Xiao Hua might not be considered beautiful, but she was a rather cute girl who was earnest and obedient. To Lin Xiao, she wasn’t just a servant, but more like a neighborly little sister that he couldn’t stop worrying about.
Though that may be the case, ever since getting acquainted with Xiao Hua, he’s never been treated well by her, she’s always been guarded against him and has never treated him warmly, but now he had an opportunity to get enough of it…
“Hey! Big brother, big sister, do you like candy? Want to buy some?”
Currently, Xiao Hua was squatting on the ground while looking up with sparkling eyes full of expectation, hoping that Lin Xiao and Elena would buy her candy…
Candy?
Lin Xiao finally noticed that when Xiao Hua pulled them aside, she pulled out several beautiful candy containers using magic, as well as a long cloth, placed the candy containers neatly on top, and created a small spot selling candies.
But Lin Xiao didn’t understand, the enemies were right behind them and heading their way, so why did she suddenly start selling candies?
There were just ten meters between them, Lin Xiao could even hear their rough breathing, so they surely can hear their conversation and they would soon pass them.
What should they do? At such a crucial time, Xiao Hua wasn’t thinking of hiding but selling her candy… could her candy be stealth candies and the enemies can’t see them after eating it?
How could that be possible?
“Xiao Hua, stop messing around! They’re already….”
“Hey, big brother! Big brother! Even if you’re not buying it, at least give it a try, it’s delicious!”
Before Lin Xiao could finish, Xiao Hua began crying out again!
“Xiao Hua! This isn’t a game! Quiet down, they’re going to hear!”
Lin Xiao was startled by her voice and quickly told her to quiet down, but she furrowed her brows in dissatisfaction and continued to cry out.
“Hey, hey! Big brother, please, but some candy! My mother personally made these, I’m not lying, they’re delicious!”
“Xiao Hua! You…”
“Really? Are they really that good?”
Lin Xiao still tried to stop her, but Elena suddenly realized something and squatted down while picking up a container like she was a customer and started chatting with Xiao Hua.
“Little girl, since your mother’s candies are so delicious, why don’t you eat them?”
“I can’t bear to…”
“Can’t bear to?”
“Yes, you need a lot of materials to make the candies and they’re expensive, so I can’t bear to eat them…”
“If you’re reluctant to eat them, how can you part ways and sell them to me?”
“Because as long as you buy it, then my mother and I can eat until we’re full tonight!”
“Eh? W-what did you say?”
Elena stiffened when she heard those words. Who knows if it was acting or real emotions, but when she said those words, Xiao Hua was extremely into it and her words gripped the heart. But she didn’t have a sad expression, it was like she was happy thinking about how she could eat her fill if she sold the candies, so she continued trying to peddle them and hoped Elena would buy them.
“Little girl, since your mother made these candies, then why didn’t she come to sell them?”
“S-she can’t sell them.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s sick. She used to sell them to raise me, but now she’s sick and can’t sell them anymore. If we don’t sell them we won’t have money, if we don’t have money, then we can’t eat and can’t cure her sickness… so, I can only come to sell the candies.”
“I see…”
Elena’s heart hurt as she listened on, she casually opened the can of candies and found several pieces of dried candies inside, the strange shapes were funny and you could immediately tell they were inferior goods that wouldn’t taste good.
Lin Xiao finally realized what they were doing and also squatted down. He took the can of candies from Elena, took a look and smiled, and asked.
“Little girl, I have something I want to ask.”
“A-ask away! As long as you’re willing to buy my candy, I’ll answer anything!”
“You just said that your mother was sick, right?”
“Right.”
“That’s strange, if she’s sick to the point of not being able to sell anything, how does she have the strength to make the candies to sell?”
“Eh? That…”
Xiao Hua didn’t know how to answer and looked down while pressing her hands together.
“So you lied. Your mother didn’t make these, but you did, right?”
“…”
“Why did you lie? Even if your candies don’t taste good, you don’t have to lie.”
“I… I-I didn’t lie!!!”
Xiao Hua held it in for a while, but couldn’t hold it in anymore as she hollered out.
“I did make the candies, but my mother is really sick! But, but now she’s… already…”
Actually, Lin Xiao could already guess what happened even if she didn’t finish her sentence… her mother probably already passed away.
“Little girl, I…”
“Hey, give the candy back to me.”
Just as Lin Xiao was immersed in the sad atmosphere, he heard an indifferent voice.
Lin Xiao looked up and noticed that the teary-eyed little girl was already gone and was replaced with Xiao Hua who had a face of disdain.
Who knows when she did it, but she had already packed everything away while reaching out a hand to Lin Xiao for that small can.
“Uh… here.”
“The first wave is gone, they didn’t notice us, now is the best time, let’s go!”
After taking the can, she hid it away like she was doing a magic trick and then called them to continue on their way.
Lin Xiao and Elena gave each other a helpless look, then he looked back at the idiot killers that just ran past them and still didn’t get how Xiao Hua avoided them.
They were yelling louder than anyone else and everyone passing by could hear them, even the killers, if they just turned to look they could easily see Lin Xiao and Elena.
But… they completely ignored them like they were invisible.
Why?
“Were your candies really a stealth medicine? Otherwise, how could they not see us?”
Lin Xiao still couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked.
Xiao Hua looked down at him for his stupid questions and asked him a couple of questions in return.
“Do you remember how many traders you passed by?”
“Traders? No…”
“A total of 16, 10 men and 6 women… now let me ask you, do you remember how many couples we passed by?”
“Couples? How would I know which ones are couples?”
“You can tell by how they act and their expressions… we met a total of 6 couples, one pair was an elderly couple that walked slowly and you almost knocked them down.”
Xiao Hua sneered and continued to question him.
“Then, do you still remember what any of them looked like?”
“Not at all… I didn’t even notice their existence in the first place.”
“So, do you understand now why those killers didn’t see us?”
“Oh!! I seem to understand!”
It seemed complex but it was actually very simple, because of the background.
Humans aren’t robots, even if they can see a lot of things and hear the surrounding sounds, but their attention is limited, when there’s a lot of information entering their brain, they’re only left behind with a bit of useful information and the rest would be overlooked as background information.
For example, we’ve all been to a restaurant and will probably remember what’s written on the sign, but who would remember what color scheme the sign has, or what pattern was on the walls?
When we’re walking, we see a lot of people, but we won’t notice most of them and once we pass them, we can’t even remember what they look like.
Is it because we’re blind? No, it’s because that information is recognized as background information by our brain and ignored.
Earlier, because Elena and Lin Xiao also blended into the background, they weren’t noticed.
And Xiao Hua was acting as a little girl selling candies so that Lin Xiao and Elena could act like good people buying candies.
“But Xiao Hua, your acting was so realistic, it wasn’t personal experience from your childhood, was it?”
“… No!”
Xiao Hua became absentminded for a bit before bluntly responding.
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