After hearing his story, Lin Sisi couldn’t help but show a surprised and admiring expression on her face.
"You... you believe that?"
Zhang Xiaoman saw her concentrated look and couldn’t help but ask.
Lin Sisi was slightly taken aback, then lowered her head, her face blushing as she said softly:
"Hmm... as long as it’s something you say... I believe it all..."
Zhang Xiaoman felt a sudden stiffness upon hearing this, and his old face suddenly had some trouble hanging on.
On one hand, he felt guilty for deceiving such a simple and blind young girl.
On the other hand, he felt that the girl’s words just now had too much killing power, shaking his resolve as a bachelor of twenty-five years.
"God knows I just wanted to tease her, who knew she would take it all seriously!"
When Zhang Xiaoman remembered the words he had once mocked Pei Laoliu with, he felt a sense of helplessness:
"Such outrageous brags, aren’t they supposed to be taken as just a joke?"
Seeing the girl’s "I believe whatever you say" demeanor, Zhang Xiaoman naturally didn’t want to deceive her any further and abruptly changed the topic, asking:
"By the way, tell me about yourself, what do you usually do at home alone? Do any former classmates come to visit you?"
Lin Sisi thought for a moment with her head down and said:
"Before, I was always learning how to live this life. Aunt Wang helped me a lot and even took me to buy a guide dog named Tutu. Ah, it’s the Golden Retriever you reminded me to take to the vet. It’s still in the pet hospital now, it will be discharged in two days..."
"Recently, I’ve been learning to paint while blind, and I really want to try holding a brush again..."
She paused here, then added with a hint of desolation:
"As for the other classmates... no one has come to see me... I’ve always been without friends..."
Zhang Xiaoman was initially listening with interest, but didn’t expect her to say that. He frowned and asked:
"How can you have no friends? Do they discriminate against you?"
Lin Sisi quickly shook her head and said, "No, it’s all my fault, no one has ever discriminated against me..."
Having said this, she lowered her head again and explained:
"It’s all my fault, I never paid attention to social interactions before. I always thought that as long as I worked hard on my studies and painting, I didn’t need to care about other things..."
"What? What happened?"
Zhang Xiaoman was somewhat puzzled. He felt that such a pretty girl, even if she was a bit reclusive, should not lack friends; at the very least, she shouldn’t lack admirers.
Lin Sisi showed a self-deprecating smile on her face and said:
"I used to be really bad... When I was young, because of my grades, I skipped two grades and went to college early. Later, I showed talent in painting and everyone praised me as a genius girl..."
"I was always smug about it, wanting to be first in everything. When others came to hang out with me, I coldly refused, thinking they were wasting my time... Eventually, everyone stopped bothering with me, and I was happy to have the free time, immersed in that false self-satisfaction..."
As she spoke, she couldn’t help but burst into tears:
"Until later, I had a car accident, my parents died, and I also lost my sight. Everything I had was gone... The prolonged darkness and loneliness made me realize how foolish and ignorant I had been before..."
Seeing her cry, Zhang Xiaoman felt very uncomfortable too. He reached out to pull out a tissue and handed it to her, consoling her:
"Don’t be sad, it’s all over. This isn’t your fault. I used to fail my exams and never had the treatment you did... Don’t worry, if you feel bored or need any help, just give me a call."
Lin Sisi took the tissue and wiped the corner of her eye, then whispered,
"Thank you, Xiao Man... Brother, you are the only friend I’ve met since I lost my sight... well, perhaps even before that..."
As she spoke, she sniffled again.
"You smell so nice, like sunlight, warm and comforting..."
Zhang Xiaoman felt somewhat embarrassed by her words.
"I... have been learning to do blind drawing recently. I want to draw what you look like. Do you think that’s okay..."
Zhang Xiaoman was taken aback. Although he didn’t know how she would draw him, he nodded and murmured a yes.
Upon hearing his answer, Lin Sisi’s face lit up with joy and anticipation.
She reached out her little hand slowly and gently caressed Zhang Xiaoman’s face.
The latter felt her warm hand moving across his face and knew it was impossible not to have any thoughts about it.
However, when it came to matters of the heart, he was quite reserved and conservative, otherwise, he wouldn’t still be without a single romantic relationship so far.
He thought if it were Brother Hero, that veteran of love, he probably would have charmed her with just a few words by now.
After chatting idly for a while, Zhang Xiaoman turned to check on the progress of the Sand Soldiers cleaning up the living room; the instruction he had given them was to "restore the hall to its original state."
"What the hell are you doing!?"
When he saw what they were doing, Zhang Xiaoman immediately lost his composure.
Those two had actually been diligently using pieces of the monster’s shattered shell to reassemble its original form!
Startled by his outburst, Lin Sisi quickly asked what was happening.
"Oh, it’s nothing, it’s nothing. The creatures I summoned are just a bit dumb. I need to give them some guidance,"
Zhang Xiaoman explained.
Lin Sisi chuckled but said no more.
Zhang Xiaoman quickly checked the hall again. Thankfully, although these creatures were rigid, they were reliable in their work.
The room had already been tidied up, with the position and angle of the items exactly the same as before.
Aside from the furniture that had been damaged in the recent fight, the entire hall had miraculously been restored to its previous state.
After helping Lin Sisi get accustomed to the slightly altered environment and filling in the holes in the ground that appeared due to summoning the Sand Soldiers, he checked the time, ready to head back.
The duration of the two Sand Soldiers was clearly nearly up.
Zhang Xiaoman directed them to the yard before he dispelled the summoning, leaving only a pile of sand and dust behind.
After saying goodbye to Lin Sisi, he found a dark alley outside and rubbed his hearthstone to return home.
Once home, Zhang Xiaoman immediately changed his clothes and took a bath.
There was no helping it; during the monster fight, lots of the creature’s greenish-yellow blood had splattered on him, and he felt really uncomfortable not washing it off.
Finally, after taking care of a series of things, he had the time to tally up today’s gains.