“Why are you not leaving? Have you decided to latch onto me?” Ji Hua lifted her eyes to glance at her.
Wen Huaiyue stood frozen in place like a short pillar for a long moment before finally biting her lip and walking over to stand opposite Ji Hua. Tentatively pulling on Ji Hua’s sleeve, she looked up with those clear, limpid eyes, blinking unblinkingly at Ji Hua.
“Sister, I do not hate you,” Wen Huaiyue said softly.
“Oh?” Ji Hua raised an eyebrow with amusement. “I am the bad person who refuses to let you go home, and I even bit you. Do you really not hate me?”
Wen Huaiyue bit her lower lip and smiled, a tiny dimple appearing at the corner of her mouth. “Sister also saved me and cooked for me. I suppose I will just like you a little bit, then.”
“Should I thank you for that?” Ji Hua twitched the corners of her mouth. Her expression held no warmth whatsoever, and deep within her pupils lurked a subtle, unnoticeable disgust.
Ji Hua despised separation.
She despised any form of separation from the people around her.
She had reached the point of bone-deep hatred.
Centuries ago, when her parents died the year she turned six, what had she felt?
Utterly agonizing, hopeless despair.
She was only six years old, and there was not a single person left by her side. The people she loved the most had all separated from her through death.
The worldly warmth and bustling mortal touches were as if they had been abruptly chopped away, splitting her apart from the human world and leaving behind an empty, hollow realm just for her.
She had lived for hundreds of years in solitary independence, cutting off all communication with anyone else and coldly rejecting every bit of kindness thrown her way.
She detested the loneliness and despair brought by separation.
It felt as though all previous warmth was utterly gone, leaving behind only a crumpled sheet of white paper covered in ugly, blank, compressed indentations.
Disgusting.
And so, she simply walled off all potential causes of it by force.
Aside from unavoidable social interactions, she kept herself entirely within her own isolated space. Wen Huaiyue was the only person who had ever grown close to her in hundreds of years.
Sharing a bed, sharing a roof, sharing embraces.
Although the time was short, a lone exception always made one care inexplicably. This brief period of shared living allowed her to catch a faint whiff of mortal warmth.
Rare, novel, and though she didn’t quite like it, it didn’t seem half bad either.
She had been comfortably enjoying it when someone abruptly tried to yank her out and throw her back into that previous space.
Ah, how should she put it? To put it bluntly, it was profoundly annoying.
Another boring human game.
Truly frustrating.
Wen Huaiyue had no idea what kind of temper tantrum Ji Hua was throwing again. Although she knew Ji Hua’s mood was always unpredictable, she still couldn’t get used to this volatility.
“Sister,” Wen Huaiyue spoke up uneasily.
Irritation surged through Ji Hua’s limbs and bones like a rising tide, rolling over and entangling her in negative emotions. With coldness pressing into her brows and eyes, she looked at Wen Huaiyue in utter gloom.
She was going to leave.
She was going to leave her.
Just like her parents, she was going to leave her.
Damn it.
Standing up abruptly, Ji Hua looked down at her from above, her tone as calm as winter’s ice water. “Too bad. I actually loathe you quite a bit.”
I hate everyone around me who always tries to leave me.
Wen Huaiyue, you are just like them. You are just as detestable.
So…
“Get lost already,” Ji Hua tossed out before heading upstairs. “The sooner, the better.”
Get as far away as possible.
Boring human.
Wen Huaiyue was perhaps too stunned by the blows in those words to register them, standing frozen without regaining her senses for a long time. Finally, after a while, she slowly processed it.
Wen Huaiyue was naturally an obedient little cat, but deep down, she also possessed an unyielding pride. A child’s affection had been repeatedly batted down, and the sense of frustration grew layer by layer. Finally, she snapped with dissatisfaction and shouted, “I hate you too! I do not like you anymore!”
The only thing left behind for her was a slender, long-haired retreating figure.
Wen Huaiyue was furious. She couldn’t understand why Ji Hua always looked down on her. She was clearly trying to learn to like her, so why couldn’t Ji Hua do the same?
Had she always hated her all along?
Why?
No matter how hard Wen Huaiyue tried to think, she couldn’t figure it out. Every single person she had ever met before liked her, and she loved making friends with them.
Only Ji Hua would occasionally treat her well and then suddenly claim to hate her. A child’s warm, burning heart was tortured over and over again, leaving behind tiny, faint scars.
In an age too young to truly understand, she tasted the bitterness of resentment and sorrow for the very first time.
Those pretty, innocent apricot eyes flickered with faint flames.
That night, the two did not sleep together. Ji Hua didn’t want to look at her, and Wen Huaiyue was burning with anger and refused to look at her either.
On their very last night, both of them threw childish tantrums.
The next day, Wen Yao came to pick her up. As Wen Huaiyue walked out of the living room, a part of her heart was still holding onto the expectation of whether Ji Hua would come to see her off, but Ji Hua never emerged from her room.
Wen Huaiyue bit her lip in disappointment, growing even angrier.
Just as she was about to step into the car, a lazy voice drifted from behind.
“Wait a moment.”
Ji Hua strolled over leisurely, while Wen Yao acted as if facing a formidable enemy. “What are you doing?”
Ji Hua didn’t even spare her a glance, simply crooking a finger at Wen Huaiyue. “Kid, come here.”
Wen Huaiyue was still angry and didn’t want to go over, but she couldn’t resist the most instinctive yearning in her heart. Unwillingly, she walked over with unhappiness written all over her face.
Wen Yao was held back by Meng Wang and remained still.
Ji Hua squatted down in front of her and pulled a small bunch of yellow bellflowers from behind her back, tied together with a white ribbon into a neat and pretty bow.
“Didn’t you like this kind of flower? Here for you.” Ji Hua handed the flowers to her with a faint smile.
Wen Huaiyue was very surprised and hesitated for a moment before taking them.
Wen Yao was probably anxious to leave and kept urging her from the side. Ji Hua curved her lips, patted the child’s head, and leaned close to her ear, murmuring in a soft, gentle whisper, “Go on, little Huaiyue.”
“I will come looking for you again, you know.”
Wen Huaiyue’s eyes widened slightly. Before getting into the car, she glanced back at Ji Hua, who was leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed, smiling brightly.
Her smile was stunning, resembling a dangerous, carnivorous flower.
A chill inexplicably rippled through Wen Huaiyue. Yesterday, she had thought it would be difficult to ever see Ji Hua again.
Yet now, she suspected that Ji Hua would likely remain a fixture in her life for all the days to come.
“What is wrong, Ah-Yue? Why is your face so pale?” Wen Yao noticed something off and touched her cheek. “Are you cold?”
Clutching the yellow bellflowers to her chest, Wen Huaiyue shook her head. “No.”
Wen Yao pulled her head against her chest, soothingly stroking her hair. “Ah-Yue, it was Sister’s fault this time. I never expected that bastard to actually kidnap you to threaten me!”
A trace of ferocity crossed Wen Yao’s face.
Meng Wang was driving and glanced at them through the rearview mirror. “Who would have thought one of his own people would blow the whistle?”
Wen Yao let out a cold laugh. “As a result, when his plans fell through, he took out his anger on Ah-Yue. If Ah-Yue hadn’t been smart enough to escape, I shudder to think…”
“I am fine, Yao Sister,” Wen Huaiyue comforted her.
“Never mind. Anyway, Sister has already dealt with the person who bullied you.” Thinking of something else, Wen Yao asked, “Why didn’t you call Sister? Sister looked for you for so long.”
Wen Huaiyue awkwardly replied, “I couldn’t remember anything back then.”
“So you lived at Ji Hua’s house all this time?” Meng Wang asked.
Wen Huaiyue nodded.
Wen Yao frowned and said to Meng Wang, “What on earth is this woman up to? First targeting you, then kidnapping Ah-Yue, surviving a leap into the ocean, and then somehow ending up saving Ah-Yue by sheer coincidence. She clearly knew Ah-Yue’s relationship with us, yet she never said a word. What is she trying to do?”
Wen Yao suddenly asked, “Ah-Yue, did she treat you well? Did she abuse you or hurt you?”
Wen Huaiyue subconsciously thought of the mark Ji Hua had left on her neck, but she couldn’t say anything about that. She shook her head. “No, Yao Sister. Sister Ji Hua treated me pretty well.”
“Really?” Wen Yao found it a bit hard to believe.
“Of course,” Wen Huaiyue said. “She cooked for me every day, and her cooking is much better than yours or brother-in-law’s.”
Wen Yao lost a bit of face and pinched her cheek. “You were bought off by just a few meals.”
“Don’t dwell on it anymore,” Meng Wang said. “We still owe someone else a favor, after all.”
“Sigh,” Wen Yao sighed. “Who knows what kind of demand that woman will make? I am truly terrified of her.”
Wen Huaiyue looked out at the scenery of the ancient town, watching the misty willows, arched bridges, pavilions, and towers, wondering if she would ever return.
She touched her wrist and found it bare. Startled, she touched it a few more times, but it was still gone.
“What is the matter?” Wen Yao asked.
“My flower crown fell off.”
“Is it important?”
“Mm.”
It was the flower crown Ji Hua had bought for her, the one they both wore.
The single shared item between them.
Meanwhile, back on the other side, Ji Hua was holding a flower crown in her hand, a tiny little thing, obviously made for a child to wear.
It was none other than the one Wen Huaiyue had worn.
Ji Hua lay sprawled across the sofa, toying with the flower crown, turning it over and over in her hands while lost in thought.
The house had returned to quiet, and the scent of loneliness rushed over her, painting the streaming sunlight in pale, despondent colors.
She had thought about it for a while yesterday: Wen Huaiyue wouldn’t simply part ways with her forever. Completely losing touch was impossible.
She had finally found a suitable blood source; giving it up so easily wasn’t very realistic, not to mention that her blood was even more alluring than previous sources, plunging her into addiction.
Like being poisoned.
Based on these few points alone, Ji Hua would never let her go.
She was inherently a selfish creature driven by self-interest.
In the past few centuries, she had only discarded blood sources when they were built on a foundation of loathing.
Clearly, Wen Huaiyue hadn’t reached that point yet. She still harbored an extremely high level of infatuation with her blood.
The foundation hadn’t been built yet, so how could she possibly let her go now?