Heat Returning to the Lane

They walked deeper into the street side by side. The old storefronts were packed tightly together, like a crowd that refused to leave after the show. Aunt Fang, who sold herbal drinks, leaned out of her doorway and spotted Xu Zhixia at once. "Well, if it isn't the girl from the Xu family," she called out. "You finally decided to come back!" "Aunt Fang." "Don't go home yet. Come have a bowl of mung bean dessert first, cool off." She flicked her apron and shouted into the shop, "Old Fang, get the taro balls out of the freezer. Zhixia's back!" The noise of it all pierced the thin armor Xu Zhixia had built around herself. She suddenly realized this was not her first time returning, but it was the first time she had seen clearly that Hawthorn Street