Sunlight passed through the dense layers of branches and leaves, printing the ground with copper-colored plaques. The wind carried a little bit of warmth and the fragrance of flowers floated into the simple but comfortable cottage.
" Shifu, it's already been half a year, why hasn't little junior sister spoke yet?" Gui Wu listlessly looked towards Gui Yi Zi who was preparing the antidote and complained.
"How can weishi know? It must be because you stinky brats have not been treating Xiao Nian Nian very good!" Gui Yi Zi, knocked Gui Wu on the head, blamed.
"What? We are really good to little junior sister. Senior brother, you guys, am I not right?" Gui Wu confoundedly rubbed his forehead and turned to his senior brothers.
"Of course, we really are very good to little junior sister!" Gui Er vowed solemnly. They really did treat this little junior sister very well.
Gui Yi Zi did not speak, how can he not know? These stinky brats were really good towards Xiao Nian Nian, treating Xiao Nian Nian like their own sister. After this half a year's getting along, he not only thought of Xiao Nian Nian as his apprentice, he even doted on Xiao Nian Nian like his own granddaughter. But even so, except for the first time when Xiao Nian Nian said she was called You Nian, she did not speak one word for half a year.
She was clearly an eight-year-old child but was so quiet as if she had experienced the vicissitudes of the world. Those clear eyes revealed sadness but also loneliness. But what made Gui Yi Zi proud was, Xiao Nian Nian was an absolute genius. She was a quick learner, even faster than Gui San who was the smartest amongst the five apprentices. The five stinky brats couldn't help but admire, proclaiming junior sister was a genius.
Although all six of them did not speak outright, their hearts ached for Lan You Nian. Every month when the poison took effect, Lan You Nian trembled from pain, sweating cold sweat continuously, but never made a sound. Even if her lips were bitten till it bled, she never shed a single tear. How much endurance was needed in order to do this? What must have been experienced to not fear pain? How can this kind of Lan You Nian not make people feel heartache?
"Little junior sister, why don't you sleep a little more?" Gui Yi hurriedly asked upon seeing Lan You Nian fully clothed in white approaching. After all, last night Lan You Nian just experienced the effects of the poison, so she should be resting this morning.
Lan You Nian smiled gently, a cloud-like fleeting smile. After half a year's getting along, Lan You Nian truly felt the goodwill of these people towards her. She would be lying if she said she was not touched. She thanked these people for their care but still couldn't let go of the knot in her heart and remained silent.
Everyone has become accustomed to Lan You Nian's silence. They smiled and continued with the medicinal materials in their hands. In the Medical Valley, after some time, everyone would come to study medicine together, hoping to develop an antidote for Lan You Nian's body as soon as possible.
——
In the dark night, the lightning was getting brighter and the thunder was getting louder and louder. Raindrops the size of beans rolled down from the sky, hitting the window with a "baba" sound, blotting out the sky and overwhelmed the earth as they fall from the sky, and "huahuahua" straight into the ground. The sound of the rain mixed with thunder and thundered like an explosion.
Familiar people, familiar modern decoration, and familiar pain, Lan You Nian stared at the blood on her chest, staring with wide eyes, just staring...
The little figure suddenly sat up. Lan You Nian never thought that after half a year had passed, she would dream about that, dream about the most painful moment in her previous life. She thought she had forgotten, but after the dream, she knew the painful memories never went far.
Lan You Nian went out of bed barefoot, came to the window and watched the rumbling, deafening thunder ringing outside, and the sound of the booming rain. Just like this, Lan You Nian rushed out of the house and stood in the pouring rain, wearing just a thin white robe, letting the overwhelming heavy rain pour over her thin and weak body.
Lan You Nian felt the coolness of the skin and the pain at the bottom of her heart. In this cold night, loneliness was uninvited, passed through the skin, and reached the depths of the soul! Looking up at the endless sky, Lan You Nian suddenly laughed out loud, but the laughter was even more sad than crying. In this rainy night, the laughter screamed like a snowbird's lament.
The master and disciple six who were awakened by Lan You Nian's laughter walked out of the room and saw the loneliness underneath the frail body. The crisp laughter was like a sad song, the heavy rain seemingly crying for the little lonely figure.
This moment in the rainy night was something the master and disciples would never forget for the rest their lives....