"The early bird catches the worm. Congratulations to the host for successfully waking up early. Your reward has been credited, please check your account."
The next morning, just as he opened his eyes and sat up, Ye Feng received a prompt from the system. However, Ye Feng was already quite used to such reminders and did not pay much attention to it. Sticking to his usual routine, he first walked over to the window, intending to absorb the morning purple Qi.
Almost out of instinct, Ye Feng walked straight to the window. But once there, he suddenly realized that he was no longer in his own room back home, where all he had to do was pull back the curtain and lean slightly to see the morning sun. He was now in a foreign land, staying as a guest in the home of his future schoolmate.
Looking at the opposite house a mere four or five meters away across the window, Ye Feng let out a slight sigh. He turned around, sat back on the bed to put on his shoes, and then headed up to the rooftop, following the directions Cho Chang had given him yesterday. However, by the time Ye Feng reached the rooftop, the sun on the horizon had already fully leaped above the earth.
Although astronomical science dictated that the sunlight reaching the Earth remained largely unchanged, Ye Feng had no idea what principle was at work here; the purple Qi that could be consumed via the breath-eating method truly existed only at the exact moment the sun barely rose each day—a single second too early or a second too late would yield nothing at all.
"Huh? Didn't you sleep well last night? How come you're up so early?" Just as Ye Feng, figuring since he was already here, decided to do some light stretching on the rooftop before heading back down, Cho Chang's voice suddenly came from the top of the stairwell.
"Morning!"
"I slept quite well last night, but I'm just used to waking up early. Are you coming up to catch some fresh morning air?"
Seeing Cho Chang—dressed in loose sportswear, still young yet already possessing the looks of a little beauty, radiating exceptional youth and vibrancy—Ye Feng felt his restless heart skip a beat. It was definitely not because of social anxiety and the nervousness of not knowing how to reply!!!
"Pfft~"Seeing Ye Feng's somewhat stiff posture and expression, Cho Chang couldn't help letting out a giggle. This made Ye Feng a bit embarrassed and at a loss; after all, whether in his past life or this one, he didn't have much experience talking to girls.
Seeing Ye Feng's flustered appearance, the smile on Cho Chang's face grew even more brilliant. However, she was a gentle and kind person at heart, so when Ye Feng's face slowly turned red, she walked right up to him, reached out her small hand—even fairer and more slender than Ye Feng's—and placed it gently on top of his head.
"Don't be nervous. From now on, I'll be your older sister, and starting today, I'll take care of you."
Feeling the warmth radiating from the top of his head, Ye Feng suddenly froze. He had never experienced this kind of affectionate care from an older sister before, but... it wasn't a bad feeling at all.After the head-pat from Cho Chang that morning, Ye Feng felt a bit more a sense of belonging to this place where he was staying, and his bond with Cho Chang's family grew closer. Though they were not yet entirely familiar or deeply intimate, the barrier between them had clearly diminished, making their interactions much more comfortable for everyone.
Thus, after breakfast, once Mr. and Mrs. Chang had left for work, Cho Chang—clutching a massive fortune of five hundred pounds—firmly grabbed Ye Feng's hand and set off for Diagon Alley.
To be honest, although Cho Chang's little hand was soft and warm, being dragged along like a little child still made Ye Feng feel somewhat resistant. However, since Cho Chang was worried that he didn't yet understand English and wasn't familiar with the surroundings, she held on extremely tightly so he wouldn't get lost. After trying twice and failing to pull his hand away, Ye Feng simply gave up.
Led by Cho Chang, they arrived at a relatively bustling street, stopping in front of a shop that looked decent enough, yet no one seemed to enter—or rather, passersby acted as if they couldn't even see it.
"Is this place warded with some kind of spell or array that repels those who don't understand magic? No, I don't sense any fluctuation of magic circles at work, so this must be some sort of Repelling Charm."Lost in thought, Ye Feng was pulled by Cho Chang toward a shop shielded by some kind of repelling charm. Once they stepped inside, Ye Feng knew they must be inside the legendary Leaky Cauldron.
The wizards in the pub looked startled when they saw two children walk in; after all, it was rare for two young wizards to come here all by themselves, especially since these two clearly looked Chinese.
As Ye Feng was observing the wizards, he suddenly felt a tight grip on his hand. Without realizing it, Cho Chang’s hold on his little hand had grown stronger—in other words, she was nervous right now.
Though her small face still maintained a calm and collected expression, Ye Feng could feel her tension through her tight grip. His eyes narrowed slightly as he swept his gaze across the wizards staring at them.
The rugged-looking wizards who had been drinking in the pub suddenly turned amiable after being swept by Ye Feng's glance, and some even nodded toward them with friendly gazes.
"This 'charm aura' is actually pretty useful." Seeing the friendly looks in the surrounding gazes, Ye Feng couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Of course, this was no such thing as a charm aura; it was merely a small trick utilizing divine sense, akin to mental suggestion, making people subconsciously feel a sense of affinity toward them.
Naturally, this affinity would only make people feel a sudden sense of warmth and prevent any hostility; it wouldn't actually make them think you were their friend.
Feeling the friendly gazes around her, Cho Chang slowly relaxed her mood and continued pulling Ye Feng forward, soon arriving at the small walled courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron that contained the trash cans.
"Is this the legendary entrance to Diagon Alley? Then the gap on the wall right opposite the entrance must be the mark, right?"
While Ye Feng was pondering, Cho Chang finally let go of his hand, breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "This is the entrance into Diagon Alley. Today's opening sequence is: three bricks up, then two bricks horizontally to the right, and then three bricks... down."
As she spoke, Cho Chang pulled out her wand, intending to tap the brick that opened the entrance. But right then, an unexpected hitch occurred!
As everyone knew, China's economy wasn't particularly well off in the nineties, so people grew at a slower pace back then, usually not hitting their growth spurts until middle or even high school. Ye Feng's current body was only eleven years old, and Cho Chang was only a year older than him.
As for how high the gap at the entrance to Diagon Alley was in the novel, Ye Feng wasn't sure, but in the movies, he remembered that the gap was as tall as Hagrid, and Hagrid's height was considerably taller than that of an average adult.
In other words, although Ye Feng knew the opening sequence and knew which brick to tap, the two of them... simply couldn't reach.
Seeing Cho Chang press one hand against the wall while holding her wand high in the other, desperately standing on tiptoe, Ye Feng couldn't help but smile. As for dragging over one of the wine barrels from the side to stand on—those barrels weren't much shorter than them, and their weight definitely wasn't any lighter than the children themselves. So Ye Feng simply walked over to Cho Chang's side and crouched down.
"Ah~"
Suddenly scooped up, Cho Chang let out a startled cry, but when she saw it was Ye Feng who had lifted her, she instantly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly stretched out her wand to tap the brick.
The moment Cho Chang touched the brick, the bricks on the wall began to shift on their own. Seeing this, Ye Feng put Cho Chang back down, though Cho Chang didn't notice that as he set her down, Ye Feng had also casually wedged a few old bricks into the rapidly moving brick wall as it split apart to the sides.