Opening his eyes slightly, Ye Chen planned on reaching out and removing the gaming helmet adorning his head, but instead, he felt a heavy weight pressing down on his arms.
Looking down, Ye Chen looked at the left and right arm with good humor, each being tightly hugged by a six-or seven-year-old beauty, who was spouting a mushroom-head haircut, as though afraid that he would fly away.
He planned on gently pulling out his arms from the tight embrace of the two little girls, but his actions came to nought. When his arm trembled slightly, the two little girls clad in black skirts, like a pair of twin sisters, blinked open their eyes and groggily looked at him.
"Big Brother Ye Chen… hngh… Good morning."
The two little girls yawned, releasing Ye Chen's arms, and grunted as they made their way up from the bed. One voice was a bit weak but still sounded crisp, the other was brimming with vitality.
"Still sleepy? Do you want to sleep in for a while more?" Ye Chen took off the game helmet and asked.
"No!" The two little girls shook their heads violently, and Ye Chen couldn't help but laugh helplessly seeing their actions.
"Then brush your teeth and wash your face. Big Brother will make breakfast immediately."
All three of them climbed up from the bed that could only be considered moderately-sized by any standards, walked through the small and dilapidated living room, and came to a tiny toilet. Each person took up a toothbrush and mouthwash cup.
"Xiao Lan, you need to brush your teeth up and down to get a thorough cleaning."
The three of them brushed their teeth together. Ye Chen looked at Xiao Lan and held her little arm to demonstrate.
"Okay." Xiao Lan nodded weakly.
"Like me!"
"Yes, just like Xiao Jing."
Xiao Jing grinned, exposing a neat row of pearly-white teeth, and happily boasted to Xiao Lan. Ye Chen saw her cute actions and laughingly praised her.
The three of them finished brushing their teeth, the two little girls flipped open two books in the living room while adopting a lying position on their bellies. At the same time, Ye Chen went to the kitchen to start making breakfast.
"Come, breakfast is ready." After a while, Ye Chen brought the breakfast out.
Xiao Lan and Xiao Jing swiftly packed up the living room, and the two of them coordinated their efforts to put out the little wooden table together.
"Brother Ye, will you still go to work later?" drinking the freshly-heated milk, Xiao Lan asked softly.
"Yeah, later you guys stay at home obediently or watch TV if you are bored. Don't go outside. Otherwise, you will be abducted by bad guys. Also, don't open the door no matter who comes, understood?" Although he gave the same instructions every day, Ye Chen could not help feeling a little worried, scaring the two with a grimace, mimicking potential kidnappers.
"Relax, Big Brother Ye, I will protect Xiao Lan!" Xiao Jing's tone held the firm resolution of the seven-year-old girl.
"Hehe, Xiao Jing truly is a responsible elder sister. Then, when Big Brother is not at home, get along nicely with Xiao Lan, okay?"
Ye Chen profoundly experienced how hard it was to raise two children in the last two months. Fortunately, Xiao Lan and Xiao Jing were both very sensible. Otherwise, he would be in dire straits.
"If you are thirsty, there is water in the water dispenser. If you are hungry, just open the rice cooker, and there are warm dishes and rice inside. Don't starve yourselves, alright?" After finishing breakfast, Ye Chen looked at the time. It was time to go out. Before going out, Ye Chen told the two again.
"Got it, Big Brother Ye, stay safe." Xiao Lan and Xiao Jing waved their hands to Ye Chen, and Ye Chen could then slightly put his heart at ease, locking the door behind him.
"Xiao Lan, let's go watch TV."
"Okay!"
Turning on the TV, the lively Xiao Jing excitedly hopped onto the old black sofa and impatiently sat down.
"...following this, we will be broadcasting a piece of news. The 511 orphanage incident that garnered the public's close attention due to the collective escape of orphans…"
The TV turned on, and the news sounded, but the moment the news anchor began to speak, Xiao Jing quickly pressed the remote control, and the TV turned off. The room fell silent.
"The news is soo boring, let's play a puzzle game!"
"Alright!" Xiao Lan answered briskly and positively.
Walking over to the paper container where they stored the puzzles, Xiao Jing retrieved a box that contained 2,000 pieces of an extra-large puzzle.
The two little girls moved the furniture with much difficulty, clearing a sufficient amount of space on the floor for their task ahead. SHALAH! Xiao Jing overturned the box in her hands, and all the puzzle pieces tumbled loudly onto the ground, forming a small hill.
"I'm ready, Xiao Lan. When we complete the puzzles, let's see who pieced together the most number of pieces!" Xiao Jing confidently issued a challenge to Xiao Lan, her eyes sparkling spiritedly.
"Alright! But I think I will definitely win Xiao Jing!" Xiao Lan's seemingly perpetually-weak eyes flashed with an excited glint.
"Hmph! We need to try before we know!" Xiao Jing didn't display any weakness, and the two each animatedly began to gather a pile of jigsaw pieces to themselves and started piecing the puzzles together while adjacent to each other.
Xiao Jing was seven years old, and Xiao Lan was six years old, but the speed of the two putting together the puzzle pieces was dazzlingly fast. Generally speaking, when putting together a jigsaw puzzle, one would usually start from the characteristic points of the puzzle image. However, these two little girls merely stared at the random piece of the puzzle in their hands. After studying it for a while, they rapidly set the piece on the floor. It was as though they had accurately determined the position where the piece belonged to and locked it into place. This was even though there was not another puzzle piece around the solitary piece.
The pieces of jigsaw puzzle pieces of assorted colours were swiftly assembled on the floor in this manner. A massive, splendorous colourful jigsaw puzzle nearly two meters long gradually took shape!
"Heehee, 1058. I won!" A small expression of pride appeared on Xiao Lan's chubby and tiny face.
"Urghhhh. Sure enough, Xiao Lan is still more awesome… It's only been two hours! This is sooo boring. Who knew how many times we pieced together this jigsaw puzzle. The location of all the pieces has already been memorized, this is sooo meaningless." Xiao Jing lay on the ground, with her limbs sprawled out, and complained in a bored voice.
"If we play a few more times, then Big Brother would be back!"
"Okay, let's go again! I just don't believe I won't win against you!"
Having her fighting spirit reignited, Xiao Jing animatedly jumped up from the ground.
...
"Ye Chen, time for lunch!"
At a construction site, the scorching sun shone high and bright in the sky. Ye Chen was wearing a yellow safety helmet, pushing a small cart.
"Okay, coming."
Stopping the movement of the cart, Ye Chen took off his helmet and wiped the sweat on his forehead.
"You don't have to be so diligent. The journey of life is long, and there are never-ending tasks, so you gotta take it easy. No matter how hard you work, the wages will only amount to this much anyway." A bearded, middle-aged uncle smiled and patted Ye Chen's shoulder.
"Hehehe, I thought at first that this punk Ye Chen would definitely run away after a few days. Although he has a good physique, his footsteps are sloppy, one look and I can tell that his body is almost on the verge of ruin. But how great it is to be young! After two months, his body has become so strong and sturdy again." Another uncle in his forties, looking at Ye Chen's slightly tanned skin, as well as his muscular and robust body, could not help but reveal an envious look.
More than two months ago, when this young guy came to the job site to apply for the job of a coolie, they were not optimistic about this young man, who had a decent physique but pallid skin and no strength in his steps. They have seen their fair share of young people like him, who can't bear hardships, many disappearing without a trace after the first day.
However, Ye Chen endured through the arduous labour, and his body recovered at a shocking speed. In just slightly more than two months, it seemed as strong as a cow.
"Uncle Liu, you are still young." The group of people were eating lunch together. Ye Chen smiled and placated the middle-aged uncle.
"You say he's still young? HAHA! My housekeeper and his wife know each other quite well. When the two were gossipping, I even heard his wife complaining that he can't even put up a decent fight at night."
As a result, when another middle-aged uncle overheard the conversation, he snickered and chipped in evilly, causing the people around him to suddenly burst out into raucous laughter.
"Old Qian, are you picking a fight with me?!" Uncle Liu was immediately infuriated and glared at Old Qian fiercely.
"Cough, let's not talk about this anymore. That game, the one called 'The Boundless World', have you guys ever played it? It seems like it's exploding in popularity recently. My son said that it was very fun inside, and also allowed me to take a look at the virtual environment. It's truly not bad, playing is quite relaxing." Old Qian hurriedly changed the subject.
Fuck me, was "The Boundless World" truly so popular? Even the workers at the construction site knew about it!
Ye Chen listened, unable to help but sweat profusely.
"I never played this game before, but I received some insider news from the relatives of a news reporter. You should know about the 511 orphanage incident that was trending the other day? I heard that the Director Huang not only mistreated the orphans, he even illegally imprisoned the adult orphans that should have left to help him grind for equipment within the game!"
As soon as Old Qian mentioned this topic, another worker chipped in a hushed voice, and when Ye Chen heard it, he couldn't help perking up his ears to listen as well.
"Are you for real? Why didn't the news report that? Does this game really hold so much attractiveness?"
"I heard that the news placed a lot of pressure on the game company behind it…"
...
"Ahh ahh, I lost again, I don't want to play anymore!" In the living room, Xiao Jing collapsed on the floor dispiritedly again.
"Let's read a book. Xiao Jing, teach me some words."
Xiao Lan quietly kept the puzzle on the ground, shaking Xiao Jing's arm and crooned.
"Well, okay. But that picture book is useless. I remember there was a stack of newspapers in the carton. There should be a lot of words inside that you don't know yet."
When Xiao Jing heard Xiao Lan's words, she immediately regained her spirits. She ran into a corner of the room, flipping through a stack of newspapers.
"Wow, what an old newspaper, it seems to have been kept for several years." She carried over a stack of newspapers from the carton, which was covered in a thick layer of dust.
"Alright, I'm going to start reading. If you don't know, you can ask me."
"Okay!"
"I see, it seems to be a newspaper related to games… Well, it doesn't matter, it's all the same! Mystery! The top-ranked Mage of the Oriental Region, Dragon Soul deletes his account! The Warring Dragon Guild had just established its status as the first guild in China a few days ago. But at 9 o'clock last night, when the game was at its peak, many players found that Dragon Soul, ranked first in the Mage rankings and belonging to the core of the Warring Dragon Guild, had disappeared without a trace! Various signs indicate that the character of the Dragon Soul no longer exists. The reporter contacted the Warring Dragon Guild. The Warring Dragon Guild spokesperson said the guild was unclear about this matter!"
"Don't read so fast! This word, this word, and this word as well! I don't know it."
"Oh, okay, this is the word 'soul', and this is…"
The two little girls seriously studied the characters in the newspaper. Xiao Jing taught, and Xiao Lan diligently took in her words.
"Is anyone inside?"
But not long later, the voice of an unfamiliar male drifted in from outside the room, and a DUDUDU series of knocking on the door followed.
When the two little girls heard it, they closed their mouths and looked nervously at the door.
"Is anyone inside?" The man outside the door continued to knock on the door and ask.
"Xiao Jing…" Xiao Lan looked at Xiao Jing with trepidation.
"Don't be afraid, listen to Big Brother! Don't open the door, everything would be fine," Xiao Jing said in a low voice.
"Hehehe, you see? There's nobody! I've been observing this room for a few days. That young guy goes out every morning and comes back late at night. We'll have more than enough time to ransack this entire room."
Seeing that no one answered, the person outside the door laughed sinisterly. Furthermore, it looked like he was not alone.
"Don't talk nonsense! I'll stand guard, you go in and take away all the valuable things." Another voice was mixed in, and then there was a loud series of clicking noise ensued.
"What do we do? They are coming in!" Xiao Lan was anxious to the point that she was on the verge of tears.
"Don't worry, I will protect you!" Xiao Jing turned and dashed into the kitchen, bringing out a sharp kitchen chopper!