Xiao Yan slurped his noodles, their familiar flavor seeming to open the floodgates of memory as fragments of that distant blue planet came rushing back.
He looked at Xun'er beside him, listening with rapt attention, and the corners of his mouth lifted unconsciously as he began talking without pause.
"Little Sister Xun'er, did you know? I'm actually a Transmigrator. Back where I came from, we didn't ride horses to get around. We had something called a 'car'-a box made of metal that could go incredibly fast. And computers, which could connect you to the whole world..."
He gestured out the shape of a steering wheel, trying to explain this completely different means of transportation. Then he mimed typing, performing without props like a mime.
Ever since the loudmouthed Xiao Yi had arrived at the Xiao Clan, Xiao Yan had found someone he could speak with in the "language of home." Although they spent most of their time bickering, arguing, and even getting physical on "occasion," the strange words sprinkled throughout those arguments had drifted into other people's ears.
The people of the Xiao Clan had dismissed it as children's inexplicable nonsense and never looked into it. Xun'er, however, who had always quietly watched Xiao Yan, had secretly committed those scattered syllables to memory, even though she had no idea what they meant.
Now, as she listened to Brother Xiao Yan's enthusiastic account, those meaningless syllables stored deep in her memory suddenly seemed to come alive.
"Cars," "computers," "mobile phones," "the internet"... she had heard Brother Xiao Yan and that irritating Xiao Yi shout all those words during their arguments.
So a "car" was that metal box that went incredibly fast, and a "computer" was that magical little screen.
From one example, Xun'er could infer three more. As Xiao Yan explained,