Nier

"Nier, come, sit on the kang. Have some sugar water and Dried Persimmon Cake. You loved sweets most when you were little—I've saved all this for you."

"Want some meat? Didn't you like meat? I'll go cut some for you right now! Have your mother stew it for you!"

The old man of Tree Flower Smashing and the old woman beside him fussed over Li Sui endlessly, the smiles never leaving their faces.

"By the way, Nier, how did you get back? Didn't I hear that you were sold off by that beast—" The old woman had barely begun when the old man beside her stepped on her foot.

"It's the holidays—why bring up such bad luck? We'll talk after today!"

After being thrown into such a muddle by them, Li Sui was growing impatient. She could not understand what the two before her were talking about at all. "Didn't you say you would teach me Tree Flower Smashing? I want to learn Tree Flower Smashing."

"Teach you, teach you! We'll teach you right now!!" The old man nodded again and again.

After saying that, the old man led Li Sui behind the house. When he lifted a cloth curtain riddled with round burn holes, Li Sui discovered in surprise that the other half of the house was actually a blacksmith shop. Half the building was for living in, and half was for forging iron.

"Nier, this Tree Flower Smashing can only be done by us blacksmiths. Know why? Because only we can get enough molten iron."

As he spoke, the old man tossed several coal cakes into the furnace glowing dark red, then grabbed the wooden handles of the bellows and began pumping with all his strength.

As air blew into the furnace, the coal cakes gradually reddened and