Act 16: Dance the Night-Sing and Dance

[Part 1: Yes, she added it]

In the calm and peaceful East Horse Port 2 area, near the shimmering waters of the waterfront market street, even though it was already midnight, an ambiguous moment approaching the curfew.

At this time, the fire and patrol officers of East Horse Port should be sending all passersby home to ensure the city's nighttime security. However, at this very moment, the entrance to the Guyuan Vegetable Market is crowded with people.

All three boatmen who had sampled the corn candy ran back, either because their families had chased them away or because they had sneaked back—they all wanted to have another bite and experience that "happiness" again.

"Little girl! Little girl! Could you give me a bag of candy? You know, those yellow ones! Yellow gummy candies!"

People surged forward, crowding the tricycle stall. Only when General of Tears brandished his fist, drawing the crowd aside to make way for Flavia to tidy up her cupboard, did the sugar maker feel a little relieved.

"Don't rush, don't rush! We have them all! I've made so many!" Queen Cici called out. "Grand opening special today! I've written the prices and flavors of the candies on the wrappers! Customers, if you see something you like, just let me know when it's your turn!"

"Free sample! Only one bite!"

"If it doesn't suit your taste, you can buy something else instead!"

The woman at the front of the line initially arrived with her child and hurled insults at Flavia, nearly losing her temper over an egg.

Looking at this lady now, she has rosy lips and white teeth, and her blood circulation is excellent. She is holding her husband and baby, and the three of them are waiting quietly together. When they have a moment of leisure, she will help Liuxing remind the guests to line up.

An old man in the middle of the queue lit up his opium pipe on the street. Just as the pungent smell of the poison wafted out, General of Tears, quick as lightning, threw a bag of chocolates in the direction the old man was.

The old man came with his eldest daughter. The whole family was addicted to opium. It just so happened that the eldest daughter was still a child at heart. She glanced at the candy stall, took a bite, and suddenly found happiness. It seemed that she no longer had to suffer from the torment of the drug and had found a treasure to replace opium. So she dragged her father to try it.

At this moment, the patrol officers who were maintaining order nearby were completely bewildered.

"--They... this... this..." The patrol team leader was a little confused. "What are they selling?"

The guests who received the candy took the secret potion of happiness on the street, and reacted differently depending on the flavor.

Even the officers and soldiers of Siyao Fire Department couldn't understand it.

"Could they be selling opium?"

"Why is Butcher Zhao hugging his son? And even kissing him! Holy crap! Aren't these two mortal enemies? Last year he stole his daughter-in-law as his concubine! That scandalous affair was all over the place, everyone in Second Bay knew about it! They're laughing at these two behind their backs!"

At the dock, a father and son who had never spoken before embraced and kissed each other, their cheeks covered in saliva and tears. After their hearts were stolen by the same woman, they had forgotten their father-son bond. But a bag of blueberry-flavored hard candies reminded them who the best person in the world was to them.

"Holy crap! Old Man Li from the garment factory is standing up!" a young man in the inspection team exclaimed. "Look! Captain, look!"

On the other side, next to the gate of the market, lived a wealthy merchant family.

Old Man Li is the owner of Wealth and Honor Clothing Factory. Years ago, when the factory was being built, he went to the dock to pick up goods himself. He was hit in the back by a hemp rope, which left him paralyzed on one side. He has been paralyzed for more than 20 years and cannot live without a wheelchair.

At that moment, his four children surrounded their old man, watching as he swallowed a bottle of bright red candies; these tiny, millet-like popping beads bounced in his mouth.

Old Li's face turned red, and then he gripped the armrests of his wheelchair tightly, his legs beginning to tremble violently.

Scorching air gushed from his ears, his nostrils flared wide, his eyes widened, and he screamed in pain as the lava pepper in his Barry burned him. Finally, he stood up!

A gasp of surprise rippled through the crowd—because Old Man Li had not only stood up.

He even jumped up! He did several somersaults on the spot!

"Hahahahahahahaha!! Hahahahahahaha!"

A hearty laugh is like a contagious disease; in Queen Cici's hands, it turned into sweet treats of happiness!

At the very end of the line was a little beggar.

--That was a frail child, no more than twelve or thirteen years old, who had already lost one eye. His right hand had been chopped off by the local governor's constables in East Malaysia for theft. He followed the group timidly, having already stolen quite a bit of money.

As people anxiously waited for the candy, and just as it was about to be their turn, they reached into their wallets only to find their pockets empty!

Flavia immediately ran into the bustling crowd! She raised her hands high, holding two bags of candy, like a wildly dancing, swirling flame, like an ethereal fairy, and went to the very back of the line.

She approached the little beggar and first stuffed "truth" into her mouth—orange juice gummies that promised honesty in the face of life.

Later, they fed them "The Great Adventure"—a chocolate made from White Lady's products and "Bouncy" (a type of leaping insect with venomous secretions).

She took all the money from the child—money that didn't belong to the clumsy thief. Before the angry onlookers could rush at her, she shielded the little beggar behind her!

"Don't blame him! They're all here! They're all here!"

Cici left, her long red and black dress resembling a thorny rose. She raised her hands again and turned into the crowd, who naturally made way for her.

When the little beggar came to his senses, he found that his sunken eye sockets had swelled up and grown into a watery eye.

His right arm was originally a bare ball of flesh, with the bone breaking through the skin, and the granulation tissue began to produce an intoxicatingly tingling itch as soon as it came into contact with the sea breeze.

He wanted to steal more money, but Chocolate wouldn't let him.

He felt his body brimming with energy, and his legs seemed to obey him, causing him to start dancing wildly!

Straw sandals, with wooden planks attached, tapped out crisp notes on the stone-paved streets along the dock.

"Who lost money? Come on! Come to me and take it back! Everyone, be careful while you're queuing!" Flavia shouted, "Curfew is coming soon! Don't cause trouble for the soldiers on patrol!"

"Oh!" The patrol team leader's heart melted. "She's so charming."

As the candy in the counter dwindled, the silver coins in the collection bag increased.

The queues thinned out, and laughter grew louder along the pier.

Meteor gave Flavia a meaningful look.

He wondered to himself, was this girl a fictional character created by David Victor, or did she actually exist?

The Red Stone People, with his limited brain capacity, didn't care about any of that. He only knew that this was great! Fantastic! Nothing could compare to this beautiful ideal—bringing happiness to people with candy! What a brilliant idea!

[Part ② Ohhhhh!]

"The Governor-General has arrived!"

Just then, a shrill and piercing voice came from the street.

The patrol officers and soldiers who had been following them all the way were like frightened birds, and Si Yaoguan, who was in charge of announcing the time, was so frightened that his legs went weak and he knelt down at the street corner, kowtowing repeatedly.

Then I saw the eight-bearer sedan chair slowly carried into the street entrance of the ancient garden market. When it was brought in front of the people, the laughter disappeared, the crying disappeared, all the whispers and the shouts of the vendors disappeared.

A large group of people knelt before the officials in East Horse Port.

A large, fleshy hand emerged from the sedan chair, its fingers adorned with gold and jade rings and finger rings.

The moment the beastly robes were revealed, the crane-patterned seal of the Xia Bang court's governor, a second-rank official, who was also granted the title of Minister of War, came into view.

The governor stepped out of the sedan chair, holding a folding fan in his right hand and a rosary hanging from his arm. The rosary had a special tag: Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate and Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy—this rank had risen from the second rank to the first rank.

"Is the curfew just for show? Who is actually being so brazen here?"

The unexpected visit of the Governor of East Horse Port sent chills down the spines of all the patrol officers and soldiers at Port No. 2.

What does this mean? According to Western time, it's just past midnight—

--It is also a checkpoint with a curfew at midnight, an ironclad rule that must be followed in the defense policies of the various states of the Great Eastern Kingdoms.

In this chaotic world overrun by warlords, in order to root out the pests in the city, to catch the traitors who formed cliques for personal gain, and to ensure the security and health of the trading cities along the southeast coast, patrol officers and soldiers could interrogate and search residents who went out at night, resort to vigilante justice, and even the death penalty.

The officers and soldiers were already terrified. The fact that the governor himself came to No. 2 Bay to enforce the curfew was already a bizarre thing—to put it more simply, it was like a murder case in a local county or town, and the emperor himself came to try it.

Meteor's mind wasn't quick enough; he had no idea that this governor was invited by Gloria Sebastian to sabotage Flavia's candy-selling business.

Seeing everyone kneel down in unison, Meteor's mind went a beat slow, and he didn't kneel down in time. Then he saw more than twenty gleaming steel swords flashing, and sixteen muskets pointed at the General of Tears.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Wait a minute!" No matter how brave Meteor was, he couldn't possibly fight so many knives and spears with his bare hands. "Let me argue! Oh no! Let me explain!"

The captain of the Governor's personal guard, a vice minister of the Ministry of War, had come to East Horse Port with the Governor to assume his post and immediately shouted, "You audacious madman! Why don't you kneel!"

"I'm not from Great Xia. My name is Bu Liuxing!" Liuxing still wanted to bring up his nationality.

The governor was quite enlightened and went straight to the point, avoiding getting down to business. "I am the governor of Dongma and Lin'an prefectures—my name is Zheng Dake. Since this young man is not Great Xia and has not read local regulations, it is understandable that he is unaware of the curfew."

"Why aren't the officials from Huacheng Yamen in No. 2 Bay, and the magistrates from Siyao Shop on Tongqi Road, expelling anyone? Are they knowingly breaking the law?!"

The governor's face was stern, his cheeks were full of flesh, and even though he was pot-bellied, he still exuded an imposing aura. He turned his attention directly to the officers and soldiers kneeling on the ground beside him.

Seeing that they were about to lose their official positions, the patrol officers and soldiers were filled with panic, and everyone looked insecure. The leaders did not dare to take the blame, and no one spoke up.

A long time passed, and the governor still did not receive a satisfactory answer.

"No explanation?"

He held the prayer beads, his face sweating more and more. Unable to bear the humid and hot coastal climate, his heart began to feel restless.

"In that case, we'll just have to wait to have our heads chopped off."

At that moment, a cry for help rang out from the crowd; perhaps it was a relative working in the military, worried about their child's future.

"--Governor! It's that witch! She's used magic; we're all uncontrollably drawn to eat her candy!"

"It has nothing to do with the patrol inspector! Nor with the night watchman! Why don't you investigate her!"

Meteor tensed up and followed the sound, where he saw Parker Sirius, the butler, kneeling in the crowd.

When the two looked at each other, Parker had a friendly smile on his face; those were the words he had just spoken.

The crowd, which had been huddled together, immediately scurried like startled fish, crawling on their knees as if avoiding a plague, revealing Flavia to the world.

Flavia, who had been kneeling with the crowd, was now forced to stand up.

"Hehe. Hey."

She looked embarrassed but gave the governor a friendly smile.

"Zheng Dake! I know you!"

She seemed completely unaware that she hadn't read the Chabhanite Book of Rites, and just casually said it like that.

"Gloria told me about you! She said you're a good official!"

This has left the Governor at a loss.

He was puzzled. He only knew that the high priest in the church had sent a message for him to come to Bay Two. What did that mean?

"Me? I'm just a candy maker!" Flavia swore to the heavens, then pointed to herself. "I don't know magic! I don't!"

"Who said that just now?! Step forward and testify!"

"Everyone ate the candy I made, so it seems like I was indeed in the wrong. I wasted everyone's time."

"How about this? How about this? Uncle Da Ke!"

Flavia is outspoken.

"--Why don't you punish me? How much should I be fined?"

"How about I give you half of my earnings tonight?"

Halfway through her speech, the girl started to cry.

"Not even half is acceptable?"

Zheng Dake pursed his lips, while the Vice Minister of War beside him was dumbfounded. "My lord, inciting citizens to gather and resist the law, violating the curfew, is a capital offense, punishable by beheading. What is this little girl saying? Punish her?"

"Then a little more than half." Flavia stretched out her hand, pinching her index finger Thumb together, squeezing out "just a little bit": "Just a little bit more, okay?"

"You audacious commoner! Do you even know what you're saying?!" The Vice Minister of War was fuming with rage. His master wasn't in a hurry, but he was getting anxious. "Do you know how... angry the Governor-General is?!"

For some reason, the words spoken by this mustachioed official suddenly took on a certain tone.

Two familiar figures emerged from the street corner: Captain Quack and Ethan. One swung a maracas, the other played a lute, emanating a surging tide of psionic energy as they sang as they approached the soldiers.

The strings vibrated, producing breathtaking notes, Captain Quack came to the rescue!

"OHHHHHH!!~~~~~"

The blue-faced, white-skinned hybrid of calamity beasts tilted its head, dodged the large swords on either side, and came to the governor's side.

"I know the Governor of East Malaysia! ~ Kind and honest! ~ Everyone says you're awesome! ~~"

Ethan, shaking his head, followed Captain Quack into the ranks of officers and soldiers, crawling out from under the carriage wheels next to the sedan chair.

"But don't be so foolish! Huffing and puffing, how can you escape the hunger in your stomach?!"

The strange singing left the guards on either side speechless.

Captain Quack's appearance were placed in the Great Xia, he would be considered a celestial master. Even if the governor didn't speak, they wouldn't dare to draw their swords and kill anyone.

"Keep your eyes on these eyes!" Quack freed his hand from his zither playing and gently turned the governor's face towards the people queuing to buy candy.

"--Ask yourself! How do you reject a heartthrob!?~~~"

Ethan was even bolder, taking a piece of chocolate and feeding it to the Governor.

Even if you're a sugar addict and broke curfew!

"Your tongue understands your heart!"

The governor chewed carefully, completely forgetting about the poisoning and assassination attempt. He squeezed out a muffled, indistinct syllable, with a hint of self-doubt.

"I"

"I've loved it since I was a child"

"Like it?~"