“I would take the cards back if that’s your wish. As for the expenses–”

Before An Qinyan could complete her sentence, An Xiulan spoke, “Mom, my deskmate set up the app for making payments. I have nothing to be worried about. Also, grandpa You give me money every morning. I don’t think I have big expenses. All my basic requirements are fulfilled by you.  And if I really need something else, I can always ask you, right?”

“Of course,” An Xiulan spoke with a smile. “You are my baby girl. I would give you everything you ask me for.”

An Xiulan sighed as she looked at her mother with a troubled gaze. “Mom, you are not allowed to spoil me.”

“Wait, what?” An Qinyan was dumbfounded.

“Yes, mom, please don’t spoil me too much. I have seen in Television programmes how those spoiled girls behaved. I don’t want to become like them,” An Xiulan genuinely was worried about this matter. What if she becomes a brat who hurts her family? Or a spoiled girl who only cares about herself? What would become of her mother? Who would take care of her mother?

No. No. She couldn’t let her mother spoil her._.

She had to be a good baby all her life.

“Lanlan, are you watching those TV programs again?” An Qinyan massaged her aching temples. What would she do with this daughter of hers who seemed to be addicted to those silly and ridiculous TV programmes?

An Xiulan lowered her head with a guilty gaze. She couldn’t tell her mother how she and Meimei ( her maid) were binge-watching those evil mother-in-law/daughter-in-law Telenovelas.

“Invite your friend at home for lunch someday,” An Qinyan said after a while. She had a good opinion of Han Zixin. Initially, she had only seen him from a distance so she didn’t have any opinion on the boy. However, now she could tell that he was a good boy. Or why would he say such an important thing to An Xiulan?

Not only did he not take advantage of her. He made her aware of the consequences of being a rich kid with an innocent mind and also took care of her while she was injured.

If such a kid was not a good kid, she didn’t know what a good kid would be.

“He is not my friend,” An Xiulan said honestly.

“Is he not?” An Qinyan was surprised. “Aren’t you sharing the desk with him since the first day of school?”

“Yes, but he is not my friend,” An Xiulan replied with a shrug. “In fact, he is the only person who is not my friend in the entire class. He is my nemesis.”

“It’s not normal to have enmity between teammates,” replied An Qinyan.

“But we are not normal, mom, “came the reply.

“Oh, how can I forget that?”

…

“Mom, where are we?” An Xiulan asked when she saw their car stopped in front of a huge building. It didn’t look like their house.

“We are at a hospital,” An Qinyan replied.

“Why?” An Xiulan almost cried.

“Why do people go to the hospital?” An Qinyan raised the question.

“I know why people go to the hospital?” An Xiulan made a crying face as she muttered, ” But why are we here?”

“To see a doctor of course,” An Qinyan said as a matter of fact.

“But my hand is not seriously injured,” An Xiulan replied in a small tone.

“Lanlan,  you felt good and relieved after saving the kid, right?” An Qinyan hopefully looked at her daughter. She believed that she could understand the predicament in her heart. ” Mom will feel the same once the doctor tells me that you are fine, instead of you.”

An Xiulan merely nodded her head. If her mother would feel relieved this way, so be it.

“Now let’s go see a doctor.”

An Xiulan looked at the hospital sign and thousands of memories came rushing back to her. It was as if she hadn’t stepped inside the hospital but inside a building of her last memories.

She was fine one moment and the other moment she found herself dragged by an unknown spell into the past. Her frightened gaze fell on her reflection in the glass door, making her squint her eyes because of the blinding light that only she could see and feel.

“Lanlan, why aren’t you coming?” An Xiulan heard her mother’s voice in slow motion. It was as if she could hear a buzzing sound and several others along with her mother’s voice. She could hear sorrowful cries, laughter, screaming and everything else at the same time.

All those voices were familiar to her. Too familiar that a chill ran down her spine. For the first time after coming to this world, An Xiulan felt what fear actually felt like.

Instead of walking ahead with her mother, she looked at the mirror reflection again.

And this time she saw her.

The real her.

The face in the reflection was her past face. The one of the dragon era.