Duncan felt a little creepy when he was stared at by the puppet. After a few seconds of silence, he finally couldn't help but frown and asked, "What are you looking at?"
Alice said honestly: "It's up to you."
Duncan was confused: "What's so good about me?"
"This is the first time I've seen you speak like this," Alice said in disbelief. "Although you said before that you have another body and identity here, it's still incredible to see it in person! Captain, you look completely different now than when you were on the ship. Not so tall, not so gloomy, um... You look like a good person..."
Duncan's eyes widened when he heard this, but before he could say anything, Alice hastily added, "Ah, I shouldn't have slandered you, Captain..."
"How many times have I told you not to learn random things from that goat-head! Praising others as good people is not slander - the same applies to me!" Duncan stared at the idiot in front of him, feeling his brain trembling. "And have you forgotten what I reminded you? You can't call me 'Captain' in the city-state. You have to call me Mr. Duncan or Mr. Manager. Remember?"
Alice shrank her head in surprise: "Ah... Hey! Remember the ship... Mr. Manager!"
"… Why don't you just call him Mr. Duncan?" Duncan sighed tiredly. "After all, you are more familiar with this name, so the probability of calling him wrong is lower."
"Oh, OK, Mr. Duncan." Alice hurriedly nodded her head to agree, but just as she lowered her head halfway, she heard Duncan's helpless reminder: "Don't lower your head, or your head will fall off - if your head falls off in front of everyone, your journey to the city-state will be over."
Alice said "oh", then frowned and thought for a while: "I seem to have heard Ai Yin mutter a sentence similar to what you just said, but it didn't say it like this... It said don't bow your head, the crown will..."
"Do you have a crown on your head?!" Duncan stared, "You only have a wig on your head—it's stronger than your head!"
Alice thought for a moment: "Hehe..."
Then she was silent for less than two seconds, and suddenly began to stare at Duncan again, and this time she said before the latter opened his mouth: "Captain... Can I touch your face?"
Duncan looked puzzled: "I don't mind, but why?"
Alice had already taken action when she heard the word "don't mind". It seemed that after leaving Captain Duncan's majestic "real body", the puppet's courage had swelled unprecedentedly. She stepped forward and pinched the cheeks of Duncan's current body, her eyes full of surprise: "Amazing! This is real! When I saw your face on the ship, it felt like it was carved out of stone!"
Duncan felt extremely uncomfortable. He dodged backwards and said helplessly, "Are you done? It's almost..."
Before he finished speaking, he heard two brisk footsteps coming from the direction of the stairs, followed by Nina's crisp and cheerful voice: "Uncle, Shirley and I have finished our meal! What are you doing downstairs..."
Duncan turned his head expressionlessly. Alice's hand was still stretched out. Nina stood at the second floor stairs, staring at the scene beside the counter in amazement, looking at the elegant and beautiful lady who appeared in the store at some point, looking like a noble lady from the upper city. Shirley almost bumped into Nina. "Hey, why did you stop so suddenly?"
Alice quickly withdrew her hands, folded them on her legs, and sat in front of the counter with her upper body straight and her demeanor dignified.
The neatly arranged dolls look like the gorgeous dolls displayed in the window of the Rose Doll Museum.
Nina was stunned for a long time before she reacted. She walked down the stairs hesitantly while carefully looking at the beautiful lady sitting opposite Duncan. Shirley, who was following behind her, also saw the situation on the first floor. However, Shirley was thinking about something else -
"Ahhhhh, look quickly, what's that thing sitting opposite Mr. Duncan... Is it a human? Can you beat him?"
Agou's voice came after a long hesitation, sounding particularly cautious: "I can't see clearly through your eyes, but the more I look, the less she looks like a human... I don't know if I can beat her, but I definitely won't fight her."
Shirley was stunned: "Why? You can't even tell what it is, why are you so scared?"
"Nonsense! She dared to pinch Mr. Duncan's face!" Agou's voice sounded weak as hell. "Just for this, if she wants to stew me, I have to take the initiative to chop wood..."
"... Ah Gou, you are becoming more and more embarrassing."
"I call this judging the situation - do you know how many people have spent their entire lives trying to grasp this essence of survival?"
Shirley ignored Agou.
While they were talking, she and Nina had already reached the first floor. She saw Nina walk up to Duncan and the beautiful young lady and heard their conversation.
"Uncle, who is this lady?"
Nina asked curiously, and subconsciously glanced at Alice beside her, with surprise and speculation in her heart - she had never seen such a beautiful lady, let alone any young lady and her uncle being so intimate. The strong curiosity made her eyes light up slightly.
"Oh, I'll introduce her to you," Duncan coughed twice to ease the embarrassment, then raised his hand and pointed calmly, "Her name is Alice. Remember I said before that I wanted to recruit another person in the store? This is her."
After saying that, he immediately pointed to Nina and Shirley and said, "This is my niece, Nina, and this is Shirley who is temporarily staying here."
"Hello." Alice immediately took the initiative to greet them. This time she kept Duncan's instructions in mind, sat upright, nodded just the right amount, restrained her jumpy attitude, and greeted people in the most polite way.
But perhaps it was some kind of "texture" unique to dolls that was hard to erase, but Alice's restrained posture became an indescribable elegance and upbringing, as well as a kind of mysterious and introverted temperament in the eyes of Nina and Shirley.
Two girls' first encounter with a silly puppet ends in an epic misunderstanding.
"Hello..." Nina swallowed nervously and nodded to Alice as if she was afraid of leaving a bad impression. "Nice to meet you."
Shirley followed suit and said hello. She was also a little nervous, but her nervousness came more from what Agou had just said, "Hello, I am also... very happy."
Then the scene froze, both sides had stern faces and no one spoke.
Shirley and Nina didn't know how to continue talking. The beautiful and elegant lady in front of them didn't look like someone who would appear in the downtown area. The two girls felt that no matter what they said, Miss Alice would be unhappy.
Alice is even simpler—her mind is blank most of the time.
A few times, the lake was filled with pulp.
Fortunately, Duncan had anticipated this situation. When he saw both sides were silent, he knew what was going on. He immediately coughed to break the silence: "Ahem, Shirley, how is your injury?"
"Injury... Oh! The injury has completely healed!" Shirley was stunned for a moment before she reacted. She quickly stood up and answered Duncan's question as if she was giving a report. "And I just ate a lot, so I'm not hungry at all now!"
"I didn't ask you that... But I hope you like today's meal," Duncan nodded with a smile, "Take good care of yourself these two days. I'll make something nutritious to restore your vitality. Nina, do you have any plans for today?"
"I'm going to take Shirley to the store on the next block," Nina said immediately, "and buy her two new dresses and new shoes - her clothes are all very old."
At this point, she turned to look at Shirley, and before she could speak, she emphasized, "This is a welcome gift for you. It would be rude not to accept it."
"I..." Shirley opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say for a moment. In the end, she could only nod, "Okay, thank you first... and Mr. Duncan."
Duncan nodded with a smile on his face: "Then don't go too far, come back before evening - Shirley, you have to protect Nina."
Shirley immediately straightened up and said in a voice so loud that it startled Nina: "Yes, Mr. Duncan!"
Afterwards, the two girls said goodbye to Duncan and Alice and walked towards the main entrance together. As they walked, Nina kept muttering, "Why did you suddenly speak so loudly just now? You scared me... Uncle? My uncle is not scary."
"I... I am polite. I am learning politeness recently..."
Listening to the murmurings of the two girls walking away, Duncan couldn't help but smile. Then he turned around and saw Alice staring at him again.
"What are you staring at me for?"
"Mr. Duncan... You are very different here than on the ship," Alice looked at Duncan seriously, and then said, "You are much more friendly than on the ship!"
"Okay, stop lamenting about this," Duncan smiled helplessly. He certainly knew why Alice felt this way. Even he himself knew that he had been tense on the ship the whole time. Even if he had relaxed a little in the recent period, he was still not as free and easy as he was in the city-state. However, he did not waste his breath on this matter. He quickly changed the subject and said, "Let me tell you about your situation first. You don't have a legal identity, so it's best not to attract attention in the upper city. During this period of time, you can help out in the antique shop. On the one hand, you can adapt to the environment, and on the other hand, you can do some things for me. When I go out, you stay at the counter. When customers come... wait, I suddenly thought of a question!"
Duncan suddenly stopped and stared at the puppet in front of him with a strange expression. After several seconds, he hesitated and said, "Do you... know money?"
Alice looked curious: "What is money?"
Duncan: “…”