Today, I Have Yet to Become a Doll

Shen Mo asked, "Not eating?"

Bai Youwei pouted. "This is a pre-dinner snack."

Shen Mo didn't want to go. He frowned at the lake in the distance. "You want to send me as a pre-dinner snack for the mosquitoes."

"Ahahahahahaha!…" Tan Xiao suddenly burst into laughter. "Brother Mo, you're so funny! A snack for mosquitoes, hahaha!"

Bai Youwei's small face fell. She turned around on her crutch and went back to the tent.

She didn't say anything, but her meaning was clear: she wasn't eating.

The young lady was very proud. Not only would she not eat the lotus seeds, but she wouldn't eat dinner either!

Shen Mo put down the map in his hand and said to Tan Xiao, "What you just said was right."

"Ah? What?" Tan Xiao asked, her eyes wide. "The funny part?"

Shen Mo raised his arm and slowly took off his shirt. "You said it's better in the maze."

She wasn't so difficult in the maze.

"…Eh? Brother Mo, where are you going? Are you really going to feed the mosquitoes?… Ah, take me, take me! I'm going to catch a fish!"

…

Half an hour later.

Dinner was ready.

Bai Youwei sat by the fire with a large lotus leaf on her lap. She happily peeled and ate the lotus seeds.

The green shells of the lotus seeds fell into the lotus leaf, piling up. She shook the leaf, and they all fell into the fire. The bonfire gave off the scent of green grass.

After she ate two lotus pods in a row, Shen Mo was afraid that she would get a stomachache, so he didn't let her eat anymore.

He pulled a baked sweet potato from the fire and put it in a large porcelain bowl. He tore off a layer of the grayish skin, revealing the honey-orange inside. He took a small spoon and let her dig in.

The sweet potato was steaming hot, soft, and sweet inside. She took a bite, blew on it, and swallowed. It was so delicious that even her teeth felt腻.

Cheng Teacher served her a bowl of mung bean soup. It had no rock sugar, so the taste was a bit bland, but it was just right to relieve the sweetness of the baked sweet potato.

Bai Youwei ate and drank, feeling satisfied and comfortable.

Tan Xiao gnawed on a sausage while poking the fire with a wooden stick. "Don't you think we're like a group now? Kind of like a pilgrimage? Hey~ They went through eighty-one hardships to obtain Buddhist scriptures, and we're playing games to collect puzzle pieces."

Cheng Teacher laughed and sighed upon hearing this. "The 'Great Tang Records on the Western Regions' says, 'Who will be the boat and oars in the sea of life and death? Who will be the torch in the long night of ignorance?' If we have good fortune this time, we can also imitate Xuanzang and be a torch for the suffering masses."

Tan Xiao didn't quite understand, but she felt that his words, spoken in groups of four characters, were quite interesting. She suggested, "Old Cheng, you're so cultured. Why don't you give us a group name?"

Cheng Teacher was slightly taken aback. "What group name?"

"You don't even know this?" Tan Xiao counted on her fingers. "The Two Elders of Xuanming, the Three Sages of Kunlun, the Four Heavenly Kings, the Five Elders of Kongtong, the Six Immortals of Peach Valley, the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan… things like that."

Cheng Teacher suddenly understood. "Oh, let me think…"

Bai Youwei ate and chuckled to herself. Cheng Weicai, usually so serious as a teacher, was actually going along with Tan Xiao's train of thought and seriously thinking of a name.

"There are four of us, from different places, coming together as a family. Why don't we call ourselves… 'Four Seas, One Family'?"

"Ah…" Tan Xiao said, "That doesn't sound very impressive. Think again."

Cheng Weicai, "In ancient times, there were the Four Treasures of the Study: brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. We can each take one character and combine them."

"Oh, then I'll think about it too…" Tan Xiao pondered, "Flowers, birds, fish, insects?… Jackals, wolves, tigers, leopards? Demons, ghosts, and monsters? Sigh, why are there no good words with four characters?"

Bai Youwei couldn't help it anymore and burst out laughing. "Let's call ourselves 'Old, Young, Sick, and Disabled'!"

Tan Xiao: "…"

Cheng Weicai: "…"

Shen Mo poked the fire and asked indifferently, "Then which one of 'Old, Young, Sick, and Disabled' am I?"

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