Chapter 4: Almost beaten by two brat.
Xu Zehao and Xu Yuqiong never imagined someone else would be hiding here. For a moment, they panicked, almost instinctively trying to shield their little sister from the stranger’s sight.
Xu Yiran only raised an eyebrow at their reaction but said nothing. She took a step forward, but the two brothers kept retreating, nearly running away. Sensing their tense emotions, she chose to stop scaring them. A rare sense of pity emerged within her.
“Stop running. I won’t harm you,” she said coldly.
“Then why were you hiding in the dark if you mean no harm?” Xu Zehao questioned angrily, his hand secretly gesturing for his brother to run with their sister. He thought he hid it well, but Xu Yiran still noticed.
Xu Yuqiong, however, refused to move. Instead, he hugged his sister even tighter. His forceful grip must have hurt the little girl because she let out a faint cry in her unconscious state. Her breathing grew labored, struggling against suffocation.
The sound of her weak cries instantly drew the brothers’ attention, loosening their guard. Xu Yiran seized the moment. In two swift strides, she reached the boy holding the little girl and effortlessly snatched her from his suffocating grip. She swiftly removed the heavy jackets and patted the child’s chest to ease her breathing.
It all happened so quickly that the twin brothers were left stunned.
When they finally snapped back to their senses and saw the strange woman holding their sister and also her jackets removed, they turned pale.
Both of them shouted in fear, “What are you doing?!”
“Give my sister back!”
One of them lunged at Xu Yiran, baring his teeth like a wild animal ready to bite her to death, while the other one randomly grabbed a thick stick and charged at her.
Xu Yiran’s eyes turned icy cold. She sneered, “You almost suffocated your sister to death. I helped you kindly, and now you want to kill me?”
Her words struck like a stop button, freezing the boys in place. Their eyes widened in shock.
Finally, Xu Yiran sighed. She admitted she was at fault too—these children were already on edge, and she should have approached them differently. Looking down at the little girl in her arms, she noticed the child had calmed down but was clinging tightly to her clothes. Her body was burning with fever, likely for quite a while. Dehydration was also setting in. If she didn’t take medicine soon, she would be in danger.
Gathering the child’s clothes, Xu Yiran adjusted her grip into a more comfortable position and glanced at the two dumbfounded brothers. In a calm voice, she said, “Come inside with me.”
With that, she walked out of the woodshed, carrying the feverish girl without waiting for two of them.
Xu Zehao was the first to react. He grabbed his still-dazed brother and quickly followed after the woman, his voice filled with worry. “Give my sister back!”
In response, all he got was her cold back.
Xu Yiran laid the unconscious little girl on the couch where she had been sleeping earlier, removing the thick jackets to reveal a delicate pink princess dress. One side of the gauze was torn, and dirt smudged parts of the fabric. She didn’t mind and simply covered the child with the woolen blanket.
From the corner of her eye, she noticed the two boys standing stiffly. Now that they were under proper light, she realized they looked about 70-80% alike. Their features were already quite handsome. Judging from their age and similarity, she guess they probably twin.
“Sit wherever you want,” she said before turning away.
She couldn’t recall whether she had brought cold medicine with her. After rummaging through a cabinet, she finally found a pack of paracetamol.
When Xu Zehao and Xu Yuqiong were at a loss for what to do, they saw the woman finally return with a glass of water. They let out a quiet sigh of relief.