Long Xuanye stared blankly at the girl’s busy figure.
Countless emotions surged in his heart.
Sheng Cai’er seemed to notice his gaze.
She stopped what she was doing and turned around.
Their eyes met.
Inside the cave, only the crackling of the campfire could be heard.
In the girl’s clear purple eyes, Long Xuanye’s somewhat stunned face was reflected, along with the jumping firelight.
She saw the complexity in his eyes and tilted her head slightly.
Then Sheng Cai’er stood up and walked lightly to the dry grass bed.
She did not speak.
She only stood there quietly and looked down at him.
Long Xuanye wanted to speak, but his throat was dry.
He could not say a single word.
Just as he was about to try supporting himself up again, the girl moved.
She slowly crouched down.
Her thin figure stretched long under the firelight.
A pair of soft arms reached out with a little hesitation, yet with firm determination, and gently wrapped around his neck.
The embrace was warm.
It carried the faint fragrance unique to a young girl.
Long Xuanye’s stiff body unconsciously relaxed under this softness.
He could feel that the girl’s body was very thin.
Even a little frail.
The arms around him were trembling slightly.
Sheng Cai’er gently used force and pressed his head down a little.
Following her movement, Long Xuanye’s head leaned against a warm and soft place.
It was not the girl’s fragrant shoulder.
It was her chest.
Through a layer of clothing, he could still feel her steady and powerful heartbeat.
A cool little hand covered his forehead.
The instant their skin touched, Long Xuanye’s body trembled slightly.
“The fever seems to be gone.”
A young and tender voice sounded beside his ear, like a feather brushing across his heart.
“Are you okay?”
Sheng Cai’er asked.
Long Xuanye’s heart felt as if something had slammed into it.
After transmigrating to this world, from a crying infant, to a child who could walk on his own, to the boy he was now…
He had always been the one taking care of others.
His mother, Bai Yue, was weak and sentimental.
He had to worry about her at all times.
His younger brother, Long Haochen, was young, ignorant, and innocent.
He had to guide him everywhere.
He was a transmigrator with an adult soul.
From the moment he learned to walk, he had forced himself to carry everything.
Injury.
Bleeding.
All of that had long become normal.
But this was the first time he had been treated like a real child by a girl, cared for so gently and carefully.
A warm current rose from the deepest part of his heart and flowed through his limbs and bones.
Even his weak body seemed to be driven free of its exhaustion by that warmth.
Long Xuanye’s lips moved.
At that moment, under relaxation, he could not help making a playful remark.
“Cai’er… could it be that you’re someone who can become my mother?”
Sorry, Char.
I’m saying something greedy…
However, the cave was too quiet.
Sheng Cai’er was in the special period of the Samsara trial.
Her gradually weakening vision had made her hearing far beyond ordinary people.
That soft mutter entered her ears without missing a word.
The arms around Long Xuanye’s neck suddenly stiffened.
The girl’s whole body tensed.
“You… you… what are you saying?”
A trace of hidden panic and embarrassment entered Sheng Cai’er’s voice.
Even the tips of her ears turned slightly red.
She released him and moved backward like a startled deer.
Long Xuanye also instantly returned to his senses.
His heart shouted, not good.
He had only spoken out of emotion and casually used a joke from an anime in his previous life.
How could he have known that she would hear every word clearly?
Looking at the girl’s cute appearance of shame and anger, Long Xuanye felt deeply awkward.
Just as he wanted to explain, Sheng Cai’er suddenly sat beside him again.
She reached out with her little hand and touched his forehead once more, as if confirming something.
“Your fever is gone.
Your injuries should really be better.”
Her words had regained some calmness, but the blush on her face had not faded at all.
Long Xuanye had just wanted to breathe a sigh of relief.
But the girl hesitated again, then added in a voice as soft as a mosquito.
“…It’s not impossible.”
Long Xuanye froze.
“What is not impossible?”
He looked toward the sound and met Sheng Cai’er’s clear purple eyes.
Under the firelight, the girl’s cheeks were red like ripe apples, but her gaze was unusually serious.
Sheng Cai’er did not have that many complicated thoughts.
She was only a child.
She remembered what this boy had said to her when she was at her most desperate.
She and he were the same.
Unlucky children abandoned by others.
He had saved her.
Then now, was it not only natural for her to “save” him in return?
Losing family, especially losing a mother, had to be very painful.
Sheng Cai’er herself was trapped in that pain.
Then Long Xuanye must be the same.
She wanted to repay him.
Sheng Cai’er took a deep breath.
Her purple eyes looked firmly at Long Xuanye.
“It’s okay.”
“I can be your mother too.”
Inside the cave, the jumping firelight stretched both their shadows very long.
Long Xuanye froze completely.
The air seemed to solidify.
She…
Was she serious?
Long Xuanye’s brain shut down for a moment.
No, girl, I was joking!
I just made a joke from my previous life.
Don’t take it seriously!
If this spread, people would think I had some special hobby!
Do I still want my reputation as Long Xuanye or not?
I usually pretend to be so mature and steady, but in private, I’m asking a little girl to be my mom?
Don’t do this!
However, Sheng Cai’er clearly could not receive the frantic complaints in his mind.
Seeing that Long Xuanye did not respond, she only tilted her head, seeming a little confused.
Then she sat a little closer.
Those cool little hands gently held Long Xuanye’s palm.
Her hands were small and soft.
With her other hand, Sheng Cai’er picked up the stone bowl beside her, scooped up a spoonful of warm meat porridge with the wooden spoon, and brought it to his lips.
Her movements were gentle and natural.
Long Xuanye looked at the spoon hanging beside his mouth, then at the girl’s calm little face.
The pain from his wounds came in waves, reminding him of his current weak state.
After thinking about it, he finally opened his mouth.
Forget it.
I’ll go along with her for now.
The warm meat porridge slid down his throat, driving away some of the chill in his body.
One spoonful.
Then another.
Sheng Cai’er fed him patiently.
Long Xuanye ate in silence.
The atmosphere inside the cave fell into a strange harmony.
When the bowl of porridge was empty, Long Xuanye felt some strength return.
He had to correct this strange seniority problem.
“Um… we still haven’t formally introduced ourselves.”
Long Xuanye cleared his throat and spoke first.
“My name is Long Xuanye.
What about you?”
The girl paused slightly, then answered softly.
“Sheng Cai’er.”
“Cai’er…”
Long Xuanye repeated the name in his heart, then revealed a gentle smile.
“Then from now on, I’ll call you Little Sister Cai’er, alright?”