"You damned Green Bean, you're undermining me again! I'm not finished with you today!" the crow roared angrily at the parrot opposite it.
"Don't call me Green Bean." the parrot said, a little annoyed, but still pointing to the bottom of the cage. "Besides, your clothes fell down."
The crow looked down and saw a leaf drifting down.
"Ouhhh!" Its eyes widened instantly, and it quickly covered its body with its two featherless wings, exclaiming, "Excuse me, that girl, could you please hand me my royal robes?"
"Giggle..." Amy laughed happily at the scene, walked over, picked up the leaf from the ground, and said with a smile, "Black Charcoal, your clothes are in my hands now. If you behave well in future, I'll give them back to you; if you don't, I'll take them."
"This king...this king..." Black Charcoal looked at Amy with a conflicted expression. Just then, a cool autumn breeze blew from afar, and it couldn't help but shiver. Looking at the leaf in Amy's hand, it immediately nodded and said, "I'll behave!"
"Okay, then you have to keep your word." Amy nodded happily, tiptoeing to try and hand the leaf over, but the bird cage was hanging a bit high, and even on tiptoe, she still couldn't reach it. A look of anxiety appeared on her little face.
"That's fine." Mai Ge bent down and picked Amy up, making her as tall as the bird cage.
"Daddy is so kind." Amy happily kissed Mai Ge's cheek, reached out and handed the leaf to the bird cage, smiling as she said, "Here you go, you silly Black Charcoal."
"This king accepts your kindness." Black Charcoal opened its beak and took the leaf from Amy's hand, wrapping it around itself again.
"Goodbye, Black Charcoal, Green Bean." Amy climbed down from Mai Ge, waved to the two birds, and followed Mai Ge forward.
"Goodbye, but I still hope you can call me Sang Ni next time." Green Bean said.
"She does seem… quite cute, then this king will reluctantly accept her request." Black Charcoal muttered reluctantly, watching Amy's retreating figure.
Leaving the magic potion shop, Mai Ge led Amy by the hand into Aden Square. The circular Aden Square was vast, with the rest divided into sections with carvings or gardens featuring the characteristics of various ethnic groups, except for a huge circular square in the center.
It was said that Aden Square was a giant map of the Nolan Continent, with the Chaos City at the center and other races surrounding it.
The further east they go, the more lively the square becomes. A lava demon child covered in fiery red cracks runs past them, a ball of flame swirling in his hair like a burning torch.
A forest troll child with a blade of grass on his head chased after him, followed closely by two dwarf children carrying small hammers.
In this Chaos City, parents never knew what their children would choose as playmates after letting them roam freely.
And when the children passed by Mai Ge and Amy, they couldn't help but slow down and turn to stare at Amy for a moment.
Every time this happened, Mai Ge would glare at them sternly, then step aside to block their view of Amy.
No way, this was his daughter; he couldn't let those guys have their eyes on her.
Amy was quite happy; many children were looking at her with envy today, which was the first time for her.
"Daddy, I want hair like hers too, will you do it for me?" Mai Ge and Amy sat on a stone bench to rest for a while, and as they were about to get up and go back, a human girl who looked about five or six years old and had a casual bun on her head shook the hand of a burly man who looked to be about thirty years old and was wearing a tight-fitting outfit.
"Well… Ya Ya looks very pretty like this." The man glanced at Amy's delicate braids, his expression immediately becoming somewhat troubled. How could a hero like him possibly braid such beautiful braids! He had already exhausted all his imagination to achieve the current look.
At the same time, he glanced at Mai Ge with some envy. Mai Ge actually had such skill, or perhaps he had a good wife at home who could braid their daughter's hair, unlike his wife who had kicked him out to take care of their daughter while she was happily gambling at the table.
"But this bun is so ugly! I want little braids too!" The little girl touched her own bun with a look of disgust, then pointed at Amy's with envy, saying, "I want one like this! I want one like this!" She then started crying, looking utterly aggrieved.
"Ya Ya, be good. I'll go buy you something delicious and fun later, okay?" The man reached out to wipe the little girl's tears, giving Mai Ge a slightly resentful look.
Mai Ge glanced sympathetically at the man frantically comforting the little girl. Thank goodness he hadn't let Amy go out with her hair all messed up yesterday. But feeling that resentful look, he felt a strange sense of pride. A man who could braid a little girl's hair was truly capable. He took Amy's little hand and stood up, saying, "Let's go home."
"Daddy, wait a minute." Amy walked up to the little girl and reached out her little hand to wipe away her tears.
"The little one is quite sweet." Mai Ge felt a little gratified.
The man standing nearby also breathed a sigh of relief; he hoped the little girl could help cheer up his daughter.
"Don't cry, okay? Only my father can braid this kind of hair. Even if you cry a lot, your father won't braid it for you." Amy withdrew her hand and looked at the little girl seriously.
The little girl, who was almost done crying, paused when she heard Amy's words. She looked up at her father, then at Mai Ge, and suddenly felt even more wronged, bursting into loud sobs.
"This... is breathtaking." Mai Ge's eyes widened. He couldn't possibly look at her daughter with normal thinking. He glanced at the equally dumbfounded man, quickly took Amy's hand, and said, "I'm sorry." He then hurried away.
On the way back, Mai Ge stood by the roadside for a while and watched the old man selling sweet crispy biscuits. He had a large cylindrical oven and a big bowl of dark yellow corn mixture next to it. He would grab a lump of the mixture, slap it into the oven, and it would be ready to eat in a while.
Business was booming. A long queue had formed in front of his stall, mostly children, clutching a copper coin or two, standing there looking on expectantly. Some children without money squatted nearby, watching longingly.
Simple and straightforward, he probably sold a thousand or so a day. Although they were cheap, earning thirty thousand a month like the biscuit selling old man in his previous life was not a dream.
Mai Ge suddenly remembered that once when the original owner went out to look for Amy, he saw Amy squatting here like those other somewhat thin and pale children, gazing longingly at the freshly baked sweet crispy biscuits. He tightened his grip on Amy's hand and smiled, saying, "Let's go home. Tomorrow morning, Daddy will make you a Rou Jia Mo that's a hundred times better than the sweet crispy biscuits."
"Yes, yes, Daddy's cooking is the best!" Amy nodded vigorously and obediently followed Mai Ge away.