, Sister Ying.”

Qiao Ying opened her eyes and stared at the snowflakes drifting through the night. For a moment, she could not recover from the dream. The words “Sister Ying” seemed to linger in her ears without fading.

Perhaps she had drunk too much fruit wine. Her mind felt heavy and muddled, and trying to think made her head ache. She could only set it aside for now.

Qiao Ying did not know how long she had slept. Her head throbbed faintly, and she instinctively burrowed into a familiar embrace, rubbing her cheek against the young man’s chest with a soft whimper.

A pale hand gently stroked the back of her head. “Do you feel unwell?”

Qiao Ying nodded. She had drunk herself into a complete blackout and had forgotten almost everything she did while intoxicated. All she remembered was feeling impossibly warm in a world filled with swirling white snow.

Only then did she realize that a blue robe was wrapped around her, leaving no more than half her head exposed.

“Aren’t you cold?”

Forgetting her headache, Qiao Ying sat upright, caught his hand, and tucked it against her chest to warm it. When she raised her eyes, she met his smile.

“It’s freezing, and you put your robe around me. Aren’t you afraid you’ll catch a chill?”

Shen Qingyu laughed softly.

“What’s so funny? Don’t laugh!” Qiao Ying put on a stern face. “Shen Qingyu, are you a fool?”

Shen Qingyu lowered his face and nuzzled the tip of her nose. “Yingying.”

“What?”

“Why aren’t you calling me Fish Baby, good fish, and Good Fish anymore?”

Qiao Ying looked as if lightning had struck her. “I… I… Did I really call you those things?”