"Mom." Sirin pushed Shun into the workspace. Sirin's mother, who was still stepping on the sewing machine, stopped her hands and feet, turned her head, and looked at the two of them.
Her gaze fell on Shun sitting in the wheelchair. The half-piece of clothing he had originally been wearing had naturally been changed. The clothes he was wearing now were Sirin's.
At the empty pant legs of Shun, only blood-stained bandages could be seen. So it was already over?
But earlier she hadn't heard any child screaming outside. Could it be…? This child hadn't even made a sound during the amputation?
Although the nerves in the legs had died from frostbite, making the pain less intense, still…
"Mom, Little Shun said he wanted to come see the workspace." Sirin said this without thinking, because earlier her mother had asked her to take care of Little Shun. In the end, not only had she failed to take care of him, but she had even run over to the workspace.
Sirin's mother could tell at a glance that her daughter was lying. "Alright then, Sirin, tell me—how did you understand what Little Shun said? I don't remember you learning German."
Her lie exposed, Sirin could only scratch her head with a silly smile. However, Sirin's mother didn't want to dwell on this issue any longer. After all, her daughter wasn't very smart. It was better to keep both the silly child and the disabled one under her own watch rather than leaving them outside.
Shun turned his head and looked thoughtfully at Sirin. That moment just now… it felt a bit like Kiana.
"Little Shun, let's go!" Sirin smiled and pushed Shun toward the table she often used.
Shun looked at the table. Sure enough, compared to her mother's table, Sirin's looked much more childlike, with quite a few star decorations and such.
"Come, Little Shun, I'll teach you how to make clothes…" Although Sirin said this, with her current skills she could only really do patches and such.
However, seeing how sincerely Sirin wanted to teach him, Shun also studied seriously. He hadn't expected that after coming to this timeline, he would actually be taught how to make clothes by Sirin.
…
"Wow, you're so amazing! You could embroider such a pattern after just watching once!" Sirin would probably never forget this. She had only demonstrated once how to use the needle and thread, yet Shun had managed to figure it out on his own and embroider various exquisite patterns.
How about that? This was talent. Shun raised an eyebrow at Sirin. Perhaps because of this body, he even looked a bit more childish. In the past, he would never have shown off like this to a child who wasn't even ten years old.
"That's great, Little Shun! If you learn how to make clothes too and can help me and Mom, I can convince Mom to let you stay here!"
Sirin clapped her hands happily. Shun didn't understand what Sirin was saying, but seeing her so happy, he also nodded with a smile.
Language barriers were really inconvenient. He should find a chance someday to learn Russian. Back in high school, he had a classmate who was a huge Russia fan, and the few bits of Russian he knew were learned from him.
In the evening, Sirin's family dinner was baked potatoes and beet soup—very characteristic of Siberia.
As for meat, Sirin's family was extremely poor, so they only occasionally ate fish. High-protein meats like venison or beef were still very rare.
The dinner didn't become any more lavish because of the guest Shun. It wasn't that Sirin's mother didn't want to; this year's winter was simply too cold, and even the landlord's family didn't have much stored grain.
Russia right now was in complete chaos, basically in a state of anarchy. The actual controllers of each region were the local warlords.
Warlords wouldn't care about whether the people had enough to eat like a government would, so Sirin's family was actually in a very difficult situation right now.
Fortunately, Shun didn't care what he ate. Although this body didn't have the blessing of the Holy Lance's Welwitschia mirabilis and was just a normal body, by secretly cultivating the Sword Heart Art and absorbing the extremely thin Honkai energy around him, Shun felt that eating a little less was no problem.
However, the Honkai energy on the Siberian snowfield right now was so thin it was almost nonexistent—completely different from the world where Shun had been active more than ten years later. But thinking that the Second Eruption hadn't even happened yet, he felt relieved.
At the dinner table, Sirin felt her chance had come, so she spoke to her mother:
"Mom, I want to let Little Shun stay. Is that okay? Little Shun can't take care of himself right now. If we send him to an orphanage in the city, he might…"
He might be abandoned… Sirin didn't want this strong yet obedient little brother, whom she had only known for a short time, to die.
Sirin didn't say the rest, but even though she was innocent and kind, she understood that in Siberia, no one would raise a disabled person who was destined to be unable to do anything.
"Sirin, it's not that Mom doesn't want to help him… It's mainly because our family also…"
Her words were immediately interrupted by Sirin—or rather, Sirin had been waiting for her mother to say exactly that.
"But Little Shun can help us! I taught him how to make clothes today, and he did very well. If you don't believe me, I'll show you!"
As Sirin spoke, she rushed straight to the workspace to find the few patterns Shun had casually embroidered today.
Although the patterns Shun had sewn were very abstract, just from the few patterns of people with center-parted hair and overalls, one could tell how terrifyingly strong his embroidery skills were.
Sirin's mother examined the piece of fabric Sirin handed over—the one she had let Shun practice on. Although looking at the pattern gave her an indescribable feeling, it at least confirmed what Sirin had said.
Little Shun's talent was terrifyingly strong. He could embroider such complex patterns on his first try at needlework.
The reason she felt powerless about adopting Shun was because their family's income was meager. They were already struggling to raise even one daughter, Sirin, who was somewhat malnourished, let alone adding another disabled child who couldn't help with anything.
But now it seemed that with Little Shun's help, she might actually be able to earn a bit more money. Little Shun could embroider patterns, and Sirin could make clothes. They should be able to handle the limited demand here.
If she then went to work at a factory in the city, she might even be able to improve their current living conditions. Previously, she hadn't gone to work in a factory because Sirin was too young and she couldn't leave her. She also didn't have the money to send Sirin to school.
Now that there was a new member in the family who was even smaller than Sirin, and Sirin seemed more responsible than before, perhaps she could feel at ease leaving them at home.
Looking at her daughter, who was staring at her with an expectant face, she stroked Sirin's cheek and said helplessly, "Who told our little tailor to say so? Mom agrees."
"Yay! Then Mom, quickly tell Little Shun the good news! From today onward, we are a family!"
Shun watched the exchange between the mother and daughter, feeling he couldn't insert in for now, so he simply chewed on his baked potato and watched the show. Hmm… but it seemed like they were quite happy.
"Little Shun, you said you don't have any family, right?" Sirin's mother asked.
"Yes." Well, he might not have family right now, but in more than ten years he would have in-laws. But right now, how old was Ana? If he rolled up to his future father-in-law's house in a wheelchair and said he would marry his daughter in the future, he would probably be beaten to death by his father-in-law with a fishing rod.
"Then, Little Shun, are you willing to live with me and Sirin from now on?"
Adopt me? But this family didn't look like it could support another mouth. However, Sirin's mother was an adult. Since she had said it, she naturally had her considerations. Moreover, if he could stay by Sirin's side all the time, that would definitely be a good thing.
Shun nodded and agreed to Sirin's mother's adoption proposal. No matter what the future outcome would be, staying by Sirin's side was undoubtedly the best way to intervene.
Seeing Shun agree, Sirin's mother couldn't help but stroke Shun's head. Putting everything else aside, Shun's appearance was excellent. Who wouldn't like a cute-looking child? Not to mention his personality was also very good—completely different from Sirin's noisy and impulsive nature.
"Good child. From now on, you can call me Mother, or Aunt Dalia."