Chapter 56
Wen Xingxue meticulously wiped his blade, removing dust and cotton fibers, his face grim and silent.
Xing Nuo, standing on his foot, tried to climb up his leg, bouncing repeatedly.
But his small, round hands couldn’t grip the fabric, and he remained stuck.
Wen Xingxue, looking down at the fidgeting little thing, sighed.
“What are you doing?”
Even he was surprised by his own patience with this little thing. He wasn’t known for his good temper.
Xing Nuo poked Wen Xingxue’s leg and pointed towards his pocket.
“Big Brother…put me…up there…Zaizai…short…can’t see…”
A doll’s perspective was limited; he wanted a better view of the room.
Wen Xingxue sheathed his blade, plucked the little thing off his foot, and turned to leave.
Xing Nuo lay on the carpet, his ugly little face tilted up, watching Wen Xingxue walk towards the door.
“Big Brother…” he called out, but Wen Xingxue didn’t respond.
Xing Nuo patted the dust off his legs, got up, and bounced towards the sofa.
Before he could reach it, he was lifted by the back of his collar.
The next second, he was back in Wen Xingxue’s pocket.
“Put on a jacket.”
Wen Xingxue, for some reason, felt the need to explain his actions to the little clown doll.
Xing Nuo poked his head out of the pocket and nodded, his button eyes shining.
“Big Brother, what are we…doing next?”
Wen Xingxue walked over to the soft, cute sofa, sat down, covered his eyes with his hand, and muttered:
“Sleeping.”
Wasn’t that the whole point of coming to an instance like this?
Xing Nuo, most of his small body now sticking out of the pocket, tilted his head.
“But…but…tomorrow…need lots of…money…to stay…and…doll competition…need to…prepare…”
The ever-worried little Xing Nuo poked Wen Xingxue’s arm.
Seeing that he was motionless, his hand covering his eyes, seemingly asleep, Xing Nuo sighed dejectedly and slumped against the edge of the pocket, his little arms dangling, his whole being radiating listlessness.
He yawned and, succumbing to the contagious sleepiness, his head drooping, fell asleep in an awkward position, clinging to the edge of the pocket.
Wen Xingxue removed his hand from his eyes and looked down at the sleeping doll, its ugliness amplified in its repose, and a smile touched his lips.
It really was quite ugly.
He took the little clown doll out of his pocket, his movements unconsciously gentle, and placed it on the bed.
He looked around, tore a small piece of green fabric from the lampshade, and placed it over the doll’s belly like a blanket.
Looking at the small, green scrap of fabric, he nodded, satisfied. It was a perfect match for the ugly doll.
He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, dozing off.
The sunlight in Toy Town seemed brighter and warmer than elsewhere. The town’s dreamy colors shimmered and glowed, bathed in a golden light.
Wen Xingxue woke up feeling something on his eyelids.
He pinched it, and a weak, childish voice cried out above him:
“Ow! Big Brother…pinching…my neck~”
Wen Xingxue loosened his grip and removed the little doll from his face.
“What are you doing on my head?”
Xing Nuo, placed beside the pillow, stood up unsteadily, his small hands on his hips.
“Blocking…sun…for you!”
Wen Xingxue paused, remembering covering his eyes with his hand before falling asleep.
“So you climbed onto my head?”
Xing Nuo nodded, puffing out his chest proudly.
“Yes! Zaizai…just the right size! Even as doll…Zaizai…very useful!”
Amused by the little one’s self-praise, Wen Xingxue smiled.
“Very useful indeed.”
Xing Nuo beamed, his little head bobbing even inside the pocket.
The weather was fine, and Wen Xingxue took the little clown doll outside.
Toy Town was bathed in sunlight, the houses shaped like mushrooms and flowers, small toy shops lining the streets.
Even the crosswalks and street signs were painted in pastel shades of blue and pink.
The dreamy little town, even the clouds in the sky shaped like cotton candy.
Xing Nuo, his eyes wide with wonder, looked around the town, his little head tilting this way and that, taking in the sights.
“Wow…this place…so pretty…”
Wen Xingxue nodded languidly, seemingly in no hurry to complete the instance.
He stopped in front of a small accessory shop, looking at the colorful brooches and hair clips in the window, a hesitant look on his face.
He looked down at the clown doll’s messy hair and asked:
“Your hair…always like this?”
Xing Nuo, who had been staring at a streetlight shaped like a baguette, turned his head and mumbled in response.
He scratched his chin and shook his head.
“No…Zaizai’s hair…used to be…smooth…”
Of course, that was after using the prop comb.
Otherwise, his curls would often be messy after waking up.
Wen Xingxue hummed thoughtfully.
“You need a hair clip then. Your hair looks…untidy.”
Xing Nuo touched his messy hair, not daring to protest that it wasn’t ugly.
In his opinion, beautiful hair should be like Dad’s.
Long, smooth, and golden!
This little doll’s hair really was quite ugly.
Wen Xingxue entered the accessory shop. Several white teddy bears were browsing the shelves, carrying small baskets.
He was just buying a hair clip, he didn’t need a basket.
He walked straight to the hair accessories aisle, picked up the little clown doll, and placed him on the shelf.
“Choose one you like.”
Toy Town was inhabited by dolls and teddy bears of all shapes and sizes, and the hair accessories ranged from miniature to oversized.
Xing Nuo walked along the shelf, looking at the hair clips, but shook his head.
“Zaizai…no like…hair clips…”
Wen Xingxue poked the little doll.
“Don’t be picky. You’re already so ugly, a hair clip might make you look slightly better.”
Xing Nuo, his little hands on his hips, glared down at Wen Xingxue from his perch on the shelf.
“Not true!”
He mumbled, “lecturing” Wen Xingxue, although his tone lacked any authority.
“Can’t…always say…doll…ugly…and…I’m not…picky…I’m standing…very well…”
His words were completely unrelated to Wen Xingxue’s comment, who simply shrugged, not listening.
“If you don’t like any of these, I’ll choose one for you.”
He picked up a cartoon hair clip he had his eye on earlier and held it against Xing Nuo’s head.
Xing Nuo tried to push it away several times, but Wen Xingxue was persistent.
Xing Nuo continued to pout, arms crossed.
“Not bad, this one looks good,” Wen Xingxue said, nodding at the flower-shaped hair clip.
Xing Nuo shook his head vigorously.
“Not pretty…Zaizai…likes…sunflowers!”
Wen Xingxue looked at the bright red flower and held it against the doll’s head again.
“It looks good. Matches the big red heart on your face.”
The clown doll’s color scheme seemed to consist mainly of red and green.
Xing Nuo refused to wear the red flower hair clip.
“Ugly…not as pretty…as Zaizai…”
Wen Xingxue, his aesthetic sense insulted, considered the hair clip for a moment, then took the little doll to another shelf.
“There are other colors here, take a look.”
Xing Nuo, still refusing to wear the ugly hair clip, simply lay down on the shelf, refusing to cooperate.
Wen Xingxue, seeing this, poked the little doll’s belly and chuckled.
“Such a tiny thing, such a big temper.”
He found a sunflower-shaped hair clip and placed it on Xing Nuo’s head.
“How about this one?”
Xing Nuo, seeing his favorite sunflower, finally reacted, and slowly sat up.
He held the sunflower hair clip and reluctantly nodded.
Wen Xingxue clicked his tongue and put the little doll back in his pocket.
“Happy now? So picky.”
He went to the counter and handed the sunflower hair clip and the red flower hair clip to the cashier.
“Both.”
The cashier, a small dog, its paws tapping away at the computer, didn’t even look up.
“Two hundred toy coins. How would you like to pay?”
Wen Xingxue patted his pockets, which were cleaner than his face, and shrugged.
“I have no money.”
The dog cashier’s expression instantly turned sinister. It slammed the computer onto the counter.
“No! You must pay! Or be eaten…”
Then, seeing the knife on the counter, its voice trailed off, and it hurriedly picked up the computer, pretending to be busy.
“Haha, it’s alright if you don’t have money, we also accept player points!”
It rubbed its paws together ingratiatingly, its attitude drastically improved.
“Customer satisfaction is our top priority! We accept all forms of payment!”
Wen Xingxue shrugged and tapped his wristwatch against the payment terminal.
“Payment complete. Two thousand points.”
Players could earn around two thousand points after clearing a low-level D-rank instance, if they were lucky.
And here, two hair clips cost two thousand points!
The other players, who were trying to earn money, finally felt the delayed malice of Toy Town.
Everything here was ridiculously expensive, and the exchange rate for points was ten to one!
Thinking about tomorrow’s rent, and the upcoming Toy Doll Exhibition, they couldn’t help but shed tears of poverty.
But for Wen Xingxue, this was nothing.
He took the two hair clips and, addressing the little doll in his pocket, muttered:
“See? So picky, one hair clip wasn’t enough, you had to have two.”
Xing Nuo, unjustly blamed, yawned and ignored him.
Who was the one who insisted on entering the accessory shop and picking out that ugly red flower hair clip?
But Wen Xingxue, having bought the hair clips, seemed to be in a good mood.
Before they even reached home, he started trying the hair clips on the little clown doll.
Seeing Xing Nuo’s unresponsive, bored expression, he amused himself.
