“LittleSnow, want some blossom tea?”

“Eh…? Did Little Yue brew that blossom tea?”

Dixue lifted her head like a petal toward sunlight, and saw a cute blue‑haired girl coming over with a steaming cup like a tiny spring.

“Yeah. Kaka and I just picked the blossoms by the water. It tastes like morning dew.”

“Ah… it smells like a garden after rain.”

Dixue took the cup; one sip, and sweetness like spring water flowed across her tongue.

“There are lots more along the river, like silver threads on the bank, but we only picked a few. Most buds are still growing.”

“It really is good… By the way, I saw Little Yue buzzing around downstairs like a bee. Are you opening the bookstore?”

“Mm… yes! Our savings are thin as rice paper. I want to sell some books for cash, so we’re not living on rice alone.”

Along Winterwood Road, rice trees had sprouted like snowy boughs, easing the girls’ daily meals like a warm pot on a cold night.

But the wounded still needed a tide of protein, bricks for mending bones and weaving flesh back together.

“Then let me help Little Yue! Leave the register to me; I’ll guard that little gate like a sparrow on a fence.”

“Huh?!”

Yue Liuyi jolted, the teapot wobbling like a little moon about to fall. “H-how can LittleSnow run the till! Her wounds haven’t healed.”

“Just sitting to take cash is fine. And I can’t relax, letting Little Yue face a tide of strangers alone like a lone boat.”

“Relax, LittleSnow. It’s not my first time running the Moon Post Bookstore. I can steer this counter like a small helm.”

“But it’s your first time as a girl, like first snow that hasn’t learned the ground.”

“Eh…?”

“Little Yue probably hasn’t noticed how adorable a creature she is, like a soft kitten under moonlight…”

Staring at the stunned Yue Liuyi before her, Dixue sighed, worry drifting like mist. “When greeting guests, don’t be too warm. If any shady uncles or bad big sisters try to take liberties, draw a clear line like a blade. Handle it sternly—no indulgence.”

“Mm… looks like… that’s true,” Yue said, nodding like a reed in wind on a riverbank.

Young girls running a shop can’t dodge one old wave: deep‑pocketed customers pressing the line with oily‑fish hands and teasing that slides along the edge.

It was improper already; most girls would burn with anger like chili in a pan. But Yue Liuyi, raised as a boy, didn’t mind as much; she’d blush like peach bloom, yet her will was willow‑soft.

After all, it brings money like a sudden rain! She can buy gifts for LittleSnow, Kaka, Little Rose, like lanterns for a festival! And she won’t lose anything—so long as they don’t go too far, she can accept it…

But Dixue feared exactly that drift. Her Little Yue is cute, but far too yielding, tofu set before wolves; if someone crosses the line and she doesn’t bristle, those creeps will push like an incoming tide and keep bullying her…

“Mm… turning back into a boy would work as a shield… but for now, Little Yue shouldn’t use that shapeshift, like the moon hiding its face.”

“Huh…? Why…”

“Aiqiqi told me the World Tree Maiden has drawn eyes like crows circling. Soon, many will probe her trail through the snow. So try not to use your shapeshift, Little Yue.”

“Got it… Wait, no! LittleSnow, how do you even know Sis Kiki?” The question dropped like a pebble into a still pond.

“Last night, while you slept like a hug pillow, Aiqiqi came. We talked under velvet night and reached a few understandings.”

“Ugh… Sis Kiki came last night? Wow, and I was asleep…” Regret spilled like warm tea on the table.

Yue Liuyi felt low; words she’d saved for Sis Kiki fluttered like caged birds, while sleep fell on her like heavy snow.

“Don’t worry, Little Yue. Kiki will come again—the moon always waxes, and the tide returns.”

“Mm… true…” She nodded like a drifting leaf finding a slow eddy.

Yue Liuyi smiled, dawn-soft. Missing Sis Kiki stung, but seeing LittleSnow on good terms with her loosened the knot in her chest like fingers undoing a ribbon.

“Then next, Little Yue, hold me. Let’s go downstairs together, step by petal.”

“Huh? Right now?”

“Mm. I want to help prepare for the opening of the Moon Post Bookstore, like lighting a new lantern.”

Her big jade‑green eyes rippled like a pond in wind, and Dixue seemed to hatch another fox‑quick idea.