By the time Ban Xia got home, it was already ten o'clock at night. She was cold, tired, and in pain, her lips turned blue from the freeze. The first thing she did upon entering wasn't to use the radio to report her safety to headquarters, but to hastily pour out the hot water from the thermos for a bath. She submerged herself in the basin, her head drooping over the edge, a dirty little face staring blankly at the white steam rising in the air, lost in thought for a long time, unaware of what she was pondering.
The girl in the mirror lay naked in the water, her spine protruding segment by segment from her arched back. She was so thin, hardly looking human. She stared blankly at the person outside the mirror, her hair caked with mud and filth, messy in clumps, hardly looking human.
If her teacher were still here, she would have squatted down and begun scratching her head.
Yaya, why are you as dirty as a stray dog on the street?
She would have definitely said that.
