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The Uncle and a Day in Haifeng Town
“Wowowow, really, he’s soooo cute, He ge.”
Little Elan put Jinwen on top of her head.
“Hmph, bendaye is not some sort of pet!”
The tiny Jinwen staggered a top of Elan’s hat, proudly puffing out his chest.
Although he said that, his two ears were unconsciously twitching.
“Do you have a tail?”
Ka Luona also drew close to observe Jinwen.
Jinwen used his index finger to rub his nose.
“Huwang, of course I’ve got one!”
From Jinwen’s back, he shook his shaggy, brown tail.
“Jinwen, are you, uh, hungry?”
“I-Idiot, don’t just shake your head so easily! Wuaaa, I’m going to fall!!”
I used my hand to prop up Jin Wen who was sliding off Little Elan’s head and placed him on the bed.
“Hu, hu. You really scared me to death.”
Jin Wen, in the shape of ‘大’, lay down on top of the white quilt.
“S-sorry.”
Little Elan apologized, flustered.
“Hello, Little Jinwen.”
“Hello——ack, ghost!!!!”
Jin Wen, upon being frightened by Mademoiselle Phantom into a tizzy, quickly buried his head into the quilt. He covered his head with his hands and curled up in a ball.
Are you an ostrich?
But as expected, all girls like cute things. Even I would be interested in a palm-sized golden haired beast boy with a difficult personality. The only things that sucks is that I prefer cats, and this boy seemed to be a dog type.
“Am I being hated?”
Mademoiselle Specter rubbed her head and said.
“That’s only natural. Don’t use your hair to cover your face.”
I couldn’t help but admonish Mademoiselle Specter. Mademoiselle Specter’s original appearance was extremely scary, especially at night.
Mademoiselle Phantom flung her head and flipped her hair behind her back, immediately turning into the glasses-wearing, knowledgeable, and elegant beauty.
“Jinwen, Jiejie doesn’t look like a specter to you, right?”
Jin Wen had tears in the corners of his eyes. He lightly lifted his head to quickly sneak a peak.
“Right.”
Mademoiselle Specter extended her index finger.
“In that case, let’s shake hands.”
“I’m really sorry for just now, that bendaye was scared.”
Jinwen took steps forward, and suddenly tripped over himself. In a moment, he used his two hands to brace himself against Mademoiselle Specter’s index finger. But as a result, he couldn’t grab onto it at all, and he fell down on the quilt.
Jin Wen rolled into a standing position and used his hand to poke Mademoiselle Phantom’s fingers.
“Ghost aaaaa——”
Strictly speaking, Little Elan is the real ghost race. Mademoiselle Phantom is a specter.
“Jinwen!”
Little Elan offered to go and make food. Ka Luona would also use her theoretical knowledge from her home economics class to help. Although they did have the ability to make the spicy mapo tofu soup, like they did last time, letting them practice is a good idea. While they were cooking, I planned to bring Jinwen onto the street for a walk.
“Hengwang, what are you doing with me wang!”
Jinwen’s lingering fear of Mademoiselle Phantom remained. He scowled miserably while speaking.
“I’m taking you into the town, so I can make you some clothes to wear.”
“Bendaye doesn’t need your help——”
I forcefully stuffed Jinwen into my inside cloak pocket. It was a lot warmer there.
“Hmph, there’s nothing that can be done. I’ll listen to you this time wang.”
He stuck his head out from the pocket. Although his face was unwilling, the ears on his head were twitching back and forth.
I used a finger to gently stroke his hair.
“You’re now a fugitive, careful not to get caught.”
“Who do you think bendaye is?”
After informing Little Elan and the others, we went into the town.
Compared to the oppressive atmosphere of how Duofa used to be, the people of Hefeng Town wore beautiful smiles. Although occasionally you could see a slave bitterly toiling away, as a whole, the people were a lot happier. At night, the market street was even busier, from the tailor’s shop to the red light district, everything you ever needed was available. On the street there were maiden’s wearing fashionable clothings. There were senior ladies, ladies wearing light makeup, and ladies dressed to the nines who were in charge of receiving guests. While I was walking on the street, I could feel Jinwen wagging his tail back and forth in my pocket.
“Don’t tell me that Little Jinwen is interested in girls?”
I asked in a low voice.
“How could that be? How could bendaye have any interest, wang.”
He really is easy to understand.
We walked past a weapons shop and I immediately went in to take a look.
Yi, what sort of toys are these?
Can you really call these things weapons? You should be ashamed to put these out for sale
Naturally there wouldn’t be a place where we could make clothes to order for someone of this size, so I planned to make them myself. In line with my original design, I bought a couple pieces of handkerchief-sized cloth. When I was paying the bill, the store proprietor fiercely looked down on me. She said something like:
“Are you going to make underwear?”
This kind of talk.
Unfortunately, I am not the kind of person who would increase expenditure because of appearances. I have to say that I masked my face really tightly and was not embarrassed at all. Therefore, I could have a clear conscience and enjoy beautiful scenery, while at the same time, planning the design for how to tailor the clothes. While I was at it, I went and bought a needle and thread.
Ah, I see someone selling pine sugar.
“Jinwen, do you want to eat sugar?”
“Bendaye won’t lower my voice to ask you to buy some!”
Thinking of Jinwen’s stature, I said to the girl selling the pine sugar:
“Give me a piece the size of a fingernail.”
When I was paying, I was looked down upon fiercely.
What is this! Even if, one day, someone asked me: Give me a three centimeters long knife, I would definitely work hard to make it.
Eh. It’s no wonder they have that kind of expression. What you don’t want to be done to you by others, don’t do. I’m not complaining about anything.
I gave the pine sugar to to Jinwen in my cloak and hurried on.
A cart from far away was gradually approaching. At first, I didn’t really care, but after it approached, I discovered it was the fierce-looking, middle-aged man who was selling slaves. His knife-like gaze was looking all around, obviously searching for something.
I continued walking as if nothing was amiss.
When we brushed shoulders, I felt him give me a once over.
Jinwen in my cloak could not stop shivering.
Luckily, we reached the inn, everything was all safe and sound.
“Dammit, bendaye has dropped his sugar!”
Little Jinwen sat on the bad unhappily complaining. It probably fell on the street when we met the slave merchant.
Elan and the others served nice and warm food.
“I’m digging in!”
After saying that sentence, I drank a mouthful of the soup before me.
Spicy mapo tofu soup – improved version.
It isn’t just an ordinary terribleness.
Obviously Little Elan, Ka Luona, and Mademoiselle Specter, all three worked on the soup. This is, as the proverb goes, if there are three monks, no one gets to drink water.[1]
[1] So this is a super long proverb, but it goes like one month hauls up the water, two monks get to use the double pole thing to carry water, but when there’s three monks, no one drinks because it’s only a two person job. It’s kind of saying that there’s too many people working on it, so it’s hard to decide who does what or what’s the correct opinion. Idk. Look it up yourself.Sadly, there was no point putting a link in this footnote cuz it was at the end…whatevs.
Thank you very much!!
An equivalent english proverb would be “Too many cooks spoil the broth.”
Usually it’s not so literal, though.
i was considering that, but i prefer the original chinese and a long, uninformative, unclear footnote.
Thanks for the chapter ^.^ and I enjoyed the original proverb more. The other might be easier to understand, but then I wouldn’t get to learn.
“Strictly speaking, Little Elan is the real ghost race.”
No, strictly speaking she is nothing like a ghost. She is not the spirit of a dead person. She is a living breathing, eating, heart beating entity with a solid form who was presumably born of the sexual union of the same.
Mademoiselle is the very definition of a ghost. Phantom and specters are just subtypes of ghosts and/or different words for ghost.
Considering the context, I wonder how much of of this bad definition of ghost is the translators, and how much of it is the authors.