"What... would it cost to be a person..."
Xu Xiao pressed her lips together, the light in her eyes growing heavy.
The warm aura emanating from her gradually faded, and several Palu children sensed that something was wrong.
The Palu Rabbitfolk sister before them, who was kind and gentle and had given them such delicious food, seemed to be... angry?
"Sister Xiao Xiao, did I... did I say something wrong?" The Palu Pigfolk immediately grew panicked.
He did not know whether to swallow or spit out the half a steamed bun still in his mouth.
"No, you didn't say anything wrong." Xu Xiao pulled herself free from the surging emotions and, feeling slightly apologetic, stroked the Palu Pigfolk's head.
"I was just thinking about how to answer your question."
Feeling the warmth return to his surroundings, the Palu Pigfolk hurriedly let out a sigh of relief.
A cute smile appeared on his not-quite-chubby face as he asked curiously, "Then, Sister Xiao Xiao, have you figured it out?"
"I have, but I'm still not entirely sure." Xu Xiao looked into the distance, at the endless golden wheat fields beyond the shacks.
When the wind blew, the Golden-Pattern Wheat bent low, revealing the hunched figures toiling among the fields.
They were like dust in the desert, incomparably small.
Perhaps one day, when the wind grew a little stronger, they would vanish completely into the golden waves of wheat, never to appear again.
"Just tell us, Sister. We won't laugh at you." The Palu Pigfolk smacked his lips contentedly.
"After all, you gave us so much delicious food!"
"To be a person, you don't need to pay a price." Xu Xiao withdrew her gaze and looked once more at the Palu children around her.
"Don't need to pay a price? How could that