Chapter 45: Fog City

"Liuli Street No. 19 Apartment Building, Unit 2, 401."

Recalling the address Miss Rose had given her, Yun Mu quickly found the location where Nathan Hawar, the editor-in-chief of the Frostfall City Weekly, lived.

This place was about two hundred meters away from the Sisilaiya Cafe, only a few minutes' walk.

At such a close distance, it was no wonder that the editor-in-chief of the Frostfall City Weekly had the leisure time to come to the cafe for a cup of coffee every morning before heading to work.

Thinking this, Yun Mu walked into the apartment building, climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, and gently pressed the doorbell of room 401.

Ding-dong~

About five or six seconds after the doorbell rang, the door to room 401 was pushed open.

However, the person who opened the door was not the editor-in-chief of the Frostfall City Weekly from Yun Mu's memory, but a girl just over a meter tall with a pair of cute little braids tied on her head.

The girl had short flaxen hair, and her dark, glistening eyes were currently observing her with curiosity.

"Tina, who is it?"

Just as Yun Mu was feeling puzzled by this, Nathan Hawar's voice came from inside the room.

Accompanied by a sound of slightly hurried footsteps, the middle-aged man she had seen at the cafe this morning walked out of the room wearing a light gray casual long shirt.

He first glanced at Yun Mu with a look of slight confusion, then crouched down and patted the girl's head.

"Didn't I tell you not to open the door for strangers?"

Nathan said to his daughter with some helplessness.

"Daddy, you said not to open the door for bad people," Tina retorted.

"This big sister doesn't look like a bad person at all!" she said.

"This..."

Nathan had wanted to say that whether someone is a bad person has nothing to do with how they look, but considering Yun Mu was still there, saying that would seem impolite, so he had to change his words.

"Don't open the door for people you don't know next time, okay?"

He said to his daughter in a gentle tone.

"Mm, I know!" Tina promised.

"Alright, go back to your room and play."

Nathan patted his daughter's back, signaling her to go play with her own things.

"Oh."

Tina looked a bit reluctant, but she still obediently returned to her room.

"That was my daughter just now, please excuse the intrusion."

After Tina left, Nathan looked at Yun Mu, who was standing outside the door.

"Not at all, it was my visit that was a bit abrupt," Yun Mu replied politely.

"Eh, you are..."

Hearing Yun Mu's voice, Nathan suddenly felt it sounded familiar.

Soon, he recalled what had happened in the morning.

"Are you that new employee from the Sisilaiya Cafe?" he asked with some surprise.

"It is me."

Yun Mu first nodded, then took out the Senior Painter Certification Medal of the Painter Association from her bosom.

"So that's how it is."

Upon seeing the medal in her hand, the other party immediately understood everything.

"Come in and let's talk."

Nathan invited Yun Mu into the room and had her sit on the sofa in his living room.

"Is green tea okay?"

Nathan picked up the kettle on the table and poured a cup of clear green tea for each of them.

This was something he had already brewed for himself, and it just so happened that Yun Mu had arrived at this moment.

"Anything is fine."

Yun Mu answered casually.

"Then let's get to the point."

Nathan sat opposite her, his expression suddenly becoming somewhat serious, and he asked her: "You should know my requirements, right?"

"Honestly..." Yun Mu shook her head and said, "I'm not quite sure."

"The commission only said it had to be related to painting, but there are too many things related to painting."

Pausing, she continued: "At the very least, you should make it clear what you want to do."

"This..."

Perhaps because Yun Mu was the first person to take the initiative to ask him what he actually wanted, a look of hesitation appeared on Nathan's face.

After a long while, he finally spoke: "Actually... I don't know what I want either."

You don't even know what you want yourself?

Yun Mu was speechless.

Could it be that this was some kind of task from above that forced him to do it?

But the problem was that he was the editor-in-chief of the Frostfall City Weekly; the person above the editor-in-chief would be...

But if that were really the case, Nathan wouldn't need to hesitate; wouldn't it be fine to just find any decent piece and publish it in the newspaper?

"Daddy just misses Mommy."

"Daddy is just a crybaby!"

Tina poked her head out from the room behind them at some point, clutching a worn-out teddy bear in her arms, her voice trembling as she said:

"Mom doesn't want Tina anymore, because Tina is not a good child."

"Tina." Neisen stood up helplessly and came before Tina.

"I said, Mom just left because she had something to do." He stroked the girl's hair and said.

"Liar!"

Tina shook off Neisen's hand and ducked back into her room without looking back.

"Dad is a big liar!"

As the words fell, the door to Tina's room was shut, and the entire living room fell into a deathly silence.

"Sigh."

After a good while, Neisen let out a faint sigh.

He sat back down before Yun Mu with a somewhat weary expression.

"Pardon the scene," he said.

"My wife passed away more than two months ago. Tina doesn't understand anything; she just thinks her mom doesn't want her because she doesn't like her."

"This..."

Yun Mu hesitated for a moment, then braced herself to ask: "So, this commission has to do with your wife, right?"

"Yes."

Neisen admitted it quite openly this time, saying: "My wife was also a painter. Before she passed away, she told me she wanted to prepare a surprise for me."

He rubbed the ring on his ring finger, his expression somewhat reminiscent as he said: "I don't know what the surprise she prepared for me is, only that it has to do with Painting."

"In my room, there is a work of hers that remains unfinished, but..."

"Sigh, you'll know once you come and take a look with me."

Neisen led Yun Mu to push open the door to his room.

After walking into the room, Yun Mu noticed many photographs hanging on the wall, most of which were pictures of a young Neisen together with another Young Girl.

And in the first photo where Tina appeared, the wife, who had already become a mother, seemed to have a somewhat pale complexion, and Neisen's expression also looked like he was forcing a smile.

"When Tina was one year old, my wife unfortunately contracted tuberculosis."

Noticing Yun Mu observing the photos on the wall, Neisen said with a sorrowful expression.

"Those damn factories in the Royal Capital, releasing thick smoke without a moment's rest!"

"All these years, I have often wondered if I had moved away from the Royal Capital and come to Frostfall City earlier, would the outcome have been different."

"It is precisely because I was affected by the Royal Capital that I often appeal in the newspapers to reduce the volume of factory smoke emissions."

"Unfortunately." Neisen shook his head.

"Those capitalists don't care about my voice at all. If it weren't for that Fog City Smog Case that happened in the Royal Capital two years ago, I fear Frostfall City would have followed in the Royal Capital's footsteps."

PS: A familiar Fog City incident; those who know, know the real-world case.

Heral Calendar year 4241, August.

The Royal Capital of the Frost Kingdom was shrouded in an abnormal thick fog, and within a short span of five days, 26,000 people died.

Since then, the Frost Kingdom authorities have limited the smoke emission volume of all factories and popularized urban green belts on a large scale.

(End of chapter)