The result of flattering the tiger's whiskers was the little chick's entire family disappearing, and even the non-biting sweet water was gone.
Berry stood in the corner holding Xiuxiu, looking dejected, dutifully playing the role of a quiet little mushroom.
The bespectacled teenager typed away on his keyboard, the straight line of his mouth and gloomy brows indicating his mood wasn't great at the moment.
After a while, Feng Ci took off his glasses and called out to the child facing the wall in contemplation: "Come here."
A little mushroom ran over at a steady pace, standing obediently at attention in front of the desk.
Feng Ci tapped the desk with his slender fingers: "Sign."
He had drawn up a detailed code of conduct and, just to be safe, printed it out to make it look more formal.
"What's this?"
"Code of conduct." Feng Ci adjusted his glasses, crossing his arms and looking down from above. "Verbal agreements aren't as good as black and white on paper. Read it through first, and if there are no issues, we'll settle it like this."
Berry craned her neck to take a peek, her little brows furrowing: "I can't read it."
She nudged the broom beside her: "Xiuxiu, can you read it?"
Xiuxiu: …I'm a stick.
The densely packed square characters on the A4 paper made Berry feel both familiar and confused. She widened her eyes, trying to decipher the mysterious square script.
Feng Ci belatedly realized.
The little shorty came from the Magic World, where the writing system was different from here. She didn't know Chinese characters.
"If you can't read it, forget it. Can you at least write your own name? Use the script from your world."
Berry had no objections. She took the pen from Feng Ci, curiously fiddling with it a couple of times before slowly and clumsily scrawling out two characters that looked like a dog's paw prints.
"Done, here you go."
Feng Ci glanced at it and couldn't help but feel his eyes ache from the ugliness.
He came from a family of scholars—his grandfather was a calligraphy master, his grandmother a master of traditional Chinese painting. From the moment he could hold a pen, he was groomed as their successor. Even though his academic grades were terrible, he had won countless awards in various calligraphy competitions. Calligraphy was one of the few talents he could proudly show off.
Under the dual influence of his obsessive-compulsive tendencies and his intolerance for ugly handwriting, Feng Ci had forced all his mischievous friends to practice their handwriting, ruthlessly correcting their scrawls until they were at least presentable.
Feng Ci slowly turned his gaze to Berry.
"Is this pile of caterpillars your name?"
"These aren't caterpillars, this is Berry." The child pouted so hard she could hang two pounds of pork from her lips. "My name is Berry, not caterpillar. Your memory is terrible."
"It's not my memory that's terrible, it's your handwriting that's ugly." Feng Ci mocked. "You must slack off a lot, huh?"
"You really are an unreasonable little cookie."
Berry's little chest heaved noticeably, puffing up like a pufferfish: "I'm the only one in all of South Grid Town who can write my own name. Do you know how amazing that is? No, you don't. Now I've told you, so you better remember."
Feng Ci remained calm: "Save your anger for later. First, break down the characters and write them clearly. I need to see the structure."
Under Feng Ci's insistence, Berry reluctantly broke down the characters stroke by stroke.
The more Feng Ci looked, the more familiar it seemed. After thinking carefully, he suddenly realized this script bore a striking resemblance to Arabic.
Coincidentally, he had a particular fondness for lesser-known languages and had once studied Arabic, able to write fluent and beautiful Arabic script. So, learning the script of the Magic World came quite naturally to him.
Berry watched him glance at it just twice before writing her name with a fluid, elegant flair, her eyes wide with amazement.
"So you're a genius cookie."
"Can't I be a human?"
"You were a bit mean earlier, so I don't really want you to be human."
Feng Ci: "…"
"But I'm not angry anymore, so you can be human now." Berry waved her hand magnanimously, then clasped her hands behind her back like a little supervisor and commented, "Not bad at all."
Feng Ci gloated, "Much better looking than yours, right?"
Berry cautiously gestured with her finger, putting on an air of pride as she declared, "Not by much, just a tiny bit better than mine."
"That's enough." Feng Ci appeared calm on the surface, but the corners of his mouth were harder to suppress than an AK. "Want to learn? I happen to have time, so I can reluctantly teach you."
"Oh, thanks, but I don'tt want to."
Feng Ci watched the unpredictable child with interest. "Why not?"
"Because I'm a Witch." Berry flicked her nonexistent cloak and said with utmost seriousness, "My mission is to research Magic Potions and enhance my Magic Power. I'm very busy and don't have time to learn how to write."
Nonsense.
Everyone was once a child, and Feng Ci didn’t expose Berry’s excuse. He put away the signed A4 paper and gave her a meaningful look.
"Fine, I won’t force you." He stood up. "I’m going out for a bit. Want to come?"
Outside the window, the sun was blazing. Berry looked down from the floor-to-ceiling window and saw towering skyscrapers all around, completely different from the small town of Nange. Children naturally have an adventurous heart, eager to explore unfamiliar environments.
Berry was no exception. She nodded eagerly, "I’ll go, I’ll go."
"Then go change. It’s cold outside."
The house had underfloor heating, making the entire place warm and cozy. Berry was even a little hot in her short sleeves, firmly convinced it was the height of summer.
Feng Ci knew the child wouldn’t believe it until she felt the cold firsthand. He opened the front door directly, and the bitingly cold wind from the hallway rushed in, bringing a chill wherever it went.
Berry, dressed lightly, shivered from the cold, tucked in her neck, and scurried back to her room on her short legs.
In the blink of an eye, the fully bundled little witch waddled out like a penguin, swaying her head from side to side.