After leaving the library, Qianling was lured toward the cafeteria by a fragrance drifting through the air.
Even though she didn’t feel hunger, her senses of taste and smell still drove her to seek out delicious food.
Come to think of it, lunch break should start right after this class.
She pulled out her phone to check the time and found that it was only a few minutes until twelve o’clock sharp.
Unfortunately, even though she could conjure an identical school uniform, a meal card and the money inside it couldn’t be created out of thin air. She would have to give up for now.
Just as Qianling stood at the cafeteria entrance with a sigh, a dark shadow quietly approached from behind her.
“Qian—ling—!”
At the same time the familiar voice rang out, a pair of hands grabbed her cheeks and pinched them without any hesitation.
“It hurts.”
Qianling uttered those words flatly and then looked up.
An upside-down face immediately appeared in her field of vision.
It was Yangxia. The veins on her forehead were almost bulging, yet the corners of her mouth were turned upward. She looked even more terrifying than she did when she was normally angry.
Qianling wasn’t actually too surprised by Yangxia’s arrival.
She calmly deactivated her stealth magic and used disguise magic to reform her school uniform and human appearance.
Yangxia let go at that moment and let out a sigh from the side. “That magic of yours really is quite convenient.”
However, her brow remained furrowed during this time, clearly indicating she had more resentment left to vent.
After escaping from the restraint, Qianling stroked her cheeks and asked, “How did you find me?”
“I was just chatting with a friend, and she said she saw someone in a maid outfit outside the window during class. Then another friend came up to me for no reason to ask if I had another sister.”
As Yangxia spoke, her facial features scrunched together even more.
“When I heard that, I figured it was you. Then I thought about where you were most likely to be and came over to check. Turns out, I actually found you…”
At this point, she finally couldn’t help but support her forehead with her hand, her voice sounding like a dam that had completely burst. “And you still have the nerve to ask how I found you? Honestly, are you even trying to hide at all!”
“You caught me.”
Qianling stuck out her tongue.
Although being discovered by Aimei was unexpected, she had originally felt that the key to this trip wasn’t finding out whether Yangxia was lying, but changing Yangxia’s mind.
So…
She couldn’t stay hidden forever; eventually, she would have to find a moment to talk to her in person.
Qianling had considered this before.
She had long anticipated that Yangxia would find her, because after the encounter with Aimei, she expected that information would reach Yangxia.
Since Yangxia already knew she was in the school, the effectiveness of the stealth magic would weaken, so it wasn’t strange to be discovered.
If anything, being found here was just perfect.
Qianling felt a surge of secret joy.
Ignoring how Yangxia was still sighing and saying, “I knew it…”, Qianling immediately said to her: “Our encounter here is also destiny. Can you treat me to a meal? Please, this is really important to me.”
After saying that, she pressed her hands together in front of her to show her sincerity.
“What is wrong with you!”
Yangxia’s emotions, which had just started to stabilize, collapsed once again.
She raised both hands in a gesture as if she were about to hold her own head and said, “You follow me to my school without permission, and now you want me to buy you lunch! There’s a limit to how thick-skinned you can be!”
Qianling remained completely unmoved by her reaction.
“But I also made a huge sacrifice. I just claimed to be your sister in front of your friends.”
“So what? What does that have to do with me!”
“What will your friends think when they see you shouting at your sister? You wouldn’t want them to think you’re abusing her, right?”
“…”
Qianling’s words caused Yangxia’s expression to cool instantly. She looked back warily and found several of her friends indeed standing not far away, watching everything.
Perhaps wanting to leave some private space for the “sisters,” they hadn’t interrupted the conversation at all. After Yangxia looked over, a girl with a bun hairstyle smiled and waved at her.
“Fine, I’ll treat you. Just get in there!”
Yangxia changed her attitude completely, hurriedly pushing Qianling into the cafeteria.
Strictly speaking, class wasn’t over yet, so there were only a few people in the cafeteria.
Yangxia was able to enter early because her PE class had already been dismissed, which was a small perk enjoyed by students who had PE during the last period of the morning.
As soon as she sat down, she dropped her head tiredly and let out the most powerless sigh yet.
Just as Qianling was about to speak, Yangxia raised a hand to signal her to stop.
“Just order whatever you want to eat. Get a duplicate for me too. Also, whatever you want to ask, wait until after we eat. I don’t have any energy left.”
Having said that, she handed her meal card to Qianling without giving any other instructions.
Normally, Yangxia might have added something like “Don’t spend too much” or “Don’t get me anything fried.”
Now there was nothing. Just as she said, she was probably completely burnt out.
So, Qianling took the meal card and ordered a nutritionally balanced cafeteria meal for Yangxia as well as herself.
“Here it comes.”
Qianling placed the tray in front of Yangxia. Yangxia looked up, and a bit of light finally returned to her eyes.
Stir-fried tomatoes and eggs, fish fillets with chopped chili, and stir-fried squash—it was the kind of menu one could find in most school cafeterias.
However, based on the ratio of vegetables to meat, one could still sense the superiority of this particular cafeteria.
It also tasted as though it had been cooked in a large wok with plenty of heat, rather than being pulled out early to save trouble or using pre-packaged food to cut corners.
Therefore, for Qianling, the dining experience was quite pleasant.
During the meal, Yangxia didn’t say a word, focusing entirely on devouring her food.
Fortunately, Qianling knew her general appetite and had served her a larger portion than her own.
Otherwise, by this time, the bell ending class had already rung, and the cafeteria was packed with students. Going back to wait in line would have been quite time-consuming.
At the same time, this actually provided some convenience for Qianling and Yangxia.
Because all the students were gathered in the cafeteria, they were easily able to find a deserted corner for a secret conversation after the meal.
The location was behind the teaching building, very close to the school’s back gate.
There was a large L-shaped marble planter tucked against the building.
Yangxia patted the dust off the planter and sat directly on it.
Qianling followed suit and sat on the other end of the L-shape. Although she also patted it, she found there was almost no dust, suggesting other students likely sat there often.
After that, the two turned their gazes toward each other, and the dialogue began.