“Pa!”
The Clear Snowflower in the girl’s hand fell to the ground, the flowerpot shattered, and that beautiful Clear Snowflower was now pressed beneath spilled soil and shards of pottery.
“Teacher… You’re the teacher, right?”
Her trembling voice was as weak as a mosquito, and in her clear eyes it seemed a little river was flowing, sparkling with light that stirred pity in the heart.
But after hearing her words, Mozhi was instead left a bit baffled.
She bent her head to look at the Saintess, stretched out a finger to point at her own face, and asked strangely, “Teacher? Me?”
She narrowed her eyes, carefully studying the girl in front of her, dressed in foreign attire.
After confirming for the third time that she truly hadn’t seen this girl before, she asked again uncertainly, “Why don’t I have any impression of you at all?”
The girl’s eyes went from happiness to shock and finally shifted to disappointment and sorrow.
She hasn’t seen me?
How could she not have seen me!
“It’s me, Teacher, I’m Xi’er Tuya! Please, look carefully at me again, you will definitely remember!”
She spoke with all her strength, and hot tears already started rolling from the corners of her eyes, dripping onto the Clear Snowflower lying on the ground.
She ran over to Mozhi, pleading through the Iron Cage, “Please look at me carefully, how could you forget me!”
At this moment, she only felt that the Iron Cage was unbearably in the way.
She turned her head and urgently shouted to the guard behind her, who was staring in a daze, “Hurry, open this cage!”
“But… Saintess, this is a major criminal, this very morning she even tried to assassinate you all.”
Assassinate me?
How could my teacher ever want to kill me!
They must be lying!
At this moment, her heart was so overwhelmed with urgency that all she could think about was hugging Mozhi—nothing else mattered anymore.
“Hey, what are you trying to do?”
Mozhi was clearly frightened by her slightly deranged look.
She held Windsor tightly in her arms and retreated to a corner of the cage, trying to put some distance between them.
The girl grabbed the Iron Lock, muttered a few words under her breath, and then with a “Pa!” sound, let go—when she opened her hand, the Iron Lock was already undone.
Without the slightest hesitation, she pushed open the cell door and lunged at Mozhi.
“Teacher!”
“Don’t you come any closer!!”
A gust of fragrant wind swept over.
Mozhi was instantly tackled to the ground by her, and hot tears fell, drop by drop, onto Mozhi’s cheeks—mixed in, was that… snot?!
She lay fully on top of Mozhi, even her smooth bare feet wrapped tightly around Mozhi’s legs.
As Mozhi struggled, the silver bells on the girl’s ankles rang out clear and sweet, but combined with her sobbing cries, it was all just a dreadful racket in Mozhi’s ears.
“Teacheeerr… Look at me, wuuu, you can’t, you can’t forget meee, ahhh!!”
Mozhi didn’t understand a single word, and before she could say anything, the girl simply buried her face into her neck, sobbing and sniffling all the while.
Warm snot and tears smeared over Mozhi’s neck, making her feel utterly uncomfortable.
“Too close, too close! Even your snot bubbles are getting all over me! Get away from me!!”
One arm still held Windsor tight, while her other hand tried to push the girl’s cheek away.
Yet even though the girl’s delicate, fair face was being squashed out of shape, she had no intention of stopping, still crying and sniffling, speaking to herself.
“Teacher, I’ve missed you so much, wuuu~ I knew you couldn’t be dead…”
“I’m alive and well! And I’m definitely not your teacher!”
This girl on top of her was too soft and delicate, Mozhi was afraid she’d hurt her with the slightest force, so she could only try to be gentle while pushing her off.
She cast a pleading look toward the witch, hoping she would help peel this clingy thing off her, but the witch just shook her head and carefully backed away, as if she’d decided this girl was simply crazy.
“Enough already… Stop it!”
Mozhi put a little more force into it, finally shoving the girl away from her neck.
A glistening string of snot stretched from Mozhi’s pale neck to the girl’s nose—a sight that made Mozhi’s stomach turn.
She grabbed the girl’s face with both hands, forcing her to meet her gaze, then snapped angrily, “Open your eyes and look carefully! Am I really your teacher!”
The girl wiped away her face full of tears and snot, and, still sniffling, took a long look.
Her expression suddenly froze.
It seemed… there were indeed quite a few differences from her teacher’s face.
Her teacher’s face was never so youthful, and her eyes never so full of life; her teacher always had a steady, unruffled expression, more serene than a Clear Snowflower yet colder than a thousand-year snow mountain, and there should never have been a hint of emotion in her gaze.
Her eyes slid down to the area below the neck.
That softness had changed the most—her teacher’s should be several times larger than this, and her figure far fuller too.
“Teacher… why did your chest get smaller?”
She blew her nose and, with both hands, mischievously reached around to Mozhi’s back.
“And your butt too…”
She tried to bury her face into Mozhi’s chest, but no matter how she tried, she simply couldn’t hide her face there.
An inexplicable sorrow welled up in the girl’s heart.
“Get away from me!!”
Mozhi, cheeks flushed from the groping, could take no more—her hand nearly slapped the girl’s face.
Luckily, she held back, or else that slap would probably have fractured the girl’s skull.
But before her hand could be withdrawn, the girl caught it and rubbed it against her face.
“Teacher, wuuu, I knew you couldn’t bear to hit me, wuuu~”
Another wipe of snot and tears.
Mozhi was completely out of patience, yanked her hand back, and shouted, “I already said, I’m not your teacher! I’ve never even seen you before!”
The girl wiped her swollen, tear-reddened eyes, looking so pitiful that even the guards behind her struggled to keep a straight face.
This Saintess was nothing like the saintly, gentle figure they imagined. In fact, she was just a little girl who loved to cry and rub her snot all over others!
The girl stared unblinking at Mozhi’s face, a sudden guess flashing through her mind.
In an instant, her eyes filled with immense grief and grievance, and she asked in a trembling voice, “Are you perhaps my teacher’s daughter?”
“Pa!”
This time, a slap landed squarely on the girl’s face.
A bright red handprint appeared on her right cheek.
This feeling—so familiar—she knew for certain, it was her teacher!
The girl’s face instantly shifted from sorrow to joy, her mercurial expression completely convincing Mozhi that the person before her was out of her mind.
“Hey! How dare you harm the Saintess!”
The two guards behind, seeing this, drew their swords at once and moved to intervene.
But before Mozhi could say a word, the girl beat her to it, shouting, “None of your business! Get out now, don’t interrupt my alone time with Teacher!”
“But, but Saintess, we must protect your safety, otherwise…”
The girl’s face turned fierce, and like a spoiled young lady, she shouted, “Out!! Or I’ll tell my brother you’re harassing me!”
The two guards’ faces darkened.
They quickly sheathed their swords and scurried out.
“And you, you get out too!”
“…Me?”
The witch pointed at herself uncertainly.
“This might not be a good idea…”
There were so many guards outside, if she just walked out, she’d surely be pinned to the ground instantly.
Besides, her magic wand and broom had been confiscated; right now, she was nothing but a defenseless human.
The girl glanced around at the other prisoners, then, unable to bear it any longer, stood up from Mozhi, grabbed her hand, and was about to leave.
“Teacher, let me take you home!”
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