“Qiuli? Why are you asking about that person, such bad luck,” Qingluan curled her lips.
“[Judgment Scales] only ended up like that because she trusted that one too much… Sigh, besides, that person’s record is hardly clean. I’d advise you to stay far away from her.”
Qingluan spiced up her story about Qiuli, and her friend chimed in as well.
Ye Xinglan quickly understood: Qiuli used to be a bounty hunter.
She’d snuck into Tianqi Church to steal things, was caught by Wange Yue, and only then joined The Association. No wonder Qiuli was so ostracized in The Association.
And even though Qingluan didn’t say it outright, from her tone it seemed everyone pretty much assumed Qiuli was the one who killed [Judgment Scales], only she was still free because there was no proof.
“If that’s so, how could someone like her have been allowed into The Association?”
“Miss Xinglan, you don’t know. If it weren’t for [Judgment Scales] and [Silverflame Dragon Princess] vouching for her, there’s no way she could’ve been allowed in!”
Qingluan let out a cold snort. “If you ask me, weirdos—especially ones with shady backgrounds like her—are a cancer to society. The Association shouldn’t recruit people like that!”
Ye Xinglan only nodded politely, smiling in silence. Seeing this, Qingluan was delighted, thinking Ye Xinglan agreed with her.
So she lowered her voice and continued, taking advantage of the opportunity.
“Speaking of which, there’s a Magical Girl who, like you, just got transferred to North Blossom City. She’s been getting pretty close with Qiuli. I’d suggest you be careful.”
“That one abuses her authority during missions, and even insulted me on purpose. Who knows, maybe she has violent tendencies… Hah, birds of a feather, right? Anyone who’s close to Qiuli probably isn’t any good either.”
Is there really something like that? Ye Xinglan became interested and listened to Qingluan’s exaggerated retelling of what had just happened.
As she watched the corners of Ye Xinglan’s lips curl upward, Qingluan became even bolder.
It’s only human instinct to seek profit and avoid harm.
If this young lady developed a bad impression of Xiaoxi and Qiuli, nobody else would risk offending Ye Xinglan to get close to them, right?
Thinking of this, Qingluan felt a surge of satisfaction. Xiaoxi had embarrassed her in public earlier—who would have thought her career in her new post would be over before it even started?
“…About this tall, anyway, Miss Xinglan, if you run into her it’s best to stay away. Who knows what someone with such an unstable temper might do?”
“Sure, I’ll try to keep my distance~”
Qingluan hadn’t figured out what Ye Xinglan’s ambiguous reply meant when the door to the Rest Room was pushed open again.
Seeing Qingluan inside, Qiuli paused for a second, but turned to Ye Xinglan with a calm tone.
“Your girlfriend—I’ve returned her to you in one piece, Miss Ye Xinglan.”
Xiaoxi looked a bit dazed too. She and Qiuli had just finished escorting that Sharkman and ended up running into Qingluan here… Didn’t this person say she was going to report her?
So she came to report to Ye Xinglan instead—wait, was her complaint meant for Ye Xinglan’s wife?
“You’re so slow, I nearly fell asleep waiting here. Luckily someone was willing to chat with me~” Ye Xinglan smiled with narrowed eyes, grabbing her phone as she stood and stretched. “Now that you’re done, let’s go, Xiaoxi.”
Right in front of everyone, Ye Xinglan stretched out a tentacle and placed it on Xiaoxi’s shoulder, then lowered her head and planted a “smooch” on Xiaoxi’s cheek.
“So many people here, stop messing around.” Xiaoxi unceremoniously pushed Ye Xinglan’s head away.
Qingluan was stunned.
The two interacted with an intimacy and naturalness that couldn’t be faked.
Though Qingluan hadn’t seen Xiaoxi after she had de-transformed, how could she not guess that the white-haired girl standing with Qiuli was the same Magical Girl from earlier?
This person… This person is actually Ye Xinglan’s girlfriend?! How could this person possibly be Ye Xinglan’s girlfriend? If only she’d known…
Suddenly, Qingluan realized she’d said all the wrong things. “Getting along so well”? More like every word she’d just said had struck Ye Xinglan’s nerves!
All that talk about “weirdos” and “birds of a feather”… She’d been badmouthing Ye Xinglan’s girlfriend right to her face—wasn’t that the same as slapping Ye Xinglan herself?
“W-wait a second, Miss Xiaoxi… right?”
Watching the pair’s departing backs, Qingluan hurriedly called out, knowing that if she didn’t explain herself now, it’d be too late.
“Sorry, Miss Xiaoxi, I didn’t know about your relationship with Miss Xinglan. Maybe there was a bit of a misunderstanding just now…”
Faced with Qingluan’s sudden apology, Xiaoxi was briefly confused, then frowned and interrupted her.
“What do you mean you didn’t know about my relationship with Xinglan? You think that’s where the misunderstanding is?”
Xiaoxi had no idea how famous Mo Lan’er was among Magical Girls, and Qingluan’s attitude was totally different from how she’d yelled on Commercial Street just now.
Xiaoxi couldn’t figure out why this person had changed so suddenly, and even wondered if Ye Xinglan had used her tentacles to mess with Qingluan’s head for her sake.
Facing Xiaoxi’s glare, Ye Xinglan shrugged innocently.
She really hadn’t done anything—it was Qingluan who came over to talk on her own, then panicked and apologized all by herself.
If not for worrying about causing trouble for Xiaoxi, with her style Qingluan would never have left this room unscathed.
“No, no, what I mean is my attitude was a bit off just now, and about what happened, you actually…”
“That’s enough, you don’t need to apologize to me,” Xiaoxi tilted her head toward Qiuli, who was silently packing her things. “I think your apology is meant for someone else.”
Qingluan’s face turned extremely awkward. Apologizing to Ye Xinglan’s girlfriend was barely tolerable, but apologizing to Qiuli? That was just too humiliating—and she couldn’t even accept it!
Qingluan regretted it bitterly. If she’d known, she wouldn’t have run her mouth so freely earlier.
Who could’ve guessed this unremarkable C-rank Magical Girl Xiaoxi would have such a powerful background?
Despite her reluctance, Qingluan could only grit her teeth and turn toward Qiuli, staring at her toes as she forced out each word.
“S… sorry, Qiuli. My attitude was bad earlier. Please forgive me…”
“Mm.”
Qiuli brushed past Qingluan. She hadn’t paid much attention to what happened in the Rest Room from the beginning, just quietly packing up her things.
Now that she was done, she simply gave a one-word reply to Qingluan’s apology and left.
Just as Qiuli didn’t care about Qingluan’s mockery, she didn’t care about Qingluan’s apology either.
But her completely indifferent response only made Qingluan’s face turn even more embarrassed in front of her friends.
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