Seeing that Xiaoxi completely didn’t understand her meaning, Su Ying started making faces and winking behind Xiaoxi’s back.
“What’s wrong, Store Manager? Are your eyes bothering you or something?”
Su Ying sighed deeply, clearly feeling like there was no hope for her to teach this child.
“Xiaoxi, your girlfriend is currently chatting with other girls. Aren’t you even a little bit jealous?”
Xiaoxi was momentarily speechless. The downside of pretending to be a couple was that she had no way to argue back when faced with this kind of remark.
“Xinglan making friends is normal, and I’m not really interested in what they’re talking about anyway…”
“What I mean is, this is a good chance. You could join their conversation to learn more about Xinglan’s interests! Plus, it stops others from harboring any ill intentions towards your girlfriend. Isn’t that killing two birds with one stone?”
Xiaoxi felt helpless. She hadn’t expected Su Ying to be so much of a gossip herself.
“But Store Manager, I’m working right now…”
“Ah, there aren’t many customers at the moment anyway. Are you really going to watch your girlfriend have such a good time chatting with others? Go on, go on!”
Xiaoxi was resigned. Her excuse about working was just that—a pretense. After all, she and Ye Xinglan weren’t truly a couple.
“Um—may I take a photo with the maid, please?”
Just then, Da Tianxin stood up and waved her hand, breaking the awkward silence.
“Of course! Coming right up!” Su Ying answered immediately, then lowered her voice to poke Xiaoxi’s side, “You said you’re working, right? Taking photos with customers is part of the job. Go—this is an order from the Store Manager!”
Xiaoxi was helpless but had to put on the sweet smile of a maid in front of the customer.
However, when she got closer and saw the face of the girl who wanted the photo, she froze.
Wasn’t this the same girl who had been pestering her for photos before at Beidajie Shopping Mall? So she was one of Ye Xinglan’s online friends?
“Wow, so cute! Maid-san, can you make a heart with your hands? Yes, yes, just like that!”
After the “click” of the camera, Da Tianxin winked at the others, “Anyone else want to take pictures?”
That endless chattiness made Xiaoxi even more certain she hadn’t mistaken the girl’s identity.
Soon, the other girls at the table took turns taking photos with Xiaoxi, all very enthusiastic.
They either complimented her smooth skin or said she was adorable, except for Ye Xinglan, who stayed seated without moving.
“Hey, how about we take a photo together? Xinglan, come on.”
Ye Xinglan didn’t say anything but stood up and naturally wrapped her arm around Xiaoxi’s neck.
Although this move seemed overly familiar to the others, seeing that Xiaoxi didn’t mind, no one said anything.
After the photo session, Xiaoxi planned to leave quietly to avoid disturbing Ye Xinglan’s good time with her friends, but Ye Xinglan suddenly grabbed her arm.
Xiaoxi hadn’t been jealous just now, but Ye Xinglan looked a little jealous watching the others take photos with Xiaoxi.
“Why didn’t you come home for lunch today?”
“Sorry, Xinglan, something urgent came up at noon, so you had to eat takeout.”
Ye Xinglan’s tone carried a slight complaint, and Xiaoxi felt helpless.
She wanted to rush back and cook for Ye Xinglan, but there had been a meeting at the Association about the Blood Moon Witch today.
Although she usually didn’t bother attending these, this time it was about the Blood Moon Witch.
“Hmph!” Ye Xinglan looked stubborn.
“Sorry, it’s my fault. I’ll make you a big dinner tonight to make up for it, okay?”
Xiaoxi had no choice but to coax Ye Xinglan a bit more. By this time, the others around had also noticed their special relationship.
“Wait, Xinglan,” Jie Tianxin widened her eyes, “you know the maid?”
After a short while and with Ye Xinglan’s introduction, Xiaoxi and Ye Xinglan’s friends all got acquainted.
The way Ye Xinglan met them was simple. One day after finishing a game, she received a friend request.
After accepting, they invited her to join their game Guild, then the Guild Chat Group, and finally multiplayer gaming—most online friendships through games start like this.
What surprised Ye Xinglan was that several of her recent gaming friends were all from Xianghai City. So they quickly decided to meet up.
Unfortunately, that day there had been an unexpected incident, so today’s meeting made up for the failed first one.
Xiaoxi now knew that the girl pestering her for photos at Beidajie Shopping Mall was Jie Tianxin. She was the one who had dragged Ye Xinglan into the Guild.
Jie Tianxin was also pretty, the lively and outgoing type, with slightly curled hair and brown highlights at the tips—a clearly styled look.
“I just remembered!” Jie Tianxin exclaimed, “No wonder when Xinglan plays games every night, I sometimes hear other girls’ voices! I thought your place had bad soundproofing!”
It’s impossible not to feel a little jealous. You know what’s worse than a good friend having a pretty girlfriend?
It’s when you’re chatting with your friend, saying ‘Hey, that girl over there is so cute,’ and your friend casually replies, ‘Oh, that’s my girlfriend.’
As Xiaoxi sat down, Ye Xinglan deliberately wrapped her arm around Xiaoxi’s and then contentedly rested her head on Xiaoxi’s shoulder.
“Xiaoxi, I’ll tell you, Xinglan and I are pretty fated. After adding her QQ friend request, I found out we’re in some of the same group chats.”
“What group chats?”
Jie Tianxin, clearly the sociable type, quickly struck up a conversation with Xiaoxi. Fortunately, following along wasn’t difficult for Xiaoxi.
Jie Tianxin pulled out her phone: “It’s a reader group for a novel. Look~”
Suddenly, Xiaoxi had a bad feeling—and unfortunately, it turned out to be right.
“Oh… I haven’t read that novel.”
Xiaoxi gave an awkward smile and pinched Ye Xinglan’s thigh under the table to stop her from saying anything reckless.
Ye Xinglan stayed silent, only wearing a playful smile as she looked at Xiaoxi, feeling she had just caught another secret.
“But this proves Xinglan and I have pretty similar interests. You like magical girls too, right, Xinglan?”
“I…”
Jie Tianxin’s sudden question left Ye Xinglan speechless. Though she enjoyed hanging out with these new friends, Ye Xinglan had to admit there were differences.
For instance, everyone assumed Ye Xinglan was also a fan of magical girls since the game they played was based on that theme.
No, no—that wasn’t right. By now, Ye Xinglan couldn’t admit that she’d started the game just to enjoy beating up magical girls, and she certainly couldn’t say she actually disliked them!
“Yeah, I… I do like magical girls.”
Watching Ye Xinglan slowly admit her liking for magical girls made Xiaoxi’s smile creep onto her own face.
“You guys like magical girls by reading those risqué fanfics, right?” another girl teased.
“That’s different! Everyone has their own way of liking magical girls!”
“The purer something is, the more exciting it is when it’s corrupted, right? So for magical girls, who are both beautiful and powerful, the fun is seeing them get bullied to tears!”
Jie Tianxin spoke righteously. The others at the table exchanged looks and shrugged helplessly—seemed like they were all used to her twisted logic.
Xiaoxi felt a bit embarrassed, now wondering… could it be that all the people who liked her novels were like Ye Xinglan and Jie Tianxin?
Ye Xinglan was stunned, then excitedly grabbed Jie Tianxin’s hands.
“Isn’t that right? Oh yes, yes, if that’s what you mean by liking magical girls, then she definitely does!”
“By the way, Xinglan, who’s your favorite magical girl? Don’t tell me! Let me guess… it’s Eternal Star, right?”
Jie Tianxin answered her own question, “Look, your username is ‘Eternal Star, where are you?’ Plus you just bought a bunch of Eternal Star merchandise at the store. Seems like you really like her.”
Ye Xinglan: “…”
Right? No? Actually… maybe not quite?
Xiaoxi struggled to hold back laughter. Ye Xinglan did buy several Eternal Star pillowcases today, but only Xiaoxi knew Ye Xinglan used those as punching bags—the previous pillow had been destroyed by Ye Xinglan’s own hands.
Xiaoxi had no idea how Ye Xinglan tortured her life-size pillows, only that whenever there was a continuous “thwack, thwack” coming from her room, Ye Xinglan always emerged with a smile.
But of course, this kind of thing couldn’t be told to Jie Tianxin and the others.
So the best explanation for why Ye Xinglan bought Eternal Star merchandise was simply… because she liked Eternal Star.
Still, making Ye Xinglan admit that was harder than killing her.
“What’s wrong, Xinglan? Why the sour face? Did I guess wrong?”
“No… you guessed right. I do like Eternal Star quite a bit.”
Ye Xinglan’s admission was tinged with a bit of gritting teeth.
Xiaoxi couldn’t help but laugh, so she pretended to focus on eating Ye Xinglan’s dessert.
By now, Ye Xinglan probably understood the feeling of being silently bitter and unable to say a word.
On this matter, Xiaoxi found it hard not to side with Jie Tianxin.
“I like Eternal Star too, but I’m more into shipping her CPs. Xinglan, if you want, I can recommend some fanfics.”
“Watch out, Xinglan. Tianxin’s favorite CPs are all a bit… bizarre.”
Another girl warned, but Xiaoxi shrugged it off. She had long known many fans liked shipping magical girls.
She was indifferent to this kind of thing. She’d seen tons of CP fans—how weird could they really be?
“Weird? No way!” Jie Tianxin protested, “I just like shipping [Eternal Star] and [Blood Moon Witch]…”
“That’s not allowed!”
Xiaoxi almost choked on her cake. For once, she and Ye Xinglan stood united, both grimacing and cutting off Jie Tianxin.
Their expressions looked like they’d just eaten something rotten.
Xiaoxi had suspected Jie Tianxin’s favorite CPs were odd, but hadn’t expected them to be this strange.
“See? You scared everyone off,” teased a twin-tailed girl beside Jie Tianxin.
“Hey, I was just saved by Blood Moon Witch the other day. Though I was scared at first… thinking about it now, she did save my life, so what’s wrong with shipping her CP?”
Ye Xinglan twitched her mouth, feeling Jie Tianxin was a little ungrateful.
“Ugh, you guys have no taste!” Jie Tianxin lamented. “Don’t you understand the feeling of star-crossed lovers in battle? Fighting and confessing love at the same time.”
“Or two people fighting on the battlefield, secretly meeting to confess their love under the moonlight…”
“Stop, stop, stop, Tianxin!”
Ye Xinglan immediately stuffed a piece of cake into Jie Tianxin’s mouth. What she just said gave her goosebumps.
It was just too disgusting! Ye Xinglan rubbed her arms and noticed Xiaoxi was doing the same.
The twin-tailed girl nudged Jie Tianxin’s side, “I told you, no one appreciates the CPs you ship. If Eternal Star herself heard that, she’d probably be furious.”
“That’s impossible. Shipping CPs is all about keeping it personal. I wouldn’t go broadcasting my favorite CPs everywhere. Eternal Star definitely won’t know.”
Xiaoxi: “…”
“Speaking of magical girls, there’s something I forgot to tell you guys!”
Jie Tianxin’s expression brightened as she tapped her phone and pulled up a photo.
“Remember the day we went out? That morning, I saw a magical girl at Beidajie Shopping Mall too!”
Seeing the photo of Jie Tianxin with Magic Girl Sirius, Xiaoxi’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t expected Jie Tianxin to bring up that topic out of the blue.
Jie Tianxin went on animatedly telling the story of that day, and the others crowded around to look at the photo.
Xiaoxi could only brace herself and follow along.
“Hey, that magical girl… I think I’ve seen her before,” Ye Xinglan quickly recognized Sirius’s costume. “I saw her during The Theater Monster Attack Incident.”
“What a coincidence! Looks like Xinglan and I really are pretty fated~”
“…Tianxin, you said you met that magical girl the morning of our outing, right?”
After getting confirmation from Jie Tianxin, Ye Xinglan subtly glanced at Xiaoxi.
She suddenly recalled Xiaoxi had hurried out that morning with a flimsy excuse.
After that night, Ye Xinglan hadn’t intended to dig into Xiaoxi’s identity again, but now her curiosity was reignited.
“Can I see that photo, Tianxin?”