Dongfang Huaizhu and Dongfang Qinlan (1)

The drizzle fell without end.

Pattering against the bluestone paving.

Pattering against the eaves.

And pattering against the floral paper umbrella.

"Ugh... What awful weather."

"Rainy and overcast without end."

"Everything's damp. So annoying."

Human Race.

A border region near the southern frontier.

At the edge of a mountain forest.

A pretty little girl in a white ruqun dress with a purple sash, a flame mark in the middle of her forehead, carried a patterned oil-paper umbrella as she walked listlessly along the relatively clean bluestone road.

Two others accompanied the little girl.

One was a young attendant dressed as a bookboy.

He did not look very old.

About ten years old.

The other looked somewhat older.

Around sixteen or seventeen.

It had to be said, appearances truly could be deceptive.

Without testing their bone age.

No one looking solely at their appearances would ever realize that the poised young woman, who looked sixteen or seventeen, had elegant and beautiful features and the same red flame mark on her forehead, was only two years older than the little girl in the ruqun dress beside her, who was more than a head shorter.

But that was the truth.

The girl in a goose-yellow long dress, wrapped in a green outer robe and holding an oil-paper umbrella as well, had developed early, while the little girl in the white ruqun had developed late. With one thing and another, the disparity had appeared.

Fortunately.

Their appearances made it clear who was the elder sister and who was the younger sister.

There was no need to worry about mixing them up.

Thus, after hearing her younger sister complain, the beautiful, gentle-tempered girl spoke up and patiently soothed her. "All right. There's a town not far ahead. Let's go there and shelter from the rain.