In her view, the fact that the previous free attempt didn’t require payment didn’t mean the same would apply to subsequent wishes.
Klein straightened his tall top hat and said with a smile: «The pence you pay are the cost. And the corresponding changes you must bear after the wish is granted are also the cost.»
Jasmine nodded half-understandingly, hesitated no longer, and reached into her pocket, trying to find a few copper pence to make her wish.
But her pocket was completely empty—aside from a handkerchief, there was nothing.
Having stayed at home for so long, she hadn’t touched money in quite a while.
And earlier, she had walked all the way from home to the city square, not taking an omnibus.
«Can… can I go home first?» Jasmine asked, both annoyed and embarrassed.
«Of course, it’s your freedom, but I can’t guarantee that the ‘Automatic Wishing Machine’ will wait here for you,» Klein said in a Magician’s tone with a smile. «Sometimes it can be quite capricious.»
Jasmine hummed twice in acknowledgment, thanked him, turned around, and trotted off in the direction opposite the city square.
The more she ran, the lighter her body felt, as if she had regained the healthy state before her burns and turned back into the young girl of seventeen or eighteen.
For her, this was a scene that only appeared in dreams.
Of course, as an ordinary person, after running for a while she gradually felt tired and had to slow down to a walk.
A cool night breeze blew, and through the high clouds one after another brilliant stars shone through. Trees along the street swayed gently, casting flickering shadows on the ground. Everything was so quiet and beautiful that Jasmine felt her body and mind relax, and all her worries drifted away.
It was the first time since her injury that she had felt so calm, and she unconsciously broke into a slight smile.
After walking for about five or six minutes, she suddenly heard someone calling her name: «Huh? Jasmine?»
Jasmine turned her head and saw a familiar face—it was her former neighbor, Mrs. Hamil.
«Good evening, Mrs. Hamil. Long time no see. Are you going to the carnival?» Jasmine, no longer wearing a scarf, smiled from the heart.
Mrs. Hamil was a woman with slightly gray hair. She studied Jasmine carefully for a moment and said: «I haven’t seen you since you moved. I heard you were injured in the last bombing?»
«Mm, but I’m already better,» Jasmine nodded firmly.
She then asked: «How is
Julie was Mrs. Hamil’s eldest daughter and Jasmine’s former playmate.
Mrs. Hamil’s expression darkened: «She… she was bullied by Feysac people, and she died because of it…»
Jasmine was stunned, and along with her sadness, she recalled her own experience.
Once, a Feysac soldier had broken into her home and tried to assault her, but seeing her burned face, he only kicked her and left.
«Poor Julie,» Jasmine said sorrowfully and sincerely as she traced a star in four clockwise motions over her chest.
After hearing about her old friend’s fate, she realized that perhaps she was still one of the luckier ones.
After parting with Mrs. Hamil, Jasmine walked all the way back to the apartment building where she lived.
When she reached the door, she calmed down, her mood lifted, and she began to look forward to seeing her parents’ expressions when they saw that she had returned to her original appearance.
They wouldn’t hold back their pain anymore, pretending nothing had happened. They would surely cry with joy and hug me happily…
Jasmine took off the key hanging around her neck like a necklace, and as she daydreamed, she opened the door.
Inside, it was dim—neither candles nor gas wall lamps were lit.
From the bed in the outer room came light and heavy snoring, forming a contrast with the liveliness of the city square.
They’re both asleep… Yeah, they’ve been working so hard…
Jasmine gently closed the door, walked to her parents’ bed, and quietly looked at them in the crimson moonlight streaming through the window.
Dad has so many more white hairs, and his laugh lines have become so deep… Mom frowns even in her sleep, her face a bit peeling, dry and rough…
It was then that Jasmine realized she hadn’t properly looked at her parents’ faces for a long time and didn’t know they had aged so much.
Before the war, her father was an accountant with a decent income, able to rent a row house, and his wife could stay home to take care of the family. Now, he could only work in a cloth factory doing heavy labor, and Jasmine’s mother had to leave home to become a textile worker.
Dad’s health is getting worse too; he’s always coughing. But he has passed the recent unified government employee exam, and once the interview results are announced, he’ll have a decent job… Mom keeps complaining that her eyes and arms are getting worse…
Jasmine gazed at her parents deeply, not waking them.
She had already thought of her second wish.
Treading lightly, Jasmine entered the inner room and shook out the last few pence from her nearly empty piggy bank.
Then she left the apartment and boarded a horse-drawn omnibus.
—She was afraid that if she was too late, the «Automatic Wishing Machine» would have disappeared.
At this time, the omnibus was full of passengers, most of them heading to the carnival. Jasmine looked left and right, saw no seats, and had to stand in the aisle, holding a support pole, squeezed in with many others.