Chapter 920: Home (Part 2)

In the end, Xue Dili also told Fafnir the story of how Susu once fought side by side with him and wiped out the Demons, and after listening, Fafnir, perhaps out of a sense of shared misfortune or simple empathy, gradually stopped complaining about Susu.

“So, yeah, she’s a kid who never went to school, no one ever taught her, and she’s not used to living with family. As the big sister, you’ve got to cut her some slack.” Xue Dili smiled as he explained.

“I’m sorry, teacher…”

“It’s fine. Everyone has their own problems. When you live together, a few little frictions now and then are completely normal.” Xue Dili went on.

Fafnir, after dazing out for a good while, seemed to finally notice the Little Dragon Lady, and at once showed the smile a “big sister” ought to have, saying, “Spirit Dragon, did something make you unhappy?”

“Big Sis Fafnir, the village—the village is going to be gone…” The Little Dragon Lady still hadn’t figured things out. The moment Fafnir asked, the urge to cry surged up again.

“Huh? You mean they’re going to demolish the village? Spirit Dragon, that’s actually a pretty normal thing.” Seeing that the Little Dragon Lady was about to burst into tears, Fafnir hurried to comfort her.

“No, but why? The village is clearly so nice, why can’t it just stay…” The Little Dragon Lady seemed really stubborn about this, or maybe she just couldn’t understand why the village had to be torn down.

Fafnir started to panic a little; she had no idea how to comfort a child. After all, nobody ever comforted her when she was little either—she just cried and cried until she got used to it.

“Uwaah… is it time to eat?” At this moment, the door of the room next door opened, and Susu walked out holding a flower pot, with her younger daughter Xue Lingshu growing inside.

Actually, there were still extra rooms in the house, it’s just that there was probably too much junk piled up in them and they’d have to be cleared out. Judging from the current situation, Susu was simply squeezing into one room with the two girls…

And from the looks of it, she seemed very happy about it, even sleeping with the younger daughter in her arms.

Xue Dili paused, then understood—after all, Susu also had all sorts of tangled connections with the Divine Tree, so feeling a natural closeness when she got near Xue Lingshu was only normal.

As soon as she caught Xue Dili’s voice, the just-awakened Susu instantly shook off all sleepiness, and when she realized she’d just gotten up and hadn’t had time to fix her appearance—her hair a bird’s nest, probably still with drool marks on her cheeks—she immediately put down the flower pot and shot into the bathroom like a streak of smoke.

Xue Dili: “…”

This was Problem Child No. 4.

Fafnir was Problem Child No. 1, the Little Dragon Lady No. 2, Xue Lingshu No. 3. Now they had a No. 4, and odds were Chaos was going to be Problem Child No. 5.

This family was really something else…

The younger daughter seemed to wake up too. When she saw Xue Dili, she quietly pulled herself out of the flower pot, then happily toddled over to him and hugged him, body still damp and smeared with soil.

“Daddy, you’re back. I can sense my main body too. Are we going to have a roast bug feast today?”

Xue Dili: “…”

Absolutely not necessary. Xue Dili would rather gnaw on bread alone than eat bugs, and also, you’re covered in dirt and just left a huge muddy patch on my clothes…

Forget it, she’s my own little girl after all…

Xue Dili didn’t mind. He reached out to rub her hair—damp, as if someone had just watered her.

“Alright, alright, go wash up, it’s almost time to eat.” Auntie came out carrying a big pot of tomato and egg soup and set it on the table.

Susu came out of the bathroom too; she seemed to have taken a shower, put on a bit of light makeup, and changed into something like a school uniform. Her pointy ears of the Elf Race were exposed, and she looked like some sweet Elf girl as she chirped, “Good morning, Brother Li!”

Xue Dili checked his phone. It was 6 p.m.

This Elf was beyond saving—it wasn’t just a mild case of heatstroke anymore.

Also, they’d been living together for this long already, so this manic woman really didn’t need to act like some sweet girl; it wasn’t any fun.

Xue Dili muttered inwardly.

Seeing the confusion and weirdness in Xue Dili’s gaze, Susu just awkwardly kept up the “sweetgirl smile” she’d learned from the Internet. Then she noticed the Little Dragon Lady’s bad mood and asked, “What’s got Little Spirit Dragon so down again?”

“Auntie, the village is going to be gone…”

“The village?” Susu blinked, then realized which place they meant. She glanced at the bustling commercial complex across the road and scratched her head. “That’s totally normal. I’m guessing it’s that big-shot mall owner across the street who’s having it torn down. I mean, everything around here is thriving city blocks—keeping this village here in the middle is what’s not normal.”

“Why is Auntie saying the same thing? Can’t the village just stay?” The Little Dragon Lady clutched tightly at Xue Dili, eyes full of stubborn unwillingness.

Seeing that look in his daughter’s eyes, Xue Dili understood.

Maybe he, as an adult, had taken too much for granted. To the Little Dragon Lady, this village was probably what “home” meant in her heart.

She was likely the child most attached to this village. After all, when she was first born, she’d only spent a few days on the wilderness of Dragon Star with Xue Dili and the Old Demon Emperor, building a house together with Obsidian, Bai Ya, and the others.

After that, the Little Dragon Lady moved into this home, and from then on, more than 90% of her life and memories were spent within this village.

To her, this village was the anchor point of the concept of “home,” a vessel where she placed her idea of “hometown.”

Even though she wasn’t born in this village, almost all of her memories since she could remember were of this place.

So now that the village was about to be torn down, the one who hurt the most was definitely her.

Because this place had already become the “native soil” she used to anchor her own identity.

For everyone else, though—Fafnir might look tiny, but she was actually nearly an adult, and she was more attached to him than to the village. As for Xue Lingshu, her main body spent most of her time either planted in the Consciousness Space or temporarily guest-starring as World Consciousness back in Susu’s hometown.

For Auntie, she’d only lived in this home a little over ten years; compared to her three thousand years of wandering, that stretch of time didn’t amount to much.

Susu felt it even less—living here or in a school dorm was all the same to her.

Only the Little Dragon Lady and Xue Dili might genuinely feel nostalgic about this village.

But Xue Dili was a rational person. He knew the demolition of the village was the general trend, and he’d already learned back in middle school that it was going to be torn down, so he’d long since prepared himself to move into the new relocation housing.

In the end, it was only his own Little Dragon Lady—who had spent almost her whole life in this village—who was truly heartbroken about the demolition.

At that moment, Xue Dili stopped brushing her off and spoke a bit more seriously: “Xue Linglong, you should be able to figure some things out by now. What is it you actually want to keep? The way the village looks now, or the people in it? Or maybe those cats and dogs you’re familiar with?”

Hearing Xue Dili call her by her full name, the Little Dragon Lady shrank her neck; being called by your full name by a parent never feels good. But she still stubbornly said, “Can… can’t we keep everything? The village is fine as it is, isn’t it?”

“But those grandpas and grandmas you know so well—they probably don’t want to stay in the village anymore.”

“You might not have noticed it, but let me tell you: right now, more than half the houses in the village are being rented out to strangers. Those strangers live here for a few years, sometimes just a few months, and then a whole new batch takes their place.” Xue Dili continued.

“I…”

“Down the line—maybe in a few years—there might be almost no one you recognize living in the village. Over 80% of the people will have moved out, and this place will just be left as a rental area. By then, would you still want to stay in the village? Or do you want to keep everyone from leaving, to stop them all from going?” Xue Dili pressed gently.

The Little Dragon Lady fell silent and lowered her head.

“Why do people have to leave…” His eldest daughter’s eyes were puzzled. She understood that if everyone left, maybe she wouldn’t want this village anymore either.

“Because they want a better life. They want to chase a better tomorrow.” Xue Dili smiled, stroking his daughter’s head.

“We can’t stop other people from going after a better tomorrow.” Xue Dili pulled her into his arms and set her on his lap.

“Let’s eat.” Xue Dili smiled, easing the mood a little.

“Daddy, how long are you staying this time? Or are you going to leave again right away?” The Little Dragon Lady tilted her head up, her little dragon horns pressing against Xue Dili’s chin.

“I might have to go out and take care of something tomorrow, but I’ll be back soon.”

“Then will you come home for dinner tomorrow too?”

“I will.”