Ye Ning stood with her hands on her hips in front of Wu Wang Wo, her cheeks puffed up in anger, even her pinkish-white hair strands bristling.
“Chu Lingyan, you listen to me!”
She took a deep breath and launched into a rapid-fire scolding mode.
“Do you have any idea how worried I was about you just now? Getting caught in the rain, pretending to be sick, deliberately making yourself so weak. You think being a Magical Girl makes you invincible? Just because you have magic, you can recklessly push yourself? Do you think it’s okay for me to worry myself sick over you? Do you ever take your own body seriously?!”
Wu Wang Wo shrank her shoulders slightly under the scolding, but she still couldn’t help muttering softly, trying to defend herself: “I… I cast defensive and healing magic on myself beforehand. I really would have been fine. The fever was simulated with magic too; it wasn’t real… I wouldn’t let myself get sick.”
“You dare to talk back?!”
Ye Ning’s eyes widened, her aura flaring up instantly.
She stepped forward, reached out, and gently pinched Wu Wang Wo’s soft, small cheeks, pulling them to both sides with a tender yet undeniable pressure.
“Just because you cast magic, you think you can do whatever you want? You think you can make me worry on purpose? Do you have any idea how panicked I was when I saw you huddling under the eaves, completely soaked? I thought you were actually sick, actually in pain, and just like before, you’d tough it out all alone!”
Wu Wang Wo let out a couple of muffled “uh uh” sounds, cheeks still pinched, and didn’t dare argue anymore.
She could only obediently stare at her suddenly fuming master with watery eyes, her ears drooping slightly.
Seeing her look both wronged and stubborn, Ye Ning’s anger subsided a little, but her mouth remained relentless as she continued her tirade.
“Do you know I’ve always been worried about you the most all these years? You’re so stubborn. Once you set your mind on something, not even ten oxen can drag you back. When I’m not by your side, you don’t know how to take care of yourself, do you? You take risks at the drop of a hat, you put yourself in danger all the time. Did you ever think about how worried I’d be? Did you think about what would happen if I really hadn’t come? Were you planning to stay out in the rain until dawn?”
After this long string of scolding, Wu Wang Wo was completely subdued.
She sat primly on the chair, hands on her knees, head hanging low.
Her long lashes covered the emotions in her eyes.
She was silent, without the slightest bit of slyness from before.
Seeing her so obedient, Ye Ning finally stopped her scolding, let out a huffy “Hmph,” and tried to put on her masterly authority.
“You think hard about it here! Figure out what you did wrong! I’m going back now!”
She turned around, head held high as she walked towards the classroom door, secretly gloating to herself.
‘Hmph… The Flower Bird Sect’s intimidation tactics are really the most useful!’
‘Every time they used it on me, it scared me every single time, dealing super effective damage. Using it to teach my own apprentice today, it’s incredibly effective!’
She reached for the door handle, gave it a gentle pull—
The door didn’t budge.
Ye Ning froze.
She pulled harder this time.
Still firmly locked, not a sound.
“…The door is locked?”
She muttered to herself, feigning calmness, but her heart was already sinking.
Cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck.
‘Crap.’
‘Fell for it again.’
Just as she stood there, frozen, a small hand, soft as jade, slightly cool and delicate, suddenly and gently rested on top of her own hand, which was still on the door handle.
A soft, warm body pressed against her from behind.
A slightly lazy voice, carrying a shallow smile, sounded softly by her ear.
The breath was warm, laced with a hint of triumphant pride.
“Teacher… after scolding me, you think you can just run off like that?”
“Isn’t that… a bit too much like a guilty conscience?”
“You’ve been hiding such a big secret all this time, and you haven’t confessed to me properly yet.”
Ye Ning was instantly petrified, and a single thought flashed frantically through her mind:
‘…I’m so dead.’
‘The Flower Bird Sect’s intimidation tactics didn’t work at all!’
‘Not only did they not work, my own student completely countered me—!’
The next second, Ye Ning was gently taken by the hand by Wu Wang Wo and dutifully led back to her seat, sitting down meekly.
The little pinkish-white ball hung her head low, her hands on her knees, her ears drooping.
She didn’t dare look up at Wu Wang Wo.
“Don’t just clam up now, Teacher.”
Wu Wang Wo crouched in front of her, looking up.
Her eyes held a helplessness, mixed with a deep tenderness.
“What exactly happened in these past few years? Why did you suddenly disappear? Why wouldn’t you acknowledge me? Don’t you have anything you want to explain to me?”
The pinkish-white ball remained silent for several seconds.
Then, she suddenly jerked her head up, putting on a grand, righteous, and death-defying expression.
“Do your worst! I won’t tell you any—thing!”
Wu Wang Wo: “…”
She was silent for two seconds, then couldn’t help gritting her teeth.
She reached out and gently pinched her silly teacher’s cheeks again, pulling them outwards.
“Teacher is the biggest idiot in the whole world!”
The next second, the girl suddenly stopped her antics.
She threw her arms wide and crushed Ye Ning in a tight hug, her strength so great it seemed like she was trying to squeeze out all the years of longing.
“Things like that… they don’t matter anymore…”
Her voice choked slightly, carrying the grievance, anxiety, and fear she had suppressed through countless days and nights.
Ye Ning was completely stunned.
Her body stiffened for a moment before she slowly, gently raised her hands and clumsily hugged her back.
“I never believed what the Association said.”
Wu Wang Wo buried her face deep into the crook of Ye Ning’s neck.
Her voice was muffled, thick with a heavy nasal tone.
“I always believed that Teacher couldn’t be the person they described, that you would never betray your comrades, that you would never willingly fall and become a Witch.”
“I looked for you for so long… waited for you for so long…”
“I just… don’t want to lose the people I cherish anymore.”
Ye Ning could clearly feel the fabric on her shoulder growing damp with warm tears.
Her heart ached.
She could only stiffly pat Wu Wang Wo’s trembling back, soothing this child in her clumsy way.
It wasn’t until the girl’s emotions slowly calmed down that she gently released the hug.
But she didn’t move far.
Instead, she turned around and sat down on Ye Ning’s lap, wrapping her arms around her teacher’s neck, just like when she was a child, snuggling securely in her embrace.
Only then did Ye Ning secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
She didn’t dare reveal the truth about herself and Hua Niao already being Witches.
She could only pick the safest, least suspicious parts to briefly whisper:
“Right now… my mana is very unstable. My body has problems, too. I absolutely need Hua Niao to help me with Mana Replenishment, just to maintain my Magical Girl power normally.”
“…Rely on Hua Niao for Mana Replenishment?”
Wu Wang Wo slowly lifted her head.
Ye Ning could clearly feel a faint, extremely faint wisp of Black Mist starting to seep out from her obedient, soft little apprentice.
Ye Ning swallowed hard.
Her instincts were screaming at her—
She absolutely, positively could not continue this conversation!
“Ah… hahaha, by the way!”
She immediately forced a change of subject, smiling brilliantly.
“Little Wu Wang Wo, where are you living right now? Are you getting used to A City? Is anyone bullying you? Are you eating well—”
“Teacher.”
Wu Wang Wo gently raised both hands, cupping her teacher’s cheeks.
She slowly straightened Ye Ning’s deliberately averted head, staring into her eyes intently.
Her tone was calm, but carried an undeniable pressure.
“Don’t change the subject.”
“Tell me.”
“How do you do the Mana Replenishment.”
“!!!”
Ye Ning’s pupils violently contracted.
Her mind went completely blank.
‘Oh, crap! Crap! I messed up!’
“It’s… it’s just… you know… that and that… stuff like that…”
She leaned back as far as she could, her eyes darting to the ceiling, her voice getting softer and softer, more and more evasive.
“Tch.”
From her usually well-behaved, cute, and obedient student’s throat came an extremely terrifying, extremely gloomy, extremely dangerous sound.
“Elaborate.”
“What exactly do you mean by—that and that?”
“It’s… it’s just… my mouth… and… um… um…”
Ye Ning’s voice faded to a whisper.
Her face was burning red. She wished she could just disappear on the spot.
Wu Wang Wo’s mouth twitched violently.
At that moment, only one clear, terrifying thought occupied her mind:
‘…That cabbage teacher of mine, whom I’ve raised so carefully all these years, whom I’ve held so tenderly in my hands…’
‘It seems… a random pig from God-knows-where has come and… taken a bite out of her.’
The girl took a deep breath.
Her gaze instantly became sharp as a blade.
Her entire aura pulsed.
Her small hand clenched itself silently, knuckles whitening.
She stared at Ye Ning, pronouncing each word with crystal clarity:
“That name… is Hua Niao, right.”
“Tomorrow.”
“I’m going to go see her myself.”