"So, the half of her Soul she lost contains the Earth Soul that represents wisdom, which is why she has no memory? But why does she call me mom?" I asked.
Yu Longting neither confirmed nor denied, "Yes, her body was once occupied by the Symbiotic Snake, so she's taken on the snake's scent and traits. Snakes born with Mana instinctively treat the first thing they see as... their mother..."
"What do we do now? How can we retrieve the other half of her Soul? And with her memory loss making her so reliant on me, how do we return her to her mother?"
Seeing the little girl about to cry her heart out, I hurried over to comfort her, "Don't cry, sister will play with you, let's play a game..."
She cried even louder, her little voice about to break, it was heart-wrenchingly painful to hear, a tight knot in the depths of my heart.
To console her, I had no choice but to resign myself to her notion, "It's mom, not sister, I misspoke, mommy will play with you, okay? No more tears, a girl ruins her eyes when she cries too much, they won't look pretty, here, that's better, mommy will wipe your tears and buy you something tasty to eat."
"I don't want something tasty, I just want to be with mommy." The little girl's tears continued unabated, completely unswayed by my words.
With no other options, I could only deceive her for the moment, "Okay, I'll be with you, be a good girl."
At last the little girl stopped crying, burying her little head in the crook of my neck.
Her docile affection was so touching it made my heart reluctant to let go.
"Mom, what do we do now?" I carried the little girl over to my mom, lowering my voice to ask her.
My mom and the little girl's biological mom were both completely dumbfounded.
After hearing my question, my mom slowly regained her composure, "I don't know what to do, is there no way to restore Yitian's memories?"
"It seems we need to find the person behind stealing her Soul to do that," I said awkwardly, tugging at the corner of my mouth, then asked, "Is the girl's name Yitian?" New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novᴇlfire.net
"Her surname is Li, she's called Li Yitian." My mom answered somewhat irritably, casually stroking the little girl's head.
She then went to discuss with Li Yitian's mother.
Li Yitian's mother clearly hadn't understood what Yu Longting and I had discussed earlier.
She was extremely excited about Li Yitian's revival, thanking my mom and me profusely, while casting grateful glances at Yu Longting and me.
My mom had to throw cold water on her, telling Yitian's mother the harsh truth.
Upon hearing that only half her daughter's Soul had been recovered, the middle-aged woman started crying again.
I sat gently stroking the small head of Xiao Yitian in my arms, soothing her little emotions.
Fearing that she would understand our conversation and have her heart broken again.
It seemed she didn't understand and simply lay there quietly.
After my mom had finished talking with Li Yitian's biological mom, she came over to me and said, "A child's memory loss and mistaking someone for her parent shouldn't be a big issue. We'll just need to correct Yitian's thinking a bit and let Auntie Li take her home."
"Alright, the child is so well-behaved, I'm sure she'll be easy to communicate with if we talk nicely."
I held Yitian and pointed at the middle-aged woman, telling her, "Yitian, that's your real mom, you've mistaken me for her, I'm not your mom."
"Who's Yitian? Are you talking to me? Mommy," Li Yitian looked at me curiously.
I patiently explained, "Your name is Li Yitian."
"I have a name, mommy named me Li Yitian." The little one planted a happy kiss on my cheek.
My heart's softest spot quivered lightly as I patiently corrected, "I'm your sister, not your mom, your real mom is her."
Li Yitian followed the direction of my gaze, staring at the middle-aged woman with complete unfamiliarity, "She's not my mommy, mommy, can you please not give me away? Yitian will be good."