Chapter 327

Chapter 328: Happy Birthday

To be honest, opening gifts felt great. Even when she unwrapped two sets of Gaokao Sprint exam prep books, Little Red Riding Hood still felt very happy.

Then the grill was set up, the King summoned a group of court musicians to play a new tune, and Rapunzel snuck in a few fireworks ahead of time. The air exploded with excitement.

The cursed children ran around the bonfire, laughing and shouting. Irene split herself into two bodies to join the fun, then marched into a crowd of dollheads to tease them on purpose, so the little ones soon started their usual game of chasing her like a living doll.

At everyone’s urging, Mermaid went up to sing. She stood before the big bonfire and sang some grand chorus none of them knew the name of. It had a whole symphony behind it, at least two hundred voices, and, at the end, the sound of at least five thousand people applauding and cheering. Yu Sheng had no ear for the arts and did not understand it, but it still sent waves through his chest.

Engineer Sun sent over two crates of beer.

A large group of Fairy Tale members rushed over to crowd around, but Yu Sheng blocked the beer. Little Red Riding Hood had summoned wolves to sit nearby, and King, proud as can be, crouched on top of the crates and waved his paws at the half-grown kids: “Anyone underage, off to the side. The juice at the big table is for you.”

Yu Sheng turned to Little Red Riding Hood and said: “Congrats on becoming an adult. Just this once, okay? Until you graduate high school, you drink only this once.”

Lit by the red glow of the fire, Little Red Riding Hood’s eyes sparkled. She stared at the beer, hopeful but unsure: “This can’t be healthy.”

Rapunzel strolled over swinging a skewer of sheep and said with a grin: “Now you care about health? Back when you thought you wouldn’t make it to eighteen, you didn’t talk like that.”

Before Little Red Riding Hood could answer, Yu Sheng smacked a thin strand of golden hair that was sneaking up the table leg. He reached into Rapunzel’s hair and fished out two cans of beer, then said: “Don’t try to sneak one. You’re only sixteen.”

Rapunzel threw up her hands and said in an exaggerated whine: “Lord, why are you so mean?” She walked off, full of mock complaint.

Foxy leaned in, curious. She popped a can, stuck out her tongue to taste, and her eyes lit up: “Benefactor, this flavor is interesting.”

Yu Sheng did not know what “interesting” tasted like, but the nine-tailed fox looked pretty pleased.

Little Red Riding Hood finally relaxed. She licked her lips, grabbed a can, and opened it. She tried a sip and almost spat it out: “This is terrible.”

King’s cat face showed the wise look of an old-timer as he lifted a paw to summon an attendant, saying: “The first time is like that. Drink it a couple more times and you’ll see it has its charms.”

Before the words finished, the blank-faced attendant cracked open a can, poured it into a bowl on the table, and King bent his head to drink, satisfied.

Yu Sheng stared and said: “Cats can drink this?”

King raised his head and looked at Yu Sheng as if he were a fool, saying: “Cats can’t even talk, right? Once you’re a spirit, what can’t you do? Or does your fox still not eat chocolate?”

Yu Sheng glanced at the nine-tailed fox who was eating barbecue and sipping beer, opened a can for himself, and said casually: “She really can’t eat chocolate. It hurts her stomach. I think that’s pretty strange too.”

Little Red Riding Hood watched Yu Sheng, then Foxy. After a moment of hesitation she tried another sip. It still tasted bad.

But she was very happy.

In truth, she had rarely been this happy in the past ten-plus years.

Fireworks lit up the sky, and a shadow crossed the sudden light.

Yu Sheng looked up and saw a fancy Pumpkin Carriage flying over the plaza. Rapunzel had hooked herself under it with her hair, holding a giant sparkler in each hand and spraying fire in wide arcs. The fire lit everything around them, and the girl laughed without a care in the middle of the sparks.

She seemed to be the happiest person here besides Little Red Riding Hood.

The bonfire burned higher and higher. King even sent attendants twice to add more wood.

Once the prepped meat was finished, the cursed children grabbed skewers and crowded the grills to roast marshmallows, vegetables, and slices of bread.

Snow White somehow got a pile of sweet potatoes and hid them in the warm ash beside the bonfire. Foxy found them in no time. She ate three raw on the spot, and only when she was about to bite the fourth did someone catch her. Looking wronged, she buried the sweet potatoes back again.

Then King got drunk. It was the first time Yu Sheng had seen the cat drunk. King swaggered to the bonfire as if he owned the place, holding a loudspeaker from who knows where. He switched it on with a blast that startled everyone and said: “Next, I will meow a few words.”

He managed the first meow, then threw up, and attendants rushed over to carry him away.

A normal cat probably would not act like that when drunk.

Holding half a can of beer, Yu Sheng sat with a smile in a quiet corner of the plaza, content.

Someone stood with him.

Luna stood quietly at his side. The firelight in the distance gleamed on her polished outer shell, as if a thin layer of jumping phantoms had been laid over it. She neither spoke nor moved. Standing still, she looked like a statue without warmth or life. From far away she seemed a little eerie.

But Yu Sheng could faintly sense her mood.

He asked softly: “Not going over? They really do welcome new friends.”

Luna hesitated, then answered slowly: “I speak slow. Children have no patience.”

Yu Sheng smiled and said: “You don’t have to worry. These kids are more accepting than you think.” He waved a hand a moment later and added: “But it’s fine if you don’t want to. Fitting in takes time. Keeping me company here is good too.”

Luna nodded lightly and kept watching the bonfire.

No one knew what she was thinking.

After a long while, she suddenly broke the silence and asked: “Do you like fire?”

“Fire?” Yu Sheng felt a bit lost. Because talking with her was hard, he sometimes could not understand what the Artificial Saintess meant. He thought for a moment, then said: “I think I do. Warmth and light. People need both. Especially in the dark, firelight always makes you feel safe.”

Luna slowly lowered her head.

Maybe he imagined it, but in that instant Yu Sheng felt a kind of holiness rise from the metal doll.

Her nun-like posture already carried a holy air, but that was the Hermitage Order’s careful design, a perfect shape and elegant bearing meant to symbolize a path of worship. What he felt now was something else.

The metal doll spoke, still slow and heavy, her voice with a low, muffled tremor: “Then, I will guard your fire.”

The distant bonfire glowed on her shell as if unreal flames were dancing over her, hazy and dreamlike.

Yu Sheng scratched his hair and nodded, confused but agreeable: “[I don’t really get what she means, but sure.] That sounds good.”

Luna smiled, not the cold, hard steel smile, but a thin curve with real life in it.

Yu Sheng stared at her face, dazed for a moment, wondering if he had drunk too much.

He asked: “Luna, can your face actually change expression?”

“I do not know.”

Yu Sheng blinked. The little smile faded. Maybe it had only been an illusion.

The party by the bonfire kept going, but the little dollheads had stopped squealing.

The youngest kids got sleepy around ten. Their parents took them off to bed, and the plaza slowly filled with only the older kids and the adults.

Rapunzel finished her hoard of fireworks and, still not satisfied, tried to talk Dorothy into lending her the anti-air gun. Dorothy refused flatly. Rapunzel then tried the Little Match Girl, but people dragged her back before she could finish her pitch. Mermaid sat by the bonfire humming a tune she made up herself. Up close, you could hear the words: “Sitting by the big fire pile like this, in a while I’ll turn into dried fish.” Cinderella discovered her Pumpkin Carriage had been scorched black in patches by Rapunzel’s fireworks, and she was heartbroken.

And the Little Red Riding Hood who had kept saying beer tasted bad finally got drunk. Wolf howls rose over the plaza.

When Yu Sheng looked up, he saw Little Red Riding Hood and Foxy crouching side by side on a table. Little Red Riding Hood stretched her neck and howled at the sky: “Awooo.”

Each time she howled, Foxy followed with a higher, thinner “Awooo.” Sometimes the two of them even barked twice in a row, leaving the shadow wolves sitting by the table looking very confused.

Everyone stared. The Dragon Slayer rubbed his eyes and said: “This is the first time I’ve seen Sister Red Hood like this. Will she silence us when she sobers up?”

Rapunzel said while pulling out her phone to record: “Don’t overthink it. You won’t get many chances to see this.”

Right then, Little Red Riding Hood suddenly stood up on the table. She scared everyone, especially Rapunzel filming her, but she only pointed at the still-crouching Foxy and declared with full force: “We are meant to be. Let’s form a duo.”

Foxy wagged her tails happily and said: “Okay, okay.”

“Then we’ll be dog-and-fox pals.”

The red-clad girl fell straight backward and started snoring on the table.

When Yu Sheng came over, that was exactly what he saw. He tried to stop it but failed. All he managed was a fifteen-second video.

The crowd slowly grew quiet.

After a moment, someone whispered: “What time is it?”

Rapunzel muttered: “Don’t you have your phone? Check it yourself.”

Yu Sheng glanced at his phone too.

Snow White said softly: “Just past twelve.”

People leaned near the table and murmured: “Congrats, Sister Red Hood.” “Happy birthday, sis.” “You have turned into a boring lord.”

Little Red Riding Hood suddenly sat straight up again, eyes still closed, and shouted with full force: “I want to get a driver’s license.”

Everyone burst out laughing.

Yu Sheng bent close to the sleeping girl and whispered: “Happy birthday, Wang Jia Jia.”