After hearing Yu Sheng's reply, Little Red Riding Hood didn't say anything, just sat quietly on the grass, as if she were pondering something, or maybe just simply staring into space.

It was quite a while before Yu Sheng heard her muttering softly, "This place is really quiet, no squirrels or wolf packs."

"When you put it like that, I suddenly feel uneasy, as if five hundred Blade Axe Warriors are going to jump out of the bushes nearby any second," Yu Sheng awkwardly looked around, then his gaze returned to the girl, "Uh... are you okay? You look really tired?"

"Nonsense, I'm a senior in high school," Little Red Riding Hood rolled her eyes, "and I fell asleep during chemistry class."

Yu Sheng didn't expect such a down-to-earth answer and was momentarily stunned. The girl in front of him didn't wait for his response and just laughed, shaking her head: "At first, I was not willing to go to school at all, especially after going through the 'Awakening' phase and knowing what would happen in the future... I had a huge fight with my previous 'parents', which you've also heard... Is it a bit silly?"

Yu Sheng didn't speak.

Little Red Riding Hood didn't care whether Yu Sheng answered her or not.

"Now, I occasionally have similar quarrels with those older kids," she went on talking to herself, "They just can't understand why the orphanage makes them go to school step by step, read books, and for those who are better off, even arrange them to attend schools for ordinary people, and for those who are less fortunate, they must also attend classes in the courtyard with the teachers. For almost everyone, they will never use what they have learned, they won't graduate, they won't have the time to work, they won't have the chance to become a designer, a technician, a driver...

"Actually, they're right, it really is a waste of time—if we only look at the average life span of each child so far of only a dozen years or so.

"But the 'parent' who took care of me said that living should be hopeful— if this world doesn't give us hope, then there's something wrong with this world. Whether we ourselves hold onto hope, that's our own business.

"In this world, there's so little we can control; so many things don't develop the way you'd expect, so in the end, your 'attitude' becomes the only thing that still somewhat belongs to you... Although, it often isn't that easy to control.

"She also said, it's hard to live a complete life, but we can try to make the days before adulthood complete... She also told me not to smoke, not to drink, not to do bad things, to go learn something, to understand how vast this world is. She said it's very, very easy for a person to become bad, to give up on oneself, which is the simplest thing; therefore, we should do something challenging, like being a good student..."

Little Red Riding Hood went on and on, saying a lot, then took a long breath, gazed skyward, and lay down on the gray yet soft grass, looking at the equally gray sky above.

"Actually, none of it is very profound, she wasn't able to speak profound truths because when she left, she was only eighteen—she didn't even have time to get a driver's license."

Yu Sheng turned his head and looked at the girl lying on the grass: "But she taught you well."

"Not that well, I still didn't listen to a lot of what she said, like not to fight with others. There are also some things she said that I still don't agree with—but what can I do, I can't argue with her now anyway."

"That's true."

The two of them quieted down again.

Little Red Riding Hood stared blankly at the gray sky for a while; after who knows how long, she suddenly broke the silence: "This place is so quiet..."

"You just said that."

"No, what I mean is—your dream is so boring. Is this place just these grasslands?" Little Red Riding Hood sat up, "Dreams, at least shouldn't they be fantastic, twisted, and complex? How come this place feels like some... afterlife?"

"Why are you even complaining?" Yu Sheng's eye twitched, "Isn't having a quiet dream okay? If you've rested enough, just go back—find a high spot, lean back, and you should be able to wake up; or I can call Erin to kick you out, that has a one hundred percent success rate..."

"Never mind that, I'd rather be woken up by the teacher's chalk," Little Red Riding Hood immediately waved her hands, "You're right, having a quiet dream is quite nice. I was worried I might end up in the Black Forest the moment I accidentally fell asleep, but it turns out I can take refuge and enjoy some peace at your place."

Yu Sheng pursed his lips, but at that moment, he vaguely sensed a smell.

"Do you smell something?" He frowned in confusion, looking at the girl beside him, "A weird smell, quite pungent."

"I don't smell anything," Little Red Riding Hood sniffed, "just the scent of the grass—maybe your hay fever's acting up?"

"That's impossible, it smells like something's burning."

"You must be mistaken, my nose is better than a dog's..."

Little Red Riding Hood had only gotten halfway through her sentence when she saw Yu Sheng suddenly spring up from the ground, with a look of alarm on his face: "No, that's not right! The kitchen!"

Little Red Riding Hood: "…Huh?"

But Yu Sheng had already disappeared.

The next second, Yu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes, and with a flip, he felt a void under him and fell directly onto a pile of fluffy tails.

The crackling static was like flowers blooming in winter, with a message — The Fox Deity at home might truly possess a Thunder Spiritual Root.

Yu Sheng howled as he jumped out from the pile of tails and nearly tumbled headfirst onto the sharp corner of the coffee table because he stepped on the smooth fur — if he had really fallen badly, it would take at least half an hour before he could check the situation in the kitchen, but luckily, he didn't die — then, he hurriedly scrambled from the living room to the entrance of the kitchen, and as soon as he pushed the door, a strong burnt odor hit him.

Intertwined was Erin's exclamation: "Hey hey hey, water, water, water! It's on fire! My dish is burning... I'm burning too!"

Yu Sheng rushed over, picked up Erin, who was standing on the stove with her dress already catching flames, and threw her directly into the sink, then turned off the fire, used the pot lid to extinguish the flames in the frying pan, and started to ventilate by opening the window, all in one go.

No. 66 Wutong Road was safe.

Hu Li was shrinking in the corner of the kitchen, Erin was lying in the sink with a darkened face, the tap was running loudly, and the little doll was slowly floating up — Yu Sheng stared dumbfounded at these two treasures and at the dissipating smoke above the stove, because he acted before he thought, his brain hadn't caught up yet.

Right then, his phone rang twice. Picking it up, it was a text from Little Red Riding Hood:

"I'm awake, got caught by the teacher, hit by a chalk, pissed."

Yu Sheng replied with a 'fight on' emoji, and then his gaze swept over the kitchen again, scratching his head: "So, can any of you explain to me what exactly is going on here?"

A few minutes later, Erin was hung up on the balcony through the sleeves with a clothes rod, water dripping down her body, while Yu Sheng held a large-sized hair dryer next to her, blowing the little doll shakily.

Feeling the blow-drying was too slow, Yu Sheng had to move the electric heater out, placing it beside the clothes rack to roast.

"You know, you didn't have to hang me up, I could roast myself..." Erin said to Yu Sheng's face, cautiously muttering, "I can turn over by myself."

"I hung you on the rod not to save you the effort, but to remind you of the incident."

"Ah, right..."

Yu Sheng glared at the pitiful little doll, held his breath for a long time, and finally with a resigned sigh, stepped forward and took Erin down from the clothes rod.

The doll quickly climbed onto the electric heater next to her, sat cross-legged, and began to emit white steam from her body.

Now Yu Sheng understood why this one didn't realize she was too close to the fire source even as her clothes were burning.

She's not afraid of heat!

"I'm actually quite happy you guys wanted to help cook," Yu Sheng finally spoke helplessly after holding it in for a while, "but you nearly set the kitchen on fire, which is kind of scary – that shouldn't be right, Hu Li you normally help heat up food and it's always fine, isn't it?"

"I... I usually use Fox Fire when I heat up food," Hu Li said, shrinking her neck (and tucking in her tails) standing aside, her ears drooping, "But Erin said she wasn't used to it, she would use the gas stove... and then she also wanted to perform flipping the pan..."

Yu Sheng paused, turned his head to look at the doll sitting on the heating element — she was surrounded by steam, appearing as if she was undergoing a Feather Transformation into an immortal: "You, flipping the pan?"

Erin laughed awkwardly with a heh-heh, her face still covered in soot.

"That frying pan is almost as tall as you standing upright! You flipping the pan?" Yu Sheng's eyebrows shot up, "Which one of you is flipping whom?!"

Erin chuckled dryly twice, changed her position on the heater, and continued to emit "smoke".

Yu Sheng shook his head, got up and walked over, picking up the doll from the heater.

Erin was shocked: "Hey, what are you doing—"

Yu Sheng sighed, holding the doll as he walked towards the bathroom: "Stop roasting yourself, I just remembered, you should go take a bath first, you're all smoky and it's baked into you."

Erin was dangled by her collar in mid-air and looked up at Yu Sheng: "You're not angry anymore?"

"Can I ever finish being angry day by day?" Yu Sheng said with a laugh and a cry, "Alright then, at least the house didn't really catch fire... I'll go check the kitchen later, to see how to handle lunch."

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