Changing times

The M city where Xua Yenay brought Xua Ying Yue was a small place with not much development. It was still developing and unlike the S city where they have been staying till now, this city was missing a lot of things, for example, Xua Ying Yue did not see any developing malls or movie theatres.

It was a simple city with houses stacked next to each other at a distance, vast grasslands which were unoccupied and in between sometimes she would see farmland with pumpkins or potatoes with scarecrows standing in the middle of the farmland.

The two sisters dragged their luggage on the snow-covered path leaving a trail behind them as they walked towards the direction where the restaurant that Boss Lin told them about, because they no longer had extra money in their pockets, they could not hire a cab anymore which was why they continued to drag their luggage in the mist covered air making it impossible for them to see what was in front of them.

Xua Ying Yue did not sleep last night because she was not used to travelling on the train and was quite tired after dealing with the Lu family even though it was just a small victory, it was still a victory in her eyes but at the moment more than the victory that tasted sweet, her eyes were filled with thick sleep after not getting any for two nights straight.

" Sister Yenay, how much further?"Xua Ying Yue asked as she dragged her suitcase behind her, her eyes were dropping as she tried to keep herself awake but her bodily clock lulled her back to sleep again and again since the good Xua Ying Yue never stayed up in the night before this, to think that she would also lose her sleep along with a number of things, thought Xua Ying Yue in her head.

" Just a little more," Xua Yenay replied but as she looked at the directions that were drawn by the guard who was sitting outside the bank, Xua Yenay could see that the restaurant was at least five kilometres away from where they were, she turned to look at Xua Ying Yue who was looking sleepy and felt a tad bit guilty. She was used to taking naps at anywhere and any time but Xua Ying Yue was a quiet girl who could only sleep when it was silent throughout her surroundings.

Just as Xua Yenay was thinking about how she was going to drag her tired sister to the restaurant, a small van which was carrying big containers of milk came from behind, it honked loudly causing Xua Ying Yue to snap awake and when she turned around and saw the van, she immediately stretched her hand out without thinking.

" Ying Yue, what are you doing?" Xua Yenay too wanted to take a lift but she did not want to trouble the van driver and what was more they did not know anyone here. But to her surprise when the van came to a stop in front of them, Xua Yenay noticed that the person who was driving the van was a woman.

She rolled down the window and then turned to look at Xua Ying Yue and Xua Yenay before asking, " Is something the matter?"

The woman looked elderly and Xua Yenay did not want to disturb her when she was delivering milk at such an early hour but then she heard her sister say, " Are you Madam Tian Xin, the owner of the restaurant peach blossoms?"

Xua Yenay was surprised when she heard Xua Ying Yue's question, she thought that the girl was only speaking nonsense but to her surprise, she saw the elderly woman nodding her head as she agreed, " Yes it's me, I am the owner of the peach blossoms restaurant but who are you two?" She paused and then looked at Xua Ying Yue and Xua Yenay suspiciously.

Who knew what she was thinking but her gaze became unfriendly which was why Xue Yenay immediately took out the business card that Boss Lin had given her earlier and then handed it to Madam Tian. " I am Xua Yenay, I suppose Boss Lin talked about me to you?" Her sentence ended with a question but thankfully, Madam Tian's expression turned better as she nodded and said, " You are right, Boss Lin did talk to me about you."

She then motioned for the two to put their luggage in the back of the van and then said, " Come inside, it's really cold today especially here this place is where the ocean is which is why it is colder than the other cities."

Madam Tian was an amicable woman, she not only invited Xua Ying Yue and Xua Yenay to sit inside the small space in the front of the van where no milk containers were kept and then turned the engine on.

"Here take this," she handed two pocket warmers to Xua Ying Yue and Xua Yenay who took them with gratified expressions on their faces. Once they were holding the pocket warmers and the colour returned to their cheeks, Madam Tian turned to look at Xua Ying Yue and asked, " Little girl, how did you figure out that I was the owner of the restaurant?"

" I guessed," replied Xua Ying Yue as she rubbed the pocket warmer on her cheek. Even though her hands were in bandages with the weather being cold, her injuries were recovering rather quickly, even though she had this urge to scratch her hands every once and then, her sister kept an eye on her making sure that she will not scratch her hands. " No one will bring so much milk other than the owner of a restaurant."

Her answer caused both Xua Yenay and Madam Tian to be stunned for a while before Madam Tian snickered and asked, " And in case I was just a milk lady what would you have done?"

Xua Ying Yue raised her head and then calmly replied, " I would have apologised for the disturbance." Her reply only made Madam Tian even more tickled.

------------------