Spring 1927, London's East End.
Drizzly gray light still shrouded the London sky. Winter had only just passed, and a lingering chill remained.
Mo Fei had already spent an entire winter here.
He seemed to have been terribly busy that winter. For survival, for the children, for his system, every day had been packed full, which had also made him overlook many things he paid little attention to.
Because of his oversight, the children had not had a memorable Christmas.
It was only the day after Christmas, when Aisha came to see Aiwen and help sell bread, that he learned what he had missed.
"Aiwen, why didn't you buy a turkey or make any special bread yesterday? Don't tell me you didn't celebrate Christmas?"
The somewhat shocked look in her eyes made Mo Fei, standing nearby, widen his own.
"Christmas?"
Forgive him. After all, as someone Chinese at heart, the Spring Festival was far more important to him. As for Christmas, he had never understood why the birth of a so-called god was something everyone celebrated.
Still, he could manage to do as the locals did.
Unfortunately, he had missed it, and none of the children had reminded him.
So he asked Aiwen, "Don't you look forward to Christmas? We missed it this year... aren't you disappointed?"
Before Aiwen could answer, however, Jimmy, who had come looking for the director with Tom in his arms, answered the question for him.
"Director, it's not as if we live in a monastery. From the day we were abandoned here, God was never going to be our first choice again. Besides, Director, even though we didn't celebrate Christmas, this winter has been the happiest time of our lives..."
"We used to look forward to Christmas, but isn't every day like Christmas now?"
Jimmy's words laid bare the thoughts deepest in the children's hearts.
Their lives now were already the happiness they had dreamed of.
After learning this, much of Mo Fei's guilt faded.
He had thought his oversight had made the children miss out on a great deal, but now it seemed that perhaps he had not done too badly.
He lowered his head to look at Tom in Jimmy's arms.
The suggestion he had previously made to Jimmy had been put to use during this time.
Lately, Tom had been forced to appear frequently among the children. Not only that, he was also brought to the long table when they sold bread.
As a result, many people living nearby had learned that the orphanage had taken in another orphan.
A baby still in swaddling clothes, at that.
He came into contact with the adults outside, as well as the children in the orphanage.
The children had always felt quite warmly toward Tom.
Baby Tom's presence was special to them.
Although they did not know why the director had changed, one thing was undeniable: everything had happened after Tom was taken in.
And so, in private, the children gave Tom a new nickname-the "Lucky Star of the Orphanage!"
Thus, after receiving the director's permission, everyone treated him like a treasure.
Every morning, many of them competed for the job of feeding him milk.
However, after Boer nearly choked Tom to death several times, Lina took over with a dark expression and forbade the clumsy boys from feeding him anything again.
Aiwen merely smiled at this little turn of events, then offered Boer some comfort.
None of that was particularly important. The truly interesting change came when Tom was brought beside the long table where they sold bread.
Whenever passersby saw Tom in his swaddling clothes, they would stop, give a gentle smile, and then buy some bread.
This meant that whenever Tom appeared, bread sales would be a little better.
This unusual occurrence made the children believe even more firmly that he was their Lucky Star.
When Mo Fei heard about it, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.
If the infamous Dark Lord learned, once he grew up, that his nickname at the orphanage had been Lucky Star, would he be happy or annoyed?
That would be far too amusing.
Jimmy had brought Tom here this time because Tom seemed to have a slight fever.
Perhaps because he often took Tom outside to get some sun, Jimmy had once again left him baking in direct sunlight for a while.
Mo Fei had been rather horrified when he learned of it.
Exposing a baby's frail body to blazing sunlight sounded dangerous no matter how he looked at it.
Fortunately, a wizard's constitution really was exceptional.
Nothing serious had happened to Tom; he only had a slight fever. Jimmy, on the other hand, had received a scolding from Aiwen after he learned what had happened.
There was no malice in it. He simply told Jimmy to be more attentive when caring for a little child.
Fortunately, Mo Fei had previously improved his medical skills. After he used a few treatments, the baby's fever was soon dealt with.
This visit was also to have Mo Fei check on him again.
"He's all right now. Don't worry too much. His fever has gone down. Just be more careful from now on. If there's anything you're unsure about, ask Aiwen more often. He looked after you for a long time back then, after all. He knows what to do about plenty of things..."
Jimmy looked a little embarrassed. "I understand, Director. From now on, I'll make sure to check with big brother Aiwen before I do anything..."
Such peaceful days seemed to be steering everything in Mo Fei's life in the best possible direction.
But-
Life's upheavals still came without warning.
The owner of the bread workshop eventually learned why their sales had fallen.
They had originally earned £100 every day, but now, because of Mo Fei and the others, their income had dropped to around £80. On days off, the decline was even greater.
This displeased him greatly.
Only after investigating did he learn that Mo Orphanage had actually started selling bread too.
He had heard of Mo Orphanage before. Supposedly, a down-and-out heir to a wealthy family had converted his own house into an orphanage to preserve his former residence.
When he first heard about it, he had even scoffed at the man's stupidity.
Had he sold the house back then and left London, or bought a small house in the West End and found a job, wouldn't his life have been much happier than it was now?
Although he had privately scoffed at the man's stupidity, he had never had any contact with that director.
Now, however, it seemed he had no choice but to deal with that idealist. After all, the man was getting in the way of his profits.
He had spent quite a lot of money greasing palms to take over the bread business here.
Only after bribing many of the surrounding gangs and driving away all the artisan workshops here had he secured the largest share for himself.
Now, in his eyes, Mo Fei's actions were undoubtedly encroaching on his profits.
And so, after a brief investigation, he decided to go straight to Mo Fei's door and demand an explanation.
That evening, the long table used for selling bread had already been put away, and Aiwen was cleaning up the rubbish outside the entrance with Boer and Kyle.
A man in a long coat slowly emerged from around the corner, a stub of a cigarette between his lips and a faint scent of bread still lingering on him, but an ill-intentioned look on his face.