"My sister planted all of these. They've only just sprouted, so they haven't bloomed yet. They're beautiful when they do."
"So many!"
"Yes."
"She... when did she start growing flowers?"
"Later."
"Why did she start growing flowers...?"
"One day, she felt like growing flowers."
"..."
Chen Shu fell silent. He did not dare ask any more.
The Xiaoxiao before him was not the one he remembered. Somehow, she felt a little unfamiliar.
A white cat was chewing grass in the yard. The tender shoots of early spring suited its taste perfectly. Hearing the two people talking, it turned to look. Wasn't that Uncle Chen, whom it had not seen for two days? But listening more closely, it thought the way they spoke was strange.
"Chomp, chomp..."
The white Cat kept chewing as it watched them.
"This Cat..."
"My sister raised it."
"I think I remember it..."
A hint of confusion appeared in the white Cat's eyes.
Xiaoxiao glanced at her brother-in-law. "I think my sister got it when she was fourteen or fifteen."
"I do remember it..."
"Okay."
Like an older sister indulging him, Xiaoxiao went along with whatever he said.
Her sister had told her that her brother-in-law was only eleven now, eight years younger than she was. Didn't that make her the older sister?
The thought gave her a strange little thrill.
Xiaoxiao looked at her brother-in-law and wanted to pat his head. Then she realized that even at eleven, he was considerably taller than her, so she gave up and continued answering his questions about his missing memories. One moment he asked which Caixue they had attended; the next, where they were, which universities he and her sister had gotten into, and how her own studies were going. The questions just kept coming.
Xiaoxiao answered every one