"Knock Knock"

A sound from outside the door caught Alicia's attention, and with a jingle of bells, the four-color turntable on the door frame turned yellow.

It was the gate of the imperial capital, Alicia thought to herself.

Cassifer didn't shout, she probably guessed in her mind who was back.

The door slowly opened, and as expected, Char was standing behind the door, and he slowly walked up the steps and looked around.

The place was completely different from when I left in the morning, all the dust had been cleaned, the ceiling was devoid of cobwebs, and the messy magic books were neatly stacked on the workbench.

Since a lot of garbage has been removed, the whole space has become much more spacious.

"It's a lot more pleasing to the eye." Char said.

Is it just "pleasing to the eye"? Cassifer on the hearth said with some weakness.

He pointed to the wall behind him, "Look, she's even brushed the soot off the wall for me, and even painted it with new white paint." ”

Char seemed to want to say something, and then he smelled a faint aroma.

"It's so fragrant, did you do anything?" He asked.

Alicia raised her hand and opened the lid of the iron pot placed on the table, the rich aroma filling the room with the heat.

"Mrs. Foster, next door to Eagle Point, gave me two sea fish, which her husband caught today." Alicia said.

After a pause, she said, "That's a good guy." ”

Char approached the iron pot, which was full of a pot of fish soup, the soup was thick and white, and just the aroma that penetrated into the nostrils knew that it must taste delicious.

"Do you still know how to cook?" Char said with some surprise.

"She forced me to do it." Cassifer complained on one side, "This woman is so rude, Char. ”

"My mother taught me." Alicia didn't pay any attention to Cassifer's meaning, but changed the subject, saying, "She's an Oriental and has a good hand at cooking. ”

As she spoke, she noticed where Char had come in, and a strange child had come up, with orange-red hair glowing faintly under the light of the fire emitted by Cassifer on one side.

He was staring at Cassifer at the moment, obviously shocked by the talking flames.

For some reason, Alicia always felt that there was something familiar about this child, and she seemed to have seen it somewhere.

"The child's name is Arthur, and he has just been an orphan." Char said, "Next, he may have to live here for a while." ”

"I haven't agreed to call it yet." Arthur muttered under his breath.

"Oh, what a poor boy." Alicia sympathized that she had also lost a loved one, so she could fully empathize with it.

But then, she looked at Char with some suspicion, "But you have such a good heart?" ”

Char smiled, "When did I give you the illusion that I was not good?" ”

"If I had been unkind," he teased, "I should have kicked you out when you came uninvited last night." ”

Alicia snorted twice, but was speechless, something she couldn't deny.

The girls whose hearts he had eaten were not able to testify.

But then, she heard Char say to herself, "But his relatives gave me a large peninsula in return." ”

Looking at Alicia in front of him, he said with some amusement.

"Let's eat first."

He sat down on a chair at the table and motioned for Arthur to sit down with him, looking at the fish soup in front of him.

"Is that all there is to this fish soup?"

"I don't know if you'll be back in the evening." "And can you expect a ninety-year-old lady who has been cleaning all day and has a sore back to cook a whole table?" ”

"Makes sense." Char said.

"Don't eat so much at night, it's not good for your stomach."

Alicia picked up the spoon on one side and filled Char, Arthur, and herself with a spoonful of soup, and some fish.

Char used to live far from the sea, so most of the food he ate was freshwater fish, and it was the first time he had eaten marine fish.

Compared with freshwater fish, marine fish has no small bones, no scruples to eat, and the muscle elasticity is much better than that of freshwater fish, and the meat is more tender, but in fact, there is not much difference.

But the fact that there are no fish bones is really Char's favorite.

Not to mention the fish soup that is the essence, the fish itself is quite fresh from the moment it is caught to the pot, and it has been stewed for a long time, and it has been stewed for a long time, and the stew is rich white, and the taste is even more delicious.

When Char savored it, Arthur, who was sitting across from him, had already gulped down the fish soup at all.

Because I drank it too fast, I squeezed out some of the gas in it, and finally I made a "ha" sound.

His eyes lit up as he handed the bowl to Alicia.

"I want another bowl."

"Okay, okay." Alicia seemed pleased that what she had made was recognized, so she took the spoon and filled Arthur with another bowl.

Arthur took the bowl and continued to gobble it up with the spoon, and Alicia touched his head.

"Eat slowly, eating fast is not good for the stomach, did you often not eat enough in the place you used to be?"

"It's not as good as what you make." Arthur said.

Alicia smiled, somehow, she always felt that the child had an inexplicable sense of intimacy.

"If it's delicious, you can eat more, I cooked a lot."

Arthur was silent for a moment, he stopped drinking the fish soup and looked up at Alicia.

She was smiling at herself, her eyes narrowing with a smile, and the wrinkles left on her face by the years were all the more obvious, very kind.

Arthur was stunned, his nose twitched when he came back to his senses, and soon continued to turn his head and continue to eat the fish.

The table was cleaned by Alicia and covered with a white tablecloth.

Alicia, who had been paying attention to Arthur, saw two small water stains on the tablecloth, and he was not drinking the fish soup.

She took a closer look at his face through the light and found that his eyes were slightly red, and there were some imperceptible tears on his face.

He didn't say a word, just silently ate the fish.

"Why are you crying?" Alicia asked with concern, "Is there something uncomfortable?" ”

"Obviously, it tasted so good that I cried." Cassifer grinned on the side.

"I'm fine."

Arthur wanted to raise his hand to wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes, and a piece of paper was handed over.

He raised his head, glanced at Char who was handing over the paper, silently took the paper, and choked his throat while wiping his tears.

"Thank you."

"It's hard to hold back your tears." Char looked at him quietly, "It's not something you should learn at your age. ”

"I'm not like everyone else!"

Arthur raised his eyes to look at Char, his reddish eyes burst with sparks, his face was flushed, and his lower lip trembled slightly, like a stray cat with fried hair.

"I'm never weak."

Char didn't care, he smiled and asked, "Do you think crying represents weakness?" ”

"Isn't it?" Arthur asked rhetorically.

Char, on the other hand, shook his head, "Everyone has cried, whether it is a hero who is not afraid of death on the battlefield or an emperor who is high above, they will cry.

It's just that they have learned to hide and shed their tears when the time is right.

It doesn't mean being strong, but it's not weak.

Everyone has the right to express sadness, and if you never cry, it doesn't mean that you are strong, it only means that you are numb.

The real strength is the one who is still brave after crying, and still moves forward with tears. ”

Looking at Arthur, who had fallen silent, Char continued to laugh.

"Weakness is not in your tears, but in your heart.

Only by facing weakness can you overcome it, and crying is exactly this process.

If you don't want to cry, it only shows that you are afraid of weakness. ”

Arthur didn't respond, he just lowered his head and didn't say a word, and the water stains on the table became more and more, some even dripping into the fish soup.

His emaciated body trembled slightly, but even then, he didn't make a sound.

Alicia touched his back in distress, soothed his emotions, and whispered softly.

"You must have been lucky in the past, right?"

Alicia's gentle words were the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Arthur raised his head and began to cry loudly, crying loudly, tears soaking the hem of his clothes, and Alicia held a paper on one side and kept wiping his tears for him.

I don't know how long it took, but because of a catharsis, Arthur's mood gradually eased.

After wiping away his tears with a piece of paper, he spoke slowly.

"You look a lot like someone I know."

Alicia raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Grandma the director of the orphanage where I live." Arthur muttered softly, "But she's dead, just last year, and that was the only person in the world who was good to me." ”

Alicia stared silently at Arthur's bowed face, and suddenly, she smiled.

"Now, there is a second person in this world who is good to you."

Arthur's eyes opened slightly, and he turned his head to look at Alicia, who was smiling at him gently, although her teeth were sparse and her face was full of wrinkles, which was not pretty.

But Arthur felt a warm current flowing through his heart.

His nose twitched again, he turned his head, whispered, wiped his tears with his sleeve, and continued to eat the fish soup in front of him with a lot of tears.