My Notoriety Spreads Throughout the World-Chapter 362 - 315: Girl Falling from the Starry Garden (Part 2)
Tang Xin looked around and turned her head to find the young girl silently standing in place, watching her.
"I’m talking to you."
"Can you see me?" Tang Xin pointed to herself. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
The young girl didn’t answer her, pulled down her little face, and quickly ran forward on her own. Tang Xin reacted and chased after her. The two ran through a long corridor, with sunlight shining in through the small windows, dust floating in the air, and sunlight slanting into a garden.
Tang Xin saw her younger self standing on tiptoes, trying hard to reach the watering can on the flower rack. She lightly chuckled, stepped forward, took the watering can, and handed it to the little girl.
As she touched those skinny little hands, Tang Xin’s eyes flickered as she thought of many things from the past. Most children in the Foster Home were malnourished, just like how she often skipped meals out of stubbornness. Over time, she became thin and out of place among the developing children.
"Why do they call you Sevia without any reaction from you?"
The young girl took the watering can from her hand, not looking at her out of spite, bent down, squatted her small body in front of a small earth mound, where a small cluster of irises grew, and began watering them.
Tang Xin was first puzzled, then suddenly realized that until meeting Xu Xiaoyou and before leaving the Starry Arts Academy, she had always resisted being called ’Sevia.’ In the ancient Lindong family language, this name meant the flower of winter. She resisted not so much the Lindong family but rather that woman, full of rouge and disheveled.
When did she start not resisting this name anymore?
Or rather, when did she begin to accept this name proactively...
"Why don’t you react?"
Faced with the question from her childhood self, Tang Xin was momentarily at a loss, not knowing how to respond without hurting the other.
But, looking at that stubborn little face, Tang Xin’s brows slightly softened, perhaps her younger self was stronger than she imagined.
"Xiaoxin, may I call you that?" Tang Xin asked softly.
The young girl nodded.
"Because there are things I must do, that I couldn’t achieve with my power alone?"
"Have you achieved it now?" Xiaoxin asked.
Recalling the scene she last saw, the thousands of souls floating on the giant music score, the screams and wails of people, the tragic ending of the performance, and the silent eyes of the blonde girl, she couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
Xiaoxin saw the girl’s embarrassment and continued to ask, "What is it that you must do?"
"Awaken more people before a greater tragedy arrives? But they clearly have nothing to do with you." Xiaoxin said. "Why save those unrelated to you?"
"Because I don’t want to see so many people suffer."
"If you don’t want to see it, you can just leave here," Xiaoxin frowned.
"Some things won’t not happen just because you don’t want to see them." Tang Xin lowered her eyes, squatting beside Xiaoxin, reaching out to help gather the dirt pile, carefully nurturing that small cluster of irises.
"Even if I fled to a far place, it wouldn’t mean the suffering here would stop because I know the snow here will never cease, the image of people struggling in the mire will still appear before me..."
"But what do those people have to do with you!" Xiaoxin interrupted Tang Xin loudly, her stubborn little face tense and looking angry, "Why do you care about them?"
"It’s not about caring," Tang Xin tried to explain, "but I can’t stand..."
"When I grow up, my compassion won’t be so overflowing!"
Xiaoxin seemed to pour out all her suppressed emotions, shouting many accusatory words at Tang Xin. Her small body erupted with a power not belonging to her age, suddenly pushing Tang Xin into the flowerbed.
"I will never forgive myself like this!"
Tang Xin sat in the flowerbed, dirt soiling her white dress, watching Xiaoxin’s red eyes trembling with rage, running away, the heaviness in her chest refusing to go away.
Tang Xin stood up, flicking away the dirt on her fingers, feeling helpless about the white dress soiled by the dirt.
She never imagined her younger self would be so stubborn that even her grown self couldn’t understand.
At the same time, the other’s questioning crystallized into an icy stone in her heart.
Why, seeing the world suffering, did she feel the sadness as if it were her own?
So much so, that she couldn’t bear it and desperately desired to stand out and change the status quo?
With these questions, she walked in the direction Xiaoxin fled, arriving in front of the door at the garden’s corner, pushing it open, and upon seeing the room’s arrangement clearly, Tang Xin’s eyes filled with a circle of shimmer.
She saw under the flickering candlelight, a woman sitting calmly on a chair, knitting sweaters for children preparing for winter, as her younger self hugged the woman’s body, burying her small face in the woman’s waist, silently neither asking nor expressing grievances.
"Dean Elia." Tang Xin called out the woman’s name with a hoarse voice.
The woman in the rocking chair noticed something and looked up towards the door, but only saw a void. The wind and snow blew in gusts outside, pushing open the door and windows, as the cold wind and snow recklessly intruded into the small room.
Elia chuckled lightly twice, her rough hands stroking little Xiaoxin’s dirty little face, patting her back.
"Little Sevia, what would you like to do in the future?" Elia asked.
"I want to stand on stage and sing songs that everyone can hear," Xiaoxin said, "to become a star like Marlene."
"Little Sevia, why do you want everyone to hear you sing?" Elia guided a thread through the sweater, the rims of her reading glasses glowing with a soft warm light.
"Because..." Xiaoxin was left speechless, turning stunned to look at the blue-haired figure at the door.
Because, she wanted everyone to hear beautiful songs, to bring joy to unhappy people.
This simple answer had long taken root in her heart and wouldn’t be surprising if it grew into a towering tree in the future.
Xiaoxin didn’t want to easily forgive the girl, and as the girl approached, stood up and ran away further.
Tang Xin walked to the woman’s rocking chair, tightly pursing her lips, calling the woman’s name, "Dean Elia?"
The wind blew gently, strands of blue hair fluttering on the old woman’s shoulders. Slowly, she raised her head, and Tang Xin saw that weathered face full of wrinkles, so unfamiliar it was hard to recognize.
They didn’t use those cheap skincare products.
Since growing up, she hadn’t seen the woman appear like this before the children.
So she had already aged.
The past and reality overlapped at this moment, the corners of the old woman’s eyes brimmed with tears, white hair strands falling, those bright eyes deeply met hers.
A thousand words converged into one sentence, Elia smiled and said, "In the blink of an eye, little Sevia has already grown up this much."
