When Yang Ning returned to the shop, holding the small black device, the light of the kerosene lamp shining through the window looked especially warm against the deep night. He paused outside the door for a moment, then reached out and pressed his thumb against the cold identification panel on the brand-new gray-black door.
With a soft beep, the door obediently swung inward.
When he entered the shop, he saw Xu Yinyin still clutching the colored pencils. Her fingertips, the backs of her hands, and even her cuffs were smeared with bright colors. She had just wiped her face with the back of her hand, turning herself into a little calico cat without even realizing it.
"Boss, look!"
She turned around as if presenting him with a treasure, her eyes sparkling. Yang Ning followed the direction of her finger and froze.
The gray-black Double Door, with its stark, rigid lines, had become an entirely different world. Xu Yinyin had covered it with drawings in colored pencil.
There was the humble appearance of the Myriad Things Come shop, the lush Bamboo Forest at the Mountain Foot, the mist-shrouded Ziyun Pavilion where the Law Enforcement Hall was located, and... Yang Ning himself.
The Yang Ning in the picture was smiling with crescent-shaped eyes, showing a row of white teeth. He looked cheerful and sunny, as if he had not a care in the world.
Yang Ning blinked. Xu Yinyin had done a splendid job with everything except him: each scene was lifelike, capturing its essence, and at least eight-tenths accurate. Only the "Yang Ning" in the picture... However he looked at it, he found him a little unfamiliar. Was he really that happy in his daily life? And somehow, she seemed to have made him... more handsome, too?
The composition of the