“If it’s really him, he will never be forgiven the rest of his life!”
Sung says, what kind of grandfather would use his grandkid for a bait… Wendy feels scared and something bad is gonna happen. She must find Charlie as fast as she could. The next few days, Sung puts more people to search Charlie in the whole country, Wendy waits his news at home with Sen.
“Sen, I want to find Charlie. I can’t sit at home anymore.”
“Master, how about I ask our people to help you, then we may find him faster.”
“Ok, please. Thank you, Sen!” Wendy appreciates her help, Sen nods and walks out.
Wendy tries to do her stitching to not pay attention to it, while she can’t. She considers for a while and walks out with Coral, she shows a piece of clothes from Charlie, “Little Coral, do you think you can bring me to him?” She says for fun actually, however, Coral seems to understand her and brings her to the North. They walk for a while and sees some poor buildings, It’s sort of slum, live with many poor people. About noon, it’s snowing again, not heavy compare to previous days. Coral barks towards a small farmyard, she follows behind.
She finds Coral chewing a bone on the ground. Wendy laughs at her silly mind. Coral is a puppy, how could she find out where is Charlie? She walks around this area, the snowy days seem to make the people here worse. Some women collect their clothes in from the drying rack, complaining, “Shoot! Now it’s snowing again! I guess we will be freeze to die this year!” She sighs and continues walking, trying to find a place to feed Coral and herself. They eat nothing today until now…
Suddenly, she hears crying from a kid, some imagines go in her head, her heart gets in pain once again. She calms down and closes her eyes, memorizing those pictures, it’s a yard covered with cyan wall, two guards and a dog guard outside. She looks around, there’s no such place here. She goes to check around cause her heart tells her so.
“Hello, May I ask you something?” She goes to that complaining woman.
“Ok, go ahead.”
“I’m looking for a house covered with cyan wall, do you know about it?”
She puts her hair behind the ear, points to another side, “There’s no house like that. You keep walking, out of this village, then you will see a lot. Rich people live there.” Wendy thanks her, getting excited and heads towards another side. She walks like half an hour, then sees two roads ahead, she grabs another person, a woodcutter looking man, “Hello, I’m looking for a house covered with cyan wall, could you tell me which way?”
“Oh, do you mean the house of Minister Qian? It’s over there, keep walking thirty minutes you will be able to see it.” She thanks him and keeps walking. That woodcutter looks around and walks away. Wendy then hides behind a rock, she has noticed something is wrong with him. His hands are too clean as a woodcutter. Making sure that man is not following her, she runs fast with Coral towards that house.
Half an hour later, she sees a small river and a hill, near that hill is the house which covered with cyan wall! It’s exactly as same as her image in mind!
She sneaks to the door, hiding under a rock, peeking inside carefully. She knows Charlie is there for sure! Soon, she hears a crying from inside, it’s Charlie! Two guards walk around to do their checking routine. Coral doesn’t bark, she stays in Wendy’s arms quietly. She thinks for a while, whispering to Coral, “Hey, you go there to get their attention, I will sneak pin! Do you think you can do that?” Coral seems to get her again, she jumps out of Wendy’s arms.
After then, Coral gets their attention, two guards begin to move away from the main door, Wendy walks out and tries to flip in, the wall is not that high. “Bang!” Someone knocks her from behind, she passes out…
“Mom…” She wakes up from a noise, a weeping actually, “Charlie??” Charlie hears her and climbs on her tummy, weeping. She wants to comfort him but her hands are tied up. She moves it a little and it’s easily goes away. She hugs him immediately. Two big dark eyes watching her, recalling her old sweet face from baby Charlie. He looks fine, just dirt everywhere. Beside, he grows up a bit.
“Who are you?” He asks with his adorable voice.
“I’m your godmother, I came here to save you.”
“I want to see mom, I want mom!” He cries after seeing someone comes from his family.
Wendy covers his mouth, nodding, “I promise you, Charlie! You will see her and your father! But you must promise me not to cry unless we are home! Only good kid can do that, are you a good kid??”
Charlie nods, blinking his flickering eyes.
She stands up, lighting a candle on the table, moving towards the window then peeking outside, only two guards walking around, no one else. It’s night time already. Sung must be sorry about her.
“Hey, I see some light there! Go check!” One guard says with caution. Wendy blows it out fast and lies back to the floor. She asks Charlie to close his eyes, he does. Smart as Zack.
“You must be sleepy, there’s no light!” The other one complains.
Wendy stands up, she sees something running outside, something black, it’s Coral! She is like a flame lights Wendy’s hopeless heart. Coral is very small so she can jump over in easily, Wendy hugs her fast, praising and kissing how smart she is! But she gets wet all over, they must dump her into the water, anyway, Coral has changed, she loves the water now!
Coral jumps on their narrow bed, licking Charlie’s small hands. “Is it cute, Charlie??” Wendy asks.
Charlie nods and says, “Is it a big mouse??”
Wendy laughs, “Nah, she is a dog. Her name is Coral.”