Chapter 31 Xiao Mo! I… I've thought it through!
"Big liar!"
"I'm never playing with you again!"
"Big liar!"
"Stinky liar!"
"Liar, liar!"
Bai Ruxue ran forward, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes with her small hand.
After an unknown amount of time, Bai Ruxue finally stopped.
Looking back, Xiao Mo had already been left far behind.
"Xiao Mo! You big liar!"
Bai Ruxue shouted towards the way she came, then turned and ran towards her own cave.
Outside the cave, by a small pond, a little girl in a cyan ruqun was admiring herself in the water with satisfaction.
The little girl had two braided pigtails, a round, delicate face, as fair and tender as a freshly peeled egg, revealing a healthy, faint blush, as if lightly brushed with rouge.
Beneath a pair of curved eyebrows were two dark, sparkling apricot-shaped eyes, clear to the bottom, with long eyelashes like dewdrops on butterfly antennae, fluttering, and eyeliner subtly upturned at the corners, a tender green like grass.
Her small nose was slightly upturned, the tip round and adorable.
Her petal-like lips were naturally pink, currently slightly pursed, revealing two shallow dimples, like small hollows filled with honey.
The little girl was Xiaoqing.
This morning, Xiaoqing had also woken up.
Seeing that her sister wasn't beside her, only her sister's shed snake skin, Xiaoqing didn't mind.
She thought her sister must have gone to find that Human Race man again.
After all, her sister had said that the man named Xiao Mo would return when spring arrived.
"When Sister comes back, she'll surely be surprised to see that I can take human form, right? And I should be as tall as Sister, right?"
Xiaoqing twirled her cyan skirt, very pleased with her human form.
Just as Xiaoqing was admiring her human form, footsteps approached from not far away.
Looking up, Xiaoqing saw a Bai Guniang walking towards her.
Xiaoqing didn't recognize her at first, but on closer inspection, those distinctive peach blossom eyes clearly belonged to her own sister.
After shedding her skin, Sister had grown so much; she was already an adult Human Race woman, wasn't she?
But then again, Sister had been cultivating for over thirty years.
According to Human Race age, she should have had several children by now.
It's just that for the Snake Race on the path of cultivation, physical development is slower before transformation.
It becomes much faster after transformation.
Sister could have transformed long ago, and after this shedding, becoming a Bai Guniang was normal.
"Sister..." Xiaoqing stood on tiptoe, waving happily.
Hearing her sister's voice, Bai Ruxue looked up.
Seeing her sister's tear-filled, distraught appearance, Xiaoqing was startled and quickly ran over: "Sister, what's wrong? Who bullied you! I'll bite him to death!"
"No... no one bullied Sister," Bai Ruxue said, pretending to be fine. "By the way, Xiaoqing, you can transform too, how cute."
"Sister, whether I can transform or not isn't important." Xiaoqing tightly gripped her sister's fair wrist, "Did that Xiao Mo make you angry, Sister?"
Bai Ruxue lowered her head.
"It really was him!" Xiaoqing clenched her small fists resentfully, "I'll go bite him right now!"
"Xiaoqing... don't..." Bai Ruxue pulled Xiaoqing's hand, "You're a venomous snake; if you bite someone, he'll die."
"Don't worry, Sister, I'll control the amount of venom. At most, he'll be in bed for two days."
"That won't do either. He'll be very uncomfortable."
"But Sister..." Xiaoqing said, almost in tears, "He bullied you."
Bai Ruxue: "..."
"Sister, what exactly happened?" Xiaoqing asked worriedly, thinking, *Could it be that Sister's identity was discovered, and he called someone to eliminate demons?*
"He said he's going out to study and doesn't need to gather herbs anymore, so he'll rarely come to the mountain in the future," Bai Ruxue whispered.
"That's it?" Xiaoqing blinked, her eyes even showing a hint of joy, "Isn't that a good thing? Humans and demons are inherently different; wouldn't it be better if he didn't come to She Mountain anymore?"
"Xiaoqing!" Bai Ruxue pouted, "Sister isn't talking to you anymore!"
Bai Ruxue transformed back to her original form, crawled into the cave, and hid under the stone inside, feeling secretly sad.
Xiaoqing also transformed back to her original form and crawled over, staying by her sister's side.
Actually, Xiaoqing was quite happy that her sister wouldn't see that man anymore.
But seeing her sister so sad, Xiaoqing became unhappy again.
"Eh? I've got it!"
Just as Xiaoqing was thinking about how to comfort her sister, Bai Ruxue raised her snake head.
"As the book says, trees are dead, but snakes are alive. If he's going to study and will rarely come up the mountain, then why don't I just go down the mountain with him?"
Bai Ruxue transformed and ran out of the cave, her voice reaching the cave from behind the girl.
"Xiaoqing, you don't need to prepare my mouse for dinner tonight."
"Sister..."
Xiaoqing called out from the cave entrance, feeling a bit sad and wronged in her heart.
*Sister, if you go with that Human Race, what about me?*
*I'm your sister!*
Bai Ruxue ran through the forest, heading towards the flower field from before.
Bai Ruxue ran faster and faster.
"Ah!"
After tripping over a branch, the girl got up and continued to run.
When she reached the flower field, the girl sighed in relief and patted her chest.
"Thankfully, he's still here."
But Bai Ruxue remembered the angry words she had said to Xiao Mo not long ago, and she felt too embarrassed to see him.
As Bai Ruxue was feeling incredibly conflicted, Xiao Mo turned around and happened to look in Bai Ruxue's direction.
Bai Ruxue was startled, her shoulders hunched, and she quickly hid behind a tree.
"Bai Guniang," Xiao Mo called out.
Bai Ruxue walked out with her hands clasped behind her back, her fingers tightly intertwined, and her head bowed, like a little girl who had done something wrong and wanted forgiveness.
"You... you haven't left yet..." Bai Ruxue said softly.
Xiao Mo shook his head: "This humble one made Bai Guniang angry and cannot leave with peace of mind."
"..." Bai Ruxue lowered her head, her fair fingers constantly kneading.
"Xiao Mo! I... I've thought it through!"
Finally, Bai Ruxue mustered her courage, looked up, and met Xiao Mo's eyes directly.
"What?" Xiao Mo asked.
"I want to go down the mountain with you!"
Xiao Mo: "..."
"No... is it not possible?" Bai Ruxue said, lowering her head, her eyes once again clouded with disappointment.
"Of course it's possible, but Bai Guniang, do your parents not have any objections?"
"My parents are long gone. My sister Xiaoqing and I depend 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?"
"Eh? What catching mice? 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 large hand, and placed a crystal-clear, silvery-white scale in his palm.
"Bai Guniang, this is...?"
"This is a snake scale I found."
The girl looked up, met his eyes, and said earnestly.
"I know I'm very clumsy, and I often make mistakes... and I'm very annoying.
But Xiao Mo, you can scold me, you can hit me, but you cannot drive me away.
If one day, you truly can't bear it anymore, just place this snake scale under my pillow.
The next day, I will pretend as if I know nothing and quietly leave.
Okay?"