She never understood until her death why her younger sister had turned against her.
"Why? It's actually quite simple. I don't like you. I hate you so much. I want you to die, to disappear."
Rong Lan stopped in her tracks and stared blankly at her younger sister, who was squatting beside her, almost burned to a cinder, still smiling sweetly.
"Sister never knew that all the clan's resources were always tilted towards you, just because you have a genius older brother. If you were a genius too, that would be fine, but you're not. Yet you always get more than me. How unfair is that? If you didn't exist, there would be no such unfairness. So, sister, you should disappear."
"Moreover, everyone in the clan seems to like sister very much. Why? How come? I've been so sensible and tried so hard to be a kind and lovable fox, but everyone loves sister more. If they only have one piece of candy in their hands, they'll definitely give it to sister and never think of giving it to me. Although I like sister very much, and sister likes me too, but sister's love alone is not enough. So, sorry—"
Rong Lan watched as the forty - fifth thunderbolt struck down and stood there stunned, not moving.
She had known her younger sister for nearly five hundred years. So this was the reason her sister wanted her to disappear.
The reason was so simple that their nearly five - hundred - year sisterly bond seemed like a joke.
She finally understood.
It was just that the reason she had more resources in the clan was because of her older brother. The resources her brother had fought hard for her were never a sin in her eyes. Being lovable was not a sin either.
A dazzling white light flashed before her eyes. The thunder faded away, and all the things she could see vanished. Tiredness engulfed her consciousness.
However, she felt a tickle on her fox ears, as if someone was stroking them, so she couldn't fall asleep peacefully.
But her consciousness told her that both her hands were tucked under the covers and not on her head.
With great difficulty, she overcame her drowsiness and opened her eyes. Rong Lan saw that the person in the bed beside her was wide - awake. The whole fox shivered in fright.
What she didn't know was that Chu Hengyuan was also startled. How could his little fox wake up at this hour? He always stayed up until two or three o'clock in the morning, thinking that he could stroke her fox ears while the little girl was sound asleep. Was he going to be caught by the suddenly awakened little girl today?
Rong Lan reached out her hand from under the covers. First, she rubbed her eyes, then she touched the man's face. "Why aren't you asleep yet, brother?"
She didn't think much about it and just assumed that he hadn't fallen asleep.
Chu Hengyuan didn't know how to withdraw his hand that was still on the little girl's head for a moment. "I had a cup of coffee this afternoon. The after - effect is too strong, and I still can't fall asleep. What about Lanlan? Why did you wake up suddenly?"
Only then did Rong Lan remember why she had woken up. "I had a... nightmare." Wasn't it a nightmare? The younger sister she had played with for five hundred years had killed her like that. But the real reason she woke up was the tickle on her fox ears.
She reached out her hand to touch her fox ears to make sure they were okay. However, when her hand went up, it landed on the back of a hand.
Rong Lan: "???" What was this? Was it her brother's hand? Why was her brother's hand on top of her head?
Chu Hengyuan held the little girl's hand in a reverse grip and quietly put her hand back under the covers. "Lanlan, your hair has grown longer. I was thinking of helping you move your hair to the other side so that I won't press on it when I turn over."
Rong Lan, who was easy to coax, believed Chu Hengyuan's words without hesitation, because there had been times when they were sleeping, and he had pressed on her hair, waking her up in pain. Moreover, he couldn't see or touch her ears, so she never suspected that he was deliberately stroking her fox ears. "When do you plan to go to sleep, brother?"
"I'll go to sleep when I'm sleepy. You go to sleep first, Lanlan." He gently patted her back through the covers to soothe her.
Rong Lan obediently closed her eyes, but only for a moment, then she couldn't help but open them again. "I want to hear a lullaby." The more she thought about her sister's betrayal, the more aggrieved she felt. But her mother wasn't here, and her older brother wasn't here either. Right now, she just wanted to hear the lullaby her mother had hummed to her when she was a child.
A lullaby? Chu Hengyuan hesitated for a moment. "How about I hum the lullaby my mother sang to me when I was a child for you, Lanlan?" Apart from the lullaby his mother had hummed when he was a child, he had never heard any other lullabies.
Rong Lan nodded and looked at him expectantly in the darkness. "Sure."
Chu Hengyuan smiled, cleared his throat, and softly hummed the melody that was deepest in his memory.
After listening for a while, the little fox, who had closed her eyes, murmured softly, "Brother remembers the lullaby he heard when he was a child so clearly..." He hummed so smoothly, as if he had hummed it countless times secretly. Although she also remembered the lullaby her mother had hummed to her, she only remembered the general melody.
The hand that was gently patting the little girl's back paused. Chu Hengyuan leaned forward and kissed her forehead with a smile. "Because there aren't many things my mother left for me. I dare not forget. I'm afraid that if I forget, no one else will remember."
After saying that, without waiting for the little girl to respond, he continued to hum the lullaby for her.
The lullaby was hummed over and over again. Just when Rong Lan was on the verge of falling asleep, her phone rang.
Since she didn't know many people, she believed that no one would be bored enough to call her in the middle of the night to disturb her sleep. So she usually didn't turn off the sound of her phone when she went to sleep at night.
As a result, the sudden ringing of the phone successfully woke up the almost - sleeping fox.
Rong Lan patted her chest to calm her pounding heart. Then she picked up the phone on the bedside table, took a deep breath, and tried to control her irritable mood, so as not to lose her temper with the person on the other end of the phone.
"Eh? Bai Rongran?" Seeing the caller ID on the phone screen, Rong Lan was shocked, and all her drowsiness vanished. Her relationship with Bai Rongran wasn't very good. Unless something extremely important had happened, Bai Rongran would never call her at two or three o'clock in the morning.
She suddenly had a bad premonition. She propped herself up on the covers and sat up, swiped the phone screen, and answered the call.
"Hello? My dear—" Sister Ranran—
This time, before Rong Lan could even finish saying "Sister Ranran", she heard heart - rending sobs on the phone.
The little fox was stunned.
Chu Hengyuan sat up, picked up the remote control, and turned on the night - light in the room for his little girl. He quietly waited for Rong Lan to finish this phone call.
Rong Lan took a deep breath and carefully said, "Ranran?"