Chapter 636: Is What I Saw Real?

Within Enna's family's gaze.

The door was pushed open.

A woman walked in, tall and beautiful, no different from a pretty girl of the Human World.

She wore a dark long dress, her hair casually draped over her shoulders, a smile on her face.

Her gaze swept the room, lingering a moment on Enna, a moment on Xi Ge Li De, a moment on Alf, and finally settling on Ying Ge's face, lingering a little longer.

Then she withdrew her gaze, walked to Yu Lin's side, pulled out a chair and sat down, moving as naturally as if she were at home.

"What expression is that?"

She looked at the helplessness on Yu Lin's face, smiled and said, "Not welcoming me? When you first went to my place, I didn't chase you away."

Yu Lin looked at her and twitched the corner of his mouth.

"You eat," he turned his head toward Ying Ge, "Ying Ge, go get a bowl, a fork, and a spoon and bring them over."

"Alright!"

Ying Ge jumped down from the chair, ran to the kitchen, fetched a bowl and a fork, and placed them in front of Haila.

Her eyes kept fixed on Haila's face, from the moment she entered to sitting, from sitting to taking the bowl, never looking away.

Haila also stared at her, eyes slightly narrowed, as if assessing something.

Then she turned her head toward Enna.

"Is this your daughter?"

Enna's brows twitched slightly.

He didn't know this woman, didn't know where she came from, didn't know what relation she had with Yu Lin.

But Yu Lin recognized her; she seemed very familiar.

So he nodded.

"Yes."

"Is there any problem?"

Haila smiled faintly, "Very cute."

Then she closed her mouth and said nothing more.

But Yu Lin heard her voice at his ear; his lips didn't move, yet the voice was crystal clear.

"Not like their child."

Yu Lin watched Ying Ge return carrying the bowl, and set it in front of Haila.

He raised an eyebrow.

"What's the matter?"

Haila's voice continued to echo at his ear, her lips still unmoving.

"Doesn't look alike."

"Anything else?"

"Nothing more."

"That's it?"

"Right."

"Fine then," Yu Lin didn't press further, picked up his chopsticks, plucked a piece of fish meat, and placed it into Haila's bowl.

"Here, try my cooking."

Haila lowered her head to look at the fish piece in the bowl, a hint of surprise on her face.

She opened her mouth to say something, but Yu Lin had already stuck a piece of meat into his own mouth, chewed twice, and muttered indistinctly, "My cooking is still that good."

"Eat quickly, eat quickly."

Haila looked at him, swallowed the words that reached her lips, picked up the fish piece, and took a bite.

She chewed, then nodded.

"Delicious."

The meal was lively.

Ying Ge occasionally stole glances at Haila, and Haila sometimes glanced back, her gaze faint, revealing nothing of what she was thinking.

Enna and Xi Ge Li De spoke little, only occasionally asking Yu Lin a question, which Yu Lin answered; Haila stayed silent, eating quietly, occasionally looking up at this or that.

Alf finished his portion, then added another bowl; after finishing that, he added another, until his belly was round, clearly very satisfied with Yu Lin's cooking.

But as he kept eating, he finished the plate of meat before him, feeling a bit embarrassed, and stopped taking more meat,

Yu Lin looked at him, smiled, and pushed his own plate of meat over.

"No problem, there's plenty of meat, eat more."

"Come, the young lad is still growing."

Alf nodded, laughing, "Alright, thanks, big brother Yu!"

Until after the meal.

Enna led Alf out the door.

They took their tools and weapons, went hunting, went chopping wood, did the things a family must do to make a living.

After all, they couldn't rely on Yu Lin forever.

Xi Ge Li De collected the bowls and chopsticks into a wooden basin, carried the basin to the riverbank.

Ying Ge squatted in the courtyard, holding that branch, drawing on the ground.

Haila stepped out of the house and lay down beside Yu Lin.

Yu Lin reclined on the old lounge chair by the doorway, hands behind his head, squinting as he basked in the sun.

The sunlight was warm and gentle, shining on his face, his expression very relaxed, like a cat that has had enough sun.

Haila lay beside him, without a lounge chair, directly on the stone slab in front of the door, one hand propping her head, turned sideways, her gaze falling on Ying Ge.

The little girl squatted in the middle of the courtyard, using a branch to draw a circle on the ground, then inside the circle she drew several winding lines, like a river, like a branch, and yet like nothing at all.

She drew very seriously, pausing after each stroke to look, tilting her head to think, then drawing the next stroke.

Haila watched for a while, then turned her head to look at Yu Lin.

He closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, not knowing what he was thinking, nor whether he was asleep.

Haila furrowed her brows.

She didn't believe that Yu Lin had noticed nothing.

The girl's eyes, the child's visage, that face bearing no resemblance to Enna or Xi Ge Li De at all, and then some............ hmm.

She could see it, and Yu Lin surely could see it too.

But he didn't speak, and she didn't feel comfortable asking.

She lay down, closed her eyes, sunlight fell on her face, warm and gentle.

Time passed slowly.

The sun slid from the zenith to the west, the light shifting from white to gold, then from gold to orange-red.

The clouds in the sky were thin, dyed by the sunset into layers—deep red, light red, orange-yellow, pale purple—as if someone had brushed a few strokes with a paintbrush across the heavens, then a few more, brushing lightly, brushing slowly.

The distant mountains were shrouded in dusk, no longer the clear outlines of daytime, turning into a dark silhouette, their edges lined with a thin, bright gold rim.

The old tree in the courtyard was stretched by the sunset into a long shadow, extending from its roots past the fence wall, like a silent person lying on the ground, motionless and speechless.

The wind stopped, the birds fell silent, the whole world grew quiet, like a painting just finished, the paint still not dry.

Haila opened her eyes, gazing at that expanse of orange-red sky.

She didn't know what she was waiting for.

Perhaps she was waiting for him to speak, perhaps for night to fall, perhaps for nothing at all.

She simply lay there, watching the sky, feeling the coolness from the stone slab seep into her back bit by bit.

Yu Lin spoke.

"You say, is the dusk seen by the eyes the true dusk?"

His voice was not loud, very soft, as if he were talking to himself, yet also as if he were asking a question whose answer he already knew.

Haila suddenly turned her head, looking at him.

He still had his eyes closed, the corners of his mouth still upturned, that lazy expression unchanged.

But she knew he wasn't just talking to himself.

She stared at him for a long time.

Until the last sliver of light on the horizon sank away, twilight surged from all directions, enveloping the whole world in a gray-blue shadow.

The old oak tree in the courtyard could no longer be made out, the distant mountains also blurred, and on the spot where Ying Ge had squatted only a vague smudge remained, blown away by the wind.

Only then did Haila speak, her face full of resignation:

"You've figured it out, huh? Then why are you pretending with me over there?"

Yu Lin opened his eyes and smiled, saying:

"Because I like being a riddle person."