Somewhere in the streets of Babylaind:


    “This is the last of our food…?” Ruicheng looked helplessly at a small carrot.


    “How much money do we have left?” Riuxin asked.


    Ruicheng fumbled around in his pocket and took out a small bag of bronze coins.


    “Five bronze coins… the most we can buy with that here is one loaf of bread… things in Babylaind are really expensive… I should have considered the inflation here…”


    Ruicheng’s stomach grumbled.


    After arriving in Babylaind, the boys finished most of their rations and their money in a week, without finding even a trace of where King 67 might have gone.


    “You know…” Ruixin proposed. “I heard that there was a kind man here who would feed the beggars every morning. Let’s go there tomorrow, shall we?”


    “What? No! We are boatmen, not beggars! No way I’m gonna go beg for food!” Ruicheng shouted at Ruixin agitatedly.


    Ruixin did not reply but stared at Ruicheng with pleading eyes.


    “You…”


    His eyes seem to bore into Ruicheng.


    “No…”


    Ruicheng’s stomach grumbled.


    “Urgh…fine!”


    “Huff…boys, if you’re trying to get food from the Architect tomorrow morning, you’re out of luck.”


    “He’s been hospitalised for a week now, and even has to work immediately after leaving the hospital! Ain’t no way he’s gonna give out food in that state! Well, he might just send someone else to give out food, but… that hasn’t happened yet. Argh… I’m so hungry…”


    A young beggar that stank of trash cans and leftover food moved up to the two boys and complained.


    Ruicheng and Ruixin held their breath and scrunched up their nose as the young beggar edged closer towards them.


    “The beggars are all desperate already! Look at them,” the young beggar pointed towards a group of beggars ganging up on an old beggar.


    The old beggar had a long, smelly beard, and eyes small as beads. His clothes looked like rags, but he held on tightly to a bag of gold.


    “Yo, how did you manage to bag such a large amount of money, you old ass?” a beggar with evil looking eyes asked menacingly.


    “I’ll- I’ll give y''all fifty percent, no… no, sixty! Please spare me!” The old beggar pleaded.


    “Sixty? Bahahahhahaha!” The evil-looking beggars laughed together, after which, they started kicking the man ruthlessly.


    The twins, unable to watch anymore, ran away, leaving the young beggar snickering uncontrollably.


    Ruicheng and Ruixin ran with all their might, passing countless buildings, countless hostels, countless farms and countless people. Before they knew it, they were lost inside the residential area.


    They stopped to gasp for air, and a tantalizing smell wafted into their nostrils. They tottered towards the course of the smell and entered a small bakery. They saw a young shopkeeper of average build, brown meat hair and adorned by an apron, cleaning up the bakery after a long day of work.


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    “Oh, what do you want to buy, little boys- uh?” The shopkeeper asked amiably in a clear voice before noticing that the boys were extremely dirty.


    “Where are your parents, and why are both of you so dirty?” the shopkeeper inquired skeptically.


    Unable to answer, Ruicheng and Ruixin prepared to run off. However, before they could, they were swiftly picked up by the collar by the surprisingly strong shopkeeper.


    “Answer my questions,” he demanded clearly.


    “Our parents are dead, and we have been wandering on the streets for the past few days trying to get revenge!” Ruixin cried.


    Ruicheng smacked Ruixin on the head.


    “You fool! You’ll make him misunderstand the situation!” he whispered into Ruixin’s ear angrily.


    The shopkeeper gasped.


    “What poor children!” The shopkeeper looked at them pitifully. “Come into my house, I’ll give you food and shelter.”


    “What? No, absolutely not!” Ruicheng shouted indignantly, but the shopkeeper brought them to the second level of the bakery.


    Surprisingly, the shopkeeper lived on the second level of the bakery. It was a warm house with comfortable chairs and a large dining table.


    “Jessica! I’m home!” The shopkeeper announced. A young, beautiful woman with soft white hair and a serene smile on her face came out of the room.


    “Oh! Who do we have here?” she gasped upon seeing the two boys.


    Ruicheng stuck out his tongue at Jessica while Ruixin smiled shyly at her. She had a petite figure, and her dainty fingers caressed the boys’ faces as the shopkeeper put them down.


    “Jessica, these are hungry children who have lost their parents. Let’s keep them and give them a place to stay,” the shopkeeper suggested, oblivious to the aghast Ruicheng staring incredulously at him.


    “Of course! Let me fix you two up immediately-eh?”


    In a desperate attempt to flee, Ruicheng sped towards the door. Luckily, the shopkeeper closed the door in time.


    “Now, we can’t, with good conscience, allow starving children like you to go out into the streets, can we?” the shopkeeper said with an amiable smile on his face.


    Ruicheng gritted his teeth.


    Jessica held their hands and led them to the bathroom as she instructed the shopkeeper, “Honey, prepare dinner while I take these boys to shower.”


    “Sure!” the shopkeeper said, before Jessica disappeared into the bathroom with the boys.


    -----------------------------------------------


    “The water is all ready, come in now,” Jessica told the boys.


    “No! No way I’m gonna let a woman wash me! I need to get my revenge!” Ruicheng had his back against the wall.


    “It doesn''t matter, the water here is so good…” Ruixin, who was already in the water, invited Ruicheng in.


    “No! How could you let your guard down like that? What if she kills us while we’re in the bathtub?” Ruicheng protested.


    “Now, now. That’s not a very nice thing to say,” Jessica remarked.


    “I don’t care! I’m twelve already! I’m not getting washed by a woman!” Ruicheng was still stubbornly protesting.


    “What do you mean? We just turned nine, didn’t we?” Ruixin’s body was almost completely submerged in the bath.


    Speechlessly, Ruicheng stared at the bath, tempted to jump into it.


    After much coaxing, they finally got Ruicheng into the bath.


    Ruixin flipped around in the bathtub as if it were the best day of his life.


    “This is the worst and most humiliating day of my life,” Ruicheng remarked, while Jessica scrubbed his hair with shampoo.


    “Miss Jessica,” Ruixin asked, “Why do you live on top of your husband’s shop?”


    Chuckling, Jessica answered, “This is a shophouse. It’s quite common in Babylaind. Shopkeepers will live on top of their shops for convenience.”


    “I see…” Ruixin replied as he fiddled around with the water.


    “Why do the two of you wanna take us in so badly?” Ruicheng asked skeptically.


    Jessica delicately tapped her finger to her chin.


    “Firstly, it’s because we genuinely want to help you. Secondly… we’ve always wanted children but you see… I can’t have babies…” she held her stomach, smiling sadly.


    “There’s someone who can’t have babies?” Ruixin asked innocently.


    “Yeah, I thought babies came from kissing?” Ruicheng added.


    “Hehe…”Jessica chuckled softly at the twins’ innocence. “You’ll understand when you grow older.”]


    “Huh?!”


    -------------------------------------------


    After the bath was over, they dried themselves and went out of the bathroom.


    “Ah, perfect!” the shopkeeper, who had changed out of his apron, smiled upon seeing them. “Dinner is prepared!”


    And before the twins laid a table full of delicacies.