In her peripheral vision, the girl’s movements paused noticeably; she even lifted her head to look at her.
Fang Rulian explained, “I have to head back to school to find an internship, and there’s the graduation defense and all that. I can’t just stay at home lounging around anymore.”
“Mhm.” The marshmallow was once again held up beneath Fang Rulian’s eyes. “But it must be hard to find an internship for your major, right? Oh, right—after graduation, where are you planning to work?”
Fang Rulian stared at the marshmallow. A layer of crystallization had formed on the cottony surface where the sugar had melted upon contact with moisture. “I haven’t decided yet. What about you? Is there a city you want to go to for university?”
Fang Zhiyi rested her chin on her hand, her gaze becoming quiet under the filter of the afterglow. Her tone was calm: “Where does Sister want me to go?”
“Why ask me? You’re the one going to college; you should definitely choose based on your own preferences.”
Fang Rulian shook her head to signal she wouldn’t eat, turning her head to look at Fang Zhiyi. Her gaze unconsciously fell upon the corner of the girl’s mouth again. After enduring several thumping heartbeats, she finally couldn’t help but speak: “Wipe your mouth.”
The girl looked up at her, her expression innocent. “I don’t have a tissue.”
Fang Rulian knitted her brows. “There’s a marshmallow at the corner of your mouth. Lick it.”
The girl was very obedient. A scarlet tongue poked out from the gap of her lips, moving cautiously toward the corner of her mouth, darting out bit by bit in an attempt to curl those few snowy-white wisps inside.
“Forget it, stop licking.” Fang Rulian turned away. “Wait until we get back to the car to wipe it.”
Fang Zhiyi said, “I want to go to Luwei. There are many good schools, and it’s close to home.”
“That’s a good choice.” A cloyingly sweet sugar taste still lingered on the tip of her tongue; Fang Rulian took a lick. “Plus, you can see the sea. You’ve loved the ocean since you were little. It’s a coastal city with many beautiful beaches.”
The sun was nearly submerged below the horizon, and the clouds at the edge of the sky burned like a raging fire.
“We should go, Sister. Aunt Fang and Mom are waiting for us at home.”
“I know.” Fang Rulian reached out a hand to Fang Zhiyi and smiled. “Pull me up.”
She exercised her “older sister” privileges at every possible moment, and regardless of how Fang Zhiyi reacted, she always derived pleasure from it.
Her palm was caught by that slightly cool hand.
She was the one who started the flirting, yet she was also the first to retreat. Quickly using that hand to pull herself up, she snapped her hand back immediately, complaining casually about how her legs were numb and how tired she was from driving.
The next moment, her old habits acted up again. She commanded with a beaming smile, “Fang Zhiyi, carry me on your back.”
Fang Zhiyi didn’t say a word. She simply stepped down one stair, stood in front of Fang Rulian, and half-squatted with her back turned to her.
The girl wore a short-sleeved school uniform shirt. The collar sagged slightly backward, revealing a section of fair neck. Her high ponytail hung supplely over her shoulders, brushing against her faintly visible shoulder blades.
Fang Rulian’s figure felt small: “I was just joking.”
The person in front of her didn’t move. The shadow lengthened by the setting sun fell at Fang Rulian’s feet like a small boat, gently carrying her.
Fang Rulian climbed on. The little boat wobbled slightly and slowly set sail.
“I used to carry you, so it’s normal for you to carry me now, right?” It was unclear if she was saying this to Fang Zhiyi or to herself. “I’m not bullying you.”
“Who said Sister was bullying me?”
“Just saying.” She leaned against Fang Zhiyi’s shoulder, her head slightly lowered. The fresh scent coming from the girl quickly invaded Fang Rulian’s senses. Her palms rested on Fang Zhiyi’s shoulders, and she was once again shocked by how thin the girl was.
How had she not noticed before? Was this the kind of frailty a teenager should have?
“Are you eating your meals on time, Fang Zhiyi?” She squeezed the girl’s shoulder. The person beneath her let out a “hiss,” and the shoulder she touched suddenly dipped downward.
“I am.”
The girl remained as stingy with her words as ever in front of her. In contrast, Fang Rulian was naggy, like a worried parent.
Actually, maybe not—Mu Yunshu might not even be as naggy as she was.
“How did you get so thin?” She squeezed again, her palm touching boney protrusions—it was clearly just skin and bones.
The person beneath her shivered. Fang Zhiyi seemed unable to stand her nagging. “Don’t… don’t squeeze. I’m probably thin because the weather is hot and studying every day is exhausting.”
The back of the girl’s head turned slightly, and that high ponytail unexpectedly whipped Fang Rulian across the face.
“If the cafeteria food isn’t good, you can buy snacks. If the cafeteria is bad, just eat out. The school allows students to eat out now, right?”
“Mhm.”
“Is it because you don’t have money? I’ll transfer some to you.”
“I have money. I’ll eat properly.”
The two fell silent for a while, walking several meters along the lakeside.
An evening breeze arrived, the water’s surface swaying, shimmering like floating gold.
Fang Rulian lay quietly against the girl’s back. She raised her hand and gently brushed the ends of the hair that had slid to the back of the neck aside.
A subtle itch rose as her fingertips brushed the skin. That section of snowy neck was completely revealed from the shadow of the hair, bathed in the orange-red sunset. The velvet-like skin shimmered with a pearl-like luster, and even the faint blue of the veins was clearly visible.
Fang Rulian moved her gaze away silently, but after a few seconds, she turned back.
On the left side of that nape, there was a tiny mole. It was like a drop of ink on a snowy-white scroll, falling coincidentally in a spot Fang Rulian could reach just by stretching out her hand.
Under the twilight glow, the mole shimmered with a light brown aura, surrounded by fine white fuzz. It tempted one to step forward and let their lips gently brush against that patch of skin filled with body heat.
In just a single thought—
The girl beneath her would press against the pillow, gasping, her suppressed sobs following the rhythm of her body in quick and slow bursts. Fang Rulian would bite the back of her neck, her lips pressing over that tiny mole again and again.
That snowy nape would be covered in a layer of ambiguous red, decorated with fragmented hickeys like the stamens of plum blossoms.
Fang Rulian especially adored that mole, which was why she always preferred positions from behind. She enjoyed the process of slowly brushing away Fang Zhiyi’s hair and watching that mole on the nape reveal itself bit by bit—it was full of ritual, like unwrapping a gift, making her feel more excited than ever before.
Heavy breathing was clearly audible. Before her eyes was a hazy afterglow, half-veiling that snowy neck.
Fang Rulian bit her lip hard, her burning gaze fixed on that little mole, silently chanting in her heart: Turn over a new leaf, turn over a new leaf…
“The sun has set.”
A clear, cold voice broke through the ambiguous twilight, like a grain of snow landing on Fang Rulian’s heart.
Those untimely thoughts were beaten back the moment they poked their heads out, shrinking back into the shell labeled “family.” Fang Rulian performed her daily repentance, biting her lower lip punitively as she turned her head toward the horizon.
Above the lake, a giant red sun was sinking, staining the edge of the sky into a passionate red. The red faded in layers, and the lake water beneath them was soaked full and lush, shimmering with a soft, rippling light.
Part of the setting sun had already been swallowed by the horizon.
“It’s so beautiful,” Fang Rulian said, speaking from the heart.
In the months before her rebirth, she hadn’t liked going out. Amidst the high-rises of Luwei City, it was difficult to see a complete sunset.
The sunset was much faster than she imagined; the sun was soon completely swallowed by the horizon.
Ultimately, Fang Rulian felt too embarrassed to let Fang Zhiyi keep carrying her. As she slid off Fang Zhiyi’s back, the pad of her finger accidentally brushed against that small mole.
The sensation was clear.
It was so clear that even Fang Zhiyi noticed, turning her head to try and look at the mole.
“What’s wrong?” Fang Zhiyi asked. “Sister, you were looking at my neck just now, and you were very close. It was a bit itchy.”
So she had noticed it all along.
Fang Rulian felt guilty. Fortunately, the afterglow hadn’t faded yet, providing enough cover for the unnatural expression on her face. “Go get this mole removed after the college entrance exams.”
Fang Rulian thought: Stop making me obsess over it.
If she kept obsessing like this, no amount of conscience would be enough.