Chapter 78

"I don't trust you, afraid you'll just waste my feelings." Joseph wanted to reclaim the camera, he'd rather let Tony, his only apprentice, help him take a photo with his grandmother. Melissa brushed off Joseph's hand and lifted her chin to remind him. "Go, your grandmother is waiting for you!" Joseph looked at her helplessly, then walked over to Grandma Julia. He naturally looked at the camera, fully entering the state of being photographed. Melissa felt she had found the right angle, making them appear taller than in real life. After taking several consecutive shots, Joseph began to review the results with the camera. For someone who didn't understand photography, they were pretty decent shots. "When you hold the camera, your hand needs to be steady. A couple of shots are blurry." Joseph's brows slightly crinkled, patiently pointing out the problems to Melissa. "Also, you need to have a keen judgment, accurately capturing the subject's emotional reactions. All in all, the overall picture is not bad." Joseph observed the camera for a while, and Grandma Julia leaned in, quietly listening to their conversation. "Do I have some talent, then?" Melissa thought Joseph would judge her work with bias and personal feelings, but Joseph was somewhat professional, not describing her as utterly useless. Joseph closed the camera lens and handed the camera to Tony. He casually said "Better than others at a beginner level." Joseph wasn't a person adept at praising others. When Grandma Julia heard what Joseph said, she clapped her hands and suggested. "Joseph, since Melissa is so talented, why don’t you accept her as your apprentice!" And so, Joseph accepted a new apprentice under the suggestion of his grandmother. However, he despised this apprentice and wished to keep her at least three meters away whenever he walked. The streets on both sides of the ancient city were filled with quaint buildings. Many merchants set up stalls here, so there were many beautiful and unique trinkets that attracted the attention of Alvin and Alvina. "Mom, I want to buy a fan." "Mom, I want to buy a wind chime." Alvin and Alvina, looking at the dazzling array of goods on the tiny stalls lining the streets, felt as though their feet were rooted to the ground, hardly able to move any further. Melissa made a beckoning gesture to Alvin and Alvina. The two siblings came over to their mother's side. She leaned in and whispered into the children's ears "Your mom is too poor. Go find your CEO daddy." With a malicious grin plastered on her face after her instruction, Melissa watched her highly perceptive children bolt off towards Joseph. "Daddy, Daddy, we want that kite!" Thus, all the way down the street, the two little ones took advantage of their great-grandmother's fondness for them to ask Joseph for lots of fun items. They nearly cleared out every stall on the street. Tony, burdened by many bags, trailed behind young master, unable to keep pace. Facing Alvin and Alvina, these two impish elves, he was close to despair. "Daddy, you've bought so many things for us. How about buying a gift for mommy too?" Alvina pleaded, her big innocent eyes sparking brightly as she soft pulled at Joseph's small finger. Joseph spotted a stall selling masks. He selected a Pigsy mask from the rack. After examining it for a moment and finding it very pleasing, he quirked his thin lips up in a smile "Let's give her this one, my second disciple." After he purchased the mask, he saw Melissa seriously focused on her phone. Quietly, he approached her from behind and slipped the mask onto her face. "Ah!" Melissa let out a loud scream, thumping her chest indignantly as she turned to face Joseph. She had been communicating with Murphy, wanting to tell him that she had already gotten the invitation but could only give it to him on Sunday evening. "Here. This is the gift Alvina wanted me to give you." Joseph casually shoved the pig mask towards Melissa's arms, before sauntering off with his long legs. Just as Melissa was about to express her gratitude, she turned over the mask in her hand and her spirits fell to an absolute low. She ran after him, hollering at the top of her lungs "Hey, Joseph, who are you callin' a pig?" ......... At noon, they had lunch at a specialty restaurant, then embarked on their afternoon journey. The most famous attractions in the Ancient City of Lanes were the Ghost Gate and the Nightless City. Ghost Gate was certainly one of the largest real-life haunted houses in the country. The Nightless City was a minority ethnic acrobatics and song and dance performance that opened to tourists after eight in the evening. Since they had come to the Ancient City of Lanes, they had to conquer the Ghost Gate. Ghost Gate prohibited entry to children under five, and Alvin and Alvina had just celebrated their fifth birthdays. They were proud to gain entry to Ghost Gate. "Yay! Great-grandma, let's conquer the Ghost Gate!" Alvin and Alvina were incredibly excited, jumping and waving their little hands while speaking in a childlike manner. Grandma Julia, however, was somewhat apprehensive about visiting the place called "Ghost Gate". Puckering her mouth and shaking her head, she said. "Great-grandmother won't go. You go. I walk slowly, I'll wait for you all outside." Grandma Julia had an excuse for not going. She didn't like watching anything related to demons and ghosts. The thought alone made her heart pound. "It's okay, great-grandma, we'll help you walk" Alvin thought Ghost Gate was a great place and they had worked hard to gain qualification to play there. How could they not go? "Yeah, great-grandma, we don't mind that you walk slowly," Alvina said enthusiastically, not wanting to leave Grandma Julia alone outside. So Grandma was nudged and dragged by the two children into the Ghost Gate amusement park's queue area. Joseph bought six tickets, two for the adorable children, one for their grandmother, Aunt Sarah, Melissa and his own. Tony, carrying the shopping bags of the young master and the chauffeur, had taken the sightseeing car ahead to the exit of the Ghost Gate amusement park to wait. "Mommy, is this haunted house the same as the one we visited overseas?" Alvin asked Melissa, while Joseph distributed tickets. "Not at all. What we saw overseas were zombies, werewolves and vampires, but here it's the eighteen layers of Hell." Melissa told Alvin with a casual tone. She has never been squeamish about taking her children to haunted houses. Melissa had never been afraid of these demons and ghosts, and Alvin and Alvina bravely followed her lead. "Eighteen layers of Hell? What's that? A prison?" Alvina's interest was piqued after hearing her mother's words as she had never heard of the eighteen layers of Hell. After some thought, Melissa felt that Alvina associating Hell with a prison was quite ingenious. "Somewhat, but this prison is specially built for those who have died as sinners. However, this isn't really the eighteen layers of Hell, this is just what people have imagined it to be." Melissa was excited to share this information. After living overseas for so many years, she was very happy to share her native culture with the children.