“So? Do you have a good understanding of maids now?”
Cheng Cheng walked out from the back room.
She had changed into casual clothes and tied her hair into a high ponytail, looking very brisk and refreshing.
She glanced at the page in the Maid Manual that Su Ling had open and smiled.
“Ha, a yandere? Don’t worry, the chances of that are very small. In any case, we’ve never encountered one in our shop.”
Cheng Cheng led Su Ling and Su Yao toward the reserved restaurant as they chatted.
“Then how do you judge if a guest is a yandere?”
Su Ling asked, currently feeling quite afraid.
How could she not be?
She used to be a Fuli Ji.
If she really met a yandere and they found out about her past…
Su Ling couldn’t help but shiver.
“Well, you just have to see if the guest’s personality is extreme or not.”
Cheng Cheng scratched her head as she ordered the food.
She hadn’t actually seen one herself; she had only read about them in novels.
“Maybe they have black hair and red eyes, and then they are very affectionate toward you — extremely possessive. They might tell you they love you most every single day and beg you never to leave them, things like that?”
Su Ling listened, her expression turning a bit strange.
‘Wait, why does that sound so much like Miao Miao?’
However, Miao Miao was her cute younger sister.
She definitely wasn’t some kind of yandere.
“Ling Ling, are yanderes very scary?”
Su Yao asked curiously while chewing on a piece of steak.
“The main thing is that these people are very abnormal. They are just a group of pitiful people who lack love. Once you accidentally make them misunderstand that you like them, they might imprison you and completely restrict your freedom.”
Although a bunch of “two-dimensional” geeks online claimed to love yanderes, in reality, one should run far away upon encountering one.
After all, people really could die.
“Tsk, why does that sound like raising pigs?” Su Yao muttered.
Hearing this, Su Ling and Cheng Cheng almost lost their composure.
But thinking about it carefully, it was pretty much the same.
In a yandere’s eyes, aren’t you just her property?
Love is mutual.
A yandere’s feelings aren’t love, but possession — a morbid emotion that seeks to destroy what it cannot have.
After finishing the meal, Cheng Cheng handed the keys to the shop to Su Ling.
“You can try opening the shop this afternoon to get used to it in advance. If you really don’t want to, that’s fine too. Just make sure to arrive on time at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning.”
Su Ling took the keys and nodded.
Looking at Cheng Cheng’s departing figure, the shop owner seemed to be in a very good mood, humming a little tune.
Someone who didn’t know better would think she had found money on the ground.
“Ling Ling, are we going home or…?”
“Let’s go to the shop.”
Su Ling thought for a while and decided to head to the shop to adjust.
There was nothing to do if she went back now.
Moreover, Cheng Cheng had been very kind to them, so Su Ling decided to work hard to repay her.
The restaurant where they had eaten was right across from the maid cafe.
When Su Ling and Su Yao arrived at the shop entrance, they found a young girl in a grey-green robe standing in front of Su Ling’s standee.
Her ink-black hair reached her waist, tied loosely behind her head.
A few stray strands fell beside her cheeks, accentuating her cold and delicate profile.
Her brows were slightly knit, and her eyelashes lowered as she stared at Su Ling’s standee with a very complicated expression.
The grey-green robe covered her body, the hem hanging straight and clean.
A plain sword tassel hung at her waist, and a coldness that warned people not to approach condensed around her.
Looking at the girl’s side profile, Su Ling felt a sense of familiarity.
However, she simply couldn’t remember who it was.
‘How strange.’
“Hello.”
Since the newcomer was a guest, Su Ling greeted her.
The young girl turned her head.
When she saw Su Ling’s face and scanned her slender figure, Su Ling actually felt a flash of longing and inner conflict pass through those eyes that were usually as calm as still water.
‘What a strange person.’
But she was indeed beautiful.
She perfectly matched the image of those cold, female Sword Immortals Su Ling had read about in novels back on Earth.
It was just that she seemed somewhat out of place here on New Century Street, which was full of maid cafes.
“You… don’t remember me?” the girl spoke.
Su Ling felt a bit bewildered. Although the girl looked familiar, she truly had no memory of her.
Su Yao tugged at her sleeve and whispered, “Ling Ling, who is she? Why do I feel like the two of you have a history?”
“What do you mean ‘history’? I told you to stop watching those melodramatic short dramas. What are you even learning from them?”
Su Ling said crossly.
Su Yao had recently become obsessed with short dramas and was always mimicking those cliché lines.
Su Ling looked at the girl with an apologetic expression.
“I… my memory might not be very good. Um, can you tell me your name? Maybe then I’ll remember.”
She racked her brain, but she simply couldn’t think of who the girl was.
This was the Witch Academy; how could she have an acquaintance here?
The girl’s expression was complex.
“Luo Qianxue.”
‘Well, I really don’t know her.’
Su Ling truly had no impression of that name in her mind.
The atmosphere became a bit awkward.
“Do you work here?”
Luo Qianxue reached out a slender finger to stroke Su Ling’s standee.
“Yes, I’m a newcomer. We don’t officially open until tomorrow. But if you want to come in today, you can,” Su Ling asked cautiously.
Of course, she also remembered Cheng Cheng’s words.
‘Black hair and black eyes — well, she doesn’t look like a yandere. Her face is as cold as frost, she acts like a stranger shouldn’t approach, and she’s likely a sword cultivator. That makes it even less likely for her to be a yandere.’
Luo Qianxue remained silent for a while.
After a long pause, she uttered a single word.
“Fine.”
She was the first to walk into the shop.
Su Ling and Su Yao exchanged a glance.
‘Tsk, this is our very first guest.’
“Good luck.”
Su Yao was feeling a bit nervous now.
For a mother like her to act cute was truly embarrassing.
But for Ling Ling’s sake, she was willing to give it her all.
Su Ling and Su Yao changed into their maid uniforms.
Luo Qianxue had already chosen a seat and was staring blankly out the window.
“Welcome to the Orange Maid Love Cafe, meow~”
Su Ling and Su Yao mimicked the poses from the manual, their movements stiff.
Luo Qianxue completely ignored Su Yao; her eyes were filled only with Su Ling.
In her eyes, although Su Yao and Su Ling looked almost identical, she recognized Su Ling at a single glance.
She was so different from how she was that night…
“Give me the Lap Pillow Service first.”
Luo Qianxue glanced at the menu, the corners of her mouth lifting by about two pixels.
“Just you.”
She pointed accurately at Su Ling.
Su Ling pointed at herself.
Just her?
Su Yao opened her mouth to speak, but Su Ling gave her a reassuring look.
The shop had surveillance, and it was a legitimate establishment, so it would be fine.
Besides, it wasn’t like she was losing out.
Luo Qianxue led Su Ling into a private room.
Now, it was Su Ling who felt a bit nervous.
Luo Qianxue lay down on Su Ling’s thighs, which were clad in white silk stockings.
In the absolute territory between the silk and the short skirt, she only had to turn her head to catch a glimpse of the “scenery.”
However, she simply closed her eyes silently.
As Su Ling looked at the person lying on her lap, her heart inexplicably calmed down.
She took out the manual and, following the instructions, began to massage Luo Qianxue’s temples.
Seeing Luo Qianxue’s willow-like brows relax slightly, she also felt an inexplicable sense of happiness.
The atmosphere in the private room suddenly became a bit ambiguous.
Just as Su Ling was starting to feel a bit drowsy, Luo Qianxue suddenly opened her eyes.
She pinned Su Ling against the corner of the sofa.
She greedily inhaled the sweet cherry blossom scent on Su Ling’s body, her usually calm eyes now filled with desire.
‘I want her…’