"Little Little."
"Is it you?"
Cai Die left the bushes where she had been hiding. Her voice, strained to the breaking point, trembled.
Scenes of the laughter and bickering from their childhood slowly overlapped with the figure before her.
Just like her voice, the autumn ripples in her eyes trembled, too.
Clatter.
I was holding my daughter's hand, but suddenly let go.
"You..."
Yangyang was quick to steady her little hand as it dropped, then caught her mother's large hand in midair. What kind of savage had suddenly sprung out of nowhere? Yangyang was furious.
My memories were hazy, and we had both grown up. Our appearances had changed somewhat since those days.
Yet I could still hear a familiar note in that voice.
"You're—" My vision blurred, too.
Cai Die finished my sentence for me, confirming it. "It's me. Su Cai Die."
Under the dim streetlamp, the butterfly mark on the back of the girl's hand gleamed.
"Big Sister Cai Die." I stared at the familiar mark and gripped my daughter's little hand even tighter.
It was quiet beneath the tree. There was only one sound, with the occasional chirp of an early cicada.
At that moment, my voice was little more than a murmur.
The world before my eyes was hazy, just like the scene from long ago.
In that gray world, I had always believed a brightly colored figure would find a way to squeeze in.
"Mhm. It's me. I'm back."
"I... came back to find you." The moment Cai Die saw her little sister, her tightly repressed emotions finally gave way to a faint smile. She wanted to ruffle the little girl's hair, just like she used to, but felt it would be inappropriate now. In the end, she lowered the arm she had raised.
I