"You big liar!"
"I'm never playing with you again!"
"You big liar!"
"You stinky liar!"
"Liar, liar!"
Bai Ruxue ran, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes with her small hands.
After running for what felt like an eternity, Bai Ruxue finally stopped.
Looking back, she saw that she had left Xiao Mo far behind...
"Xiao Mo! You big liar!"
Bai Ruxue shouted back down the path she'd come from, then turned and ran toward her cave.
By a small pond outside the cave, a little girl in a cyan dress was gazing at her reflection, pleased with what she saw.
The little girl wore her hair in two braided pigtails. Her small, round face was as smooth and fair as a freshly peeled egg, with a faint, healthy blush on her cheeks, as if she had applied the lightest touch of rouge.
Beneath a pair of crescent brows were two large, dark, almond-shaped eyes, clear as spring water. Her long lashes fluttered like a butterfly's antennae wet with dew. The slight upward curve at the corners of her eyes was accentuated by a hint of grass-green.
Her petite nose tilted up slightly, its tip adorably round.
Her petal-like lips were a natural pink, currently pressed together, revealing two shallow dimples like little nests filled with honey.
This little girl was Xiao Qing.
Xiao Qing had woken up this morning as well.
She saw that her sister wasn't there—only her shed skin—but Xiao Qing didn't think much of it.
'My sister must have gone to find that human man again,' she thought.
After all, her sister had said that the man named Xiao Mo would return in the spring.
"When Sister gets back and sees I can take human form, she'll be so surprised, won't she? And I should be about as tall as she is, right?"
Xiao Qing twirled, her cyan skirt flaring out. She was very pleased with this human body of hers.
Just as Xiao Qing was admiring her human form, she heard footsteps approaching from a distance.
Lifting her head, Xiao Qing saw a young woman walking toward her.
Xiao Qing didn't recognize her at first, but upon a closer look, she saw the signature peach-blossom eyes. It was clearly her sister.
'Sister has grown so much after shedding her skin,' she thought. 'She looks like a grown woman of the Human Race now...'
'But it makes sense. Sister has been on the Path of Cultivation for over thirty years.'
'By the standards of the Human Race, she'd be old enough to have several children already.'
'It's just that for the Snake Race, physical development is slow before they take human form on the Path of Cultivation.'
'It speeds up a lot after that.'
'Sister could have taken human form long ago, so it's normal for her to look like a young woman after this shedding.'
"Sister..." Xiao Qing stood on her tiptoes, waving happily.
Hearing her little sister's voice, Bai Ruxue looked up.
When she saw her sister's teary eyes and devastated expression, Xiao Qing was startled and rushed over. "Sister, what's wrong? Who bullied you? I'll bite them to death!"
"No... no one bullied me..." Bai Ruxue said, pretending everything was fine. "By the way, Xiao Qing, you can take human form now too. You're so cute."
"Sister, whether I can take human form isn't important," Xiao Qing said, gripping her sister's fair wrist tightly. "Was it that Xiao Mo? Did he make you angry?"
Bai Ruxue lowered her head...
"I knew it was him!" Xiao Qing clenched her small fists in resentment. "I'm going to go bite him right now!"
"Xiao Qing... don't..." Bai Ruxue grabbed Xiao Qing's hand. "You're a venomous snake. If you bite him, he'll die..."
"Don't worry, Sister. I'll control the amount of venom. At most, he'll be stuck in bed for two days."
"You can't do that either... He'll be in a lot of pain..."
"But Sister..." Xiao Qing was on the verge of tears. "He bullied you..."
Bai Ruxue: "..."
"Sister, what on earth happened?" Xiao Qing asked worriedly. 'Could it be that he found out about Sister's identity and hired someone to exterminate the demon?' she wondered.
"He said he's leaving to pursue his studies and doesn't need to gather herbs anymore, so he'll rarely come to the mountain in the future," Bai Ruxue said in a low voice.
"That's it?" Xiao Qing blinked, a hint of joy in her eyes. "Isn't that a good thing? Humans and demons walk different paths. Isn't it better if he doesn't come to She Mountain anymore?"
"Xiao Qing!" Bai Ruxue pouted. "I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Bai Ruxue reverted to her original form, slithered into the cave, and hid under a rock inside, grieving in secret.
Xiao Qing also changed back to her original form and crawled over to stay by her sister's side.
Truthfully, Xiao Qing was quite happy that her sister wouldn't be seeing that man anymore.
But seeing her sister so heartbroken made Xiao Qing unhappy...
"Ah? I've got it!"
Just as Xiao Qing was trying to think of how to comfort her sister, Bai Ruxue lifted her serpentine head.
"The books are right! Trees are rooted, but snakes are free to move. If he's going away to study and will rarely come up the mountain, then can't I just follow him down?"
Bai Ruxue transformed and ran out of the cave, her voice drifting back in from behind her departing figure.
"Xiao Qing, you don't need to prepare a mouse for my dinner tonight."
"Sister..."
Xiao Qing called out from the mouth of the cave, her heart filled with sadness and a sense of being wronged.
'Sister, if you leave with that human, what about me?'
'I'm your little sister...'
...
Bai Ruxue ran through the woods, heading for the flower field from before.
Bai Ruxue ran faster and faster.
"Ah..."
After tripping on a branch, the young woman got back up and kept running.
When she reached the flower field, the young woman breathed a sigh of relief and patted her chest.
'Thank goodness, he's still here.'
But then Bai Ruxue remembered the angry words she had said to Xiao Mo just a short while ago, and she felt too embarrassed to face him.
As Bai Ruxue was wrestling with her inner conflict, Xiao Mo turned around, happening to look right in her direction.
Startled, Bai Ruxue flinched and quickly hid behind a tree.
"Miss Bai," Xiao Mo called out.
Bai Ruxue came out from behind the tree with her hands clasped tightly behind her back, her head bowed like a little girl who had done something wrong and was seeking forgiveness.
"You... you haven't left yet..." Bai Ruxue said softly.
Xiao Mo shook his head. "I made Miss Bai angry. I could not leave with a clear conscience."
"..." Bai Ruxue kept her head down, her fair fingers twisting and untwisting.
"Xiao Mo! I... I've figured it out!"
Finally, Bai Ruxue mustered her courage, raised her head, and looked directly into Xiao Mo's eyes.
"What is it?" Xiao Mo asked.
"I want to go down the mountain with you!"
Xiao Mo: "..."
"Is... is that not okay?" Bai Ruxue said, lowering her head again as disappointment clouded her eyes.
"Of course it is. But Miss Bai, will your parents not object?"
"My parents passed away a long time ago. My little sister Xiao Qing and I rely on each other. But my sister will be fine; she's much better at catching mice than I am, so she won't starve."
"Catching mice?"
"Huh? Catching mice? Did I say that?"
"Then I must have misheard."
"Then it's settled." The young woman's eyes curved into crescents as she stepped forward, took Xiao Mo's large hand, and placed a translucent, silvery-white scale in his palm.
"Miss Bai, what is this?"
"This is a Snake Scale I found."
The young woman looked up, meeting his eyes, and spoke earnestly.
"I know I'm stupid, and I mess things up easily... and I'm very annoying...
But Xiao Mo, you can scold me, you can even hit me, but you can't make me leave.
If one day you really can't stand me anymore, just put this Snake Scale under my pillow.
The next day, I'll pretend I don't know anything and just leave quietly.
Okay?"