An Ming twitched and jumped up from the chair, the afterglow of the fall still lingering in his chest.
"What's wrong? You don't want to sleep now?"
A man's lazy voice came from the side.
An Ming turned his head blankly and looked at the man. He was an old man with untidy beard, wearing a worn-out black leather jacket. The leather surface seemed very old, with yellowish scars all over it. Although he was talking incessantly, he still had an unlit cigarette in his mouth.
An Ming looked at his hands and his surroundings again. His body was no longer so immature, and was very close to his original self. He was sitting in a Yodel heavy steam locomotive. The car was driving on the highway, and the low roar of the engine made him feel particularly at ease.
"Didn't you ask me not to wake you up because you were tired after the mission?"
The man looked at An Ming's puzzled expression and curled his lips.
An Ming remembered that it was three and a half years ago. On this day, he and his adoptive father were on their way home after completing a mission. At that time, he and his adoptive father would go on missions every day, and the two of them would go home exhausted and fall asleep as soon as they got home.
As the only survivor of the "Capital City Tragedy", An Ming spent three years seeking revenge. On the road to revenge, he met the "God of Death" - the director of the Capital Federal Trial Bureau.
"Will you be my son?"
The man asked this. An Ming agreed to his terms because he wanted to use him. Two years passed in the blink of an eye, and An Ming and the man really became like ordinary father and son.
Damn it, I thought I would wake up, but it turned out to be a dream within a dream! What happened? Why was he suddenly trapped in the memory of the past and couldn't wake up? If he didn't wake up soon, Erica might be in danger.
An Ming was extremely anxious, but the man next to her thought that An Ming was just having a tantrum.
"Hey, brat. Don't always have a stern face. It's rare for you to go back and visit. Smile a little! If that bitch sees you like this, she'll think I'm bullying you."
The man hummed as if he was sulking.
An Ming was suddenly startled, and the smile of that person Hexi appeared in his mind, and a sense of nostalgia surged in his heart.
That person was the woman who had lived with her adoptive father a few years ago. She looked very young, but she said she was several times older than An Ming. She was obviously not young anymore, but she always had a naive and romantic expression like a little girl.
The woman said her name was Shirika and she was from a small country in the east. She had long gray hair and dark red eyes. An Ming had never seen such a person in the Federation and thought she was very unique.
The first time An Ming met Xilika was when she was picked up by her adoptive father. As soon as An Ming entered the house, he saw a woman sitting on the sofa, flipping through a dictionary with dignity. Only then did he realize that there had been residents here for a long time.
What is the relationship between this person and my adoptive father? Will it disturb you two if I move in?
But Xilika ignored An Ming's worries, came over frankly, and secretly told An Ming about his adoptive father's shortcomings and quirks, as well as how to play tricks on him and apologize afterwards. In An Ming's impression, Xilika always smiled happily, especially when she was with her adoptive father.
He understood without words that, in fact, Xilika liked her adoptive father, and her adoptive father treated Xilika like a close relative. But for some reason, the two of them just didn't speak frankly, as if there was always a huge river between them that could not be spoken. If they spoke out one day, they would not be together, but go their separate ways.
"I feel like he's changed since you came to the house."
Xilika said to An Ming with a gentle expression. It was one day, about a year after they had been together, that Xilika talked to An Ming about her adoptive father. It was also on this day that An Ming learned that Xilika was actually an "Oriental".
After the East-West War, no one in the Western world had ever seen an Oriental person. To this day, there are legends that they are monsters with bared fangs and claws, evil ghosts who eat raw meat and drink blood, and even people say that they are not human at all, but look like humans but are covered in hair and stink, with green faces, fangs, and bared fangs.
But the first Oriental person An Ming had ever met was so elegant and beautiful. When she was silent, she was like a flower blooming in a garden. The spring breeze under the morning sun blew into the house with the fragrance of the flower.
An Ming guessed that Xilika must be from a prominent family, because she looked a lot like the noble ladies of the Federation that he had seen during missions. They were full of elegance in their gestures, as if they had never done rough work in their lives, and their silky and delicate skin seemed to ripple when the wind blew over it.
However, this young lady never left her adoptive father's house. She seemed to be afraid of the outside world. Every time she walked to the door, she looked reluctant. But even so, every time her adoptive father came home, she would go to the door to greet him. Maybe this is her stubbornness.
An Ming walked to the door nervously and gently opened it. Then he smelled a sharp fragrance. The smell was so faint that it was almost inaudible, but when you were not aware of it, you would find that the sharp smell was everywhere, charming and sharp as a knife.
Shirika once told An Ming that this was her favorite flower, an oriental plant called honeysuckle.
Honeysuckle can bloom in the cold winter, and it blooms in the coldest northern land in the East. It is named because it can endure the cold winter and bloom. An Ming thinks this flower is very suitable for Xilika. Xilika, who still blooms like a flower in a foreign land, is also a blooming honeysuckle.
"An Ming, are you back?"
Shirika came up with a big smile on her face.
"Well, I'm back, Mom...Aunt Shirika."
He was about to say "Mom", but swallowed it back. At this stage, he could not open his mouth to call Shirika "Mom", even though he could call his adoptive father "Dad" without hesitation.
"You should call me sister! I'm not that old!" Shirika pouted and retorted in dissatisfaction, then smiled slightly, "But I'm glad you're back safely. Where's Mr. Wade?"
"Dad is parking the car. He should be back soon." An Ming waved his hand.
Daddy is very stubborn, and Silica is even more stubborn. Although her relationship with Daddy is as hot as dry firewood, she still just calls him "Mr. Wade", and Daddy calls her "Ms. Silica" in the same way.
"Shirika...sister, you don't have to care so much about it. Why don't you and dad make it clear?" An Ming asked.
"Because that's who I am." Shirika smiled bitterly.
"Because of 'Orientals'?"
"It's impossible for him and I to be together. Because he needs someone who can always be by his side, not a sharp blade that may hurt him. Those people in the Federation will not allow a living Oriental to move around under their noses. I should be grateful that I can live here."
As Shirika said these words, she looked at the wall, as if she could see her father outside through the wall.
"Actually, I don't think Dad cares about these things." An Ming shrugged.
"But I care, and I don't want to see anyone die because of me anymore."
Xilika was particularly stubborn on this point, and An Ming had no choice but to change the subject. As a Westerner, An Ming was as imaginative about the East as most people.
"Then... have you ever thought about going back to the East?"
"I can't go back to the East. My last hometown disappeared a hundred years ago. Besides, my family was driven out because we did something wrong. From then on, there is no place for me in the land of the East, and the queen of that land will no longer welcome us."
"Your queen is so stingy."
An Ming curled his lips in dissatisfaction. It happened a hundred years ago, and no one knew how many generations had passed away. Why couldn't he forgive this poor woman?
But Shirika just smiled.
"In fact, it's the opposite. She's too gentle. A gentle person can't be a good queen because any decision will make her very painful."
She smiled and looked towards the east, as if she was missing an old friend.
Looking at Shirika's smile that was as faint as a withered flower, An Ming made up his mind. He wanted to give Shirika a chance, an opportunity that Shirika had never enjoyed in his memory.
The world owes her a grand wedding.