A small boat slowly approached through the black sea, docking at the pier a short time later.
The piercing cold wind, carrying flecks of white snow, blew straight into the small boat. The boatman at the bow, wearing a bamboo hat and holding a long oar, did a quick sweep of the surroundings before leaning down to lift the lotus leaf curtain and peering into the cabin. "We've arrived."
Inside the cabin, two girls huddled together, their shoulders covered in coir raincoats woven from bamboo grass.
Xu Xiaoyou opened her eyes and found that Angelina was already awake, looking as if she had something on her mind, leaning against the cabin wall in silence.
Through the warm light filtering from above the cabin, they could see the distant lights on the shore. Facing the howling cold wind, the coir raincoats were soon covered in white snow.
Standing on the shore, watching the small boat that had carried them back to the Star of Art slowly vanish into the mist until it completely disappeared in the world of ice and snow, Xu Xiaoyou didn't dwell on the questions in her heart. Instead, she took a few steps onto the land. She had finally returned to this city she had been away from for so long.
After a few inward sighs, Xu Xiaoyou quickly determined their location from the surrounding street scenery; they were in the Keyboard District of the Star of Art.
Looking across the river, the opposite Queen's District was magnificent, lined with artistically beautiful Prism Towers, like a city that never slept. Here, however, it was pitch black, stripped even of color.
A homeless man with matted, filthy hair by the roadside noticed the two of them. He didn't look very old, his clothes were tattered, and he was squatting by the street gnawing on his fingernails. His dark eyes sized them up, emitting an unbearable stench.
On the wall beside him was the homeless man's artistic masterpiece: a painting created from urine and feces. Clearly, no one besides flies and maggots could appreciate such a morbid and twisted form of art.
The homeless of the Keyboard District had an almost instinctive fear of neatly dressed figures like them. Before Xu Xiaoyou and Angelina could even frown, the homeless man muttered some crazed words about art and scurried away into the shadows of the buildings.
Angelina glanced at her. "If you need anything, find me. Promise me, don't do anything foolish."
Xu Xiaoyou watched her disappear at the end of the alley. Restricted by the trigger conditions for the favorability event 【The Girl Who Fell into the Starry Garden】, she couldn't let anyone she knew find out she had returned.
Without contacting Tang Xin or Aivmey, Xu Xiaoyou relied on the address in her memory to arrive at the entrance of an orphanage. The characters on the sign had been blurred by years of wind and snow, and she could only faintly distinguish the words 'Iris'.
She stood in the snow, looking at the two figures, one tall and one short, behind the window.
"Sister Tang, you haven't told me how the story ends yet."
A room in the orphanage was lit. A little girl lay on a simple bed, surrounded by rows of identical beds where other children were already fast asleep. There was no heating in the room, but it was kept very clean. The walls were covered with the children's innocent, wonderful, yet colorless drawings; the children here huddled together in such a world for warmth.
"The bird you mentioned... to build a shelter for the people in the snow, she kept gathering branches from all over. She went through so many magical things. Did she succeed in the end?"
Tang Xin gave a gentle smile, reaching out to smooth the girl's bedsheets and pull up the quilt. Her voice was hoarse. "Little Alice, this story doesn't have an ending yet."
"Why?"
Tang Xin seemed to sense something. Her eyes shifted slightly as she looked out the window; there was nothing there but the snowdrifts the children had piled up.
"Because I haven't thought of the ending to this story yet."
"Oh..." Little Alice's expression was a bit dejected. A child's eyes are always hidden with many curious lights, brightening whenever a new thought occurs.
"Sister Tang, why has your hair become so long? It wasn't like this last time we met."
"What happened to your voice, Sister Tang?"
"Sister Tang, why are you wearing a butterfly on your face?"
"Sister Tang, you've been wearing gloves these past few days. Doesn't it feel uncomfortable?"
"Alright, it's getting late. If you keep talking, you'll disturb the other children's rest."
Tang Xin helplessly pinched the little girl's cheek, her tone unusually serious.
Little Alice silently pulled the quilt over her small face, leaving only half of it exposed. "Sister Tang, I want that."
Tang Xin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned down to plant a light kiss on the girl's forehead. After standing up, she placed a hand over her heart and said with a stern expression, "If you don't sleep, you won't grow tall."
Little Alice nodded repeatedly and gave a giggle before hugging a teddy bear next to her. "Then, goodnight, Sister Tang."
"Mhm, goodnight."
After soothing all the children to sleep, Tang Xin went outside and looked around as if searching for something important. A kind-faced woman approached her. "What's wrong, little Sevia?"
"Good evening, Madam Aerylia."
Tang Xin greeted her politely. This woman was Aerylia, the director of the Iris Orphanage. She had taken great care of Tang Xin when she lived there. In her memory, the woman was always kind and gentle; the only time she had ever gotten angry was when Tang Xin refused the family's invitation and gave up the chance to leave.
"It's been a few years, and little Sevia has grown so much. You're so beautiful now, a real young lady. I'm sure the young men must adore you."
Aerylia reached out to stroke Tang Xin's face. Looking at the girl's somewhat thin frame, a complex light flickered in her eyes.
The woman's hands were covered in rough calluses. As they rubbed against her face, the familiar sensation pulled Tang Xin back to many years ago. Whenever she was bullied by other children, she would always throw herself into the woman's arms, burying her head in the woman's skirt without a word.
The woman would stroke her then just as she was doing now, with those rough, callused hands.
"You used to always have such a stiff face. You were so young, yet so stubborn, refusing to turn back even after hitting your head against a wall. Now, you seem to have truly grown up. You've become more sensitive and mature."
"I didn't use to be such a crybaby before," Tang Xin teased.
"Who bullied you?" Aerylia asked with a frown, her momentum suggesting she wouldn't stop until she found the troublemaker. "Someone must have bullied you. Which brat was it?"
"It's nothing like that." Tang Xin waved her hands hurriedly. Being pinned by the woman's gaze made her feel a bit uneasy and guilty. "It wasn't a brat..."
In her mind, she unconsciously thought of the blonde girl's figure.
Hearing this, Aerylia's expression softened. She took Tang Xin's cold hand into her own and gently covered it. "It's good that you've figured things out. A single person's strength is too limited in this city. If you want to change things, you need to make a firm decision."
Tang Xin knew she was talking about the family. Lowering her eyes, she responded softly, "Mhm..."
"I've prepared everything for tomorrow. These children all like you very much. I'm sure the results will be great when the time comes."
Tang Xin nodded gently, but her gaze drifted to nowhere in particular.
Was it her imagination?
She felt as though she had just missed something very important.
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