As Lungmen's Spring Festival Gala, Wei Yenwu's influence was more than enough to secure live broadcasting equipment for a real-time transmission. But he didn't do it, and this was the reason: there were too many people inside and outside Lungmen looking to cause him trouble and force him to step down.
With a pre-recorded broadcast, no matter what happened during the program on stage, there would be ways to handle it during editing. But with a live broadcast, once a problem occurred, it would be an irrecoverable disaster. Especially during the Spring Festival, a time for family reunions. So, whether it was to ensure everyone could have a happy New Year or to prevent people from taking the opportunity to cause chaos, Wei Yenwu would never use a method with such high uncertainty as a live broadcast.
"Sure!" Flandre Scarlet had never been to the scene of such a program and was very interested. Once it was settled, Lady Fumizuki said she would send someone to pick up Flandre when the time came.
Having eaten and drunk her fill, Flandre Scarlet left the Governor's Mansion satisfied. Upon arriving at the hospital, she recounted Wei Yenwu's words exactly to Dropper. After listening, Dropper sighed.
"I see. If that's the case, I can understand why they made that choice. If we could successfully solve Oripathy, these issues wouldn't happen."
If they told everyone the truth, there would always be reckless people who would come into contact with Originium or Oripathy patients. Children, in particular, don't understand how to avoid danger at all and are extremely prone to infection due to an accident. So, it's better to exaggerate the details of Oripathy so that everyone instinctively feels afraid and stays away when they hear about it.
But this is very unfair to Oripathy patients, it effectively prevents Infected people from being able to live their life. Seeing his low spirits, Flandre Scarlet comforted him.
"Don't be sad. I'm the one who brought this up. If you're sad, I'll start crying too!" Facing such a powerful threat from Flandre Scarlet, Dropper could only force a smile.
"I'm not sad, really!"
"That's good. Peel an orange for me!" Flandre Scarlet said, pointing to the fruit basket nearby.
"Alright, here's an orange!" Dropper took an orange from the basket, peeled it, and handed it to Flandre Scarlet.
Flandre Scarlet nodded with satisfaction. "It's not just your problem that Oripathy can't be cured. What's the use of sighing all day? I've noticed you guys always like to put pressure that doesn't belong to you on your own shoulders. This behavior is very bad. Life should be happy... if you're not happy, have a piece of candy!"
Flandre Scarlet took out a piece of candy, placed it in Dropper's hand, waved to him, and walked out of the ward under his complicated gaze. She could have kept this from him entirely, but Flandre Scarlet felt that since Dropper had done so much, he deserved to know the outcome, so she specifically came to tell him.
Afterwards, Flandre Scarlet went to the Lee's Detective Agency. Because she knew Waai Fu's exams were over. It was the perfect time to go play with her. When she arrived, she saw Waai Fu striking a wooden post with a rhythmic thumping sound. Looking at her movements, it was clear she hadn't done poorly on her exams; otherwise, she wouldn't be in such a good mood.
Seeing Flandre Scarlet arrive, Waai Fu happily pulled her onto the sofa and talked about how her exam results were actually in the top fifty of the entire grade. Hearing this, Flandre Scarlet clapped her hands and praised her. Under Flandre Scarlet's applause and praise, Waai Fu gradually lost herself; she jumped up excitedly and gave a nearby wooden post a flying kick, then twisted her ankle.
Hung, who had watched the whole thing from the side, picked Waai Fu up with a face full of black lines, placed her on the sofa, and then checked her foot. "It's not a big deal, but you'll need at least a week to recover."
Hearing Hung's words, Waai Fu cried out about her bad luck with a long face. After all, it was only two days until the New Year; with this injury, all her plans for playing were ruined. She couldn't help but hug Flandre Scarlet's neck and burst into tears.
Seeing her cry so sadly, Flandre Scarlet tilted her head and thought for a moment. Deciding she should follow the crowd, her eyes immediately reddened, and she joined Waai Fu in a performance of Sage Art: Toad Duo Chant. Lee, hearing the noise outside, couldn't take it and walked out. He stuffed a few Lungmen dollars into each of the two girls' hands.
"Stop crying. If you keep crying, I'll take it back!"
Hearing his words, the two decisively stopped crying, then gripped the money tightly in their hands, looking at Lee with wary expressions. Seeing the two little girls' money-grubbing appearance, Lee was actually moved to laughter from anger.
"Fine, you two little rascals, I'll remember this!" After saying that, he walked back to his office, speechless.
After he left, the two happily began counting the money. Seeing that Waai Fu couldn't move, Flandre Scarlet suggested playing some video games. Waai Fu agreed, and the two took the game console out from under the cabinet and started playing again. As for the other three in the house, Lee kept his door tightly shut and ignored the world; Aak hid in his room doing experiments, and even the loud crying just now hadn't made him open the door to look.
As for Hung, our gentle 'male mother', he wouldn't care what the two children were playing. He even thoughtfully prepared a cup of hot milk for each of them and turned up the fire in the room so they wouldn't feel cold. Flandre Scarlet played until evening before happily saying goodbye and leaving the agency.
When she got home, she found that Beatrice Schwire hadn't returned yet. She couldn't help but ask the maids. The maids also said they hadn't received any news; perhaps the eldest miss hadn't finished work yet. After hearing them, Flandre Scarlet looked at the door, then sat down and turned on the TV, waiting for Beatrice's return while watching the news.
It wasn't until nine o'clock in the evening that Little Tiger returned home with an expression of being completely burnt out. Once in the room, she collapsed directly onto the sofa, completely losing her elegance and sophistication. Flandre Scarlet asked about the situation and learned that because the New Year was approaching, Governor Wei had made further arrangements to strengthen Lungmen's security.
They had been exhausted these past few days; just today, she had taken a team to the Lungmen Outer Ring to shut down several factories. When she came back, she was almost locked out.
"I'm starving, I'm starving!" After drinking a cup of hot ginger tea to warm her stomach, Beatrice wolfed down the food the maids brought. In her words, they left in such a hurry today that no one brought any food, so they just endured the hunger all day. For an ordinary person, being hungry for a day might not be much pressure, but their work required them to walk dozens of miles outside. They also had to chase down those unscrupulous manufacturers who ran away after spotting them. The physical exertion was extremely high.
"Then do you want me to help?" Flandre Scarlet asked warmly.
"That won't be necessary. Little Flandre, you just need to be happy. These are just some troublesome chores, but there's no danger." Beatrice squeezed Flandre Scarlet's cheek with satisfaction.
"What about Sister Chen and the others?" Flandre Scarlet thought that since Beatrice was so busy, Ch'en and the others should be even busier.
"Don't even mention it. The Major Crimes Unit has practically lived in the office for a month. It feels like those people are almost treating the Guard Department as their home."
From Beatrice's account, Flandre Scarlet learned that since the last case, the Major Crimes Unit hadn't rested once. Just when things were almost handled, they encountered Governor Wei's new orders and started working overtime again. Like Ch'en, because she had to catch a gang of pickpockets, she spent every day wandering around Lungmen's buses and plazas. Surprisingly, although that gang wasn't caught, she managed to catch several wanted criminals and mediate quite a few neighborhood disputes. Beatrice even mocked Ch'en, saying she was suited to be a Beat Officer.
"Then can you guys have a holiday for the New Year?" Hearing that the Guard Department's workload was so heavy, Flandre Scarlet asked with some concern.
"There will definitely be a holiday, but it'll probably be a 'scientific leave, released in an orderly fashion'..." Beatrice cleared her throat and then spoke, mimicking Wei Yenwu's tone. Hearing her words, Flandre Scarlet laughed so hard she fell over. This also made her feel less tired.
Lunar New Year's Eve
In the morning, Flandre Scarlet put on a set of beautiful new clothes (actually, many clothes in her wardrobe had never been worn, so in principle, they could all be called new clothes). Then, with a happy face, she was about to run out to give New Year's greetings, but she was stopped by Beatrice.
"New Year's greetings are tomorrow, tomorrow! Today is not for New Year's greetings..."
Flandre Scarlet looked disappointed. "That's a pity!"
"What's there to be a pity about? Didn't you agree with the Lady to go see a performance this afternoon?" Beatrice said while packing her things.
"Oh right! Will you be there too?"
"Uh, let's just say I'll be at the scene!" Beatrice replied.
"Ah, are you going to perform in the show?" Flandre Scarlet asked curiously.
"No, we're the security on duty, security!" Beatrice told Flandre Scarlet that the Guard Department would handle security for such large-scale performances. And this time, she happened to be assigned to duty inside the venue.
"Does that mean you can also watch the show at the scene?" Flandre Scarlet asked in shock.
"That's true, but you'll have a seat following the Lady, while we have to stand for several hours."
Flandre Scarlet tilted her head. "Then why don't you have seats?"
"Because we're on duty, little one!" Beatrice reached out and pinched Flandre Scarlet's cheek, giving it a shake. "Remember not to run too far. Once you've played enough in the morning, go to the Governor's Mansion and wait there."
After Beatrice finished speaking, Flandre Scarlet nodded. After saying goodbye to Beatrice, Flandre Scarlet walked out of the house. As she walked along the road, she watched the hustle and bustle of the surrounding crowds while telling Alina about the liveliness of the Yan Spring Festival.
On the other side, in the Reunion Movement, Alina had been receiving a "text message bombardment" from Flandre Scarlet since she woke up in the morning. It was overflowing with her excitement. This was her second winter here, and also the first time she was spending Terra's Spring Festival.