After hanging up the phone, Su Xiaocheng felt a sudden clarity wash over her.
That’s right—Xiaolu had been so proactive, yet here she was still hesitating like this. What kind of behavior was that?
Su Xiaocheng hereby declared that the weak, hesitant Su Xiaocheng of the past was dead.
The one stepping forward now was her brand-new self!
Su Xiaocheng silently made up her mind.
Tomorrow I’ll go see Xiaolu in person and tell her everything clearly.
The next morning, Su Xiaocheng paced back and forth in her tiny home for a full three hundred laps, making even Xiaotuan dizzy, until eight o’clock finally arrived.
With great solemnity, she contacted Lu Yinxi through her terminal.
“Xiaolu, I’ve thought it over! I want to see you.”
Lu Yinxi, who had stayed up all night, was biting the end of her pen.
Her new song had zero inspiration and had left behind only a pile of messy draft paper.
The moment she heard the special notification tone, she tossed the pen aside and quickly opened her terminal.
“Xiaocheng? You’re asking me out right now? Aaaah, no—my dark circles!!”
Lu Yinxi let out a tragic wail.
But as a magical girl, how could something so minor trouble her?
Lu Yinxi promptly arranged to meet Su Xiaocheng at an upscale café, then transformed without hesitation.
Between being a teenage idol singer and the Lu Corporation heiress, she often worked until the middle of the night.
Thank goodness for magic—she could always appear in front of everyone with a flawless, perfect image.
***
The automatic door slid open.
Su Xiaocheng stepped into the café and spotted Lu Yinxi waiting at a window-side table right away.
“What would you like to drink?” the server asked immediately after Su Xiaocheng sat down.
“Uh…”
Su Xiaocheng only remembered ever drinking instant Nestlé coffee.
Honestly, she couldn’t really appreciate the fancy stuff.
“Classic coffee, please.”
Since she wasn’t actually here for the coffee, she simply picked the first item on the menu.
“Xiaocheng, why did you want to meet today?”
There was a faint tension in Lu Yinxi’s voice that even she herself couldn’t detect.
Although their relationship had progressed in every possible way that defied logic, Lu Yinxi took her first love very seriously.
She had felt bold and heroic on the way here, but the moment she actually sat across from Lu Yinxi, Su Xiaocheng’s heart started racing, her mind went completely blank, and her language system crashed.
All she could do was stare at the table and twist her fingers together.
The two of them stayed silent for a full five minutes until the server finally broke the awkward atmosphere.
“Your coffee.”
Su Xiaocheng suddenly felt that coffee was incredibly useful.
She picked up the cup and took a huge gulp.
The scalding liquid filled her mouth with bitter flavor.
In her nervousness, she choked herself, nearly spraying the entire mouthful everywhere.
“Xiaocheng, are you okay?”
In all her years, this was the first time Lu Yinxi had seen someone chug coffee like it was mineral water.
She quickly handed over some napkins.
“I-I’m fine.”
Su Xiaocheng took the napkins.
Their fingers brushed together by accident, making both their hearts race even faster.
“Dumb cat, these two are hilarious,” the lark remarked. It and Xiaotuan were currently watching the show from the pet holding area.
“Stinky bird, who are you calling dumb?”
Xiaotuan hissed instantly.
I can’t back down now.
No way.
I have to be decisive and go all in! Su Xiaocheng staked every last bit of her courage.
“Xiaolu!”
Su Xiaocheng suddenly stood up and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Ah, I’m here.”
Lu Yinxi instinctively stood up as well.
The café patrons were drawn by the commotion and turned to look.
Under so many stares, the courage Su Xiaocheng had just gathered shattered again.
The words she wanted to say stuck in her throat.
For some reason, the scene of their very first meeting flashed through her mind—different location, same two people.
Su Xiaocheng stared at Lu Yinxi’s alluring lips, and as if possessed, she leaned in and kissed her, exactly as she had done three days ago on that quiet night.
“Ooooh!!!” The onlookers were inexplicably fed a mouthful of dog food, but seeing two beautiful girls being so affectionate?
They’d take it! Someone started clapping first, and soon the entire café was applauding.
After a long moment their lips parted.
The moment Su Xiaocheng realized what she had just done, she wanted nothing more than to transform on the spot and erase everyone’s memories.
Surely omnipotent magic could do that, right?
Lu Yinxi took Su Xiaocheng’s hand, feeling lighter than she had in ages.
She pulled out her credit card and tossed it to the server.
“Everything today is on me!”
The patrons grew even happier—free show of two cute girls being sweet and free food? What a wonderful day!
Neither of them could drink any more coffee after that. Amid the crowd’s well-wishes, the two girls left the café.
“Xiaocheng, I want to take you somewhere.” Lu Yinxi pulled Su Xiaocheng into the car.
***
On the city outskirts, the two stepped out of the vehicle.
After Lu Yinxi gave the butler a few instructions, he left on his own, leaving the two beautiful girls alone in the wilderness.
“Xiaocheng, there’s still a bit of a walk. Transform and follow me.”
Five minutes later, they landed beside a wild lake.
“Is there really a place this beautiful on the outskirts of Anning City?”
Su Xiaocheng gazed at the lush forest, the crystal-clear lake, and the lakeside pavilion someone had built in the center.
She couldn’t help sighing.
With industrialization pushing forward so aggressively these days, pure natural scenery like this had become rarer and rarer.
“A few years ago this area was going to be developed, but I really liked it, so I bought the whole plot,” Lu Yinxi answered.
“Bought… the whole thing?”
Rich people really knew how to play.
Buying an entire planned development zone to turn it into a private park.
“But why isn’t the surrounding area developed either?”
Lu Yinxi smiled at Su Xiaocheng. “I told you—I bought it.”
“Wait, Xiaolu, when you said you bought it, you didn’t just mean this little forest, right?”
“Nope. I mean the entire five-kilometer radius—the whole development zone from the original plan.”
Lu Yinxi explained, “It wasn’t that exaggerated. I just had Mommy shift the planned residential districts a little farther out, and the entire development zone moved with them.”
Lu Yinxi slipped off her shoes and dipped her feet into the lake.
The March water was still a bit chilly.
Her black stockings swayed gently in the cool water, sending ripples across the surface.
“When I was little, our whole family used to come here to play. Unfortunately, after my father passed away because of a witch, my mother had to manage the Lu Corporation alone and became so busy she barely had time to come home. Gradually, I was the only one who still visited.”
Lu Yinxi grew a little sentimental at the sight.
“Later on, I met the lark and signed the contract. Because of the contract, I became a teenage idol and started traveling all over the country nonstop. The last time I came here was already three years ago.”
“So your contract price is becoming an idol?”
Su Xiaocheng took off her own shoes and sat beside Lu Yinxi.
Her white stockings brushed gently against the black ones in the lake water.
“That’s right. Maybe it’s because I wanted to shine as brightly as my parents. I still don’t know why the contract made me become an idol instead of an entrepreneur.”
“Because becoming an entrepreneur would be too easy for you. It wouldn’t create enough emotional fluctuation,” the lark answered.
After speaking, it took Xiaotuan into the woods, leaving the space to the two girls who had just confessed their feelings.
If that’s the case, does my contract price exist because I stayed single for over twenty years and turned into some kind of star dentist?
Su Xiaocheng thought, utterly speechless. No matter how she looked at it, the whole thing was just too weird!
Lu Yinxi didn’t ask about Su Xiaocheng’s contract price.
From the girl’s reactions, it was easy to guess that magical girls’ contract prices were usually quite obvious.
Whether to replenish depleted magic power or to grow even stronger, magical girls had to keep fulfilling their contracts.
The two of them chatted casually to pass the time until the butler arrived in a luxurious RV loaded with a complete picnic set and fresh ingredients.
After unloading the cooking gear and food, the butler left on his own.
Xiaotuan immediately jumped into the pile of ingredients and expertly fished out a bag of small yellow croakers.
“Alright, alright, I’ll grill some for you.”
With ten years of experience feeding her little sister, Su Xiaocheng refused to lose when it came to cooking!
Ten minutes later, Su Xiaocheng set down the grilled meat and once again lamented the unfairness of fate.
“Why is it that even as a rich young lady, Xiaolu, your cooking tastes this good too!”
“Do you like it?”
“I love it!”
“Then eat lots more~”
Lu Yinxi hummed a soft tune as she skillfully sprinkled seasoning over the meat.