Qianling’s approval made a thin veil of rosy blush appear on Yangmo’s face.
“Great! We’ve finally reached an agreement!”
She smiled as she reached out a hand to Qianling and paused mid-air, as if asking for a high-five.
Seeing this, Qianling suddenly felt a pang of regret.
—First naming, now shaking hands. Am I being treated like a stray kitten or puppy she picked up? Maybe I should’ve refused from the very start when she wanted to give me a name. This thought flashed across her mind.
But in the end, she still smiled and met Yangmo’s palm with her own.
After all, giving someone a name also symbolized a certain bond forming between the two. Qianling didn’t dislike this at all.
Their palms touched lightly, but Yangmo’s reaction afterward was a little odd. She stared at her own hand that had just pulled back, seemingly deep in thought.
“Hm?”
Qianling tilted her head and softly voiced her confusion as she watched Yangmo, who then showed her the palm that had touched Qianling’s hand. There was dust on it, rubbed off from Qianling’s skin.
“Just as I thought… Qianling, we really need to get you cleaned up.” Yangmo waved her hand and grinned, looking a bit silly.
Qianling could only sigh. “You’re only realizing this now?”
Yangmo is just Yangmo after all. She really is the same slightly airheaded girl as in the Original Work.
Qianling was sure of it once again.
Now that they’d decided on what to do next, Yangmo immediately wanted to take Qianling out of the room.
“Let’s go! It’s already filthy in here anyway, we should clean it later. Let’s go somewhere else first.”
But even though she knew she’d get more dust on her, she didn’t hesitate at all to grab Qianling’s hand.
Qianling was confused. “Won’t you just get dirty? Why still do this?”
“It’s already dirty anyway, so what does it matter now?”
“Well, that does make sense…”
Unable to argue with her, Qianling had no choice but to follow her to the washbasin in front of the bathroom.
They walked past the corridor and the stairs leading to the second floor, giving Qianling a rough idea of their surroundings.
It was an old two-story house that had undergone major renovations. Qianling recognized it right away from a few scenes in the Original Work.
If it was the same as the Original Work, then this house, big enough for a full family, should now only have Yangmo living in it.
That was confirmed by what had happened right after Qianling woke up. If there were anyone else here, they surely wouldn’t have ignored the loud crash in their own home.
Once they reached the washbasin, Yangmo told Qianling to leave everything to her.
“Qianling, you just need to sit right here!”
She spread her arms and guided Qianling to sit on the round stool in front of the sink.
“Are you really okay doing this yourself?”
“No problem, no problem!”
Although Qianling didn’t want to rely too much on others, there really were many places she couldn’t clean on her own. Here, she could only trust Yangmo.
The first thing to deal with was the dust on her surface. Yangmo started with her hair, cleaning bit by bit, and after dusting it off, she took out a comb and tidied it up. As expected, Qianling’s radiant silver hair instantly became even more striking.
Next, she pulled out a brand new towel and carefully wiped Qianling’s most important feature—her face. During this, Yangmo leaned in close to inspect if any stains were left, and their eyes met several times. It felt just like when Qianling had first awakened, and even that heart of hers—if she even had one—seemed to beat faster at this moment.
After cleaning her hair and face, Yangmo gripped Qianling’s shoulders and turned her toward the mirror, asking for her thoughts.
“How is it?” she asked, sounding a little proud.
Qianling looked in the mirror and couldn’t help but sigh softly at her reflection.
“Wow…”
She hadn’t expected such a simple cleaning to make her look so much better.
Is this face of mine… actually kind of cute?
She finally noticed it only now.
“Hehe~ I knew it! Qianling is a super cute beauty once she’s tidied up!”
“R-really?”
Qianling, who hadn’t looked like this just a little while ago, didn’t know how to respond to Yangmo’s praise, but overall, it made her feel a little shy.
Seeing her like this made Yangmo even more enthusiastic. As she helped clean Qianling’s arms, she hummed a few happy tunes. During the process, she sometimes asked Qianling to lift her arm or adjust her posture, making Qianling’s mental image of Yangmo washing a stray kitten even clearer.
When it was almost done, Yangmo put her things aside, as if wanting to take a break, and gently rested both hands on Qianling’s shoulders from behind.
“By the way, since Qianling has no memories, you probably don’t have anywhere to go next, right?”
She still wore her usual gentle smile, but from the reflection in the mirror, Qianling noticed her amber eyes had grown a little dimmer than before.
“Mm.” Qianling responded calmly.
“In that case!” Yangmo excitedly brought her face even closer to Qianling’s: “Do you want to stay with me for a while…”
Actually, based on the Original Work, Qianling already guessed what she wanted to say. But before Yangmo could finish, a sudden ringing from her pocket interrupted the scene. She let go of Qianling’s shoulders and pulled out her phone to check the caller.
“Ah, it’s my sister.”
A slightly deeper, anxious-sounding female voice came from the other end of the line.
“Hello? Yangmo, are you alright?”
“Sis, what’s wrong?”
“I was just about to come find you. I sensed a strange magic reaction from your place just now… Could it be a Bad Demon?”
“B-Bad Demon? No, no, nothing like that.”
“Anyway, be careful. I’m coming over right now!”
With that, the person on the other end hung up without letting Yangmo say another word.
Qianling looked back at Yangmo and saw that her expression had turned nervous. Of course… at this moment, Qianling was just as anxious inside.
“What do we do, Qianling!”
“I have no idea either!”
The two of them were thrown into chaos.
Since Yangmo had called the other person “sister,” she had to be none other than the other Magical Girl: Liu Huo.
The very one Qianling had seen on TV before she crossed over, hugging Yangmo and crying her eyes out.
“How are we supposed to explain Qianling to her? What if my sister thinks you’re a Bad Demon?!”
Yangmo had voiced the very worry weighing on Qianling’s heart.
Being hunted by a Magical Girl—she’d had enough of that!
Even though some of Qianling’s magic had recovered, there was no way she could defeat a Magical Girl now. More importantly, according to the plot, getting into a fight with Yangmo’s sister here was definitely not the right move.
She had to find a way out of this crisis!
Their thoughts aligned, and after a quick glance at each other, Qianling and Yangmo immediately started whispering frantically to plan their next steps.