flower and big devil

Luo Xiu didn't know what kind of expression he was showing at this moment.

But he knew that at least his current expression satisfied Ladoni—when the little girl raised the corners of her lips to show a smirk, the black-haired young man even had the illusion that he was being tricked, but at this time, But he heard the little girl in the red cloak say in that obnoxious and joking voice that seemed to see through his thoughts: "I'm not lying to you, and I'm not trying to scare you. I'm only laughing now because your expression is very exciting. If you You'd laugh too if you had a mirror—what, poor man, are you afraid of ghosts?"

"I……"

"Yes, you are so poor."

"..."

Where is the logic!

The black-haired young man stood on the steps speechless. Ladoni turned her head and seemed to be humming in a good mood. The song I sang when I first met Luo Xiu also mentioned "Alice" in the lyrics, and the tune was relaxed and cheerful, coupled with the strange lyrics that couldn't be explained clearly, it felt very strange no matter how you listened to it... Luo Xiu thought Asked what the nursery rhyme sung by Ladoni meant, but at this moment, Ladoni suddenly turned her head and stared at Luo Xiu with a pair of big eyes flickering: "Do you understand this game?"

"No."

"You are not only poor, but also stupid."

"..."

Ladoni hooked the corners of her lips, and explained like a little teacher: "In order to prevent cheating, the fairest way to play this game is not to leave the middle person to follow Mr. Shoemaker out of the orphanage, but to surround them The person in the circle, whoever has not been guessed, is the winner—that is to say, when everyone involved in the game has been to the middle, the person who has not been a "ghost" in the middle will be the last winner."

"Oh."

"The winner will leave the orphanage after Christmas." Ladoni said, her voice suddenly sank, and as if matching her tone, the children who were playing not far from them at this time And at the same time they ended their game—

The children holding hands in a circle put their hands down, and after looking at each other, they finally fixed their eyes on this year's "lucky one"—following their eyes, the black-haired young man standing not far away noticed This time, the one who was left behind and never guessed by the other children was the little girl with only half of his head that he noticed before—that was a very quiet girl, compared to other laughing children, As the final winner, she looked neither happy nor sad. When everyone spoke auspicious words to her in envious tones, she just rubbed her hands and looked very uncomfortable and lowered her head deeply. , the shadow cast by the long forehead hair almost casts her entire face like this——

She looked almost as if she didn't exist.

Luo Xiu suddenly had such a strange illusion.

—Of course, maybe this is the reason why she was never guessed.

The little girl, who seemed uncomfortably about her handicap, had long, curly, dry flaxen hair that fell to her waist, using her own hand as she emerged from the circle of children. Hands were caressing her hair involuntarily, as if she was trying to fluff them up a little to hide some of her hideously shaped head.

At this moment, Luo Xiu found that Ladoni, who had been standing beside him and had been talking a lot, had also stopped singing or talking—she was completely quiet, and her beautiful big eyes were staring at the other children The strange little girl in the middle had strange eyes, neither envy nor blessing, not even jealousy. After a long time, Luo Xiu saw that Ladoni had an expression. She frowned and said He said, "Why is she?"

"Why can't it be her?"

Ladoni turned her head, looked deeply at the black-haired young man with that weird look, and waited for a while, until Luo Xiu felt uncomfortable when she saw her, then she moved her lips, and suddenly said : "This Amy has the same brain size as she looks. I don't know how much trouble I have caused others. I hate her, so I don't want her to be the lucky one this year. What's wrong?"

"..." It turned out to be like this... The black-haired young man said speechlessly, "It's wrong from the beginning to the end, you can't curse someone because you don't like her that she can't have a bright future—"

"I can see the holy light behind you. Are you the reincarnation of Jesus? Poor ghost! What are you talking about with a child?" Ladoni rolled her eyes and snorted, "I don't understand , save it—I knew I hated her, so I didn't want her to—”

Ladoni couldn't finish her words, because at this time, the lucky girl named Amy seemed to have noticed Luo Xiu's side, and the other children followed her gaze and looked at Luo Xiu together Come over - being looked at by so many pairs of eyes at once, the black-haired young man felt a little uncomfortable, and he couldn't help closing his mouth along with Ladoni beside him.

After hesitating for a while, Amy walked out from among the children and came to Luo Xiu—in fact, she looked more nervous than Luo Xiu... and probably this girl named Amy usually had a relationship with Ladoni's The relationship is really not very good. At this moment, she didn't even look at Ladoni, who was standing beside Luo Xiu and was staring at her with puffy eyes. She lowered her head and stared at her toes when she talked like It was the mosquito humming, and said softly: "Sir, Merry Christmas, may I ask, are you someone who wants to adopt a child?"

At this time, Luo Xiu looked down at the little girl in front of him, wishing he could nod his head and say "yes", but in this situation, he didn't know what to say for a while—but what he didn't expect was that, In this gap of silence, Amy seemed to suddenly remember when she took a big step back, her face flushed under her dark flaxen hair: "Sorry, I forgot what the hell I look like —does it frighten you, sir?"

Luo Xiu was dumbfounded when he heard the words, and then realized that his silence just now seemed to make the sensitive little girl in front of him have another idea—he shook his head quickly, and said softly in a regretful and comforting tone: "I'm sorry, Amy I was just a passer-by trying to try my luck when I heard that Mr. Shoemaker was here at Christmas time."

"—Ah, it's okay."

With a relieved tone, Amy raised her head and quickly glanced at the black-haired young man. This time, it was probably because the strange appearance of the young man in a maid outfit in front of her aroused her curiosity. Because the person in front of her seemed very gentle, the girl who usually doesn't talk much took the initiative to talk: "It's strange, sir, you actually know my name—what's even more strange, why don't you wear shoes? The temperature is so cold I'm afraid you'll catch a cold if you don't wear shoes." Then, the little girl stretched out her hand and carefully grabbed the corner of the black-haired young man's clothes, "I'll take you to find Mammy, no matter what reason you came here Come on, even if it's just a passer-by who happens to pass by, I believe that the kind mother would not have the heart to see you barefoot in this weather."

As soon as Amy finished speaking, at this moment, Ladoni frowned and muttered beside her: "It's really nosy."

And Amy seemed to be planning to completely ignore the little girl in the red cloak. After hearing Ladoni's words, she didn't even frown, and gently pulled the black-haired young man's clothes. Jiao led him into the gloomy building behind them——Looking at their actions, Ladoni, who was standing aside, froze for a moment and then rolled her eyes impatiently.

The little girl in the red cloak was chanting complaints that no one could understand. Even so, when Luo Xiu and the others walked slowly into the building, she reluctantly followed them. Later... Along the way, Luo Xiu asked questions about the games they played and the nursery rhyme, and Amy's statement was almost verbatim to Ladoni's, and was even more detailed——

"It is indeed to commemorate the woman named Alice, so such a nursery rhyme suddenly became popular-ah, speaking of it, this is what my best friend told me, she always knows so well Many." The little girl walking in front had a soft voice, when she was talking to Luo Xiu, she would turn her head to look at Luo Xiu within a few steps, as if she was curious about the expression on his face and seemed to be urging him He kept up with him, and when his eyes collided with the black-haired young man in the air, a blush would appear on her face——Luo Xiu noticed that only when her "that friend" was mentioned, her The tone will be much higher than usual.

"Where is she?"

"Oh, I left." Amy said softly with a smile that was not known how gentle compared to Ladoni, "Compared to mine, her handicap is not so serious-last year's lucky one was She, she has left with Mr. Shoemaker. I guess she has become a normal child now and found a happy family. After all, she is so cute and has always been our happy fruit. Well, when I can go out, I will meet again in the outside world, I never thought that this day would come so soon... Ah, sorry, sir, did I talk too much?"

"No," Luo Xiu raised the corners of his lips almost uncontrollably.

"Come on, the nursery rhyme you mentioned just now is called 'The Bird in the Cage', and the whole poem is very short, 'Wrap around, hang around!

When will the bird in the cage fly out?In the night when it is almost dawn, the white crane and the tortoise fell down. Who is the person behind you? '" Amy hummed the nursery rhyme softly with that girl's unique nursery voice, and at the end, she paused and continued slowly, "The reason why I sang 'Alice' with this nursery rhyme is because of this nursery rhyme. Nursery rhymes were originally about pregnant women. "

"what?"

Luo Xiu looked back at Ladoni in surprise, who rolled her eyes impatiently, and said in a rough voice, "What are you looking at? You didn't ask me what it meant, you just asked them Why do you do that!"

Luo Xiu answered her with the same big white eyes unceremoniously.

At this time, Amy, who was walking in front, showed her extreme calmness and played the iron law of "the best contempt is to ignore" to the best state. She led Luo Xiu through a long, paved road. In the corridor with the old gray carpet, when the black-haired young man behind him was busy flirting with Ladoni, her voice sounded calm and steady: ""The Bird in the Cage", just like the title of the song, the cage The small torii surrounded by it, or the shrine surrounded by a bamboo fence. The first sentence of the lyrics is 'enclosed, enclosed', which refers to enclosing what exists in the middle of the figure composed of the shape of the cage eye ;The second sentence of the lyrics is 'the bird in the cage' is the 'thing in the belly of the caged woman', that is, the fetus."

They went through tightly closed doors, and Amy didn't seem to stop.

"The third sentence of the lyrics, 'When will it fly out', here refers to the meaning of 'When will the fetus be born from the mother's arms'."

At this time, they came to a door with a thick, gorgeous door that was different from all the previous rooms. Ellie, who was leading the way, stopped her footsteps. She pursed her lips and raised her fingers Pressing on her lips, she made a silent sound to the black-haired young man who was following behind her, then she stood on tiptoe carefully, put her ear on the door and listened for a while, then she turned her head and lowered her voice Said to the inexplicable black-haired young man: "Someone is talking inside - I heard the voice, probably Mr. Hatter, this is really lucky, sir, every Christmas he will come to collect our information a little earlier Get ready for the child who is going to be picked up—and this year he came a little earlier, which is the best thing for you!"

Listening to her words, Luo Xiu subconsciously glanced at the tightly closed door.

Amy seemed to have misunderstood what he meant, and covered her lips with her small hands and snickered: "I'm so impatient, sir, they'll be waiting for a while—we can wait here, or I'll take you to the nearby place Go to the living room, where there is a fireplace to keep you from freezing."

Luo Xiuxiu wanted to say no need, but at this moment, Ladoni stuck out her tongue and made a grimace: "No need, this poor man has rough skin and thick flesh, he won't freeze to death."

Amy ignored the mean girl, just looked at Luo Xiu.

Luo Xiu squinted at Ladoni, then nodded under Amy's strange gaze, and said in an exaggerated tone with no expression on his face, "Exactly, I'm about to freeze to death."

A group of three people left the door and walked to a door next to it that was much smaller in comparison. Amy pushed it open first, so Luo Xiu was surprised to see an extremely retro-style room It slowly opened up in front of him—the room was covered with thick carpets, of course, the firewood in the fireplace seemed to be crackling and burning vigorously, the large bluestone bricks were about to serve as walls, and the roof was still There are huge chandeliers.

There are several sofas that look extremely soft in the side hall.

Ladoni took the lead to climb up to occupy a seat closest to the fireplace, Luo Xiu rolled his eyes and sat beside her, and Amy finally sat opposite them: "Then..."

"Let's continue the topic just now." Luo Xiu said impatiently.

Then the two little girls in the side hall laughed because of this—as an adult now, Luo Xiu was blushing from the laughter. After a pause, he quickly changed the subject: "I never thought of a simple nursery rhyme." But there would be such an explanation, singing about a pregnant woman, it would be too strange, so Amy, the next nursery rhyme says, 'It's almost dawn in the night, the crane and the tortoise fell, and the people behind you are Who?' What do these mean?"

"That's the main reason we used it to sing about Alice."

"..." Luo Xiu turned his head, looked at the dancing flames in the fireplace, and was struggling between the three choices in his mind: "It's weird and awkward", "It's okay, I'm not Alice", and "I'm not pregnant".

"'Night to dawn', that's four or five o'clock in the morning - oh, if you've heard the story about the 'pregnant Alice,' that's when she came to our orphanage and begged With the help of the nuns."

Pregnant Alice.

A heart attack.

Luo Xiu touched his chest, and showed a stiff smile at Amy with a blunt smile and said, "Well, then what?"

"'The white crane and the tortoise fell down', this sentence is probably the most difficult to understand in the whole nursery rhyme. I heard that in some Asian countries, the white crane and the tortoise are animals that symbolize health and longevity, so in the lyrics, Such a symbol of falling down symbolizes the exact opposite, which is death."

"..."

"Whose death is it? This nursery rhyme comes from Japan. In the Edo period of that country, the word 'front' in Kyoto refers to the Great Buddha Hall of Fangyuan Temple. It can be thought that the person buried behind the front is a famous person. A man named Toyotomi Hideyoshi, with his severed head turned around, the body is frontal, but the head is backward, asking 'Who killed me' - as if a child was just born, before it was too late They died young when they came into contact with this world, and died after only having time to let out a cry that seemed to be a question."

"..."

"The whole song probably means this." Amy smiled, hugging her knees and curled up on the sofa, "Because it completely matches the story of Alice back then, so we use this song to commemorate the orphanage The only mother that ever existed in the world--a game that all the children play before Christmas to pick out one person who can be reborn, who can get a whole body, and leave Mr. Hatter. Opportunity."

When Amy was saying these words, the fire in the fireplace shone in her eyes——Luo Xiu looked at those eyes that belonged to children, but always felt that they were full of yearning, expectation and hope, making these ordinary eyes Qi's eyes are particularly bright and dazzling at this moment... The black-haired young man was speechless for a while, he didn't know if it was because he was caught in a difficult labor in the orphanage, Alice, who was finally recorded by a nursery rhyme for more than [-] years Thinking about things, or simply keeping silent because he didn't want to disturb the little girl in front of him.

There was chaos in his head.

But at this moment, the strange tone of "The Bird in the Cage" was strangely mixed with the song about "Alice and the Wolf" sung by Ladoni - the heart became heavy because of this, and the two songs seemed to have nothing to do Related nursery rhymes, but in a village called "Alice Cemetery", singing different Alices at the same time.

The whole body almost fell into the soft sofa. At this moment, Luo Xiu almost forgot where he was.

His mind was in turmoil.

Until the door of the side hall was pushed open from the outside, while turning his head to look out of the door, in Luo Xiu's mind for some reason, suddenly flashed a long time ago, the mad woman Alicia and what he said-

[The last name 'Alice' asked me to give you this egg. 】

……

[You should get all the enlightenment about things from the dream, I am just a passerby, responsible for releasing weapons into your hands and then guiding you in the direction you are going when you stop - the game begins when you step into Buddha Luomen That moment had already begun, Alice, and none of us were the ones to stop it. 】

……

[They or they all paid the price of their lives because they wanted to leave the game halfway—it’s meaningless, and it doesn’t help—your existence is the best explanation, just like if you fail this time, you still have to pay for it. The next Alice will appear...]

Under the blank eyes of the black-haired young man, an elderly woman walked in from outside the gate. She hunched her back and respectfully led a tall young man with red hair in. , Luo Xiu's numb eyes met the opponent's eyes, but he was immediately confused by the thick fog from the water pipe held by the opponent's lips...

Luo Xiu was silent.

He didn't even realize that when the shoemaker appeared, Ladoni, who had been sitting relaxedly beside him, almost tensed up—when the shoemaker walked towards them step by step with heavy and delicate boots, Luo Xiu When she was busy in a daze, she reached out and grabbed his arm abruptly, lowered her voice, and said quickly in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Stop them from taking Amy, poor ghost, except wearing it in the orphanage." , Amy can’t go anywhere!”