Twenty minutes later, inside Nightingale Café on South Main Street.
Ye Xinglan sat by the window with her legs crossed, frowning as she watched Xiaoxi, now dressed in her maid outfit, rush out from behind the counter.
“You’re thirty minutes late, Xiaoxi. Do you have any concept of time? Being late for work? So unmotivated!”
Seeing Ye Xinglan so calm and at ease, as if she were at home, Xiaoxi felt a bit helpless.
“Wait, why are you here again?”
She especially didn’t want to be scolded by Ye Xinglan, the leisurely young lady, for being unmotivated! If she counted being a Magical Girl, she was basically working three jobs a day like an ultimate workhorse!
“What do you mean? I’m not the one not paying! I always arrive earlier than you. You’re the one who’s late and still have the nerve to scold me!”
“It’s fine, everyone has urgent matters sometimes,” Su Ying, who was leisurely making coffee nearby, smiled gently. “Don’t worry, Xiaoxi, there aren’t many customers at this hour anyway.”
“Sorry, Manager. I won’t be late again.”
A warm feeling bloomed in Xiaoxi’s heart. Miss Su Ying really was too kind.
“Come, have afternoon tea with me!” Ye Xinglan patted the seat beside her. “I just bought half an hour of your maid service.”
Xiaoxi sighed and slowly carried over the items Ye Xinglan had ordered.
Ever since Ye Xinglan found out Xiaoxi was working at the café, she had been coming nearly every afternoon, making Xiaoxi deeply aware of just how idle a young lady without a job could be… idle enough to watch her work every day!
“Sit closer, why are you sitting so far away? Closer! Closer!”
Only when Xiaoxi was pressed tightly against Ye Xinglan’s side did Ye Xinglan finally relent. She then linked arms with Xiaoxi, humming happily.
Right now, Ye Xinglan thought that since Xiaoxi knew Eternal Star, getting close to her counted as a step in her revenge plan. If they got along well enough, maybe Xiaoxi would be willing to share information about Eternal Star with her?
Yes, that was why she came every day to order Xiaoxi’s maid service—not because she didn’t want to see Xiaoxi eating and chatting with someone else.
For Xiaoxi, though, she now had a new life goal—to earn enough money to pay off the rent and then move to a place far away from Ye Xinglan!
These past couple of days, Ye Xinglan had been dropping by every now and then to ask about Eternal Star. Each time, Xiaoxi could only stammer out vague answers like “not familiar” or “don’t know,” resorting to random irrelevant remarks when pressed.
Although Xiaoxi had clearly stated she didn’t know Eternal Star’s true identity, Ye Xinglan still hadn’t given up. Xiaoxi worried that if this continued, she would eventually be exposed in front of Ye Xinglan!
To avoid being caught up by the troubles of romance… tears dampened the pig’s trotter rice as she vowed to earn a million!
At that moment, the sound of the door chime made Xiaoxi instinctively stand and put on a professional smile.
“Welcome… Coco? Is that you?”
Xiaoxi froze. One after another, they were all coming to box her in!
Xiao Keke, standing by the door, didn’t look much better. Seeing Xiaoxi, she slapped her forehead with a nearly tragic voice.
“Big sis! It really is you… Ah, Sister Xinglan’s here too. Good afternoon, Sister Xinglan~”
…
A moment later, Xiaoxi finally understood the situation. Apparently, this girl had recently come across a video of the café and thought one of the waitresses looked like her. So, since she had time this afternoon, she came to check.
“Didn’t expect it really to be big sis…”
Xiao Keke covered her eyes, feeling utterly disillusioned.
Her big sister did look cute and pleasant in the maid outfit, but precisely because of that, she just couldn’t accept it!
It was like reconnecting with a childhood best friend years later, reminiscing about climbing trees and catching rabbits in the fields… only to find he’d become a thirty-year-old divorced single father.
When did big sis become this cute, this much like a beautiful young girl?
Unexpectedly, Sister Xinglan even came along while big sis was working, so they really must be close.
Looking at the two girls cuddling like a couple, Xiao Keke suddenly regretted wasting her precious free time coming here to get heartbroken by “ship” bait.
After a while, taking advantage of Xiaoxi going to serve another customer, Ye Xinglan suddenly flashed a mischievous smile and winked at Xiao Keke. “Keke, it’s your first time here. Let me recommend something.”
Ye Xinglan grabbed the menu and pointed to the dish called Palpitating♡Heartfelt♡Omurice (with bonus delicious spell).
“Sounds good,” Xiao Keke took the menu and nodded. “I’ve never been to this kind of maid café before. What’s this delicious spell about?”
Ye Xinglan smiled mysteriously. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
Not long after, the two saw Xiaoxi approach with a scowl, holding a plate of omurice.
“This is your Palpitating Heartfelt Omurice. Please enjoy.”
After placing the plate down, Xiaoxi tried to turn and run, but Ye Xinglan, anticipating this, grabbed the hem of her maid dress.
Hmph, trying to escape?!
“Doesn’t this dish come with a delicious spell? You didn’t forget, did you, Xiaoxi?”
Xiaoxi froze on the spot, then let out a long sigh.
“Remember to serve with a smile~”
Ye Xinglan grinned wickedly and motioned for Xiao Keke to get her camera ready to capture this beautiful moment.
Then Xiao Keke saw her big sister turn around, forming a heart shape with her hands in front of her chest, wearing a sweet and cute but slightly stiff smile.
“Palpitating♡Heartfelt♡Floating~Soft~”
“Adorable Omurice~Become delicious~”
By the last step, when Xiaoxi squeezed ketchup into a heart shape on the omurice, Xiao Keke’s video was already shaking… because she was struggling hard to hold back her laughter.
How to put it… if it were another beautiful girl performing this in front of her, she might actually find it cute. But unfortunately, this was her big sister.
While trying not to laugh, Xiao Keke suddenly noticed something.
“Hey, big sis, your arm looks injured. Are you okay?”
Xiao Keke put down her phone and stood up with concern to check. On Xiaoxi’s arm was a scratch-like wound about three or four centimeters long. It looked like it had already stopped bleeding.
Frowning, Xiao Keke found the wound oddly familiar… When Sirius protected her before, didn’t he have a similar injury in the same spot?
Xiaoxi thought to herself that this was bad. She couldn’t care about social embarrassment right now—she had rushed to work in a hurry and naturally hadn’t had time to treat the wound. Besides, she hadn’t expected this troublesome girl to suddenly come visit today!