He weighed his options and ultimately decided to give up, making a gesture to his companion to retreat. The man nodded, turned around, and seamlessly blended into the crowd.
Although the man was walking with Ling Chuxia in his arms, he kept a vigilant watch for any movement behind him. Noticing that the man had suddenly turned and left, he knew they were safe. However, he didn’t immediately let go of Ling Chuxia but continued to hold her shoulder, a full sense of smug satisfaction rising in his eyes.
Yesterday, when he was at the orphanage, he had encountered Ling Chuxia unexpectedly. God knows how shocked, amazed, and delighted he had felt at that moment...
As a child, he too had been in the orphanage—a year before Ling Chuxia arrived. At that time, he was five years old, while Ling Chuxia and Ling Yunshu had been found at the orphanage’s doorstep by the director, still very young, hardly a year or two old, knowing nothing and understanding nothing.
The sisterly duo, with their delicate and charming features, naturally drew people’s affection. He often played with them, though the elder sister, Ling Yunshu, was rather cold-natured and prone to crying without much provocation. But her younger sister, Ling Chuxia, was not shy around strangers at all; she would laugh when teased and clap her hands when played with. Gradually, he grew fond of this lovely little sister.
As the two little girls grew older, they looked more and more alike with their delicate little faces and gorgeous big eyes. Nearly all the children in the orphanage couldn’t tell them apart, and even the director sometimes mixed them up. Only he could always tell at a glance who was Yun Shu and who was Chuxia; he never made a mistake.
Due to growing up playing together, Chuxia and he were very close. She often called out to him with her crisp, tender voice as "Brother Xuan," her soft tone, paired with those clear, large eyes, seemed to seep directly into one’s heart.
He had thought he could continue to grow up alongside her forever, but unexpectedly, when he was eleven, his biological father came looking for him to take him away. He didn’t want to be separated from Chuxia and begged his father to adopt her too. His father agreed, but unfortunately, Chuxia didn’t want to leave her sister, and would not agree to it. His father only wanted to adopt one child and refuse to take in Ling Yunshu as well. In the end, he was forcibly taken away by his father.
He still remembered the day he left, when a heavy rain poured down. He was forcibly lifted into the car by his father, and as the car slowly drove away from the orphanage, Ling Chuxia suddenly ran out, chasing after the vehicle, crying and shouting, "Brother Xuan, don’t forget me, don’t forget Xia Xia!"
He struggled in his father’s arms, crying, but it was of no use.
Later, as he grew up and gained the means, he couldn’t wait to go back and find her, but she was no longer there. The director told him she and Yun Shu had been adopted by a very wealthy family, but he couldn’t disclose their identity. The only thing he was told was that when Chuxia left, she had left a message for him, saying she would also not forget Brother Xuan.
Stepping out of the train station, Ling Chuxia immediately pushed Bai Yixuan away, quickly withdrawing from his embrace.
Bai Yixuan, seeing Ling Chuxia’s actions and feeling the emptiness of his arms, glimpsed a quick flash of disappointment in his eyes, but soon, his lips curled slightly, his voice still filled with tenderness, "You’re too harsh, aren’t you? I risked my life to help you, and you’re ditching me as soon as we cross the river?"