Chapter 17: Going to Green Sand Dune Farm, the First Heir to the Cursed Kingdom...
As expected of a capital of a kingdom, the train station in Calmet is really busy during the day, and it takes half an hour to queue for security check alone.
The appearance of this train station is a huge white eggshell divided into several petals, one petal facing the royal capital and the other facing the sea. It is a bit similar to the Sydney Opera House, but the opera house is built with cement and steel bars, while the shell of this train station is made of the shell of a real dragon egg transported by workers.
"It's really busy here. The other night I went out with Leo, there was only one person on the platform, and Leo wouldn't let me stare at people, saying they weren't people, they were magical creatures."
"He's right. Many magical creatures have bad tempers. My father once encountered a grumpy aquatic horse in a tavern on the border. You couldn't even look at it, or it would throw you into the water." Emma said impartially.
Unlike Ye Wan's world, the security check here is very simple. You just have to go through a transparent water gate. When you pass through the water gate, you will feel the comfort of being wrapped in hot spring water, and your clothes will not get wet after passing through.
"It's just developing water. It won't wet your body. It's just to check if you have any prohibited items on you!" The staff was explaining anxiously to a row of screaming goblins who were determined not to pass through the water gate.
"I can't believe that goblins are afraid of water." Ye Wan said.
"Goblins are often forced to migrate because of human irrigation, and they scream loudly when they encounter heavy rain. That's why most people don't welcome goblins to live in their gardens. They're too noisy!" said Emma.
The train station was huge, and it took the two of them nearly half an hour to reach their platform. Golden runes flowed on the pillars of the platform, and a train spewing steam quickly approached. Countless blond elves, cloaked merchants, and lizardmen carrying luggage got off the train one after another.
The two handed their tickets to the conductor guarding the train door, then boarded and found their seats. Emma stood up and glanced at the holographic map floating on the ceiling. "It's not bad. It only takes an hour to get to the farm, and we'll be back tomorrow morning."
"I can't wait to see the red panda train attendants again. They are so cute." Ye Wan said with anticipation.
Soon, a train attendant came over with a dining cart. This time, a mature man's voice said, "Do you need a meal, two beautiful ladies?"
Ye Wan turned his head expectantly, and the hairs on his body stood up in fear.
A white snake in a uniform and a hat was talking to her, its eyes glowing a strange red.
Emma replied, "I'd like a bottle of mineral water, thank you."
The white snake coiled a bottle of water with its tail and handed it to her, then took the star copper coin with its tail.
"Isn't Mr. Red Panda at work today?" Emma asked.
"Oh, it's summer now, so there are fewer red panda shifts, and I'm the one who takes most of them. In winter, it's the other way around. After all, we snakes have to hibernate." Mr. White Snake nodded politely at her, then used his chest to push the dining cart and continued moving forward.
"Hey, friend, you should come back to your senses." Emma waved her hands in front of Ye Wan.
Another minute passed before she came to her senses: "This really scared me. A snake was talking to me."
"Calm down. There are werewolves working in your tavern."
"That's different. That's a snake."
"Be careful what you say and do, or you might be punished by someone using the Magical Creatures Anti-Discrimination Act."
"Why are there so many strange codes in your world?"
The train was speeding along the tracks. It had rained a few days ago, and the sky was as clear as if it was coated with a layer of sweet blue glaze, and the white clouds were as fluffy as cotton candy.
The train passed by a sparkling lake and a busy market. Ye Wan leaned on the window and looked out, and saw a golden dome among the treetops in the distance.
Emma enthusiastically acted as a guide for Ye Wan: "That's the dome of the Holy Rose Palace, where the royal family lives. But interestingly, the first heir doesn't live there. Currently, the country is managed by the Upper and Lower Cabinets together."
Many European countries have royal families, including the UK after Brexit. The Queen lives in Buckingham Palace all year round and sometimes lives in Windsor Castle. Ye Wan had checked in at the entrance of Buckingham Palace before, so he was not surprised that the Kingdom of Oceana had a king.
"So where did the prince go?" Ye Wan asked.
"Oh, it's a very long story." Emma gave an enigmatic smile. She looked less like the daughter of a magic broom dealer and more like a gossip reporter for the Daily Star.
Old King James II was engaged to a witch with the help of his family, but on the day of the engagement party, he fell in love with the witch's sister at first sight.
"This plot sounds a bit familiar." Ye Wan thought.
In short, the old king insisted on marrying the witch's sister despite everyone's objections. After the two spent some happy time together, disaster came as expected.
On the day the kingdom's first heir was born, a witch cast a curse.
"On the day the prince comes of age, he will have his finger pricked by a spindle and fall into an eternal coma?" Ye Wan interrupted.
"Oh, no, no, no, this isn't Sleeping Beauty. And the spinning wheel is from the last century. No one has used it since the magical industrial revolution... We don't know the exact curse; it's a kingdom secret. We only know that during a Yom Kippur ceremony, His Royal Highness disappeared, and ever since then the country has been run by both the Upper and Lower Cabinet."
"But the daily newspaper revealed that after the witch cast the curse, the old king urgently summoned the astrologer to see if there was any way to break the curse."
Emma touched her chin, whetting Ye Wan's appetite and said, "The astrologer observed the celestial phenomena and said..."
"What?" Ye Wan was looking forward to it.
"'Love is a force stronger than death,'" Emma ends the story with a strange aria.
Although it sounds reasonable... Ye Wan was silent for a while, but still couldn't help but complain: "But I feel like this sentence was used when I was a child."
Ye Wan was a little tired of listening to countless movies, novels, and fairy tales with love as the theme.
Emma shrugged nonchalantly. "It has nothing to do with us anyway. His Royal Highness is probably in some thorn tower waiting for the princess to rescue him."
The two looked at each other and then burst into laughter.
The train soon arrived at the steamy Rainbow Canyon. The two got off the train, and Annie waved to them enthusiastically at the exit.
Today, Annie tied her fluffy red hair into two ponytails and wore a huge straw hat. She also wore a white puffy dress with countless sky blue dots on it, like a walking bottle of Calpis.
Miss Colbis said cheerfully, "Yesterday, when I was herding sheep, I saw a sun butterfly fly past me. The sun made its wings translucent, and then it sprinkled a lot of gold powder on my lambs. I knew something good was going to happen. Then your signal bird came. I really can't wait to see you. You know, I don't have many human friends on the farm."
Ye Wan quietly asked Emma: "What is a Sunlight Butterfly?"
Emma shook her head: "An animal that only exists in Anne's spiritual world."
Ye Wan: “…”
Many passengers got off here, and most of them took the public carriage. Ye Wan brought a huge suitcase with her. She wanted to pick some fresh green plums from the farm and take them home to make wine.
Anne patted her shoulder and said, "Don't worry, our car is as spacious as a stagecoach."
She brought an open carriage, no, it should be an open ox cart, this cart had no closed roof, and there was a huge red parasol on it, and it was pulled by two strong black and white cows.
Wait…cows?
The two cows had shiny fur that shone like satin in the sun, but their faces were droopy and they looked very depressed.
Annie helped Ye Wan stuff her huge suitcase onto the oxcart and invited them on board. "It's okay. Robinson and Sherlock are very friendly cows. They won't kick up a fuss mid-trip."
Ye Wan was surprised: "You actually named the cow."
Emma said: "Oh, she has named all 50 of her sheep, 10 cows and 70 of her cattle, and knows exactly which name goes to which animal."
Ye Wan clapped his hands in admiration.
Anne was a little proud.
But her pride didn't last long, as Robinson and Sherlock soon quit. The two cows slowly walked to the side of the road to graze, completely ignoring Anne's angry shouting.
The summer in Calmette was so hot that the sun was like a red-hot iron. Even the white windmills in the distance were too lazy to turn. The three of them sat in the shade of the beech tree, dejectedly sharing half a bottle of mineral water - the bottle that Emma had asked White Snake to buy on the train, which was worth 20 star copper coins. Things on the train were always expensive, and this was an iron rule in any world.
A shabby yellow pickup truck drove over from a small road in the distance. A brown-haired man in his fifties leaned his head out of the window. Annie ran over and said, "Dad!"
"Sweetheart, I've told you many times that using cows to pull people is irrational...Are these two your friends?"
The two of them greeted Annie's father politely, and finally got into the dilapidated pickup truck. Ye Wan felt that if he stayed any longer, he would get heatstroke and collapse.
The pickup truck soon drove into a lush little valley. It was the hot summer of July, and the valley was full of sunflowers and bluebells. A sparkling stream ran happily in the valley, and from time to time a group of fluffy and soft lambs appeared among the grass, grazing.
The car stopped at the door of a two-story European-style house. The door of the house was planted with cherry trees, and the wall on the left side of the house was wrapped with circles of grape vines. If it were autumn, those vines would surely bear many lovely purple fruits.
Anne's mother, Mrs. Witte, was a gentle red-haired woman who wore a summer blue dress and entertained Ye Wan and Emma in the living room.
"I heard you're running a small restaurant in the capital on your own. That's quite an accomplishment. My daughter spends all day at the ranch, but I don't know what she does. Sometimes she teaches at a church school. Her stories are fantastical, but the kids really enjoy listening to her."
Ye Wan handed over a box of homemade salted butter almond cake. "Yes, ma'am. Vegetable prices have skyrocketed in the capital recently... Due to various reasons, I still owe the relevant departments 1,000 monthly silver coins. If this continues, a bunch of goblins will be knocking on my door demanding repayment."
Dusk was falling, and the earth finally released its stored heat. The sun, like a hard-boiled egg yolk, slowly sank into the waves of wheat. Annie's mother brought a large plate of roast chicken and said, "It's too hot during the day. It'll be better at night. When the sun goes down completely, Annie's father will take you for a walk through the valley. You can pick any vegetables you like, but don't go too far to the west side of the valley."
"What happened to the west?"
Anne's parents looked at each other and hesitated, as if they were reluctant to say more for fear of scaring them.
Anne spoke quickly, spilling the beans: "I heard there's an evil spirit in that red brick tower over there."
“Evil spirit???”
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