A girl with short hair, looking like a boy but unmistakably female, wore tattered clothes, though compared to Shen Rushan, who only had on a tank top, she was bundled up tightly. Her face was just as grimy, obscuring her features, but her pitch-black eyes carried a hint of gloom. Despite her young age, she radiated an air of someone not to be trifled with.
Troublemaker.
That was the first word that came to Ji Nian’s mind the moment she saw her.
Though she had seen photos, seeing the real person in the flesh made it hard for Ji Nian to imagine that her "Zhiliao-jie" had once been like this as a child.
Just then, the person who had been standing behind her stepped forward.
He seemed to have heard Shen Rushan’s earlier remark, and as he took a step out, his emerald-green eyes flickered with confusion.
Only when his gaze landed on the faint silhouette behind Shen Rushan did a child’s voice, devoid of any discernible emotion, speak up:
"Who’s behind you?"
Zhiliao had noticed it too, her eyes fixed intently in that direction.
When Shen Rushan saw another "Xiao Zhou" emerge from behind Zhiliao, his mind exploded with a deafening buzz.
Wait…
If Xiao Zhou was standing there…
Then who was behind him?
At that thought, Shen Rushan felt every hair on his body stand on end, a chill shooting straight from his feet to his skull. He swore he had never moved so fast in his life.
In one leap, he dove behind Zhiliao, then turned a terrified gaze toward Ji Nian, who stood silently in the distance.
"H-h-him—!"
Zhiliao and Ji Tingzhou both snapped their heads toward her.
Though Ji Nian wore a hat, half her face was still visible. The daylight hadn’t faded yet, and they could clearly make out the dark, emerald-green hue of her eyes.
If it had just been the eye color, that would’ve been one thing.
But the person before them had facial features identical to Xiao Zhou’s—so similar that even Shen Rushan, who had known him for years, couldn’t tell them apart.
Zhiliao and Shen Rushan both whipped their heads toward Ji Tingzhou beside them with enough force to snap their necks.
And it wasn’t just them—Ji Tingzhou himself flinched, his pupils contracting sharply.
He was still young, not yet the cold, mocking man he would grow into. His expressions were far more readable now.
Pursing his lips, Ji Tingzhou fixed Ji Nian with a wary stare, his emerald-green eyes—identical to hers—narrowed in suspicion.
"Who are you?"
Hearing that adorable, boyish voice, Ji Nian’s lips curled slightly.
She took two steps forward.
Under the scrutiny of all three, she reached up and pulled off her hat.
As it fell away, a cascade of wavy, raven-black hair tumbled out—a shade and texture the children of Liuxing Street had never seen before. Her face, fair and rosy, bore the unmistakable mark of someone who had never known hardship, delicate and well cared-for.
"A girl?" Shen Rushan muttered in surprise, a hint of regret lacing his tone, as if kicking himself for not realizing sooner.
While they studied her, Ji Tingzhou also took a couple of steps closer, his expression flickering between shock and doubt.
He was staring at Ji Nian, and she stared right back.
His clothes, washed so many times their original color was long gone, hung loosely on his bony frame. His hair was cropped short, barely more than stubble, and like the others, his face was smudged with dirt—likely a form of disguise, Ji Nian guessed.
Ignoring the grime (which was still far less than Shen Rushan’s), the boy’s features gave Ji Nian the uncanny sensation of looking into a mirror. The only difference was the sharp, wolf-like intensity in those emerald-green eyes—nothing docile about them.
At this age, Ji Tingzhou was practically skin and bones. In fact, none of the three children before her had much meat on them.
Ji Nian marveled inwardly. In childhood, before facial contours fully developed, she and her father were practically carbon copies of each other.
The two identical faces locked in a staring contest, as if playing a game of who would blink first.
In the end, it was Ji Nian who broke the silence, lazily flicking a strand of hair over her shoulder.
"Hey. I’m Ji Nian."
Shen Rushan’s eyes flickered, recalling how effortlessly she had kicked down those two fully grown men earlier.
"You’re not from Liuxing Street."
Ji Nian shifted her gaze to him, flashing a smile that sent an inexplicable shiver down his spine—was that… fondness?
"No. I’m from S City."
"Where’s that?" Zhiliao, who had never left Liuxing Street, frowned.
"Hmm… a city very far from here."
Clearly, apart from Shen Rushan, none of the children could grasp what "very far" truly meant.
But that wasn’t the pressing issue right now.
"Why do you look exactly like Xiao Zhou…?"
Shen Rushan pressed again, his eyes darting toward Ji Tingzhou, who hadn’t moved an inch, still glaring at Ji Nian with undisguised hostility.
Ji Nian hesitated.
She wasn’t sure if she could reveal the truth. From the moment she woke up here, she had called out for her system countless times, but there had been no response.
She decided to test it.
But the moment the thought formed, it was as if a spell had been cast—she couldn’t force the words out.
[Guess I can’t say it, huh…]
So… was this really the past?
Pondering silently, she met the expectant gazes of the three children before her, then locked eyes with Ji Tingzhou again.
With a slow, sweet smile, she said:
"Gege, I’m your twin sister."
