After surviving my ordeal, I learned that the school beauty had given birth to twins for me.

The two children squatted in front of the stall for a long time, and Niannian finally chose the rabbit.

Gui Gui picked out a Guan Gong mask, put it on her face, and made a series of loud noises, which amused the old man at the stall.

"These two children are so energetic." The old man smiled as he packed their things. "They're clearly smart kids."

"Thank you, Grandpa."

The two children were very sweet-talking; they thanked the old man as soon as they received the gifts, which made him even happier. He then gave each of them an extra bamboo dragonfly.

Further inside, there are stalls selling dough figurines.

The old man who sculpts dough figurines is very skillful. He kneads the colorful dough in his hands a couple of times and then carves a few marks with a small knife.

Within minutes, a lifelike Sun Wukong appeared, holding a golden cudgel, just like in the TV series.

A group of children surrounded the stall, staring wide-eyed and occasionally letting out exclamations of surprise.

Niannian and Guigui squeezed in, their eyes wide with amazement.

"Grandpa, I want a Sun Wukong!" Gui Gui shouted, raising her little hand.

"Grandpa, I want a Chang'e fairy!" Niannian shouted.

"Okay, just a moment, little one." The old man smiled and agreed, his hands moving non-stop, and he finished making it in just a few minutes.

Sun Wukong, dressed in a tiger-skin skirt and with his golden cudgel gleaming, stood majestically on a cloud.

The fairy Chang'e was wearing a pink dress, holding a jade rabbit in her arms, looking ethereal and otherworldly.

The two children held the dough figurines with great delight, handling them carefully as if afraid of breaking them.

Shen Yu paid the money and said with a smile, "You can play with it, but don't put it in your mouth. You can't eat these noodles."

"We know, Dad!" the two children said in unison, holding up the dough figurines like two little darlings.

There was a sugar painting stall right next to it.

A large copper pot was filled with golden-yellow maltose, its sweet aroma wafting far and wide.

The sugar painting master can draw all kinds of animals by holding a spoon and brushing it a few times on a marble slab.

Dragons, phoenixes, rabbits, and monkeys—after drawing them, stick a small bamboo stick on them. Let them cool completely, then hold them in your hand; they're sweet and beautiful.

The most popular activity among children is spinning the wheel. Whatever you land on, you get. The dragon is the biggest prize, and everyone wants to spin the dragon.

"Dad, I want to spin that!" Gui Gui said, pointing to the spinning wheel.

"I want to switch too!" Niannian said.

"Okay, one turn per person." Shen Yu smiled and paid them.

The wheel spun and spun, finally stopping on the butterfly.

The master painted a large butterfly for him, with patterns on its wings, making it look incredibly lifelike.

When it was Nian Nian's turn, the little girl was lucky. She spun the wheel for a long time, and finally, with a click, it stopped right on the dragon.

"Wow! A dragon!"

The children around them exclaimed in envy.

Niannian's little face turned rosy with joy.

The master smiled and said, "Young lady, you have really good luck. You're the first one to get the dragon today."

As he spoke, he scooped up some sugar syrup and moved his wrist nimbly. Soon, a dragon with bared teeth and claws was drawn, bigger than any other sugar painting, and heavy in his hand.

The two children held up the sugar paintings, taking turns licking them, their eyes squinting with sweetness.

The sugar paintings were too sweet, so Shen Yu didn't let them eat too much. After each person ate a small half, he collected them and put them in bags, saying they could eat them later.

If you walk further ahead, you'll find places selling snacks.

The candied hawthorn stalls are set up by the roadside, with hawthorn, grape, orange, and strawberry candied hawthorns, all in bright red and coated with a transparent sugar coating, looking incredibly tempting.

Shen Yu bought each of them a bunch of strawberries. The strawberries were big and sweet, with a crisp sugar coating that made a satisfying crunch when you bit into them.

There are also time-honored shops selling donkey rolls, glutinous rice cakes, and pea flour cakes nearby, all of which are Beijing's specialty snacks.

Shen Yu bought a little of everything and put it in a small cardboard box. The two children used small toothpicks to eat it, and their mouths were covered with soybean flour, making them look like little kittens.

Shen Yu followed behind with tissues, wiping their faces every now and then, and smiled helplessly: "Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you, look at your faces covered in food."

The two children didn't care. Holding their cotton candies, they looked at each other and laughed, calling each other old white-bearded grandpas.

……

We strolled and ate our way along until almost noon, when the sun grew stronger and stronger, making our skin sting.

There were fewer people on the street; everyone had gone to find a place to cool off.

The two children were tired from walking around, covered in sweat, their little T-shirts were soaked and stuck to their backs.

"Daddy, I'm hot." Niannian tugged at her little skirt, her face flushed, and sweat dripped down her chin.

"I'm hot too, I want ice cream." Gui Gui wiped the sweat from her face and also said she was hot.

"Okay, there's a convenience store at the intersection ahead, let's go buy some ice cream." Shen Yu smiled, wiped their sweat, and led them towards the street corner.

After walking a short distance, I saw the small shop that had been open for more than 20 years. It had a green-painted door and an old freezer placed in front of it, covered with a thick quilt.

Shen Yu said to the shopkeeper, "Give me two chocolate ice cream cones and a bottle of iced mineral water."

"Okay."

After paying, the two children took the ice cream cones, eagerly tore open the packaging, and took a bite. The coldness made them shrink their necks and sigh with relief.

"Eat slowly, don't get cold teeth," Shen Yu reminded him, then leaned against the large sycamore tree next to him and drank some water.

This Chinese scholar tree must be several decades old. Its trunk is so thick that two adults couldn't wrap their arms around it. Its canopy is as big as a giant umbrella, and the shade under it is cool and comfortable when the wind blows.

The two children sat on the bluestone steps under the tree, swinging their short legs, licking their ice cream cones one bite at a time, enjoying them immensely.

The chocolate on the ice cream cone melted and dripped down their fingers, so they licked their fingers, getting chocolate all over their faces.

Just as the two children were finishing their ice cream cones, Nian Nian suddenly stopped.

Her little nose twitched like a puppy's, and her little eyebrows furrowed as she looked left and right.

"What's wrong?" Shen Yu looked down at her, thinking she had been bitten by a mosquito.

"Dad," Niannian pointed to a gate of a residential complex next to the locust tree, her little face full of doubt, "there's a very strange smell there."

"Hmm? What does it taste like?" Upon hearing this, Gui Gui immediately stuffed the last bite of the ice cream cone into her mouth, puffed out her cheeks, closed her eyes, and focused intently on the taste.

After sensing for a few seconds, Guigui immediately opened her eyes and nodded: "Yes! Fluffy! Warm!"

"It's a bit fierce, but... it seems a little unhappy." Nian Nian sensed it carefully and added, "It's different from other kittens and puppies."

The two children had just broken through to the first level of Qi Refining half a month ago. At that time, their senses were at their most acute, and their five senses were dozens of times more sensitive than ordinary people. They could perceive the aura of every blade of grass and tree around them.

This aura is very special. Unlike the naivety of ordinary small animals, it contains fluctuations of intelligence and a hint of grievance.

So the two children noticed it immediately.