Some time passed uneventfully, and during this period, Vivi gradually began to adapt to the maid outfit.
Although there was still some lingering shame, it was much better compared to how she felt a while ago.
Aside from working, she would occasionally ask Irena for some knowledge regarding magic.
It could be considered a way of constantly refining her mana control; a barren mana environment required much higher standards from a caster.
After practicing for a while, Vivi’s use of magic had reached a level of perfection.
At the same time, she would occasionally practice how to use her dagger, which was fairly straightforward.
The only notable event was that her clothes were accidentally sliced open during a practice session.
It looked like clothing, but it was actually Vivi’s physical form, which caused her pain for quite a long while. Fortunately, the wound was not deep, and after some treatment from Irena, it was mostly healed.
One day, Vivi was sitting in the coffee shop, somewhat bored, fiddling with the pure black dagger. Suddenly, she heard some commotion outside. Looking up, she saw several workmen entering the room.
“Miss Xia, we’ve left the things outside for you. If there’s nothing else, we’ll be heading out now.”
Xia Yu, who had been dozing on a bench, suddenly jumped up with an excited expression on her face.
“Mm-hmm, thanks for the hard work. Xiao Xiao, go quickly and give the masters some drinks.”
“Oh, okay~”
The workmen left, and Vivi looked toward the doorway with confusion. There seemed to be a new standee there.
‘Hiss! Could it be my standee?!’
Vivi’s spirit was jolted. She subconsciously looked back at Xia Yu, who was also looking at her with a beaming smile.
“What’s wrong, Vivi? Do you want to come out and take a look with me?”
“Sister!”
Vivi shouted in mock anger and turned her head away, looking somewhat annoyed.
She had originally thought Xia Yu was joking before, but she hadn’t expected the standee to actually be made.
At the thought that the small standee outside might have her own photo on it, she felt a wave of shame.
Wasn’t this just telling all the passersby outside that she was wearing women’s clothes!
However, she didn’t dare to go out and tear the standee down. After all, Xia Yu was her boss.
Furthermore, she was Xiaxiaoling’s sister. If she and Xiaxiaoling had ended up together, Xia Yu would have been her sister anyway.
She scratched her hair as the sense of shame continued to spread through her heart.
At that moment, with a *ding-ling* sound, a breeze blew in. Turning her head, she saw Su Xiao looking at her with an excited expression.
“Wh—?! What is it?”
The scorching gaze falling on her body made Vivi very uncomfortable. She currently just wanted to bury her face and pretend to be invisible.
However, Su Xiao didn’t give her that chance. She stepped forward in a few strides and grabbed Vivi’s arm, her eyes practically sparkling.
“Vivi, come out and take a look.”
“No, I don’t want to!”
Vivi shook her small head, her long black hair swaying back and forth, looking incredibly cute.
Su Xiao felt her heart melting from the cuteness. Her hands subconsciously climbed up to Vivi’s small cheeks and tugged them toward both sides.
“Vivi, are you coming? Are you?”
“Mm, no, don peese, I’m not go-ing.”
“Hmm?”
Su Xiao’s eyes narrowed, and her hands gradually moved downward.
“Take this!”
“No… stop… ahaha! Su Xiao… Sister, stop—stop, it tickles… so ticklish, ah… haha~”
“Are you going or not?”
“I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go! Stop—haha, stop tickling me, I’ll go, okay?!”
Under Vivi’s pleas for mercy, Su Xiao finally paused her assault and looked at the loli with a smile across her face. Vivi looked back at her with a resentful expression, her tearful eyes full of mock anger.
‘Even her angry face is so cute~’
Su Xiao suddenly felt like teasing the little one more, but fearing she might lose favorability points, she didn’t continue.
She led the loli to the entrance of the coffee shop. By this time, many employees were already standing in front, admiring the standee that was the same height as Vivi.
Vivi didn’t quite dare to look. She kept her head lowered, silently following behind Su Xiao.
Xia Yu was currently standing beside the standee. Seeing Vivi approach, she gently tapped her small head.
“What are you looking at? Is there money on the ground?”
“Uh… I just…”
Vivi stuttered for a long time, still not daring to look up at her own standee.
Xia Yu knew the loli was shy, so she shot a look at the surrounding “maids.” The maids understood her meaning and collectively looked at Vivi as if they were performing some strange ritual.
“Sister Vivi~”
“Sister, just take a look, it’s really cute.”
“That’s right, that’s right, don’t be shy.”
Vivi was sweating profusely. Why did she feel like Tang Seng who had accidentally stumbled into the Pansi Cave?
‘Ugh, don’t look up, don’t look up, don’t look up…’
Vivi was like an old monk in meditation, seemingly motionless, but in reality, her soul had already left for a while.
Seeing this, Xia Yu felt that things couldn’t continue like this. She stepped forward and pinched Vivi’s chin.
The giant-like strength pinched Vivi back to her senses instantly, and she saw the standee that was about the same height as her.
The girl on the standee had a brilliant smile on her face and struck a very girlish pose that perfectly matched the maid outfit she was wearing.
Especially those two pure white, flawless legs paired with white silk; it added several layers of energy to her look.
And the loli on the standee was indeed herself.
Her cheeks instantly turned a bright, translucent red, and a watery mist seemed to spread through her eyes.
“Don’t, stop talking about it, it’s embarrassingly lethal!”
“Huh? But it looks really good?”
“How! It’s not good at all…”
Vivi muttered in a low voice, wishing she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. However, the continuous sounds of praise kept drifting into her ears, making her somewhat at a loss.
At this time, Xia Yu released Vivi’s chin, squatted down beside her, and spoke softly.
“Vivi, look, doesn’t this look great? What are you actually being shy about?”
“Um, but… but I—”
She wanted to say she wasn’t a girl, but the words reached her lips and were swallowed back down.
“Oh, but what? The current Vivi is very cute. Give yourself a little confidence, okay?”
“Mm…”
She looked at the standee again, and the sense of shame in her heart did seem to diminish slightly. However, she was still very angry—very angry at Xia Yu’s decision to turn her photo into a standee.
Xia Yu smiled and whispered into her ear.
“I’ll give you double wages. Forty coins an hour.”
*Hiss—*
Vivi sucked in a breath of cold air, inwardly doubting whether Xia Yu was here to run a charity. Well, it seemed she had opened this coffee shop just for fun in the first place.
Looking at Xia Yu with some gratitude, her resistance to her image being used as a standee wasn’t as strong anymore. She even felt a tiny bit of guilt.
‘Plan successful, hehe…’
At that moment, a graceful figure stopped in the distance from the coffee shop. She frowned and looked ahead, her heart filled with confusion.
‘What are they… doing?’