Reply Letter

Sometimes, the way the world works is simply miraculous.

Black Hole did not exactly match Chen Miemie’s aesthetic, nor was its ability a necessity. After joining, its mischievous nature might even turn the household upside down.

Yet, despite all that, it had still managed to successfully join.

Since the single slot they had planned to offer was already given to Black Hole, Chen Miemie stopped pressing forward and headed straight back to the shop.

The moment he walked through the door, the new member became the center of everyone’s attention.

Black Hole was not shy at all. During the self-introduction segment, it shamelessly sang its own praises.

“I am the great Lord Black Hole, master of the boundary between wakefulness and drowsiness. From now on, all of you should stick close to me and Chen Miemie—don’t fall behind.”

The newcomer’s arrogance immediately sparked collective outrage.

The swirling dark vortex was dunked into a water vat, then bound in a woven net, then sealed inside a porcelain bottle. A circular loop of sharp needles pierced straight through its eyes.

“Stop it, all of you! You only know brute force—how dare you act so insolently!”

Another round of beating followed.

With Black Hole 3.0’s [Mystery], in a head-to-head confrontation, it couldn’t even beat Daidai.

Of course, if they really went all out, no one could kill it either. Scatter the dark vortex here, and Black Hole would simply reappear near the next person who just woke up.

Chen Miemie waited until everyone had roughed up Black Hole enough before stepping in with fake concern:

“Stop fighting, stop fighting—it’s new here and doesn’t know the rules yet. Do me a favor and let it slide for today.”

Everyone gave him that face and decided to “let it slide for today”—and continue tomorrow.

After the fuss died down.

Chen Miemie slapped his forehead: “Silly me, I almost forgot. When I came in just now, I noticed the Five-Light Mailbox by the door seems to have finished cooling down.”

Everyone understood what he meant.

“In other words, no more stalling—it’s time to write the reply.”

Qinghua brought Chen Miemie paper and a pen.

Chen Miemie began writing his reply.

Quite some time had passed since the last letter, but he had already thought through the contents during that period. Now he just wrote it out directly.

Friend, hello:

Hearing back from you surprised me, and I feel a bit apprehensive facing your question.

First, congratulations on earning the right to live independently—this will be an entirely new phase.

I’m not sure what independence means to you—whether it’s breaking free from restraint, facing responsibility, or both. From your tone, it sounds like you’re happy about it.

I’ve always believed that giving advice shouldn’t be simple armchair talk, spouting obviously “correct” words. So I need a deeper understanding of you.

With that in mind, I have three questions to clarify first.

First, what position do you hold in your new family? What role do you play—are you the decision-maker, the executor, or a marginalized voice with no say?

Second, how have the neighbors who already occupy the good houses treated you before? What’s your relationship like—is there any possibility of cooperation and mutual benefit?

Third, you feel you have to fight for things, yet you’re unwilling—what worries do you have, or what kind of support do you need?

Ideally, I would fully clarify the questions above before offering suggestions tailored to your actual situation.

But since there’s a long interval between my receiving a letter and sending another reply, to avoid you being forced into a choice during that gap, I’ll make a general response for now.

For your new family, if survival is at stake, then you have no choice. Even if it means severing ties with the neighbors and fighting tooth and nail, you don’t need to carry any psychological burden.

But if, while sniffing the tiger, you still harbor a rose in your heart, try classifying the neighbors.

Neighbors vary—some are good, some bad, some with past connections, some who are complete strangers.

If I were you, I would win over the friendly ones, reserve my kindness for them, and then, going all out, release my hostility and fight fiercely against those who oppose me.

This way, you reduce resistance, make friends, increase your chances of success, and balance your own conscience—without being constantly weighed down by guilt.

Of course, when information is incomplete, my advice leans toward caution—just enough to point the way, not overstep.

I’d still rather make a judgment after learning more.

One extra note: not long ago, I seem to have faced a similar problem myself. I was lost too.

Later I realized that some things are too big to fully understand before starting. As I kept moving forward, meeting more people and experiencing more events, new ideas kept arising on their own—and only then did things slowly begin to make sense.

Even now, I can’t say I’ve fully figured it out—I’m still exploring step by step.

From that angle, I’m not merely someone who answers. While offering you suggestions, I also need to learn from explorers like you.

This time, I used a more beautiful stamp—hope you like it.

After finishing the letter, Chen Miemie checked the contents to make sure the Typo Elf hadn’t sabotaged it, then folded the letter.

The mailing process was exactly the same as before.

Once done, twice familiar. Smoothly, Chen Miemie lit five candles and, in the five-colored glow, cast the letter out.

Then, Chen Miemie and all the oddities waited directly by the mailbox.

Sure enough, just like last time, after about two minutes, movement stirred inside the mailbox.

Chen Miemie opened the mailbox’s belly—inside was the same apricot-colored reply as before.

Once he took out the letter, the Five-Light Mailbox reverted to its unusable cooling state.

Holding the letter, he walked over to the sofa and slowly opened it.

Mysterious friend:

It’s so good to hear from you again. To me, anyone with two letters exchanged counts as an old friend, so I’ve skipped the “hello” in the opening and moved it here—hello hello~!

After your last letter, it really had been a long while. I almost thought no more letters would come. But yours arrived just in time—so much has been happening lately, and sometimes I’m even more lost than I was then.

First, let me answer your three questions.

To start, I do belong to the decision-making level of the family, but I’m not the head. The only one who truly runs things is one of my many older sisters.

Her name is Juzi—she has beautiful long orange hair, absolutely loves eating oranges, and is swift and decisive, direct and resolute. Everyone trusts her greatly.

Next, our neighbors have never treated us well before—in fact, they’ve been quite awful. Some of them regularly bullied us, and most of the family deeply dislikes them.

Lastly, I’m actually not an indecisive person. The reason I hesitate about fighting for things is that everyone in the family has become overly aggressive, and I have a nagging feeling that if we keep this up, something bad is bound to happen.

Recently we’ve already started making our move—we’ve claimed one room.

The family’s mood has grown even more heated. Everyone is basking in the joy of victory, talking and thinking only about how to take the second one.

None of them notice how much blood we ourselves have shed just to get that single room.

Because I’m one of the decision-makers, I have access to more information.

Actually, we've only just become independent, and we're not all that powerful yet. After taking this house, I could feel the hostile stares from the neighbors around us, as well as the hearts in our own household slowly changing.

Big sister Juzi knows all of this too, but she's very confident. She says it's all under control.

Emotionally, I trust her, but rationally, I know she has her own limits—she can't be all-powerful.

Yesterday, we already started the fight for the second house. Juzi is the head of the household, and I serve as her second-in-command.

So far, things are going smoothly.

Too smoothly. So smoothly that it worries me.

Given the concrete results the more aggressive members have achieved, and my recent conservative stance, a lot of people in the household have started to hold a grudge against me.

Juzi has been questioned by me multiple times, yet she still firmly supports me. I feel a bit guilty about that.

That's the current situation in a nutshell. I hope we can take this house according to plan.

My mysterious friend, you're right—many things won't wait until we've thought them through. Time waits for no one, and sometimes we're pushed forward.

But I think even when we're being pushed, we can still assert our own will in many matters and create the impact we want. So as long as we give it everything we have in the moment, we won't have regrets later.

Your stamp is adorable. I love it very much. If I didn't need to use it to send this letter back, I'd keep it as a collector's item.

I've been talking about myself this whole time. If there's a next chance, I hope I can hear your story.

Chen Miemie finished reading and put the letter away.

"I have a feeling this pen pal isn't pessimistic without reason. Her worries might be justified."