"Didn't that kid need you to take care of her anymore?"
Wrapped in a scarf over her thick coat, a canvas shoulder bag full of textbooks hanging at her side, the delicate-featured girl looked at the figure walking beside her, her words exhaling white mist into the morning air.
"Ah, given the circumstances, she doesn't need me to take care of her."
Beside her, the empty-handed young man scratched his cheek and answered vaguely, as if he did not quite know how to explain it.
Their dorm buildings were nearby, and they were taking the same route to class. Seeing so many students around them, perhaps reminded of something by the scene, he gathered his thoughts before speaking.
"Um... Xiao Ran, she actually—"
"It's fine. You don't need to explain it to me especially. More importantly, quite a few of your classes are about to have final exams, right? Are you confident?"
"Ah, um..."
He had been ready to explain properly, only for his sister to understand and let him off. But when she asked about something else—
He still wore a guilty, embarrassed expression.
He had already reconciled with his sister. Walking together like this, there was no longer the distance that had once stood between them.
Ling hid in the air not far behind Fang Ran and Fang Xiaoran, watching them walk among the morning crowd heading to class.
Walking together through the campus of Huaxia's best university, the first light of a winter morning shining down as they talked, there was warmth hidden within that ordinary, peaceful moment.
It made one imagine that perhaps they had once gone to school together like this.
"Stop right there, Mr. Loan Shark."
"What is it, Mr. Casanova?"
In the classroom after the first period ended, Fang Ran grabbed Gao Li's