Chapter 48
After a few seconds of silence, Yomi’s little head was half lifted by Anxius. Then a brand-new glass tube full of liquid was opened and held to his lips.
Yomi knew it was the nutrient solution he had drunk before. Feeling a little shy, he opened his mouth and took a sip. The nutrient solution was not very sweet; it tasted light and refreshing. He did not dare drink too much. The moment his mouth felt moistened, he immediately turned his head away. “…Thank you. You’re so nice.”
“…”
The eyes beneath the bandages gazed at him. His breathing grew shallower, and he gently tipped the nutrient solution in his hand toward Yomi’s mouth again.
…Still giving him more? How embarrassing. Yomi shook his head with fake politeness. But after being force-fed another sip, he immediately adopted the expression of You don’t like drinking it? Fine, then I’ll help you finish it, and after a few gulps, drained the whole thing.
He licked his lips, then quickly shrank back into the blankets.
Facts proved that once a person got lazy, it really could become addictive.
Yomi did not know that his body had been affected by his skill. Recently, he loved eating, yet his stamina and energy were not as good as before. He had assumed it was simply because of the harsh winter here.
The next day, while he and the others were tidying the sheds beside the farm, Yomi found a sack of stored chestnuts inside. More than half of them were still good and edible.
The idling crowd suddenly had a new activity. Whenever they had nothing to do, they gathered around the stove to roast chestnuts.
The weather was cold, while the area around the stove was warm and cozy. Peeling open the split shells, eating sweet, hot chestnuts, then taking a sip of hot tea—Yomi was practically becoming dizzy with comfort.
Recently, Anxius had knitted him a scarf. It could cover all of Yomi’s neck and half his face. Yomi wore it wherever he went. When he got too warm from eating, he would take the scarf off and use it as a little blanket, then lie in the chair to rest.
It was a normal-sized wooden chair, but to Yomi, it was the size of a lounge chair, more than enough to fit his entire body stretched out on it.
When Lynn and the others saw that he always narrowed his eyes and dozed off after eating, they immediately started exchanging looks and lining up to sneak over and rock his chair.
Before long, the wooden chair had turned into a rocking chair. Yomi, lying in the rocking chair, was not afraid. He knew his little friends were only teasing him, so he hummed contentedly and enjoyed it.
And so, whenever Anxius, who had not seen Yomi for a long while, slowly came over while holding on to the wall, he would find his little treasure being fussed over by a whole group of tall, strong young men, all competing to rock the chair and lull him to sleep like they were playing house…
Sometimes they even argued:
“It’s obviously my turn!”
“You use too much strength—you’ll scare him awake!”
“I roasted chestnuts for all of you and poured tea for all of you all day. Let me rock him a little longer, okay?”
Anxius: “…”
Yomi had no idea that this winter, because of his sleepiness, he would become a Sleeping Beauty fought over by a group of stay-at-home boys.
A few days later, Yexi and his wife visited several local households near the farm and gained a basic understanding of the area. After confirming that they really could live here long-term, the couple led everyone in clearing out the farm cellar, pushed the starship—shrunken down to the size of an aircraft—inside, and finally locked the cellar door.
This was a sign that they would not be leaving anytime soon.
Another few days passed, and both Anxius and Karl had recovered well enough that they no longer needed constant watching.
The household had used up quite a bit of food. Yomi decided to make a trip to the market. Aside from stocking up, he also wanted to learn more about the market itself and make plans for future reemployment.
Back when he was still on Snar, Yomi had received a great deal of help. Now that they had come to Junk Star, where the living conditions were comparatively harsher, he wanted to do whatever he could to help the people around him live good lives too.
Little Yomi had big ambitions!
After hearing this, Yexi insisted on going along with them. After all, it was the children’s first time going out here, in a completely unfamiliar place. How could he possibly feel at ease just letting them go on their own?
In the end, Linda stayed behind with the two inconvenient-to-move patients, while Yexi took the children out to get familiar with the surroundings and stock up on goods.
They set out at daybreak. All six of them put on dusty gray cloaks, which Yexi had bought earlier from the town. They were the common local windproof cloaks. Wearing them would not attract attention.
The temperature outside was low, and everyone was bundled up thickly. Yomi wore his puffed-up padded jacket, along with his scarf and the white knitted hat and gloves Anxius had recently made for him. After that came the cloak. Once he yawned, the only parts of him still visible were two wet, shining eyes.
Yexi led them out of the farm, borrowed an ox cart from a nearby farmer, and headed for the market.
Yexi drove the cart in front, while the five young men sat on the jolting flatbed, excitedly looking left and right. Sometimes, when a wild beast ran through the mountains and fields, all of them would cry out in delight. Only Yomi wore a worried expression. “Won’t that kind of beast come chasing the cart?” The appearance of a beast as big as a tiger was enough to make anyone uneasy.
Hearing this, Yexi immediately laughed. “That would be perfect. There are so many of us here—we’d catch it right away, then take it to the market and trade it for all sorts of things!”
Yomi turned his head and sized up the companions around him, all much larger than himself, then glanced at their undeniably monster-like features… He really had been worrying too much!
Once they arrived, Yexi left the ox cart in a place similar to a parking lot. There were many cars and bicycles there, but there were also plenty of ox carts and horse carts. It looked as though vehicles from completely different eras had all gathered in one place.
Yomi and the others barely had time to marvel before their attention was pulled toward the market ahead.
It was extremely lively there. The stalls were numerous and very neatly arranged. The goods for sale were dazzling in variety—food, daily supplies, even medicine. There were even quack doctors who simply set up a stall and treated people on the spot…
After walking around for a while, Yomi came to one conclusion about the place: a lawless land.
There was no standard at all for the prices of goods. If you did not want to be fleeced, you had to look around more.
As they passed a toy stall, Yomi glanced over several times. Most of the toys there were handmade: things like wooden horses and spinning tops. There were also a few refined-looking dolls that seemed secondhand, likely bought cheaply from Snar natives.
Yexi stopped at a medicinal herb stall opposite the toy stall, pointed out several ingredients, and began bargaining with the owner.
Yomi listened attentively, patiently learning the art of haggling. He had come carrying cash—money Anxius had given him the night before.
Anxius had left behind a sum of Junk Star currency at the farm, all locked away in a cabinet. Last night, he had handed that cabinet over to Yomi.
After taking it, Yomi had consciously taken on the role of accountant and immediately pulled out a little notebook to start recording expenses.
Seeing what was on his mind, Anxius went silent for a moment. “This is your own money. You don’t need to spend it on other people. There’s a separate sum with Yexi and his wife for the farm’s group expenses…” When he saw the puzzled eyes staring at him, he awkwardly added, “Mimi’s wages for the last month were never settled. This is your money.”
…If it was his own money, that made things even easier. If he used shared household funds to start a business, he would always worry about losses. But with his own money, he could go all in! Yomi happily continued writing in his notebook.
Anxius: “…”
Here at the market, Yomi was seriously learning the techniques of Junk Star bargaining, without realizing that a group of people were surrounding them and staring. It was Lynn who first noticed something was wrong. In a low voice, he said, “A lot of people are watching us.”
Yexi instantly grew alert. Turning his head, he saw that sure enough, the boss of the stall opposite them and several customers were staring at them… no, staring at Yomi!
Just as Yexi was about to lead everyone away, the stall owner hurried over and blocked them. “Big brother, don’t go yet. Um… may I ask how much that lifelike doll you brought costs? Are you selling it?”
A doll?
Yomi turned his head from side to side: where was there a lifelike doll?
Yexi realized these people had mistaken Yomi for a lifelike doll and was completely speechless. But he also relaxed—he had just been scared badly enough that his hands were shaking.
The stall owner meant no harm. He truly had thought Yexi was out trying to sell a lifelike doll. Many of the dolls on his own stall had indeed been purchased cheaply from some of the exiled Snar natives. After being banished from Snar, those people would come here carrying a lot of luggage, and in the end, because of poverty, they would sell off some of their belongings.
But at a glance, this doll looked like a premium item—not only could it move, its eyes were lively too. It looked like a living person! They had never seen such a beautiful doll before.
“Not for sale. This isn’t a doll, it’s my family’s child!” Yexi said with a highly offended look.
After the stall owner apologized, Yexi picked Yomi up and quickly strode away.
After this little incident, Lynn, Meikai, and the others all became much more cautious too. They were suddenly terrified of running into kidnappers who might try to steal Yomi. So after Yomi was set down, they all huddled around him nervously like a group of bodyguards.
Once the misunderstanding about the doll was cleared up, nobody paid much more attention to the small-sized boy. After all, this was a place where exiles from many intelligent planets ended up. Besides Snar natives and Junk Star locals, there were occasionally odd-looking aliens too. People might glance over a couple of times at first, but soon enough went back to minding their own business and selling goods.
Yomi’s side, meanwhile, launched into a frenzy of shopping.
He and Meikai were responsible for picking items and bargaining, while the others behind them stuffed the goods into sacks and slung them over their backs.
Yomi bought a batch of cold-resistant vegetable seeds. Winter would not be ending soon, and they could not always keep buying vegetables to eat. They also needed to grow some themselves.
Once spring arrived, he even planned to buy some chicks and ducklings to raise back home…
After buying a batch of grain, oil, salt, and other daily necessities, Yomi happily ran off to buy yarn.
Anxius lay in bed knitting things every day. Yomi had assumed it was simply a way for him to pass the time, so out of the goodness of his heart, he bought Anxius a batch of brightly colored balls of yarn—enough to keep Anxius knitting for an entire winter!
The rest of them all looked like they wanted to say something but stopped themselves.
If they had not known Yomi well, they might really have thought he was taking advantage of the fallen Crown Prince of the Empire and forcing him into labor.
Several hours later, everything on the shopping list had been bought. Yomi had spent quite a bit of the cash he brought, and by all logic he had already gone over budget. But when he passed a snack stall, his eyes still could not help darting over a few more times.
The moment Yexi saw him, he knew the child was craving something. He was only eighteen after all. What eighteen-year-old did not like snacks? So he went over and bought several large bags of candied fruit, fried potato chips, and biscuits.
Yomi hurriedly tried to stop him, remembering to call him by his fake name. “Coconut, don’t buy so much. We can make them ourselves when we get back.”
Yexi only smiled and shook his head. “We won’t be coming out often in winter. This isn’t too much. We’ll finish it quickly enough.”
Yomi hurried to pay for it, but he was too short. By the time he tiptoed up, Yexi had already beaten him to it.
With the major shopping finished, it was time to head to the internet shed. Yexi wanted to get online and check on the general situation of the Snar royal family. When they got back, he would have to report it to Anxius.
He led the young men over to the large shed in the distance, paid one hour of internet fees for each of them, and then everyone carried their bulging sacks to find connected stools and sit down together in a circle while guarding their goods and going online.
Yomi did not have a sack on his back; he carried a large backpack instead. After sitting down, he placed it in front of himself. Everyone was pressed close together, which gave him a very strong sense of security.
While waiting to get connected, Yomi secretly looked around this “internet café.” There were even fewer Snar natives here than he had expected. They barely used Snar software at all—mostly downloading movies or games, or chatting online with locals… The Snar natives who had been exiled here no longer felt they had any chance of returning. News from Snar was something they neither cared about nor wanted to hear.
Yomi downloaded a whole batch of videos on agriculture, livestock breeding, and farm management, as well as all kinds of practical farm tips, plus a few games. Only then did he log into Snar’s network domain with his new account.
The war on Snar had already stopped. The invading warships had all been dealt with, and the entire process had gone very smoothly.
Under the excuse of mourning Anxius, the Emperor was temporarily choosing not to appoint a new Crown Prince. The netizens had little reaction to this, because in their eyes, Joseph would sooner or later become Crown Prince anyway. Snar natives had long lifespans, so there was no need to rush.
Still, the sudden invasion by the Feizhi aliens had caused the deaths of several soldiers and civilians, and some people had vanished without a trace.
Yomi saw this and realized that they were among those who had “vanished without a trace.” They had probably already been entered onto the list of the dead.
Thinking of that, he clicked into the homepage of his old Daily Mi account.
Just as he expected, everyone thought he was dead.
Under the newest stinky tofu update, the comments were full of mourning and crying emojis.
It made him feel miserable, and he quickly exited the page.
Over on the other side, Meikai was also using a new account to check news about Snar.
He entered the forum he used to frequent all the time, and the moment he opened it, he was stunned speechless.
The entire forum was filled with posts about Yomi:
[I heard even Yomi’s body was reduced to dust. So pitiful.]
[The Feizhi aliens appeared so suddenly this time. Too hateful! Poor Yomi happened to be near the attack. The shopping mall area was bombarded badly, and all the surveillance was destroyed. We don’t even know where Yomi died in the end…]
[Can’t they keep searching?]
[The Feizhi warship was also hit by His Highness Joseph’s warship over the shopping mall and crashed there. Aside from the underground shelter, the entire shopping mall turned to ashes. Forget Yomi, who never made it into the shelter—even the aliens on the warship were reduced to ashes… In that situation, there’s no way any remains could be found.]
Meikai bit his lip and kept reading.
This forum had originally been very obscure. It had only become popular because of Yomi, and most of the people on it were Yomi’s fans. Nearly every bit of news about Yomi could be found there.
After Snar returned to peace, some people began organizing funeral rites for Yomi.
Because Yomi had no family, after hearing of his death, his fans voluntarily bought him a grave plot in a cemetery on the outskirts. It was not a large plot, but for Yomi’s body size, it ought to count as a luxurious grave.
Photos from the memorial day had spread online.
Placed in front of the gravestone was the little cat doll Yomi had first given to his fans.
The fans had come with flowers and tea eggs to mourn him, and every one of them was crying terribly.
Besides that, there was another related news item. A reporter had interviewed a disabled Snar native who had been in the same shopping mall as Yomi when the warship appeared.
Because of Yomi’s interactions with the disabled Louis in Different Is Fine Too, the man had projected himself into Louis’s place and grown to like Yomi. That day he had gone to the mall intending to see him… and then that disaster happened…
“There was a shelter near the shopping mall. Everyone reacted quickly, so basically everyone was saved…” The disabled Snar native’s eyes were red as he choked on his words. “After I entered the shelter, I looked for Yomi the whole time, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t find him… Later someone said that the little guy ran slowly and seemed to have been shoved down by the crowd. He probably died… I—I didn’t believe it. When it was finally safe and I went outside, all I saw was a pile of ruins… He was so small. How did he get through that in the end…” The man broke down into sobs.
Meikai could not bear to keep reading. Even though he knew Yomi was perfectly alive and well, as a hardcore fan, the moment he imagined the scene the man described, he could not help but tear up too.
Thank goodness they were all still alive.
At this moment he felt especially grateful that he had chosen to climb onto that aircraft in the first place. Otherwise, he might have ended up just like those people, convinced that Yomi had left the world forever.
As he read further down, after the fans confirmed that the other several members of the stinky tofu cooking team had also gone completely missing, they naturally understood that all of them must have died in the same disaster. So they built four new graves beside Yomi’s, hoping that this way, the few of them would not be lonely underground.
Other than Meikai, the rest of Mimi’s cooking team naturally saw their own graves on Snar too. After exchanging looks, none of them said a word.
Placed in their shoes, no one could laugh.
…To those kind strangers, thank you. If fate allowed, perhaps one day in this lifetime they would return. Hopefully, they would meet again.
After calming himself, Yomi added Bruel’s account as a random netizen. He even gave himself a name that could not possibly arouse suspicion at first glance:
AAA Farm — Premium Goats Available for Reservation
Bruel had been bored to death lately, spending every day just goofing around online. The moment he saw the new account name, he knew it was Yomi, and immediately asked:
[How are the goats?]
Yomi was equally clever with the code words:
[They’re all very healthy. How have you been lately? Want a few?]
[I’ve been getting heaty recently. Next time, bring me one nice fat goat!]
[Okay! ^-^]
After confirming with Bruel that everyone was safe, the time was up. New customers were already waiting for his stool, so Yomi shut off his optical brain, moved his butt aside, and went out together with his companions.
As they passed a fragrant roasted sweet potato stall, Yomi bought each person a steaming hot roasted sweet potato. He also bought three extra to bring back for the people at home.
The cloaked young men loaded the sacks onto the ox cart, lifted Yomi up first, then all jumped onto the cart one after another and sat close together while eating roasted sweet potatoes. The ox cart swayed and rumbled forward. Yomi failed to hold his sweet potato properly, lurched forward, and the soft, sticky sweet potato smeared all over his mouth. When he lifted his head, he saw all the boys staring at him.
With a mouth covered in yellow-orange sweet potato, Yomi smiled and said, “I’m playing with sweet potatoes. You all should try it too.” He really was good at patching things up for himself.
The few of them looked at one another, then burst out laughing in perfect unison.
Yomi quickly wiped his mouth, blushing.
When they got back, Yomi discovered that his cheeks were a little red. This time it really was not from embarrassment. His cheeks felt cool to the touch, yet they were still so red.
The moment Linda saw him, she understood at once. “Your skin is delicate. You’re not like those several rough-skinned boys—once their cheeks crack red, you can’t even tell… It’s fine. This is perfectly normal. The first year I came to Junk Star, both Yexi and I got frostbite on our faces. From now on, you need to apply anti-freeze balm regularly.”
As she spoke, Linda gave everyone a box of anti-freeze balm, reminding them to apply it every day. Otherwise, once they got frostbite, it would be miserable.
It was almost bedtime. Holding his own and Anxius’s box of anti-freeze balm, Yomi went into the room. “Anxius, this is yours. Once your bandages come off, remember to put it on every day.” He placed Anxius’s box on the table.
Anxius had heard the conversation from earlier while still in the room. After staring at Yomi’s face for a while, he beckoned him closer.
Yomi walked over. “What is it?”
The lighting here was poor. Anxius said, “Let me see your face.”
Yomi thought he was simply curious about his red cheeks, so he bent down and offered his face over. “It’s just red cracked skin. When I was online today, I didn’t keep my scarf on properly. It’ll be fine after I put on some anti-freeze balm.”
The other man lowered his eyes and looked at Yomi’s cheeks, lips pressed tightly together.
Once Yomi had turned his face around to show off his red cheeks, he went to wash up. When he returned, Anxius still was not asleep. He had apparently gotten out of bed, and now he was holding a box of anti-freeze balm.
Yomi had just come out of the bath and felt chilly in his pajamas, so he immediately dove into the blankets and leaned against Anxius’s body, which was warm like a stove.
There came the sound of rustling from above him. Yomi lifted his head in confusion, then immediately stared in shock. “What are you doing?”
Anxius was actually tearing the bandages off his hand!
“…Don’t move.”
Just as Yomi was about to sit up, one pale hand lightly touched his cheek. That hand soon withdrew, took a wet wipe, and carefully wiped itself several times. After that, it opened the anti-freeze balm, scooped some out, and applied it to Yomi’s face.
The force used while rubbing his face was just right. From time to time, the hand would move down from his cheeks to massage his neck and the base of his neck as well. Before long, Yomi had been rubbed to the point of dizziness. This massage was far too genuine. It was really hard for him to resist. Yet his mouth still kept saying, “The bandages… can they really come off already? Shouldn’t you be resting properly? Is this really okay?”
Anxius’s voice was low and muffled. “My hand is already healed. If it can knit sweaters, why can’t it apply cream to your face?”
Yomi: That sounded strangely reasonable.
“Does it feel good?” Anxius asked.
“It does…” Yomi’s voice was very soft. It felt so good he practically wanted to roll around. His eyes, which had been slightly tired before, had grown moist from the massage, full of unspoken feeling.
At first, Yomi was enjoying it very much. But when he caught sight of the bandages still on Anxius’s body, it suddenly struck him that he was actually enjoying being served by a patient!
Then he thought further—when Anxius had been sick, he had barely let Yomi take care of him at all. Even things like medicinal baths and changing bandages at night, he had never let Yomi enter the bathroom for. Instead, while recovering, he had knitted all kinds of things for him… and now, when he ought to be resting, he was giving him a massage!
Seen this way, the role Yomi was playing seemed oddly like that of some kind of malicious caregiver.
His conscience suddenly awakening, Yomi guiltily tried to sit up. But the moment his body arched upward, those strong, powerful hands immediately pressed him back into the warm blankets. Anxius’s voice was hard and stern. “Don’t move around.”
Yomi, who had already been feeling lazy to begin with, felt his briefly awakened conscience retreat just like that:
Well, you said it.
In order not to be condemned by his own conscience, Yomi chose to shut his eyes.
The moment he did, he fell asleep not long after.
Twenty minutes later, Anxius saw Yomi, still asleep, swivel around like a compass, then stretch his little feet over again. A few seconds later, apparently dissatisfied that the soles of his feet were not being massaged too, he directly placed both feet right into Anxius’s palm.
“…” Anxius’s body stiffened as he tightly gripped those little feet.
Yomi: The footbath bucket in my dream is really impressive. It even has a massage function!
…
After half a night of top-class beauty massage, Yomi got up the next morning, washed up, and discovered in the mirror that the red cracking on his skin was gone. He did not know whether it was just his imagination, but his skin even seemed to have become soft enough to spring under a touch, like the bouncy, flawless skin of a skincare advertisement celebrity…
The feet that had been aching from walking the market yesterday no longer hurt either. His whole body felt light and refreshed!
What a magical massage technique~
Facing the mirror, Yomi tilted his head and pinched his own cheek, then secretly, in a most outrageously disrespectful way, marveled to himself:
After only one session, the results are already so obvious. Anxius’s hands are really skilled—he could go into beauty care!
