Chapter 208

Chapter 208: The Awakening of Magic, Little Sakura Knocks on the Door

The morning became gentle with laughter and playful teasing.

Chu Yuanqing hugged the shy cat, who was on the verge of tears. Her youthful face shone with maternal warmth, and even the lantern, which had been buried deep in the snowy mountains, looked a bit pure white because of her good mood.

Unfortunately, this warm atmosphere did not last long.

This little animal became unhappy that its space was taken, starting to tremble slightly in frustration.

The curve of the Pure White Witch’s lips stiffened, her eyes flashing with embarrassment. She awkwardly hugged Liuli a little tighter, as if she wanted to calm the sulking lantern or simply relieve her own discomfort.

The shy green-eyed cat found comfort in the fragrant embrace. Her cute face nestled into the soft warmth, and the memories of yesterday’s sweet kiss overwhelmed her, causing her to start playfully nudging.

Chu Yuanqing felt troubled, caught in the middle. She stroked her long legs a few times and, unable to bear it any longer, pushed Liuli Cat back to her original seat.

Chu Yuanqing ignored the other person’s lingering expression. She held back the strange feeling in her body and tried hard to return to her serious self, saying earnestly:

"Liuli, you are not allowed to drink alcohol anymore. You can’t even have drinks with a little bit of alcohol."

Tang Liuli felt a bit sad upon hearing this. She had been thinking about secretly drinking a little alcohol at the next Mana Regeneration Day to impress Honey Qing, but now that plan was ruined.

But soon, the clever cat realized there was a brand new way to get around Honey Qing’s rules. She pretended to be very obedient and nodded, promising:

"I will be very obedient. I definitely won’t drink alcohol anymore; soda is much tastier than alcohol."

Chu Yuanqing thought Liuli looked very cute when she acted this way. She couldn’t help but pet her head, her fingers brushing through the smooth, cool strands of hair, and pinched her slightly chubby cheek, saying:

"But Liuli, you were really amazing yesterday. You looked beautiful and confident while roller skating. I really liked that side of you, just… if you could be a little less mischievous."

Tang Liuli was extremely happy after being petted and praised. She felt that she truly gained a lot yesterday, with Honey Qing’s favorability rating rising quickly, and she was completely unconcerned about that sneaky sakura girl!

Tang Liuli made a decision. She would work hard to become the sunny and cheerful person she was as a child, so that Honey Qing would like her even more. Besides, she had just understood a great truth of the universe.

That is, with her amazing talent—her absurdly high alcohol tolerance—she didn’t need to drink at all. Just eating a bowl of sweet rice balls or even high-quality liquor-filled chocolates could lift the spell of "please let the spirit come!"

The green-eyed cat completely ignored Chu Yuanqing’s words, "If only you weren’t so mischievous," feeling confident in her victory. Happy, she moved closer to snuggle against the other’s big, soft chest, becoming a clingy cat.

Unfortunately, Little Sakura noticed this "misdeed" right away.

Kirimi Miyuki was quick and immediately grabbed Tang Liuli by the back of her collar, lifting her like a cat by the scruff of her neck.

The girl looked back at her unhappily but didn’t dare to get angry. Instead, she cleverly sought refuge beside her cute daughter and threw a look of complaint at the annoying Sakura girl.

Kirimi Miyuki felt like she was being glared at. For a moment, she felt guilty about bullying a small creature. With no other choice, she ignored Liuli, took a sip of coffee, and continued eating.

—People shouldn’t stoop to the level of cats!

The breakfast drama came to an end.

The little idols began their journey for today.

It is now 7 a.m., and after everyone talked, the fun time will be from now until 2 p.m., a total of 7 hours, which is quite luxurious and enough to visit two attractions.

As for the remaining time, of course, they will return to the dance studio for practice. If nothing unexpected happens, they will train for 4 hours until 6 p.m. before going out to eat together.

Chu Yuanqing thinks this plan is very reasonable, but after leaving Vienna and completing several tasks to earn enough points, everyone will not be able to be so relaxed anymore.

After all, Dream Weaver Rabbit did not say how many performances there would be, but since they prepared three dance songs for each team, that means everyone needs to practice them well.

Over 45 days, this averages out to learning one dance song every two weeks, which is not enough for the little idols who aim for perfection, so they will have to work hard and make up for it.

In the morning, they went to Hofburg.

This building complex has special meaning for Vienna and even Austria.

The Summer Palace that Chu Yuanqing visited yesterday is the summer palace of the Habsburg family, while Hofburg is the winter palace. It covers at least 200,000 to 300,000 square meters, and there are 19 courtyards, making it truly a city within a city.

Right now, the president’s residence of Austria is located here.

Chu Yuanqing is quite interested in these. In her previous world, when she traveled around the globe, she could only see broken walls and ruins. Not to mention these ancient buildings that have weathered the years and have been repaired many times, even the concrete towers of the steel city had collapsed into desolate ruins.

The traces of civilization have been washed away by natural disasters, leaving behind a landscape of primitive wilderness.

Buildings like the Summer Palace and Hofburg, which hold great artistic and historical significance, can only be known through some books or from the words of elderly people.

As for returning to the new era, due to her state of mind and also because she has to take care of her daughter, she hardly had time to enjoy the famous sights in Daxia, so she naturally finds the attractions in the Sacred United Country very fresh and exciting.

Well, from this perspective, this old father and his daughter, both haven’t really seen much of the world.

Chu Wang Shu is full of enthusiasm. Although she did not study traditional Chinese painting, sculpture, or art design at Sea City Art University due to job concerns, she is still very interested in this scenery that gathers various architectural styles and showcases medieval aesthetics.

The little girl took on Kirimi Miyuki’s work from yesterday, responsible for taking videos with the camera. Looking at how serious she is, it’s clear she is very dedicated to the task assigned to her.

Along the way, she is earnestly playing the role of a tour guide, introducing the buildings along the route for her vlog.

Whether it is Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, or Neoclassical style from the late last century, she can recognize them accurately. She can also share many little pieces of knowledge about them. The attractions we pass by are also included in her introductions, and she carefully tells the stories behind them.

For example, the two bronze statues in Hero Square are memorials to whom, and why they are worth remembering.

For instance, the history of the Treasure Museum and the little church, as well as who designed the building of the National Library.

Chu Wang Shu must have done a lot of homework last night; she acted like a travel blogger who came out to make videos, quoting references and speaking confidently without any nervousness.

This made Little Sakura, who was next to her, feel very ashamed. When she tours, she only talks about how beautiful things are, lacking any professional awareness, which made her pictures seem bland and difficult to fit into a vlog. She felt a sense of gloom from being overshadowed by a top student.

The green-eyed cat felt social anxiety rise. When it was her turn to take the camera, she thought she would have to learn to interact with the audience and explain the sights like Little Shu did, right?

Tang Liuli is very confident; she will definitely speak in a stuttering and embarrassing way!

Even though the edited vlog may not include that part and even if it gets put in, it might not be shared for others to see, just thinking about that possibility makes one feel pre-embarrassment, with tingling on their scalp, and even turning into a cat-like creature ruled by fear!

Xie Qingxuan, on the other hand, is not afraid of being overshadowed because when she takes the camera, she only acts as a camera stand.

As for interacting with fans who might see the video?

This thought doesn’t exist in the golden retriever’s mind. Recently, her whole brain is filled with thoughts about how to impress Honey Qing, how to get Honey Qing’s attention, and how to be liked by Honey Qing.

Chu Yuanqing did not know that the golden retriever, who made a remarkable move yesterday, was not pausing at all but was busy planning a new strategy. She followed behind her daughter, her heart filled with the warmth and happiness of an empty-nester being taken out to play by her child.

Over the years, she rarely took her lovely daughter out to play, and when she did, it mostly happened during her childhood.

Looking back, although it was very hard at the time, not only having to adapt to living in peacetime but also taking care of a fragile toddler, that was actually the happiest time for her.

Because at that time, the Golden Law, one of the powers of the Calamity God, had not yet faded. It could perfectly combine the messy powers and numerous blessings, making the walls deep within her soul strong and unbreakable.

Even the curse of the Sea of Truth could only turn her into a mortal at that time, but it couldn’t break her soul or erode her memory like it does today, causing her pain.

This allowed Chu Yuanying to have enough room to use his daughter as an anchor of humanity, slowly finding his true self again, experiencing the taste of being alive, and immersing himself in the healing of watching his little baby grow, which was like being reborn in another way.

As for afterwards, when the curse worsened and his consciousness nearly sank, he completely stopped going out with his daughter, and there were no activities to strengthen their bond anymore.

And after going around and around, it strangely filled this regret.

Chu Yuanqing never thought she would have the chance to travel with her daughter while she had to turn into a magical girl for that blessing. She looked at her daughter with gentle eyes, still envisioning her soft and fluffy like a snowball, holding onto her finger as a little one.

Children always grow up quickly when adults aren’t paying attention.

How wonderful, now Little Shu can take care of herself.

As this thought settled in, the pure white light of the lantern shimmered, and the blooming flowers in her soul trembled, while silver magic traced the petals, birthing a long-awaited spell.

— "The Forgotten One by the World."

This is the last spell that Flower of the Soul can weave in the Pool stage.

Chu Yuanqing didn’t expect it to be born so quickly; she felt a bit excited. The magic she had awakened before were Echoes of the Past, Broken Golden Cup, and Annihilated Massacre.

You could say that without the means brought by these spells, at most she could use Pure White Ode to defeat nightmares in three performances, but she couldn’t completely eliminate them, nor could she find a way to introduce Chu Yuanying’s character in a reasonable manner, so they could communicate normally without causing fear to Dream Weaver Rabbit.

Therefore, for her now, the meaning of magic is very important.

Chu Yuanqing immediately explored, but strangely found that it was as if she had opened a book filled with blank pages, unable to read any key useful information from it; the written words were just a pile of dark squares and jumbled letters, mixed with meaningless text.

"Is it because the lantern is broken that the magic is also incomplete?"

"No, other magic is not affected. Could it be that this magic is very special?"

Chu Yuanqing pondered that both the [Pure White Ode] and other magic are related to past experiences.

For example, [The Forgotten Ones].

For her, it is simply a statement about herself.

So, could it be that there are too many missing memories, putting her on the edge of forgetting herself, making this spell inherently flawed, unable to be complete, or perhaps not even meeting the conditions to activate it?

While playing at Hofburg, Chu Yuanqing thought about this and also tried to use her magic directly, but the result was that she couldn’t form the spell on the Flower of the Soul.

Chu Yuanqing did not think for long before deciding to put it behind her. Her spirit was always breaking, and she was barely holding on with her lamp. It was good enough to use magic; sometimes, the magic acted up just like her memories.

So, the little idols wandered here for four hours, witnessing the glory and decline of the Habsburg royal family.

Because the Hofburg was so large and included many famous sights, they went to quite a few places, taking pictures at several spots, pushing their progress on the photo-taking task to 50%.

Among them, the lovely daughter’s favorite was the National Library, where the hall was about 40 meters long, and the walls were filled with books. Near the walkway, there were also transparent display cases filled with even more books.

Here, there was a comprehensive book written around the year 500, describing various medicinal plants, along with rare ceiling murals unrelated to Christianity, giving it a strange Hogwarts-like feel.

Chu Wang Shu loved reading, but after walking around she felt sad that she did not know German. Fortunately, the seemingly useless green-eyed cat nearby became very enthusiastic, acting like a wise elder, and helped her with accurate real-time translation.

Xie Qingxuan, not wanting to be outdone, joined Chu Yuanqing, who had a strong desire to teach her daughter, to help recognize the words.

This turned the library visit into a group learning session to teach Chu Wang Shu to read, leaving only Little Sakura, who also couldn’t understand German, feeling very confused.

Of course, since Chu Wang Shu felt a sense of shame at being treated like a child, this commotion did not last long. Everyone casually walked back to the square in front of the Hofburg, starting to explore the city just like they did last night.

This feeling is like exploring a game map to 100%, bringing a wonderful sense of achievement.

On the other hand, as Kirimi Miyuki said, wandering is the best way to understand a city. When your mind connects the dots about a place, then walks along the streets, you will have a completely different experience.

The little idols walked through several shopping streets in the city center, passing a painter who didn’t get into the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Before their training, they visited the Music House Museum to try the staircase piano and conduct a band, which was quite interesting.

Time passed, and by two in the afternoon, everyone arrived at the dance studio.

This place is by the Danube River, and on the way here, they saw a lot of colorful graffiti.

Chu Yuanqing casually placed the bouquet she received today against the most colorful part of the graffiti wall. She glanced at it and suddenly thought the composition looked nice. She took a quick photo with her amateur skills and sent it to Charlotte as a polite gesture before picking up the bouquet and heading back to the dance studio.

Meanwhile, while changing clothes in the lounge, Pure White Witch found some time to turn on her newly bought phone.

It had her old SIM card in it, and now it was mainly for messaging her lovely daughter.

Chu Wang Shu clearly felt sad about not being able to travel with her dad. When she first arrived in Vienna, she happily checked in with him and even took a picture of the sunset that day. The next day and today, she shared a bunch of photos and videos of the sights, including many group photos with her friends.

My lovely daughter sends so many messages, and with the pictures, every time I open the chat, there are always 99+ new messages.

Chu Yuanqing was quite happy reading them, though she felt a little guilty for not being able to reply quickly. But since her daughter thinks she is a workaholic, a delayed reply would just be seen as her being busy with work, so it wasn’t a big problem.

In a fatherly tone, Chu Yuanqing expressed the thoughts he hadn’t shared in the past few days. After chatting a lot, he simply said he had to go to work, reluctantly turned off his phone, and put it in his backpack.

Then, she switched back to the phone her sister gave her, opened WhatsApp, and within just a few minutes, there were 12 unread messages from Charlotte.

Although it was clear that Charlotte was trying to hold back, some neediness still showed through.

Chu Yuanqing was a bit clueless and didn’t notice this, but she saw something else interesting and murmured:

"Little Shu is quite similar to her mother in this regard. I wonder what it would be like when they meet."

Chu Yuanqing felt somewhat helpless. She thought both sides might find it hard to accept this surprising parent-child truth, so she decided to set this important matter aside for now and carefully replied to Charlotte’s messages.

Five minutes later, she took a casual photo in the changing room and said she was getting ready for training and would chat later, then she turned off her phone.

To be honest, chatting with Charlotte on the phone is very easy to get addicted to.

Even though her mouth is slow at this, and typing is even clumsier, chatting with her beloved across time and space still brings her great joy.

Unfortunately, the little idols around were watching Chu Yuanqing closely. Even though they were polite and didn’t constantly stare at their phones, chatting happily with Charlotte in front of these girls always gave her a strong sense of guilt.

Chu Yuanqing felt like a bad woman cheating right in front of them, which made her afraid to chat for too long each time. After a little while, she would instinctively hide her phone, feeling a thrill of secret romance.

Time passed.

Today’s training ended smoothly, and everyone wandered through the night market as usual, returning to the hotel an hour earlier than yesterday. They played board games for a while before heading off to bed.

After Chu Yuanqing took a shower, she lay down in bed feeling at ease.

Today is Sunday, a day for Mana Regeneration, and she had just scolded her golden retriever in the morning, so surely no one would come to attack her.

However, that thought didn’t last long and faded with the sound of loud knocking on the door. The comforting news was that the person coming was the very safe Little Sakura.

Hmm, Miyuki is both serious and well-behaved, so… she probably won’t do anything strange, right?