Chapter 7 “Little Fish Orphanage”

Chapter 7: "The Little Fish Orphanage"

In the dorm,

The soft drip-drip of water droplets echoed faintly.

Hemmed in by a bunch of dark ghostly figures, in a beat-up but soft and cozy bed, a little girl slept soundly, her eyes closed.

"Kinda cute," Tongtong remarked quietly after staring at the sleeping Little Fish for a while.

"Yeah, sis is amazing," Yang Yang said, already trying real hard to keep the water dripping off her from making noise. She wanted to stay by Sister Xiaoyu's bed, but everyone disagreed, saying her being all wet would make Sister's warm blanket cold and soggy.

Xiaoyin opened her mouth but no sound came out, but everyone got what she meant.

[Sister Xiaoyu's sleeping like a log.]

The little girl on the bed was indeed sleeping very soundly, her little face all rosy with that healthy warmth of a living person. Even curled up under the blanket, her body's warmth seemed to silently push back the creepy ghostly chill in the room.

With so many little ghosts gathered together, the room was cold enough to freeze over, but Little Fish slept on, totally clueless and peaceful.

"Are we gonna stand guard over her like this till dawn?" a little ghost asked in a soft voice.

Sang Ye tucked the corner of the blanket for the little girl, who had just turned over, and said gently, "She'll be outta here soon, just like those living people who busted into our orphanage."

"...Can't we just keep her?" Bai Ye asked coldly and gloomily.

Tongtong turned to look at him, her eyes bright. "How would we keep her?"

Bai Ye's gaze was fixed straight on the blanket as he said word by word, "Break her legs, and she'll never get away."

Tongtong: "..."

The little girl rolled her eyes without hesitation and sneered, "Go ahead, try hitting her, see what happens. Little Fish ain't scared of you, and if you dare hit her, I'll dare hit you!"

The last part was already a cold, threatening edge.

Sang Ye patted Tongtong's head to soothe her, then shook her head at Bai Ye. "Little Ye, we're ghosts, and she's still living."

Bai Ye was silent, not saying anything about turning Little Fish into a ghost too.

It wasn't that he was intimidated by Tongtong's fierce expression, but rather that the words reached his lips and were swallowed back in hesitation.

"Then let her have a good time," he said, looking down at his own twisted, mangled leg, and whispered, "Have a good time, and even if she leaves, she'll miss it."

"Sister Sangye, let me take care of Little Fish tomorrow!" a little girl, slightly older than Tongtong, raised her pale hand and promised earnestly, "I'm really good at taking care of younger siblings; I can take great care of Little Fish too."

All the little ghosts agreed with her.

"Yeah, Sister Panpan is the best; Little Fish will definitely like her!"

Soon, the slightly noisy dormitory fell quiet again.

Tongtong, as the ghost who had found Little Fish, occupied the most advantageous spot, lying by Little Fish's pillow. She stared at Little Fish's steady breathing and rosy cheeks for a long time before finally couldn't help but quietly ask Sang Ye beside her.

"Sister Sangye, can I give Little Fish a little red flower every day?"

Before Sang Ye could answer, Bai Ye spoke first, "I'll give her all of mine too."

Yang Yang timidly shrank into the corner, not saying a word, but had already started counting on her fingers, figuring how many little red flowers she could give Sister Xiaoyu.

The little ghosts in the room were not little geniuses who could read or count. No one taught or cared for them, and even after living in this instance for a very long time, they remained a group of innocent little know-nothings.

But every single ghost wanted to give their little red flower to Xiaoyu.

Sang Ye stopped them. "Wait until tomorrow, maybe tomorrow you'll give your little red flowers to other living people."

In the long time since they became instance ghosts, they didn't hate or despise every living person.

They had also met very good people, even if some were just pretending. Those people still moved or warmed the little ghosts. After all, there were only five short days; even if the living people lied or acted, they could easily fool these innocent little know-nothings.

So this instance was very low-level, because in fact, many, many people walked out alive.

Some even received blessings and gifts from the little ghosts.

They lived in a daze in the small Xiaoyu Orphanage. The only things they could hold over the players, apart from the rule that they couldn't be killed by attacks, were the little red flowers in their hands at the start of each game.

"And besides, little red flowers are hard to earn." Sang Ye shook her head and told her younger siblings, "So we need to calm down and not give away our little red flowers easily, okay?"

Xiaoyin was the first to obediently nod.

The other children followed, nodding obediently too.

They were always easily persuaded and easily deceived.

But that was just how it was—they liked her.

They liked this living little child who was sleeping on the bed, so they wanted to give her lots of little red flowers, and they couldn't bear to turn her into a cold little spirit and keep her here forever.

So some children outwardly nodded obediently, but secretly, while watching over Xiaoyu, they were racking their brains to figure out how to earn more little red flowers for her.

-

Xiaoyu yawned, wrapped in her quilt, and rolled twice on the bed. When the quilt was pressed tightly against her so she couldn't move at all, she finally struggled to poke out her two little hands from under the covers to rub her eyes.

Soon, Xiaoyu, rolled up like a White Rabbit candy wrapper, turned her head and saw a little child sitting by her bed, staring blankly.

"Luo Luo?" Xiaoyu reached out and carefully poked Luo Luo's icy-cold forehead.

Luo Luo was startled, looked up and saw Xiaoyu wrapped in the quilt, blinked slowly, and then gave her a big smile.

"Xiaoyu, Sister Panpan made a fragrant breakfast. Get up and eat." After saying that, she realized a beat late that Xiaoyu had trapped herself in the quilt, so she climbed onto the bed and clumsily, with effort, tried to unwrap the quilt for Xiaoyu.

Sunlight poured in through the window in wide patches. Xiaoyu watched Luo Luo's efforts, and when the latter finally managed to get herself stuck in the quilt, she wasn't surprised at all.

"Don't cry~" Xiaoyu, still trapped in the messy quilt, instead comforted the crying Luo Luo. "It's okay to skip a meal. I can still have lunch and dinner."

As she said this, she felt a little sad.

The delicious birthday cake from last night... she hadn't had even one bite.

Xiaoyu pouted miserably. Having just woken up, she started missing Mama Director and the children back at the orphanage.

Of course, this was just a moment of longing brought on by the birthday cake, and she quickly suppressed it.

Because today's Xiaoyu was already five years old.

Five-year-old Xiaoyu was stronger, happier, and with fewer worries than four-year-old Xiaoyu!

Xiaoyu cheered herself up, comforted the crying Luo Luo, and wriggled like a real fish under the quilt, struggling to free herself—she was incredibly busy all at once.

When she finally got out of the quilt and Luo Luo had finally stopped crying, Xiaoyu realized that the dormitory where she had been sleeping was completely different than it was last night.

Warm sunlight, soft and fragrant quilts, white walls...

Though humble, it was nothing like last night's creepy, run-down mess.

Xiaoyu put on her shoes, took Luo Luo's hand, and walked out of the dormitory, only to find that even the weeds on the stone steps had disappeared.

The entire orphanage was completely renewed.

Luo Luo's hand... was warm now.

Xiaoyu squeezed Luo Luo's hand, then her own, tilted her head in confusion, and looked at the only unchanged group, who had just walked into the yard.

It was those kind adults from last night who didn't hesitate to play games with her!

"Author's Note"

Reporter: (Hands over the microphone) Excuse me... why did your attitude towards that living child change completely overnight? Is it perversion of ghost nature or decay of ghost morals?

Tongtong: (Puffs up her cheeks) It's because Xiaoyu is the best!

Bai Ye: (Looks up darkly) Is it because she has legs?

Yang Yang: Big sister scared the grown-ups into crying. Super awesome!!

Sang Ye: Xiaoyu can make the headmistress wake up early.

Xiaoyin: (Gesturing) 'Big sister has a princess dress and a princess crown. She must be a princess from a fairy tale. I want to be her best servant!'

Xiaoyu: (Still groggy) Because... I can take their heads off and stick 'em back on?

Reporter: ...Sorry to interrupt. You can keep sleeping.

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