The two of them walked into the mall together. After a simple breakfast at McDonald’s, they headed straight for the clothing section.
“Why is McDonald’s so expensive these days? A bowl of century egg and lean pork congee costs 35 yuan?”
Jiang Lingwei silently calculated the money lying in her phone’s electronic bank account.
In this era, many daily necessities had seen a considerable price increase. At the same time, the supply of certain items was far less than in her own time.
Take various kinds of seafood, especially sea fish, for example. Not only are they expensive, but they are often out of stock with no supply at all.
Even if you have money, you still have to fight for a spot in the lottery or draw lots.
That said, if Jiang Lingwei really wanted to eat fish, she wouldn’t necessarily have to wait for a number. In this world, cash still works—if you’re willing to spend, buying a single fish is still easy.
It’s just that she would grit her teeth and accept paying a high price for ordinary, healthy ingredients.
But when it came to competing in auctions or bribing officials for a single fish just for show, she refused.
Money spent purely for appearances was meaningless. Whoever wanted to waste it could go ahead, but her thrifty little Aurora would never spend the budget on such overpriced things.
If she wanted fish, she might as well eat freshwater fish—cheaper and always available.
The Great Dark Catastrophe had ended years ago. Most of the dark fiends were driven underground by magical girls and fairies worldwide. Only a few still controlled their old, deeply rooted disaster zones. However, they could hardly expand anymore and constantly had to be wary of attacks from magical girls, no longer as arrogant as before.
But the shadow of that catastrophe still lingered in some unnoticed corners.
You could even say it had become part of everyone’s daily life.
“I get it, but this bowl of congee is just too expensive! And the burger is so small!”
Jiang Lingwei tugged at Jiang Cheng’s arm in dissatisfaction.
“Next time, let’s not eat here.”
“Mm.”
Jiang Cheng immediately agreed without hesitation.
“That’s right! Not worth it! Such a rip-off, let whoever wants eat here.”
“…But we can eat here on Thursday. They have a 200 yuan set meal on Thursdays. We can bring Yao Yao then.”
“That makes sense. I do think McDonald’s has some merits.”
Jiang Cheng quickly changed his mind.
Jiang Lingwei teased him with a glance, smiled lightly, and took the lead walking forward.
“Huh?”
Jiang Cheng scratched the back of his head, not quite understanding what she was smiling about, then hurried to catch up.
“Little Aurora isn’t coming today again.”
In the Starbucks Ice City store, Wen Yaqian sat upright, bored.
Just yesterday, they had agreed to meet today to discuss Yunxia’s magical gear and other matters, but this morning, Jiang Lingwei suddenly messaged saying she might not come and that Wen Yaqian didn’t need to wait.
“Maybe she’s dealing with family issues?”
Wen Yaqian was quite puzzled.
Though it was a planned change of schedule rather than a last-minute no-show, even so, Jiang Lingwei wouldn’t casually skip plans like this.
Back when they used to go shopping together, she never did anything else.
(Actually, the real reason was that Jiang Lingwei had already been dressed by Beifeng and couldn’t leave even if she wanted to.)
After all, she heard that her long-lost, missing husband had suddenly reappeared, and since then, Little Aurora had changed like this.
“Hmm… maybe she’s just soft-hearted and forgave that man.”
“Ah~ ah~ you really have to see it for yourself to know…”
Stirring the coffee with a small spoon, Wen Yaqian felt a little bored.
As a member of the Magical Girl Squad, she, like the others, pursued beautiful things but was not picky.
But this coffee was bitter to death. Taking a sip felt like the back of her tongue was about to reflux sourness. As a sweet tooth, it was truly hard to swallow.
Yet, her principle of not wasting food demanded she finish it since she had chosen to try it.
This had led to a battle between Wen Yaqian and this coffee that lasted from morning until now.
However, as an idle person, it was no big deal; the decisions at work had been settled last night.
—On a whim, she even had an in-depth talk with Old Lin.
Now her face was rosy and spirited. If you ignored the slight flaws time had brought, no one would have guessed she was already middle-aged.
“No, I have to find a chance to ask her.”
Rushing straight to confront that man would be too rude. Wen Yaqian might be a bit reckless in some ways, but not that much. She had to start from Jiang Lingwei.
With Jiang Lingwei awakening, Wen Yaqian had more and more things related to her to consider lately.
Yunxia’s magical gear, the power left behind by friends, and Aurora’s currently unclear husband situation—plus even her daughter had been avoiding her gaze recently. Maybe she was going through puberty…
Except for matters unrelated to magic concerning her daughter, Wen Yaqian, having no magical power herself, had to use an ordinary person’s perspective and deeper considerations to make judgments on magical matters.
The usable intelligence Jiang Lingwei revealed was still too little.
For instance, if Yunxia and the others wanted her to collect the powers they left behind, why? Who were these powers meant to fight against?
Especially… what forced them to leave the powers behind and leave themselves?
Thoughts.
In her heart.
Thinking of certain things, Wen Yaqian fell silent.
The little spoon gently stirred inside the coffee cup, clinking against the sides.
As an ordinary person, she had a deeply buried thought.
A thought she never expressed to Aurora but had always existed.
Countless times, Wen Yaqian almost said it out loud:
“Don’t get involved with the magical world anymore.”
That was her true feeling. Wen Yaqian didn’t want the newly awakened Jiang Lingwei to get entangled with magic again.
Over the years, Wen Yaqian had changed, but also hadn’t.
Her youthful passion and kindness were still engraved in her bones, unshakable, but the experience gained over time gave her a new understanding of magic:
It’s a troublesome thing—a deadly trouble.
Sometimes, she even dreamed.
In her dreams, her daughter suddenly became a magical girl, defeating one terrifying demon after another, only to… sacrifice herself on the battlefield.
Every time this happened, Wen Yaqian would wake up startled, sometimes crying in fear while holding her husband’s body tightly, not wanting to let go. Comforted by the man’s voice, she would finally fall asleep in the middle of the night.
If not for the other companions on Aurora’s side entrusting her, she really wanted to persuade Jiang Lingwei to just live a happy life with her family.
But that was impossible.
“That’s what I say.”
Taking another bitter sip of coffee.
Wen Yaqian felt her words turning bitter too.
“I can’t even persuade myself to leave.”
In a moment of self-mockery, she glanced out through the transparent glass and seemed to see a familiar figure.
“?!”
She immediately sat up straight.
It wasn’t just familiar—it was Jiang Lingwei!
And now, she was walking cheerfully alongside a silver-haired man.
That man wouldn’t be…
Having the answer in her heart, Wen Yaqian drained her coffee in one gulp and prepared to quietly follow them to see what was going on.
(These two just reunited. Who knows if their closeness is genuine or fake? Little Aurora’s side…)
Then, from afar, she saw the two walk into a… lingerie store.
“Pfft!”
Wen Yaqian couldn’t hold it in and wasted food again.