Happy Emerald Residence

"What was this?"

"The bear Comrade Jiang Han bought."

"Mom, what are you looking for?"

"A stick to beat that piece of char siu to death!"

Fortunately, Jiang Zhenling was a good talker, so Mother Ye did not end up bearing the criminal charge of being a beast who murdered her own kin.

However, after hearing the full story, Mother Ye's gaze suddenly turned dangerous. Her eyes were so sharp, as if she had spotted some dangerous green wilderness. It was precisely because of that all-penetrating gaze that she was known as the great detective Ye Keshu.

"My magic power is 1,150 Coulombs, and my younger daughter just turned fifteen this year and only has 670." Ye Keshu sat before the two sisters with an expression that said, I understand now, then clenched her fist and smacked it into her palm. "And my elder daughter just turned eighteen this year and already has more than 18,000?"

The two sisters tugged at her and tried to persuade her. Jiang Han even cast aside a boy's restraint, clinging to Mother Ye's leg while acting cute and fake crying, finally preventing Mother Ye from bearing the criminal charge of being a beast who murdered her wife.

After all, Mother Ye had nearly picked up the automatic rifle on the ground that Ice Bear used as a toy, mounted her broom, and gone to demand an explanation from Jiang Xuan.

Her expression was probably much like Sun Honglei's in Lurk—calm on the surface, but with killing intent spraying everywhere, as though she might pull out a gun and kill someone the next second.

Mother Ye was far more professional than the two sisters. After calming down, she first tidied Ice Bear's fur, then piled up dirt and mud in the middle of the garden to form a small cave. She had Jiang Han, whose magic power was abundant, continuously condense frost within it until it became an ice cave that cooled itself.

Then she settled Ice Bear inside.

The automatic rifle it had been using as a toy was confiscated, replaced by two jars of honey.

To give the new member of the household more room to move around, Mother Ye even dug up several cypress trees in the garden.

"An ice bear needs more than two hundred square kilometers of territory to wander around. An ice bear with an ice cave only needs ninety square kilometers. We currently cannot meet its territorial needs, so we can only keep lowering the temperature inside the ice cave. As long as it is cold enough, an ice bear's territory requirement can be reduced to a cramped space of just dozens of square meters."

Witches were all considered intellectuals, and most of them were at least moderately educated. Besides their understanding of spells, they knew something about anything related to magic. Someone like Mother Ye, who kept an otter, also knew how to raise bears. Under her guidance, Ice Bear finally gained a comfortable home.

Jiang Han expended a great deal of magic power to lower the temperature, yet she did not feel even a trace of fatigue.

Not only was she not tired, she remained in the excited state that came with casting spells, just as Jiang Zhenling had said: "An energetic eighteen-year-old girl would love nothing more than to throw eighteen fireballs in a day."

Ignoring her sister's sarcastic jab, Jiang Han felt it was not bad at all. She genuinely wanted to know what it felt like to throw a fireball.

"Comrade Zhen Ling, it shouldn't be illegal for me to throw a fireball into the sky, right?"

Jiang Zhenling removed her witch hat and gave a graceful little bow as she mocked her. "I'm quite curious whether a fireball thrown by an Archwitch would explode spectacularly. I'm also curious whether the police would really have the nerve to lock up a witch approaching Archwitch rank. I hope Miss Han can satisfy my curiosity."

Jiang Han clicked her tongue. Her little sister in this world was livelier than the one in her previous life, but accordingly, she had also become more and more sarcastic. If her sister in her previous life had merely been a sharp-tongued girl, then in this life she was a professional snarker.

She also took off her witch hat. This pointed, wide-brimmed triangular hat was rather stuffy, and she had wanted to remove it long ago. But seeing that both her mother and sister wore theirs, she had assumed she could not take it off.

Most witch attire currently copied the Western style: witch hats, robes or cloaks, off-the-shoulder short dresses or short formal tops, skirts or breeches, long boots or round-toed heels. Most witches dressed like this. According to the British Witch Group when they visited China, "Their clothing"—meaning the witches of New China—"is even more Western than the West."

Just as businessmen in the original world had promoted suits everywhere, this world had fully embraced Western witch attire as well.

Ye Keshu's witch attire was slightly altered. It looked somewhat like a high-slit qipao, yet was extremely witch-like, with a row of finger-thick scrolls tucked into the belt at her waist. Little Comrade Jiang Zhenling, meanwhile, wore a triple pouch around her waist, apparently filled with materials.

Jiang Han looked them over and found that only her own clothes were the most orthodox witch attire. Coupled with her petite figure, she looked more like the younger sister.

After resting for a while, Mother Ye put her witch hat back on, and Jiang Zhenling did the same. It seemed to be a signal that work was starting again. Jiang Han hurriedly pressed her hat back onto her head as well, and the three of them took out their wands and began steadily storing and shaping magic throughout the garden.

This included leveling several flowerbeds, enchanting the trees with cold wind, and inscribing heat-preserving runes onto stones.

Though the workload was not small, it still showed just how capable witches were.

In an ordinary world, this entire process would have taken at least two or three days. With some engineering work, they might even have needed to bring in an excavator just to dig out the ice cave. But with witches, the Three Witches! transformed the garden into a natural landscape in just over two hours, complete with a clearly defined path of dry grass.

No wonder witches were sometimes called "pioneers." Their living environments could look completely different from one day to the next.

After transforming the garden into a habitat for Ice Bear, Jiang Xuan returned home as well.

Jiang Xuan landed on her broom and showed no surprise at the garden's drastic changes. Then she saw Ice Bear, and her expression froze. Pointing at the bear, she asked:

"Th-this... what is that?"

Ye Keshu and Jiang Zhenling pointed at Jiang Han, who was curled up beneath a tree resting, at the same time. "It's the bear Comrade Jiang Han bought."

Comrade Jiang Xuan fell silent for a moment, then slowly drew her wand from her waist.

"Mom, don't mess around. You can't beat that piece of char siu." Having learned from experience, Comrade Jiang Zhenling grabbed Jiang Xuan in advance and once again skillfully explained the entire sequence of events.

After hearing the story, Jiang Xuan's expression remained frozen, with a touch of misery mixed in. She looked at Mother Ye with wounded eyes. Her lips moved, and the corners of her mouth curled as if she wanted to force out a smile, only to droop again unconsciously into a sorrowful expression.

"My magic power was 1,354 at this year's physical." Her words carried a verdant fragrance.

"Jiang Xuan, could you have a little more faith in our family?"

At that reaction, Ye Keshu immediately switched into ranting mode. Her righteous words carried several degrees of determination, making Jiang Han almost forget that two hours earlier, Mother Ye had wanted to become a beast who murdered her wife after first hearing the news.

Jiang Han secretly glanced at Jiang Zhenling. Her little sister now wore an expression of "spiritual condemnation," making Jiang Han forget how this girl had been pondering which of her two mothers had cheated at Natalia's shop.

Jiang Xuan said nothing. Her mouth twitched, and after a long silence, she walked to the edge of Sky Island and sat down, smoking gloomily again and again.

She perfectly embodied the mental journey of, I should be under the car, not inside it.

Seeing her like that, Mother Ye hurried over as well and quietly said something to her.

Jiang Han had seen this scene many times in her previous life. Back then, her father, Jiang Xuan, had been rather stubborn. Whenever he felt wronged, he would sit alone on the balcony and smoke in silence... Don't ask why a great husband could only smoke gloomily after being wronged. It was not because he feared his wife; it was because he respected her... In any case, whenever old Comrade Jiang Xuan was driven to smoke in silence, Mother Ye knew she had overacted a little and needed to comfort the wronged old comrade.

Seeing the two wives getting all lovey-dovey again, Jiang Han wore a strange expression and found it truly hard to accept, so she returned to her room first.

It was foreseeable that this wonderful yet bizarre scene might appear often for some time to come.