A faint dream it was.

A small homeless child wandered towards the side of a shop.

Dressed in rags and filled with grime.

She scavenged the garbage heap in search of some to eat.

What her motivation to live was, she did not know.

The cold winds brushed past her dirty cheeks as she moved aside rotting trash whilst continuing her search.

What was she even searching for, was an answer she could not tell.

Was it for food? Or power? Or a home? Or a purpose? Or was it for hope?

Such cumbersome details had never crossed her mind as she continued to dig through the heaping pile of trash.

"Uu....uuu......uuuu......"

Her voice echoes out into the cold alley as she slowly digs through the garbage with her scrawny bare hands.

"Uuu....uuuu"

She continued to dig and dig despite the cold chill traveling up her bony thin hands.

"U....uuuu? Uwaaah!"

The dirty street urchin stopped digging as she glanced forward with shining eyes. She slowly clasped the newly found object into her hands as she silently embraced it as if cuddling a baby.

In her arms lay a small dirty brown cloth sack. Opening the cloth sack, inside were two half-eaten yellow mantous. To be fair, the mantous were probably a few days old since their pristine white color had dulled yellow. Perhaps a rich second generation had enough of eating these tasteless mantous and decided to toss them away after a single bite. Slight mold could be seen growing on the edges of the bun but the girl could not be bothered by such tiny details.

It was her first meal in a week.

"Uwaaah...."

She continued to admire the two unsullied buns as she looked at them with amazement.

"Wh-what are you doing making a mess by my store!"

An old lady who was taking out the trash noticed the dirty girl holding onto the small dirty sack.

"Get away! Go! And don't come back and affect our business!"

Taking out a broom she started to whack the small girl as she chased the street urchin away. The young girl looked frightfully at the broom which whacked against her arms and legs but she tightly gripped onto the cloth sack. After regaining her ground, she dashed off into the distance with a familiar cloth sack in hand.

"God damn it. All of these dirty orphans. I wish that they were all dead!"

She shouted out as she tossed the trash in her hand before walking back into the store.

The dirty girl who had run off into the distance noticed that the old lady had disappeared. She looked toward the new pile of trash that was thrown away longingly, before turning away. It was too soon to return as the store owner might return and beat her up even more. She could always return back during the evening when the business was booming. It seems during this time the owner is too busy with business to be bothered by her who is rummaging around the trash. Perhaps, she would have had to fight with others for food by then or maybe someone would have gone there first and taken the edible food.

Anyways, those are all concerns for later. To the girl currently, the most important part is the two cold hard mantous in her hands. She looked at the old moist bread in her hand in wonderment for a short moment once again before...

"Mofuuu...omu....omu...."

A small and silent sound of nibbling ensued.

=============

"Hmm~hmmm~hmm~"

A light and melodious humming rang out as a little girl skipped around whilst her pink dress fluttered behind her.

"Oh, a mantou store..."

She suddenly stopped in her tracks as a faint sweet scent drifted by her. She sniffed lightly as she continued to skip in a different direction.

"Hey, Xueer! You are going the wrong way!"

A loud and husky man's voice was heard from behind her back. Yanyi struggled to rush forward as even though the girl appeared to be gracefully skipping, she was traveling at a very fast pace. Her further obsession with the mantous made her move even faster, which led the poor young man to chase behind her back.

Soon, the couple arrived at their new destination. It was a small roadside restaurant. The hawker was enthusiastically advertising his goods as there were many steamed treats that he had prepared to sell in those bamboo baskets.

"Come and taste my delicious steamed food! Meat dumplings, glutinous rice treats, siewmais, hargows. I have everything!"

He shouted out to the passing crowd. He had already been having a decent business this morning as many customers would stop by in the midst of their journey to take a short break while enjoying his delicious treats.

"Selling delicious steamed food!"

He continued to hawk out before stopping as he realized a cute young girl dressed in an expensive pink gown appear before his store.

Ooohh, a rich customer.

He thought to himself as he bent down while cheerfully greeting the girl.

"Hello there young lady, do you want to eat some steamed treats?"

"Umu, mantous!"

The girl replied cheerfully.

"Alright, how many?"

The man replied whilst thinking it was weird since mantous are generally the cheapest food he could offer. Regular steamed buns without any filling. These are usually what the poorer folks would order since they could not afford to eat food with any meat or vegetables in them.

"All of them!"

The girl replied once again with a big smile.

"Alright then, that is 1 copper for 3. So 1 big copper coin for 30."

He said as the hawker began to pack all the mantous into a large cloth sack.

"Uuuu..."

The girl suddenly had a troubled look on her face as she opened up her purse. Looking at her the store owner had a bad premonition. Perhaps, she had forgotten to bring out her money? That would have wasted his time, but it is an understandable scenario as he stopped his actions.

"Umm, young miss. Do you have enough money? You could always order less."

He tried to make the situation less awkward as he adjusted it.

"Umu..."

The girl frowned her eyebrows even harder as she was in deep thought. This started to irritate the store owner a bit since he was trying to be nice.

"Huht....seriously Xueer. Slow down! Oh, are you buying mantous again?"

A young man rushed from behind, he was rather large as he stood up to almost 2 meters tall, overshadowing the store owner. The store owner had quelled any thoughts of berating the small girl at this point.

"Hey Yanyi, do you have one large copper?"

The small girl spoke out bitterly.

"Uh yeah, here. Did you forget to bring your purse again?"

"No, I forgot to bring small change. I only have spirit stones in my pouch."

She stated out in a bitter voice as she grasped onto the large copper coin before transferring it onto the store owner's hand. By this point, the store owner noticed that all the steamed mantous and the sack was already missing from his hand as he heard a light sound followed by skipping noises.

"Thank you, shop owner!"

The young girl happily chimed out, but all he saw was just a faint after shadow. Was that a ghost? The owner wondered. Looking at the large copper coin in his hand, he shook his head. Even if the customers are ghosts or gods, as long as they are paying customers everyone is welcome and he continued to hawk his steamed goods.

========

"Was there a need to buy that many?"

Yanyi mentioned as he sighed looking at the small girl carrying a large sack filled with steaming hot mantous.

"Yup! I can finish them all!"

Xueer cheerfully mentioned as she quickly took one out before stuffing it into her small mouth.

Mofu~omu

She quickly bit through the entire bun as she continued to skip forward.

"So we are heading towards the meeting point of the other cultivators..."

Yanyi continued his speech before he noticed the young girl stop in her tracks. Looking at her face, he could see that she was looking towards one side by a dark and dirty alleyway. There seemed to be two small children who were lying about. They seem emaciated as they looked dazedly at the lively streets. Looking at them, the man recalled the first time he met the little girl.

"Xueer..."

"I know, I cannot offer my hand to every poor soul out there."

The young girl said as she continued to skip forward. She continued walking towards their destination since they were running short on time.

"But at least, I can offer them some hope right?"

She said in a casual tone as her initially busy hands were now free from any burden.

You have seen a reminiscence of The Million Suns.

You have gained 1% proficiency in the Archaic Sun Aura (28%).