8:43 a.m.

In front of the entrance of the town.

Standing beside the iconic stone pillar at the entrance of the town, Qi Lisa lowered her head, inexplicably uneasy in her heart. Tugging at the blue cotton skirt and black thermal tights, the girl suddenly felt a little flustered: she didn't know what the clothes she had spent two hours carefully selecting would look like.

It should work well...... At least I look good in the mirror. I wonder if Bernie likes this dress or not, pulling her hood away slightly, and Killissa takes a deep breath to try to calm her emotions. However, the more she thought about it, the less confident she became, and she was eventually surrounded by lingering anxiety.

It's still a few dozen minutes until half past nine, so I still have time to go home and check again. But maybe Bernie would have come earlier, and if I had gone home and looked in the mirror, I wouldn't have been able to see him first...... Feeling extremely distressed, Qi Lisa pinched her stomach in great distress: she got up too early in the morning and was busy dressing up, but now she is too hungry to work. Eat more while Bernie is on the heel—but wouldn't it make a bad impression on him if it was too ugly?

Speaking of which, isn't this skirt a little too loose...... Worried that her figure would be bloated by the skirt, Qi Lisa subconsciously thought of her hairstyle: I was going to tie my straight hair into a golden ponytail today, but after thinking about it carefully, I still combed it into the long hair that I had been wearing when it was delivered.

In an instant, the girl fell into an extremely conflicted mood: she wanted to show her relaxed and ordinary self in front of Bernie, but also wanted to show a new image of herself. For some reason, after two hours of wrestling with it, she decided that she should have the straight blonde hair he'd always seen—though she thought, as far as Bernie could remember, the way she usually looked under her hood.

Walking out of the avenue, the girl raised her head and looked at the dark sky. The once bustling town is becoming more and more silent day by day, and now it is lifeless. Fleeing boats sailed away from the docks with heavily spent townspeople fleeing, and the town's empty houses grew more and more empty, but no buyers could be found. The number of merchant ships berthed in the port was decreasing, and all kinds of shops began to close one by one.

By the sporadic oil lamps on the side of the street, she could only vaguely see the very rare pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages moving slowly through the streets. Looking at the small shops that had been closed on time, the girl mournfully recalled how lively the streets would have been at this time of year: the number of street lamps was decreasing, and the vitality of the town had disappeared, leaving only the tenacious or poor residents to hold on.

Two days ago, even the mayor of the town fled by boat with years of embezzled wealth...... Feeling entangled in her heart, Qi Lisa began to involuntarily consider whether she should also escape from here and go to live on the docks where her parents did business.

However, her affection for the land, her long-standing desire to buy a house of her own, and even half of her Son of Ice bloodline prevented her from leaving. However, this persistence was gradually eroded by the increasingly empty town, which shook her faith. Constantly making excuses for herself to leave, Qi Lisa said to herself in her heart: In fact, there is nothing wrong with the people who leave, they are all here to save their lives and lives. It is also likely that the person who left is deeply in love with the land, and only intends to return to his homeland after taking a break from the winter breath......

However, no matter how much she tries to paralyze herself, the girl can't bear to escape from this native town: maybe she just doesn't want to change this life, and there is nothing noble about it. After all, I'm not a child of ice, just a half-snowman half-human. With such a bloodline, there is probably no right to say that he is the owner of this frozen land, right?

A feeling of inferiority suddenly welled up in her heart, and she leaned down to look at the ground next to the stone pillar: there was no snow stone paved there. The solid ice was covered in snow, thick enough to submerge the calves. Chilled by the slight sea breeze, she shivered and folded her arms around her chest, clenching her stiff fingers, which seemed to be getting colder by day lately, and it was certainly not her delusion.

It's really getting harder and harder here...... Watching the sign of a bakery swaying in the cold wind, Qi Lisa touched the purse in her pocket and felt a sense of loss: the price of food and fuel was getting higher and higher, and now she was not wealthy, so she had to reduce the amount of food she ate to continue saving. Logically speaking, the price of food in Beihaiwang, near the sea, should be extremely low, but with the departure of merchants and the colder weather, the price of daily necessities has risen and become uncontrollable.

"Miss Qi Lisa?" Just as Qi Lisa kept jumping to keep her body warm, Bernie's surprised voice suddenly came from not far behind him: "I didn't expect you to come so early." ”

"Uncle, Bonnie?" Startled by his sudden voice, Gilisa reflexively straightened out the windswept curtains, and hurriedly checked her full clothes before turning back. Looking at Bernie, who was slowly approaching and wearing a gray guard uniform, the girl's previous nervousness was swept away in an instant: although Bernie's unsmiling expression was not relaxed at all, Qi Lisa felt inexplicably relieved as soon as she saw him.

"You've been waiting a long time? I thought I was here early enough. Looking at his watch, Bernie said in amazement, "Look, it's only nine o'clock." ”

"According to what is written in the book, you usually have to say that you didn't wait long at this time, right?" Qi Lisa, who smiled lightly, completely incomprehensible why she came so early, avoided the topic she thought might cause embarrassment: "The weather is so nice, isn't it?"

"Uh...... I don't think so. Glancing at the sky, Bernie reluctantly replied to Lisa's non-level question. After a subtle silence between the two, Bernie broke the deadlock first: "I'm not very good at saying that, but ...... You're dressed so beautifully today, Miss Lisa. It's better than the ones I wore when I shipped the goods before. ”

"Really? I love it. Because the lining is afraid of getting dirty, it is never worn at the time of delivery. Noticing that Bernie, who was staring at him, was slightly red, and Qi Lisa's cheeks were hot from embarrassment. Many of the pre-planned opening remarks were completely forgotten, and her heart was beating faintly, and she once again ushered in an unknown tension.

As if he understood the embarrassment that Qi Lisha was in, the buyer changed the topic again: "It's too late to stand here, let's start acting - go buy scarves and gloves first or what?"

"Well, good. Without thinking, she nodded again and again, and Qi Lisha, whose cheeks were hot, touched her stomach sadly, extremely annoyed: Actually, I should have proposed to eat first......