"Do you... need something?" she turned fully around, eyeing the figure warily.

  "The nine-colored sunflower is about to bloom..." The person spoke slowly, their voice that of an elderly woman.

  Baili Weibu's heart skipped a beat. Only members of the Baili family knew about the nine-colored sunflower.

  "The true way to break the curse... it′s not impossible,” the old woman stood motionless, like a withered stump of a tree.

  "Really?!” Baili Weibu rushed forward without hesitation, her heart swelling with joy as if she had just encountered a deity that could save her.

  "Don′t come any closer!” The woman quickly stepped back, “Just listen to me first!”

  Baili Weibu hurriedly stopped, afraid to take another step.

  "In the Baili family′s basement, there′s a shrine with a wooden box on top...”

  The old woman's voice was sometimes muffled by the wind and snow, sometimes clear…

  “This is the true way to break the curse. The lion who cast the curse didn’t leave behind any way to undo it. It’s just that no woman from the Baili family has been able to do it. Our parents always knew, but they never spoke of it.” The old woman’s voice suddenly grew choked with emotion. “Back then, I lost the courage to open it... A hunter who loses their courage loses their soul, and their body will quickly wither and age until death cims them.”

  Baili Weibu′s breath seemed frozen in the cold air.

  "You are...” She lost all sense of restraint, rushing toward the old woman and grabbing her arms. “You're my sister, aren't you? You’re my sister?”

  A few tears fell from beneath the old woman′s hood, nding on Baili Weibu′s hands.

  "Ten years... I hid myself away. Because of my cowardice, I lost him, and I lost myself. I would often stand far away, watching the lights in the house, seeing you grow up day by day, knowing you met him... but I could never return to the Baili family, and I had even less face to meet him." The old woman slowly lifted her hood, revealing a weathered, gray face, yet the familiarity in her brows and eyes unmistakably identified her as Baili Weibu′s older sister—Baili Weiqing, who had been missing for ten years.

  "Sister, you..." Baili Weibu's tears overflowed. "Do you know how long we've been looking for you?"

  "Don’t tell Dad and Mom I came to see you," Baili Weiqing said, putting her hood back on. "I know someone has come to the house, and I know what they want. I’ve already lost the most important courage of the Centaur cn. Now, I’m just a useless, ordinary person. Weibu... when I die, let it be as if I preserved the st bit of my dignity."

  "Sister!" Baili Weibu grabbed onto Baili Weiqing, desperately shaking her head.

  "I hesitated about whether or not to tell you this method," Baili Weiqing looked at her sister, "In the end, I came to find you. The women of the Baili family, we carry the blood of the Centaur cn, we are born hunters. Courage is our soul, and without it, we are nothing but useless shells." She gently pulled Baili Weibu′s hand away, a smile spreading across her lips. "The thing I couldn′t do back then, I hope you will complete."

  With that, she left Baili Weibu standing in the snow, stunned. Baili Weiqing disappeared into the heavy dusk, her footprints quickly erased by the falling snow, as if she had never been there at all.

  She shed the increasingly cumbersome down jacket, preparing to move swiftly, weaving through the forest.

  Only a few hours remained until Christmas Eve.

  At the familiar spot, she saw him waiting from a distance.

  "Come to wish me a Merry Christmas?" He smiled at her, his expression rexed.

  "Give me your hand!" Without hesitation, she grabbed his hand, and with the other, she raised a small knife, swiftly slicing his finger. Green blood began to flow from between his fingers.

  She discarded the knife and bent down, her lips pressing to the wound, sucking the blood from his injury.

  "What are you doing?” He looked at her actions with confusion and teased, “Don’t tell me you’ve switched careers and are now selling Romanian specialties.”

  Baili Weibu looked up, swallowing the blood in her mouth.

  "It's hard to say; being a vampire is pretty cool,” she said, her chest rising and falling with every breath. She grinned at him, satisfied, and wiped her mouth.

  "What's going on with you?” His expression suddenly turned serious.

  "I came to give you a Christmas gift,” she replied just as seriously, then took a small paper box from her bag and pced it in his hands.

  He took it, ready to open it, but she stopped him.

  "Give me a hug first,” she said, lifting her face with a radiant smile.

  He hesitated for a moment before pulling her into his embrace.

  The snow continued to fall, heavier now, and the ke beside them had already formed a yer of ice, reflecting an eerie yet beautiful glow. Each snowfke that fell seemed to carry a life of its own, dancing gracefully to a silent melody in the air.