Ma Xiaotao looked from one side to the other, suddenly at a loss for words.
Why was everyone younger than me? What should I call them? Little sister, or this young lady?
Just as she was struggling to make this difficult choice,
Lu Ran gestured to introduce them. "Xiaotao, this is Xiao Xue, my younger sister. This is Bing'er. She's much older than you, and I invited her to help you absorb the Blazing Glue."
He made a point of mentioning her age,
because the Ice Empress, now in human form, looked like a little girl, around ten years old.
She was far too young compared to Ma Xiaotao.
"Oh, right... Mm?!"
Ma Xiaotao hadn't even had time to bow to the Ice Empress and show her respect when her eyes widened in shock. Her first thought was that she'd misheard, but at this distance, that was impossible.
She asked in disbelief,
"Your younger sister?"
"Where did you get a younger sister?!"
Her gaze shifted to the Snow Maiden, who was as exquisite as a pretty doll, making anyone want to reach out and touch her.
Then she looked at Lu Ran. "Aren't you an orphan?!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized they'd come out wrong and hurried to explain. "Oh, no... I didn't mean anything bad by that. I'm an orphan too, it's just... didn't you say you had no family?"
The Douluo Continent was full of orphans and half-orphans. It was rare for an entire family to survive.
Ma Xiaotao was an orphan, Zhang Lexuan was an orphan, Tang Ya was an orphan, Jiang Nannan had only her mother, and as far as Wang Dong'er knew, she'd never even met her parents...
Lu Ran explained,
"Xiao Xue is my distant cousin. On the way