Xiao Xiao withdrew his hand from the girl's head. "All right, go eat."
"We should get going too."
"Goodbye, Ye Xiaomeng."
Xiao Xiao turned and headed outside.
Meng Jixi glanced at the girl. "Goodbye, Ye Xiaomeng." Then he followed Master Xiao.
The girl stood where she was, her eyes red as she watched Xiao Xiao's retreating figure.
She knew.
The one who tied the knot had to untie it.
Unless Xiao Rui's mother changed her attitude, Xiao Rui's situation wouldn't improve in the slightest.
She had known ever since middle school, when she happened to learn what Xiao Rui's mother was like.
Even though she had said so much, even though Xiao Rui had seemed comforted at the time, even though Xiao Rui had seemed to smile at her,
there was always a corner of Xiao Rui's heart covered in dust, untouched by even the faintest glimmer of light.
It was a place she couldn't enter.
Still, even knowing that, she couldn't help thinking: if only she'd tried a little harder, cared a little more about Xiao Rui...
Would the outcome... have been different?
Maybe she wasn't Xiao Rui's savior. Just as Master Xiao had said, fundamentally, there was no difference between her and Xiao Rui.
She couldn't even save herself, so how could she save someone else?
But it didn't matter if she couldn't save her. It didn't matter if she could only treat the symptoms and not the root cause. As long as she could help Xiao Rui hold on a little longer...
If she could do that, perhaps... Xiao Rui would find the chance to be truly saved.
The future was unknowable.
After meeting Xiao Xiao, she felt that perhaps worse things could happen in the future, but so could wonderful things.
She would have