“It’s alright.”
Jiang Lingwei nudged Jiang Cheng with her elbow, then turned to comfort Sha Chong, saying, “My old—uh, anyway, he already held you back, nothing was really lost.”
“I… I…”
Sha Chong’s hands clenched and unclenched, mumbling softly.
“Hello, please give me the lighter.”
Seeing her frozen in place, looking awkward, Jiang Cheng took the initiative to help, reaching out as he said, “Let me light it.”
“O-okay.”
At this moment, Sha Chong’s mind was a complete blank. Whatever anyone said, she just did without any thought.
Taking the lighter, Jiang Cheng lit the alcohol block below, then skillfully opened the pot lid, checked inside, and put it back.
“Please.”
Seeing that he’d finished what he should, Sha Chong didn’t even ask for the lighter back, skipping several steps and stammering, “Please enjoy your meal…”
“Mom, I’m going to talk to her for a bit.”
Jiang Yao couldn’t help but stand up.
Knowing her daughter’s thoughts, Jiang Lingwei naturally nodded in agreement. “Go ahead.”
“Okay, then… come with me for a moment.”
“I… I…”
“Hmm?”
A little puzzled as she watched Jiang Yao pull Sha Chong away, Wen Yaqiu leaned closer to Jiang Lingwei and whispered,
“What’s going on? Or do you know her? Why did your Yao Yao suddenly leave in the middle of dinner?”
Before she finished, Lin Yu also couldn’t sit still. She stood up, saying, “Mom, I’ll go see what’s going on too. You two eat first.” Then she chased after them.
“Eh? Xiao Yu?”
Wen Yaqiu hadn’t caught on. By the time she called after Lin Yu, the girl had already left the restaurant.
“I suppose… you could say we know each other.”
Jiang Lingwei replied quietly as well, “It’s alright. It’s a good chance for Yao Yao to try helping her.”
“Help her?”
Wen Yaqiu sensed something unusual here. There seemed to be something about that waitress she didn’t know.
“Mhm, she does look like she needs some help.”
Listening to Jiang Lingwei, Jiang Cheng, who was sitting to her right, didn’t really know who the waitress was. He just asked, “Should I go look for them, keep an eye on things?”
“Emmm…”
It was a reasonable suggestion, and Jiang Cheng was certainly reliable, but no.
With just the three of them left at the table now, as long as they didn’t attract the attention of other guests, there were some things they could still talk about.
Lowering her head, she motioned for the other two to come closer, then Jiang Lingwei spoke at a volume only their table could hear:
“That was Sha Chong.”
“Ah.”
Wen Yaqiu slapped her palm.
No wonder.
“With that look, even if she weren’t a Magical Girl, she really doesn’t seem up for much.”
The moment she made a mistake, her mind froze instead of thinking about how to make up for it. With such a fragile mindset, unless she had some area where Wen Yaqiu would be willing to “dote” on her a little, no matter how talented she was, she’d only ever be able to do odd jobs in Wen Yaqiu’s company.
But, Magical Girls always had immunity with Wen Yaqiu.
At most, she just felt that she and her companions were the real First Generation, but because they kept a low profile and no one knew them, that title ended up belonging to others. So, she had a bit of nominal resentment toward the “First Generation” Magical Girls.
Jiang Cheng thought for a moment and said,
“Let Yao Yao try to show her some care?”
Jiang Lingwei had already told him about what happened that day when he called.
Now Jiang Cheng was thinking even further.
“Are you also hoping to nurture Yao Yao’s leadership skills?”
“Chengzi, you get me.”
Jiang Lingwei smiled as she lifted the pot lid and gave him a big prawn. “This is your reward.”
“Chengzi, you get me~”
Next to them, Wen Yaqiu folded her arms, face twisted, and repeated Jiang Lingwei’s words with a sour tone, even scooting her chair a bit farther from Jiang Lingwei.
Now she really regretted coming.
Without Old Lin here, watching these two interact made her feel completely out of place.
Tonight, she’d have to spend the night in an empty room again.
Sigh sigh.
“‘Your reward~~~’ Tsk tsk tsk tsk.”
“Tsk what tsk.”
Jiang Lingwei pulled her arm back, a little embarrassed. She shot Wen Yaqiu, who kept “tsk tsk tsk”-ing and shaking her head, a look, then gave her an oyster in compensation, and quickly changed the subject:
“Let Yao Yao handle things herself. If she can make more friends, and best of all, build a stable Magical Girl team in Mudong City, I’d feel a lot more at ease.”
Just thinking about having to leave, Jiang Lingwei felt like she was developing artillery-deficiency anxiety.
But only when it came to Jiang Yao.
If possible, she wished she could fully arm Jiang Yao from head to toe.
Every area needed to be maxed out.
For example, when facing cunning enemies, no matter how strong one person is, there might still be gaps. For Magical Girls, teammates were extremely important.
If, in a small place like Mudong City, Jiang Yao could manage to pull together a five-person starter squad, in Jiang Lingwei’s eyes, that would finally offer a bit of insurance—barely enough.
“Eh?”
Wen Yaqiu suddenly objected. She just realized something:
“Your Yao Yao went, so why did my Xiao Yu follow? She’s just an ordinary person!”
“Well, that…”
The couple sitting beside Wen Yaqiu both seemed a little flustered. One said, “I think she just wanted to check on her friend.” The other said, “She probably just wanted to see if she could help. She’s a good kid.”
This made Wen Yaqiu a little suspicious and she wanted to ask more, but Jiang Lingwei interrupted:
“Mainly, you as her mom didn’t stop her either. I thought you agreed.”
“Alright, that’s true.”
Wen Yaqiu readily admitted her own mistake and started reflecting on whether she should have stopped Xiao Yu earlier.
“Trust Yao Yao. Xiao Yu’s just an ordinary person, and Sha Chong probably won’t reveal her identity on her own. Yao Yao can handle it.”
Jiang Cheng seized the chance, playing along with Jiang Lingwei, and put a scallop on her plate, then added a crab that would take some time to eat to Wen Yaqiu’s plate.
“Oh, thanks.”
After a word of thanks, Wen Yaqiu took out a small, delicate soft case from her bag. When opened, inside were the eight specialized crab-eating tools—the “Crab Eight Tools.”
“Authentic.”
Jiang Lingwei gave her a thumbs-up.
“Come on, your Sister Xiao Quan is a master-class hunter. A mere Giant Shield Crab is nothing!”
With a small knife, she sliced at the crab joint: “Rising Dragon Slash!”
While being a little dramatic yet still elegant picking out crab meat, Wen Yaqiu thoughtfully added, “Let’s just wait and see for now.
“If they don’t come back for a while, I’ll just order another round.”
“Alright, alright.”
Jiang Lingwei and Jiang Cheng both nodded in agreement, smiling.
At the same time, out on the street, a tall girl in a waitress uniform was running at full speed.
She didn’t even know where she wanted to go, or rather, she hadn’t thought about it at all.
Like a Hakkimi who just woke up to find a bright green cucumber behind it, all she could do now was panic, fluff up, and bolt in a stress run.
As for where or how long she’d run, none of that mattered.
A stressed Hakkimi can’t worry about such things; as long as she’s “running,” that’s enough.
“Sha Chong?”
“Ah!”
Hearing a concerned call from behind, Sha Chong screamed and ran even faster, drawing stares from passersby.
Chasing her, Jiang Yao was baffled.
She’d pulled Sha Chong outside quite calmly, but the moment they stepped out the door, Sha Chong shook off her hand and started running.
That wasn’t even the worst of it—the more she called after her, the faster Sha Chong ran.
Jiang Yao was starting to doubt herself. Did she accidentally offend Sha Chong somewhere before?
Thinking it over carefully, the girl was even more confused.
She’d hardly ever spoken to Sha Chong, barely even met her. To offend someone, you had to have some contact at least.
It was really hard to figure out what Sha Chong was thinking.
She had to catch up and talk things out.
Aurora said this Magical Girl’s “heart” had a problem, and outsiders couldn’t help.
But Jiang Yao wanted to give it a try, or at least get some information from Sha Jing.
Once she’d built up enough ability, maybe… she could have Aurora take her along to face the future Aurora had to deal with?
Right now, Jiang Yao hadn’t caught Sha Chong, but that didn’t mean she really couldn’t. Melee-type Magical Girls always had better physical stats than long-range types—she just needed to use a little technique.
Ahead, Sha Chong was still running. As a Magical Girl with magic coursing through her body, even if transformation was tough for her, her basic abilities were still there.
For example, just now, as she ran, she suddenly felt a surge of magic boiling behind her. She spun in alarm to look at the girl chasing her:
“How are you running so fast?!”
“Magic,” Jiang Yao replied calmly. “I used magic to speed up.”
No longer daring to reply, Sha Chong gritted her teeth.
She was clear-headed now, but wanted even less to be caught.
Stay away—she had to stay away.
The farther from these Magical Girls, the better.
Otherwise… the Magical Girl behind her, and that warm, pink-haired one she’d met before, sooner or later she’d get them all involved and doomed.
(Yes, right, I’m not without advantages.)
At this moment, a flash of clarity passed through Sha Chong’s mind. Her advantage was, having grown up in this city, she was familiar with these streets.
The Magical Girl [Crystal] behind her was secretly using magic to boost her speed. She seemed quite practiced, but wouldn’t dare do it too blatantly.
After all, they were still on a busy street—even when she mentioned “magic” just now, she made sure no one was around.
So, as long as Sha Chong made good use of her home-field advantage, she’d definitely be able to shake off Crystal!
With this figured out, her eyes lit up, locking onto a familiar alley.
She would win!
Three minutes later.
“Huff… Sha Chong, why are you running? I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to talk.”
Jiang Yao was slightly out of breath as she blocked Sha Chong in the alley.
“Huff… huff… huff…”
Compared to her, Sha Chong looked much worse—slumped against the wall, legs so weak she nearly slid to the ground, gasping for breath, her chest heaving.
Ignoring what Jiang Yao said, Sha Chong just gave a pained look and cried,
“Who knew… huff… huff… after all these years… huff… this road… why is it blocked now…”