"Fama • Odin • Highness will absolutely not sing!" Black Charcoal held its head high, displaying an air of unwavering defiance.
"What kind of songs can this stupid bird sing?" Crassus's face showed a hint of sarcasm. He didn't get many chances to see his old rival get humiliated.
Amy was also somewhat disappointed and looked back at the blueprint on the table.
"If you don't sing, I don't mind having an extra dish on the table tonight." Yulian's voice suddenly turned cold, his gaze icy as he looked at Black Charcoal.
Black Charcoal shivered, then immediately looked at Amy excitedly, "My dear Amy, what song do you want to hear? Anything you can name, I can sing for you, and I'll sing it really well!"
"Do you know the song 'A Little Girl Picking Mushrooms'?" Amy tilted her head, thought for a moment, and asked Black Charcoal.
"Pick…pick what?" Black Charcoal's voice was a little confused. It poked its head out of the cage and stared at Amy.
"A Little Girl Picking Mushrooms." Amy answered seriously, enunciating each word clearly.
Classus looked at Black Charcoal. That song was probably the one the little singing person had sung the other day. He'd been tricked by it last time. Black Charcoal had just boasted so confidently, but now it seemed completely unfamiliar with the song. A hint of schadenfreude appeared on his face.
Yabemia stood to the side, somewhat puzzled as to why these two elderly men, who both looked to be over a hundred years old, were so irritable so early in the morning and were constantly trying to please Amy. She really couldn't understand it.
Mai Ge couldn't help but smile. Few people in the world had ever heard of "A Little Girl Picking Mushrooms" so Black Charcoal certainly couldn't possibly sing it. Amy was really putting it in a difficult position.
However, Amy only knew two songs, and she couldn't even remember the title of the other one. Black Charcoal had asking her to choose a song was just asking for trouble.
"What song is this! This song doesn't even exist in this world! This prince has never heard of it!" Black Charcoal's voice suddenly rose, sounding somewhat exasperated.
"Silly Black Charcoal, you said you'd let me choose whatever I wanted, and my little person knows it, how could it not exist?" Amy looked at Black Charcoal seriously, her little face stern as she lectured it.
"But...but this prince..." Black Charcoal was a little anxious, craning its neck, still trying to argue.
"Sing." Yulian glanced at the smug-faced Crassus, then gave Black Charcoal a cold look. His voice seemed to emanate from millennia-old ice, and frost instantly formed on the edge of the cage in his hand.
"The little girl picking…picking mushrooms…picked a big mushroom, one bite at a time, never tiring…" Black Charcoal snapped out of it and immediately started singing, its tone impassioned, managed to sing a children's song with the tragic feeling of going to the battlefield.
Mai Ge raised an eyebrow. Black Charcoal's voice sounded alright, but apart from the first line being correct, the rest of the lyrics were completely nonsensical. A perfectly good, sharing little girl had been turned into someone who'd eaten every mushroom in the mountain, one after another.
"Pfft—" Yabemia burst out laughing. It was the first time she had ever seen a singing crow, and one that sang quite well at that.
"Black Charcoal, I think you shouldn't sing anymore. It's absolutely awful, much worse than my little person's singing." Amy frowned as she listened to Black Charcoal finish singing, shook her head in disappointment, and went behind the counter to take out a music box and turn on the music.
The light, melodious music immediately filled the restaurant. The singing was pleasant and beautiful, a world apart from Black Charcoal's wolf howl.
"That's right." Crassus said, stroking his beard, his face beaming. "Amy's little elf sings the best. She doesn't need this clumsy bird as a playmate; she only needs a beautiful golden peacock to dance with."
Black Charcoal stared wide-eyed at the little elf in the music box, lost in deep silence. Only after the song ended did it stiffly turn to Yulian, its voice tinged with helplessness, "Even if you killed this prince, this prince still couldn't sing this song."
Yulian also fell silent, put the Black Charcoal directly on the ground, and looked at Amy's face as he forced a smile that looked more like a grimace. He coaxed her gently, "If Little Amy learns magic with me, you will only need to walk a few steps to reach your destination everyday. If you miss your father, you can go to the restaurant to play. I can pay for whatever you want to eat and wherever you want to eat for three meals a day."
"You'll pay?" Amy's eyes lit up immediately, and she asked tentatively, "If I eat at home, will Grandpa Turtle Shell pay too?"
"At home?" Yulian paused, his expression turning strange. He'd completely forgotten that this girl's family owned a restaurant. Eating at home and then expecting him to pay seemed odd. However, he figured a little girl couldn't possibly eat that much in a day; he could easily afford it. He nodded and said, "Yes, as long as Boss Mai puts the bill on the tab, I'll pay for your meals every month."
"Wow, Grandpa Turtle Shell, you're so generous!" Amy's eyes lit up. She ate three plates of Yang Zhou Fried Rice and three Rou Jia Mo a day, and now she wanted to add six bowls of tofu pudding—that was going to be a lot of money. She'd been worried his father wouldn't be able to afford it, but now it was no problem at all.
"Shameless!" Crassus glared at Yulian, never expecting that this guy would actually use the food temptation trick. This was a trick that he had tried and found effective last time, but he didn't expect that this guy would use it ahead of time.
"If you're unhappy, hit me then." Yulian smiled sinisterly. It seemed that Amy really liked food. This had somewhat swayed Crassus's attempt to tempt her with the exquisite magic room.
"Yulian, don't forget that I beat you to a pulp twenty years ago!" Crassus roared, his white mage robes fluttering without wind, and flames leaping from the blue gem on his mage staff.
He had come full of confidence today, intending to win over Mai Ge and Amy with his sincerity, and was practically guaranteed to accept her as his disciple. He hadn't expected Yulian to suddenly appear, trying to steal his apprentice just like back then.
"Nonsense! If it weren't for your shameless sneak attack back then, how could a level ten archmage possibly defeat me? You even attacked me from behind with your mage staff. Later, I sealed you into an ice pop. If it wasn't for Irina saving you, you old bastard would still be soaking at the bottom of the well in the south city of Luo Du." Upon hearing this, Yulian's face darkened, and frost appeared from beneath his feet, blooming into frost flowers on the floor and spreading in all directions.
The atmosphere suddenly became tense, the confrontation between ice and fire reignited.
"I think Grandpa Turtle Shell and Grandpa Half Beard can sit down and try Daddy's super delicious tofu pudding. It will cheer you up. Then you can talk slowly. Fighting is not allowed in the restaurant. Otherwise, Amy will get angry and be super fierce!" Just then, Amy's soft, sweet voice rang out as she looked at the two of them seriously.