The next day —
In the wheat field —
A field mouse is lying on a mound of soil, basking in the sun.
After the harvest, the wheat field has fewer obstructions, allowing the afternoon sun to bathe Jiang Ting more thoroughly, warming him comfortably.
"Thanks to the system," Jiang Ting stretched out for the first time to bask in the sun, without worrying about getting a sunburn. Occasionally, he would touch the fur on his belly, which felt warm and comfortable.
According to the original story, Thumbelina met a field mouse under the wheat stubble. Jiang Ting was not sure how far the plot had progressed in this world. He had spent (or crawled) the entire day in the wheat field without encountering a little girl the size of a thumb.
Instead, he had run into the mole again, who was currently poking its head out of a nearby hole.
"Are you still sunbathing?"
Jiang Ting kept his eyes fixed ahead, still finding it hard to accept the presence of this mouse-sized, talking mole, "Hmm, it’s comfortable."
The two began a disjointed conversation.
"That’s definitely crazy. If I had a wife, I would never let her endure this scorching sun. It’s unbearable," the Mole muttered from his hole.
"Hmm."
It began again, the rain ceased, the sky cleared, and it felt ready to face the world again.
"I would dig her a big house and provide her with the best food and clothing," the Mole fantasized.
"Spring is coming soon, and the flowers will bloom soon. I can’t let her smell that terrible scent. I have to dig deeper." The Mole chattered away and quickly darted back into his hole, where scratching sounds could be heard as it struggled to dig deeper.
The book says that the mole does not like the sun or beautiful flowers.
Indeed.
Waiting always seems to last forever. Jiang Ting spent several days basking in the sun without meeting anyone. Instead, he made friends with many small creatures: the knowledgeable Uncle Earthworm, the gossip-loving Ant Brothers, feces-rolling Mr. Dung Beetle, and the talkative Miss Sparrow.
Before all this, Jiang Ting would never have imagined that one day he would befriend a group of talking animals.
Lucky for him, he adapted well. Jiang Ting accepted himself in any shape or form, even if the results were not always desirable. He spent his days roaming in the wheat field, inquiring about any sightings of Thumbelina from the animals.
In the morning, he would trick some food from the sparrow and chat for a while. He realized that he could eat any strange fruit, his stomach was more accepting than a human’s.
In the afternoon, he would listen to Uncle Earthworm tell stories. By dusk, he would retire early to bed, leading a fairly comfortable life.
Days passed, and one early morning, just like the previous ones, Jiang Ting washed his paws by the tiny pond, then cupped some water to wash his face. He looked at his reflection in the pond, after eating nutritious meals and sleeping adequately for a few days, his fur had become much shinier, revealing his harmless and adorable personality.
Well, how adorable.
As one who had raised a hamster before, Jiang Ting gave himself an objective comment. He raised his little paw, making a "Yay!" gesture, and his big, white front teeth came into view as he smiled.
GOOD.
After admiring himself, Jiang Ting, as usual, headed towards the birch tree, hoping to coax Miss Sparrow into helping him collect more berries. After all, having wings made it much easier than being a small field mouse.
He arrived at their usual meeting spot, but Miss Sparrow was nowhere to be seen.
Jiang Ting looked around.
"Miss Sparrow, I’ve come to visit you again."
"Is Miss Sparrow there?"
"Miss Sparrow!"
"I’m coming, I’m coming." The gray Sparrow flew from afar and directly into her nest. She plucked a bundle from the nest, "Little guy, I’m going to fly to a town not far from here for refuge. The big snow is coming. Can’t you feel the air getting colder?"
Big snow... Snow?!
Jiang Ting suddenly remembered a detail from the book that he had overlooked - it was snowing when Thumbelina arrived.
Before leaving, the kind-hearted Sparrow gave Jiang Ting a little bundle filled with all kinds of fruits, enough to last him for several days.
Jiang Ting’s eyes welled up with tears, he shouted out to the departing Sparrow, "Thank you!"
The General Interface —
In the ordinary streets, all sorts of beings came and went: gods, ghouls, and odd creatures, with varying faces and clothing. Alongside the main street were numerous shops with peculiar names doing business. At the end of the street stood a standalone villa, complete with a small courtyard, a garden, and a swimming pool. It was a three-story house.
A young man resided in the study on the top floor, with shelves full of books lining the walls. He sat at his desk, next to a short, stout robot with a blue light.
The young man was dressed in simple casual clothes, his black hair unusually long, reaching down to his waist and let loose naturally. His facial features were fine, perfectly contoured, with eyes that were long and deep-set. A mole by the corner of his left eye added a finishing touch, enhancing his flawless appearance. His ears were pointed, lending him an exotic, aloof allure, exuding a lethal sense of elegance and sex appeal.
His hands, prominent with visible bones, held a piece of data he was reviewing.
"Chengcheng, when I was conducting a system test for you today, I noticed that the data was a bit off. Look," a man stated from a short distance away, standing with his hair combed back and colored an eye-catching red. His handsome face was highlighted by the hairstyle, radiating a sense of charm. Similar to Chengcheng, his ears were pointed, accentuated by a black earring.
He leaned on the desk with one hand while pointing at the data to the black-haired young man with the other.
"The first occurrence was a coincidence?" 002 hesitantly asked.
If the system data exceeded too much, it could cause a major issue, possibly causing the collapse of a dozen small dimensions under its control.
Just the repair work was a big enough headache, not to mention the aftermath.
"No." The dark-haired man thought seriously and concluded, "I’ll do the subsequent inspection of this system, you go and check other things."
"Alright."
——
Just like Miss Sparrow had said, the snow arrived soon. Jiang Ting did not sit idle, he blocked the hole early that usually let in light on normal days, he also brought back a lot of grass and cotton from the outside. Some of the grass was bundled together to form mats. Some were used as padding and some as cover, the rest filled the hole, making it a lot warmer.
The cotton was placed underneath the grass mat, making the little den much softer.
As soon as the snow started falling, Jiang Ting had already curled up into a ball in the hole, hugging his hind legs with his forepaws. He kept the nearest grains stored in the tunnel by his side, within easy reach of a paw stretch.
For the first time, Jiang Ting spent several days in a cycle of eating and sleeping, and this was in the body of a field mouse.
Jiang Ting had no idea how long it had been snowing, his days blurring together, until one day when he was sleeping, a drop of cold water fell onto his fur.
Hiss.
Damn!
I’m going to freeze to death, where did this water come from...
???!
Jiang Ting abruptly woke up in his sleep. As soon as he lifted his head to see where the water had come from, he suddenly realised that the hole he had manually repaired was leaking water!
The mud there had been softened by moisture and some water was hanging on it, about to drip down soon.
The mouse hole was not safe.
Jiang Ting regretted not having read any books related to civil engineering.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had to deal with a leaking hole.
Miscalculation:)
He swiftly scampered up to toss some soil into the leaking hole. His paws touching the water made him inhale cold air involuntarily.
There were a few gentle knocks on the door, followed by a soft female voice: "Is anyone home?"
Jiang Ting parted the grass to open the door, revealing a little girl only a few centimeters tall at the entrance, smaller than half of him. The girl had a cute face and was wrapped in a withered leaf, and was shivering from the cold.
"Could you spare me some food? Even a single grain of barley will do, I haven’t eaten anything in a long time."
"Come in quickly." Jiang Ting pulled Thumbelina into the hole. He wrapped her in a blanket, then returned from the granary with some food for her. "You warm up first."
"Thank you, you’re really a good person." Thumbelina expressed her gratitude.
"It’s nothing." Jiang Ting smiled.
Perhaps because she had benefitted from kindness herself, she wanted to pass on the spirit of being willing to help others. Good people should be helped and bad ones deserved to die.
Suddenly, there was a rustling noise, and a mole pops out from some tunnel. It parted some platycodons, then spoke, "Neighbor, I came to borrow some food."
"What is this..." Thumbelina seemed to have been startled by the sudden appearance of the mole, letting out a cry of surprise.
Noticing the delicate Thumbelina on the side, the mole’s whiskers perked up, its front claws fumbling around aimlessly, "Oh, what a beautiful voice, and what a pretty face. Miss, I just happen to be in need of a virtuous wife."
:)
There it is, the protagonist’s halo. The mole fell in love with Thumbelina at first sight. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
Fairy tales are still fairy tales: They’re lovely but also untrue.
[Hint: Host can expedite the marriage between Thumbelina and the mole to disrupt the ending.]
Why disrupt Thumbelina’s happy ending? :)
Jiang Ting forcefully pushed the mole back into the tunnel, curtly stating, "Go back."
"My home is twenty times bigger than this."
An unchanged line from the original story.
Jiang Ting :)
Leaving aside that the little girl doesn’t like you, she likes the sun where you do not, she likes flowers where you do not. Do you know you are two different species, why the hell would you want to marry?
Jiang Ting quickly rose, using his tiny paw to muster all his strength and kicked the mole back into its tunnel.
He turned around and gave Thumbelina a smile: "My apologies. My neighbour fell into water during the heavy snow a few days ago and it has made him a bit silly. Please don’t dwell too much on his rumblings."
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