“I’ve told you already—stay away from me.”
Those were probably the words, pieced together from Sister Ling Dang’s lip movements and the faint sounds drifting over, as Liang Sheng interpreted them.
Akino Kazuko could hardly believe it. “No way. That girl seems like such a gentle person. How could she say something like that?”
“I don’t think it’s possible either,” Liang Sheng said, her expression growing grave. “But that cold, venomous look on her face just now—I know I didn’t imagine it.”
“Aren’t you nearsighted?”
“. . . Can’t I show off a little? I really did vaguely make out how terrifying Sister Ling Dang’s expression was!”
The old lady looked embarrassed. After muttering a few more words, she hurried off.
“Yes! Perfect!” Liang Sheng pumped her fist in a victory sign, then bolted toward Sister Ling Dang.
“Sister Ling Dang! Do you still recognize me?” Liang Sheng grabbed Sister Ling Dang’s hand as soon as she reached her.
Sister Ling Dang’s face reverted to its docile, vacant expression. She shook her head gently. “No.”
“Then keep telling me about you and Da Hai.”
“Da Hai? Oh, oh . . .” Sister Ling Dang smiled. “When I first met Da Hai, he was just a little boy.”
“. . .”
Sister Ling Dang began recounting the story from the beginning again.
Liang Sheng listened quietly, not daring to interrupt or urge her on, simply staying by Sister Ling Dang’s side in silence.
“And then, then that official’s horse was about to trample him. I thought, no, that child was still so young.” Sister Ling Dang’s face twisted in horror. “So I rushed over and scooped Da Hai up. Thank goodness I was lucky—otherwise, the one who might have died under that horse’s hooves would have been me.”
“Mm-hmm!” Liang Sheng nodded.
“And then, and then . . .” Sister Ling Dang grew silent again, staring down at the back of her hand. “What happened next?”
“W-what?” Liang Sheng tensed up too. Please don’t forget at this crucial part—the clue would be lost.
“Then Da Hai proposed to me.”
“Huh . . . ?” Liang Sheng was dumbfounded. Such a huge leap? Da Hai had been a child just moments ago, and now he was proposing? She started to wonder if Sister Ling Dang’s mind was playing tricks, if she was just rambling nonsense.
“Da Hai and I—we’re more than twenty years apart! He was an eighteen-year-old youth, while I . . . I was nearly fifty, with a child, widowed, scorned by the villagers as a husband-killer. And he was a promising young scholar, with an official wanting to marry off his daughter to him.”
Huh? The story was getting more melodramatic by the minute. Liang Sheng rubbed her chin. Still, it was pretty touching.
So, was this devoted Da Hai the same as the big scumbag Su Ze, who hurt girls left and right nowadays? No way. Impossible . . .
“What about you two . . . ?” Liang Sheng asked cautiously.
“Us? We . . . we could never be together.” The profound sadness in Sister Ling Dang’s eyes was impossible to hide.
“Why not?”
Liang Sheng knew it was a silly question. The age gap was huge, and a bunch of ancient keyboard warriors loved nothing more than judging other people’s love lives. She rolled her eyes. It was just like certain online weirdos today who couldn’t stand seeing others happy and resorted to hurling insults.
Sure enough, Sister Ling Dang gave a bitter smile and shook her head. “We’re more than twenty years apart. When he was eighteen, I was already over forty . . .”
Gazing at Sister Ling Dang’s exquisite features, Liang Sheng couldn’t help blurting out:
“When you were born, I was not yet born.”
Sister Ling Dang shuddered violently. She burst into laughter, tears sparkling in her eyes. No . . . beneath that smile lurked an uncontrollable sorrow.
She turned away, tears streaming, and said to Liang Sheng, “You hate that I was born too late; I hate that you were born too early.”
“Sister Ling Dang . . .” As if possessed, Liang Sheng reached out and touched her cheek. “Don’t cry.”
“What are you doing here?!” A deep, booming male voice exploded beside Liang Sheng’s ear. She jolted upright. Without thinking, she darted behind Sister Ling Dang like an arrow off the string.
She peeked out cautiously and saw the familiar stranger charging toward them in a fury—Scarface. Liang Sheng stuck out her tongue, not in defiance but out of sheer fright.
She wanted to stand and run, but her legs were jelly, trembling uncontrollably. She couldn’t even get up, let alone flee. And even if she could, Scarface’s speed meant he’d snatch her up like an eagle grabbing a chick in seconds.
“S-Sister Ling Dang! You have to protect me!” Liang Sheng’s face drained of color as she clung to Sister Ling Dang’s shoulders, whining. “If not for my sake, then for the Buddha’s—I’ve kept you company chatting all this time. Even if I don’t deserve credit, I’ve earned some hard labor. Protect your little sister!”
But the vacant-faced Sister Ling Dang seemed not to hear a word, just staring straight at the oncoming Scarface.
Scarface reached Sister Ling Dang and reached out to grab Liang Sheng by the scruff of her neck. The green-haired girl yelped in terror, wrapping her arms around Sister Ling Dang’s neck and refusing to let go.
Scarface hesitated, clearly afraid of hurting Sister Ling Dang. His movements grew careful and gentle. But now he couldn’t pry off the stubborn plaster stuck to her—the green-haired girl, Liang Sheng.
“S-Sister Ling Dang!” Liang Sheng cried desperately, but the blue-haired girl in front of her sat motionless like a vegetable, her expression unchanged.
Liang Sheng panicked and started shouting random things.
“Lan Yueying—! Da Hai—!”
Sister Ling Dang’s eyes flew wide.
“Let her go.”
Scarface’s rough yank on Liang Sheng halted abruptly. He stared in shock at Sister Ling Dang, who sat hugging her knees on the beach.
Sister Ling Dang slowly raised her head, her face expressionless. “I said, let her go. Are you deaf?”
“Y-Yueying . . .” Scarface gritted his teeth. His grip on Liang Sheng’s collar loosened, then tightened again. “But . . .”
“Let her go!” Sister Ling Dang shot to her feet and seized Scarface’s wrist—the one clutching Liang Sheng’s collar. “I said let her go! Now, right this instant—release her!”
Scarface’s face twisted in discomfort. His hand slowly opened. The rescued Liang Sheng, still wearing her thunderstruck expression, scrambled to her feet and bolted without looking back.
The sea wind whistled past Liang Sheng’s ears. She desperately wanted to glance back, to see what would happen next between those two. But she didn’t dare. She was terrified Scarface would chase her down the moment Sister Ling Dang zoned out again, drag her off, and toss her into the ocean once more.
