“Uh… well…”
Dragging her suitcase, Bai Yao found her seat.
She tried to lift the luggage onto the overhead rack, but even with both arms straining, she could only raise it to shin height.
Her fractured left leg ached from the effort and the weight.
A faint blush crept across her aloof face.
Bai Yao glanced sidelong at the passengers passing by or settling into their seats, looking for someone who seemed approachable…
‘No way… I’m totally too scared!’
She wondered how those online “beauties” could so confidently demand help from strangers.
She couldn’t even bring herself to ask!
Bai Yao hesitated.
As the travelers around her all sat down one by one, leaving her standing alone, she finally had to give up.
‘I guess I can just leave the suitcase in the carriage connection area, right?’
“Need a hand?”
A man nearby stood up.
“Mm…”
Bai Yao quickly nodded.
“Please, thank you.”
The man strained to lift the suitcase onto the rack, almost losing face in front of the pretty girl—it made sweat bead on his forehead.
“It’s pretty heavy.”
He shook his hands casually, pretending it was nothing.
“Just call me when you need to get off.”
“Mm… mm, thanks, thanks.”
Bai Yao hurriedly expressed her gratitude and finally sat down.
She was in seat F, by the window.
The seat next to her was empty, and she had no idea if her seatmate would be a man or a woman.
Now that she’d calmed down, she started regretting how flustered she’d been—anyone could tell she was incredibly shy.
‘How embarrassing…’
Bai Yao grumbled inwardly and shared what had just happened with Qiu Ye.
Even though they hadn’t seen each other in a week, they both had the habit of sharing their daily lives.
Bai Yao knew that recently Qiu Ye hadn’t been waking up until 11 AM, then going out for lunch, coming to play games with her around 1 PM, going out again at 5 PM to play basketball with friends, and not lying down to sleep until 2 AM.
Yesterday Qiu Ye won a meal from a basketball game; the day before, he had done a part-time street promotion job.
Just as the train was about to start moving, a girl sat down beside Bai Yao.
Out of the corner of her eye, Bai Yao snuck a peek.
‘Hmm, such a small girl… maybe only five feet tall.’
Her face was round and cute, and she carried a briefcase, so she was probably already working.
She had wheat-colored skin, slightly dark, with a healthy, energetic vibe.
She was practically Bai Yao’s former ideal type!
Since Bai Yao herself was short, finding a girlfriend around five feet would at least not make her feel at a disadvantage, right?
But now she just found the girl cute.
“Huh?”
Sensing the girl’s gaze, Bai Yao immediately stiffened her expression.
She could only relax in front of Bai Xinyi, since they were childhood friends.
In front of other girls, she still habitually wore a cold, aloof look.
She continued typing on her phone, sharing her life with Qiu Ye:
“A really cute girl just sat next to me.”
The train moved slowly, gradually picking up speed.
The scenery outside the nearby window turned into streaks.
Before long, though, the train entered a tunnel.
Bai Yao looked at the almost nonexistent cell signal, helplessly put down her phone, yawned, and glanced sideways at the window.
The dark glass reflected her face—neat and tidy—but she still fussily grabbed her bangs and tucked a few messy strands behind her ear.
And then there were the little pigtails that looked like a kindergartener’s, and the cute little hair clips.
Bai Yao took off the clips, stuffed them into her hoodie pocket, undid the pigtails, and let her hair down.
Her smooth, jet-black hair fell loose around her shoulders.
She shook her head, fluffing it out like a wet kitten or puppy.
In the glass reflection, she suddenly noticed the girl beside her seemed to be watching her.
‘Why is she staring at me?’
‘Does she know I used to be a man?!’
Bai Yao got a bit triggered.
She always felt that bad news traveled fast and everyone already knew about her situation.
Nervously, she lowered her head and started playing with her phone.
She opened the mobile version of Slay the Spire 2 to pass the time.
“What game is that?”
The girl beside her leaned in, her voice a soft, adorable loli voice, with a hint of a Southern Fujian accent.
‘So cute! I want to bully her!’
“Slay the Spire.”
But Bai Yao’s tone remained as cold as ever.
“Oh~ Is it fun? Can you send me a copy?”
“Mm.”
Bai Yao hadn’t deleted the installation package, so she added the girl as a friend and sent it over.
When adding the friend, she also noticed the girl’s name tag.
Long Ziyi.
‘That surname is so cool~’
Bai Yao muttered inwardly and sent her own name to Long Ziyi.
“Are you still a student? College?”
Long Ziyi was very lively, completely unbothered by Bai Yao’s aloof face.
“Mm.”
“The Institute of Technology starts this early?”
“I go to the Institute of Technology.”
“Oh~ I graduated from there last year. You should call me Senior~”
“No, I started a few days early.”
Bai Yao hesitated, then called out, “Senior?”
“That’s right!”
Long Ziyi immediately puffed up her chest, happy and proud.
Clearly, the title was very flattering to the short girl.
“From now on, anything comes up, Senior’s got your back!”
“Uh…”
Bai Yao wasn’t good at dealing with girls.
She was naturally quiet, so she fell silent, not knowing what to say.
[Task Completed! You’ve made another friend! Cash Reward: 100!]
‘That counts as a friend?’
She felt like it was more like adding a stranger she’d never meet again in the future.
“How do you play this?”
“Just play randomly. You’ll get the hang of it after a few rounds. Ask me if you don’t understand something.”
Bai Yao opened Long Ziyi’s Moments.
Compared to her own empty feed, Long Ziyi’s was much richer.
The latest post was a photo taken in the train station waiting room, just before boarding.
‘She’s the type who loves sharing her life~’
Bai Yao suddenly realized that making friends was actually pretty easy—especially with her current appearance.
If not for her cold face, maybe even more people would be willing to approach her?
Not everyone meant well, but this legal loli in front of her clearly had no bad intentions!
Having earned money, Bai Yao felt in a good mood despite still having a mild bout of dysmenorrhea.
She leaned sideways over to Long Ziyi, watching her play, and taught her:
“You could cut a few more cards.”
Honestly, Bai Yao wasn’t great at Slay the Spire either.
She had never watched any tutorials, just played stupidly and cleared it a few times.
“Mm, it’s pretty simple.”
Long Ziyi muttered, then looked up, nearly bumping her head into Bai Yao’s chin.
Startled, she flinched back, then asked:
“Since school doesn’t start that soon, wanna hang out sometime?”
‘Hang out?’
Bai Yao immediately shrank back.
She hated going out unless Qiu Ye dragged her along.
“Then… can I bring a friend?”
“Of course you can.”
‘It’d be fine if Qiu Ye comes along.’