Chapter 29: Accompanied on the Way Home from School

“……Yang Mo, did you go see the teacher for something?”

The one who broke the awkward silence first was Zhou Xiaohui, who had managed to squeeze out this perfunctory question with much difficulty.

Yang Mo replied, “No, it’s nothing.”

Her usually reliable skill of switching expressions seemed to malfunction at this moment. Even though a bead of cold sweat had already appeared on her forehead, her face still maintained the same smile as before.

“I’m heading back to the classroom now.”

Before Zhou Xiaohui could respond, she hurriedly ran off in the direction of the classroom.

Zhou Xiaohui looked back at her in surprise, wondering if she had just discovered a side of Yang Mo that she had never shown before.

So, what exactly was going on?

Even after the bell rang for class, she kept pondering this question.

But the Yang Mo sitting next to her didn’t act strange at all, paying attention in class just like usual, and as always, finding gaps to slack off and doodle odd things in her notebook.

Zhou Xiaohui decided she’d ask her about it in person later.

Luckily, after this period, it would be lunchtime—plenty of time to get to the bottom of things.

So when the bell rang again, as she and Yang Mo headed to the cafeteria together, she took the chance to ask, “Oh, by the way, Yang Mo, when I went to hand in my homework just now, the teacher told me—you wanted to order a new school uniform. Is there something wrong with the one you’re wearing now?”

“Ah, so that’s what you wanted to ask?” Yang Mo still looked panicked when she was called, but once she heard Zhou Xiaohui’s question, it was as if she breathed a sigh of relief.

Thinking back, Zhou Xiaohui realized the earlier scene had indeed been awkward—maybe Yang Mo just didn’t want her to dig deeper.

Yang Mo continued explaining, “It’s not for me. You saw Qianling, who was with me yesterday, right? It’s for her.”

“Then why say it’s for yourself? When she comes to school, can’t she just order it through the official process?” Zhou Xiaohui was puzzled.

“She just wanted to experience what it’s like to wear the uniform ahead of time. Maybe it’s because our school uniform is cuter than others,” Yang Mo explained.

Although that made sense, there was still a part of her explanation that was clearly strange.

And that was…

“What are you talking about, Yang Mo?” Zhou Xiaohui pointed it out, “Yesterday when we met, wasn’t Qianling already wearing a school uniform?”

“Eh?” Yang Mo’s expression froze again. She pinched her chin and thought for a moment, then suddenly opened her mouth wide, as if she had realized something.

“Uh… this, um…”

She stammered, unable to come up with a good explanation, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.

But just then, a lively girl’s voice called out from behind them, cutting off their conversation.

“Xiaohui, there you are!”

Zhou Xiaohui turned around and saw it was a friend from another class coming over.

“Your friend’s here. Anyway… I’m off!”

Throwing down these words, Yang Mo ran off in a half-jog.

Once again, Zhou Xiaohui was left standing there, staring blankly at her departing figure.

“What do you mean, ‘your friend’? Aren’t you my friend too…”

Zhou Xiaohui let out a long sigh.

The girl who’d just arrived asked her, “What’s going on? Why was Yang Mo in such a rush?”

Zhou Xiaohui could only say, “Nothing, I just wanted to grab her to have lunch with us, but she ran off again.”

“So it’s the usual.” The girl understood, then added, “Don’t be too pushy with her.”

“I’m not,” Zhou Xiaohui replied, but she was still turning things over in her mind.

The more she thought, the more a surprising answer flashed through her mind like a bolt of lightning.

Could it be…?

That ‘relative’ named Qianling is actually a spoiled young lady?

If her guess was right, Qianling was brought back by one of Yang Mo’s parents, and it was only recently.

Usually, the younger child in a family is more doted on, so Yang Mo gets treated unfairly and has to please this suddenly appeared ‘little sister’.

Otherwise, why else would that scene have played out?

Clearly, Qianling already had a uniform, and it fit well, yet she still used an excuse like “the size doesn’t match” to make Yang Mo order a new one!

That had to be it!

With that, Zhou Xiaohui clenched her fists and vowed to help Yang Mo.

And so, without Qianling’s knowledge, someone had already developed an inexplicable sense of rivalry toward her.

At that moment, Qianling was sitting atop a water tower resting, when she suddenly felt a chill down her back.

“Good thing this is a doll’s body—otherwise I’d probably sneeze right now.”

Qianling muttered to herself.

She wondered if maybe it was too windy up here, then jumped down from the water tower.

Later that day, the front gate of Xinghu Town Middle School was packed with people, shoulder to shoulder.

Besides students and parents, all sorts of vendors catering to students lined both sides of the road, a faint scent of caramel wafting through the air.

After pushing through the densest part of the crowd, Yang Mo spotted a familiar figure up ahead.

A silver-haired girl in a school uniform stood leaning against a utility pole, hands clasped behind her back, looking as if she were waiting for someone.

Yang Mo knew—the one she was waiting for was herself. She quickened her pace, waving and calling out with a smile, “Qianling!”

She looked the same as yesterday when she’d come to school. Using disguise magic, she’d hidden her doll features, and the uniform was conjured by the same magic.

Upon hearing her voice, Qianling simply turned and faced her, raising one hand high in the air.

It was as if she was telling Yang Mo: I’m here.

Seeing Yang Mo coming faster and faster, she eventually broke into a run to reach Qianling.

But the distance wasn’t enough to tire her out. The moment she got to Qianling, she immediately started chattering away without even catching her breath.

“Why’d you come pick me up today?”

After asking, Yang Mo flashed Qianling a beaming, energetic smile.

Qianling didn’t react in any special way, simply telling her, “Isn’t it normal? After all, it’s not far from home.”

Qianling then took the lead toward home, and Yang Mo quickly caught up, poking her head over to ask:

“Don’t tell me you felt lonely by yourself?”

Although Qianling knew Yang Mo meant nothing by it, she still shot her a glare and retorted:

“As if. If I had to say, being alone is just boring—there aren’t many fun things to do.”

Qianling spread her hands.

In a way, she was telling the truth.

After all, Qianling used to be a seasoned internet user; besides watching movies online, she also kept up with discussions about various works on different forums.

The stuff on TV now was certainly novel, but the options were still too limited.

“Fun things?” Yang Mo’s eyes turned, then she said, “So should I get Qianling a smartphone with internet access after all? Now that I think about it, it’s not convenient to contact you without a phone…”

Qianling never expected such words to come from her mouth and stared at her in disbelief.

“So you do know that phones have other uses?”

This was the impression Qianling had built up over these days spent with Yang Mo.