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The snow on the road had reached the knees of Little Black and Da HongZao, and while they were strong enough to run, they couldn't move much faster than walking, and it was hugely exhausting. Mo Yan was not in a hurry to travel, so she let them walk step by step.
It took one and a half hours to cover the forty-mile journey to the city gate. Once inside, the streets had been cleared of snow, and the two horses picked up speed; it took just a quarter of an hour to reach the Liu Family home.
Seeing Liu Tinglan come out to greet her, Mo Yan couldn't help but exclaim, "Sister Lan, how did you lose so much weight?"
She had seemed perfectly fine when they met before the New Year, but now, after the holiday, she had changed so much Mo Yan barely recognized her. Thinking of what might have caused her old friend to change like this, Mo Yan felt a heavy sense of foreboding.