Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 948: Home

Li Lu was still in the middle of her postpartum recovery, so the consecutive car and train rides left her extremely exhausted. Fortunately, they found a hotel that didn't require any identification cards to check in.

"Can you let my mom rest for a while? She has just given birth, and I'm just a baby as well," Tobba grumbled.

Anna couldn't be bothered to pay any attention to Tobba.

She bent down to open her suitcase, revealing a man's suit and a clown mask. She took out the clothes and the clown mask. She tossed them aside, and the suit puffed up, transforming into a masked clown.

"You're in someone's arms all day, so how can you even get tired? And we're already here, so come with me in a bit."

Upon hearing that, Tobba sat up straight in his swaddling clothes. His eyes were wide open as he exclaimed, "We're already here?!"

Anna slammed the suitcase shut with both hands. "Charles must be living in a neighborhood not far away from the sea. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for him to go out at sea and fall into the waters."

"Do I really have to go?" Tobba asked, "I need my afternoon nap. Do you not know that babies must get twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep every day? Otherwise, their development will be affected."

Anna strode over and snatched Tobba directly from Li Lu's arms.

"Stop the nonsense and come with me."

Li Lu reached out to snatch her son back, but her hands were stopped dead in their tracks by a line of magic streamers. Obviously, it was the clown's doing.

"Mask, keep an eye on her until my return," Anna remarked.

The clown raised his right hand clad in a pristine white glove and made an "OK" gesture to Anna.

Anna held Tobba in her arms and walked slowly down the street as if she were an ordinary mother. While rocking the baby in her arms, Anna observed the neighborhood around her.

Anna wasn't just familiar with this neighborhood—she was extremely familiar with it. She had created an identical neighborhood atop the World's Crown in an attempt to stop Charles from risking his life out at sea.

Of course, her efforts were in vain. Now that she thought about it, she realized just how foolish she had been. She had done so much for him, and how had he repaid her in the end?

Anna was filled with a hodgepodge of emotions at the scenery before her.

"Young lady, are you looking for someone?" the elderly guard of the neighborhood asked, looking up from his booth to stare at Anna with his pair of reading glasses.

Anna turned to look at the distant building and replied, "I just gave birth, so I came here to visit my parents' home."

Anna pulled her finger out and smacked his face lightly.

Tobba instantly became obedient.

Anna took her sweet time on her journey to the fifth floor, but regardless of her speed, she'd eventually reach her destination.

Soon, Anna was standing in front of a red locked door on the fifth floor. She was standing right in front of Charles's home—the home he had always been yearning to return to all the time.

Taking a deep breath, Anna reached out and pressed on the doorbell.

Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang, but no one answered the door.

Anna frowned slightly and rang the doorbell again. Still, no one opened the door.

"Today isn't a holiday, nor is there a festival out there. Where did the family of four go?" Anna muttered to herself.

Just as she was about to force her way in, an elderly voice echoed from the stairwell behind her. "Who are you looking for? Why are you ringing our doorbell?"

Anna turned and saw an old lady carrying a vegetable basket. The old lady had a stern face—the kind of face that one would never call "amiable."

Was she Charles' maternal or paternal grandmother? Anna tried to recall anything about the old lady, but she hadn't really paid much attention to Charles' relatives.

"Hello, I'm looking for a boy named Gao Zhiming. Is he home?"

"Gao Zhiming? I don't know him! You've got the wrong place!" the old lady exclaimed. She held the stair railing and walked up to Anna. Then, she took out a key from her waist and got ready to open the door.

"Waaah! Wah! Wah! Ungeee!" Tobba wailed at the top of his lungs from out of nowhere; he was wailing so loud that his face was turning red.

The old lady had just inserted the key into the keyhole, and she paused upon hearing Tobba's cries.

"Can't you see that your child is crying from hunger?" the old lady remarked, sounding displeased, "What kind of mother doesn't feed her child right away? Hurry up and feed him!"

A murderous glint flashed in Anna's eyes, but she suppressed it and replied, "I just fed him, so It's fine. Anyway, can I ask whether this apartment belongs to you, or are you renting it from someone else?"