"Big liar!"
"I'm never playing with you again!"
"Big liar!"
"Stinky liar!"
"Liar, liar!"
Bai Ruxue ran on, reaching up with a small hand to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes.
Who knows how long she ran before Bai Ruxue finally stopped.
Looking back, she saw that Xiao Mo had been left far, far behind...
"Xiao Mo! You big liar!"
Bai Ruxue shouted at the path she had come by, then turned and ran off toward her own cave.
At the little pool outside the cave, a small girl in a cyan ruqun was gazing at her reflection in the water with great satisfaction.
The girl wore two braids, and her round little face was white and tender as a freshly shelled egg, glowing with a faint healthy blush like the lightest touch of rouge.
Beneath a pair of curved brows sat two black almond eyes, clear as glass; her long lashes were like butterfly antennae tipped with dew, fluttering away, and the slightly upturned corners of her eyes were lined with a touch of tender grass green.
Her little nose tilted up a little, the tip round and adorable.
Her petal-like lips were a natural pink, pressed softly together just now, showing two shallow dimples like little nests brimming with honey.
The little girl was Xiaoqing.
That morning, Xiaoqing had woken up too.
Finding her sister gone and only her sister's shed skin left beside her, Xiaoqing hadn't thought much of it.
Sister must have gone to see that human man again.
After all, her sister had said that the man named Xiao Mo would come back when spring began.
"When Sister gets back and sees I can take human form, she's going to be so shocked! And I should be about as tall as she is, right?"
Xiaoqing gave her cyan skirt a twirl; she was thoroughly pleased with this human body of hers.
Just as Xiaoqing was admiring her human form, footsteps came from somewhere nearby.
She looked up and saw a grown girl walking toward her.
For a moment Xiaoqing didn't recognize her, but a closer look showed that those telltale peach-blossom eyes were plainly her own sister's.
After shedding her skin, Sister's grown so much—she's a grown human woman now, isn't she...
Still, that made sense. Her sister was already over thirty years old.
By human reckoning, she'd have had several children by now.
It was just that when a snake set out on the path of cultivation, the body developed rather slowly before taking human form.
Once human form was taken, it went much faster.
Her sister could have taken human form long ago; after this skin-shedding, it was only natural she'd become a grown girl.
"Sister..." Xiaoqing rose on tiptoe and waved happily.
Hearing her little sister's voice, Bai Ruxue looked up.
Seeing her sister's tear-blurred, utterly forlorn look, Xiaoqing was startled and ran over at once. "Sister, what's wrong? Who bullied you? Just wait till I bite him to death!"
"N-no... nobody bullied me..." Bai Ruxue said, pretending nothing was wrong. "By the way, Xiaoqing, you can take human form now too. You're so cute."
"Sister, whether I can take human form doesn't matter." Xiaoqing gripped her sister's fair, delicate wrist tightly. "Did that Xiao Mo make you angry?"
Bai Ruxue lowered her head...
"So it was him!" Xiaoqing clenched her little fists angrily. "I'm going to go bite him right now!"
"Xiaoqing... don't..." Bai Ruxue caught her hand. "You're a venomous snake. If you bite him, he'll die..."
"Don't worry, Sister, I'll control the dose. At most he'll be stuck in bed for two days."
"That's still no good... he'd feel awful..."
"But Sister..." Xiaoqing was on the verge of tears. "He bullied you..."
Bai Ruxue: "..."
"Sister, what exactly happened?" Xiaoqing asked worriedly. Could Sister's identity have been found out? Did he hire someone to slay the demon?
"He said he's going away to study, and he doesn't need to gather herbs anymore, so he'll rarely come up the mountain from now on," Bai Ruxue said in a low voice.
"That's it?" Xiaoqing blinked, and there was even a hint of delight in her eyes. "Isn't that a good thing? Humans and demons walk different roads anyway—isn't it better if he stops coming to Sheshan?"
"Xiaoqing!" Bai Ruxue pouted. "I'm not speaking to you anymore!"
Bai Ruxue shifted back into her true form and slithered into the cave, hiding under the stone inside to nurse her grief in secret.
Xiaoqing shifted into her true form as well and crawled over to stay by her sister's side.
Truth be told, Xiaoqing was rather glad her sister would stop seeing that man.
But seeing her sister this heartbroken made her unhappy too...
"Oh! I've got it!"
Just as Xiaoqing was thinking about how to comfort her sister, Bai Ruxue raised her snake's head.
"The book says it well: trees are stuck where they're planted, but snakes go wherever they please. If he's going away to study and won't come up the mountain much, then I'll just go down the mountain with him!"
Bai Ruxue shifted into human form and ran out of the cave, her voice drifting back into the cave behind her.
"Xiaoqing, you don't need to fix my share of rats for dinner tonight."
"Sister..."
Xiaoqing called out from the cave mouth, feeling somewhat hurt and wronged.
Sister, if you go off with that human, then what about me?
I'm your little sister...
Bai Ruxue ran through the woods toward that flower patch from before.
Bai Ruxue ran faster and faster.
"Ah..."
Tripping over a tree branch, the girl scrambled to her feet and kept running.
When she reached the flower patch, the girl let out a breath of relief and patted her chest.
"Thank goodness, he's still here."
But remembering the angry things she'd said to Xiao Mo not long ago, she was too embarrassed to go and see him.
As Bai Ruxue stood there torn with indecision, Xiao Mo turned around and happened to look in her direction.
Bai Ruxue gave a start, hunched her shoulders, and hastily hid behind a tree.
"Miss Bai," Xiao Mo called.
Bai Ruxue walked out with her hands behind her back, fingers clenched tight and head hanging low, like a little girl who'd done something wrong and was hoping to be forgiven.
"You... you haven't left yet..." Bai Ruxue said softly.
Xiao Mo shook his head. "This student has made Miss Bai angry. I couldn't leave with an easy heart."
"..." Bai Ruxue kept her head down, her fair fingers twisting and kneading without pause.
"Xiao Mo! I... I've thought it through!"
At last Bai Ruxue gathered her courage, lifted her head, and looked straight into Xiao Mo's eyes.
"What is it?" Xiao Mo asked.
"I'm going down the mountain with you!"
Xiao Mo: "..."
"Is... is that not allowed?" Bai Ruxue lowered her head, her eyes clouding with disappointment once more.
"Of course it's allowed. But Miss Bai, won't your parents object?"
"My parents passed away long ago. My little sister Xiaoqing and I only have each other, but she'll be fine—she's much better at catching rats than I am, she won't go hungry."
"Catching rats?"
"Huh? Catching rats? Did I say that?"
"Then I must have misheard."
"Then it's settled." The girl's eyes curved into crescents. She stepped forward, took Xiao Mo's big hand, and placed a piece of crystalline silver scale in his palm.
"What is this, miss?"
"It's a snake scale I picked up."
The girl raised her head and looked straight into his eyes, speaking seriously.
"I know I'm stupid, and I'm always doing things wrong... and I'm annoying..."
But Xiao Mo, you can scold me, you can hit me, but you can't send me away.
If one day you really can't stand me anymore, put this snake scale under my pillow.
The next day I'll pretend I don't know a thing and slip away quietly.
"All right?"