Chapter 107: Before the Day

Bang!

The sudden knocking sound rang out in the living room, which had been somewhat quiet, causing Lin Xiaolu, who was holding a rag, to look up.

"What is that thing?"

Looking around the glass in front of her with a heart full of doubts, Lin Xiaolu finally saw a patch of black grime above the window. Looking closer, it turned out to be an insect that had crashed into the glass and died.

【4】 "Ah, really, how disgusting!"

"Ah, really, how disgusting!"

Complaining with some resentment, she climbed onto the windowsill with hands and feet, unlatched the window's safety bolt. Standing on tiptoe and lifting her head, she stretched the rag out the window, trying to wipe away the stain on the glass.

However, just as she stuck her hand out the window, her feet suddenly slipped, her whole body suddenly leaned back, and she fell backward from the side of the window.

"Waaah!"

The short cry of alarm did not last, because a pair of hands suddenly reached out from behind and helped Lin Xiaolu, who was about to fall, back up.

— "Be careful, Sister Xiaolu."

The newcomer spoke like this: "If you can't reach, you could actually transform."

Lin Xiaolu blinked her eyes and tilted her head back, seeing Bai Jingxuan standing behind her, looking at her with some concern.

"Um..."

She spent a long time shaking off the fear of almost falling, then brooded for a while before organizing her words, standing up as if it didn't matter: "It's fine, it's fine! Anyway, falling from this height isn't a big deal; always relying on a magical girl's abilities means a person won't grow!"

"Is that really so..."

Letting go and stepping back a few paces, Bai Jingxuan looked at Lin Xiaolu with some suspicion: "But I feel that even if you learn to wipe the window on tiptoe, you won't gain any substantial growth."

"Not exerting physical effort doesn't count as labor!"

Lin Xiaolu raised her index finger and said solemnly: "And I read in a book that standing on tiptoe and jumping often is the only way to grow taller!"

Her statement left Bai Jingxuan speechless for a moment.

After being at a loss for words for a long time, she first looked at Lin Xiaolu's height, then thought of herself, and for a moment could not think of any words applicable to the current situation.

After pausing for a moment, she finally spoke hesitantly, revealing an encouraging smile:

"Mm, now that you mention it, that makes a lot of sense!"

"It's too late to say that after being silent for so long!"

Lin Xiaolu covered her forehead and sighed mournfully, lowering her head as if surrendering: "Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore."

"Ah, how should I put it... I think problems with height development can't be seen until adulthood."

Seeing her mood instantly drop, Bai Jingxuan hurriedly tried to comfort her: "Look, doesn't the old saying go 'a girl changes eighteen times as she grows'?" Height is included in that!"

"I don't want to be comforted about my height by an elementary school student who is about the same height as me! And 'a girl changes eighteen times as she grows', I'm already heading towards fifteen years old, I'll soon have no chance left!"

Lin Xiaolu said somewhat frantically: "I'm clearly drinking milk, exercising, and sleeping enough for eight hours, why is this happening!"

"That guy Xia Liang being taller than me is one thing, but what about you? Do you eat hormones?"

"I'm considered short in the yard..." Bai Jingxuan explained softly.

"Um!"

As the saying goes, lies do not hurt people, but the truth is a sharp blade; her explanation caused all the words Lin Xiaolu had not yet finished to choke in her throat.

With no outlet for her surging emotions, Lin Xiaolu grew angrier the more she thought, and finally could only pick up the dropped rag from the ground, speaking harshly to the insect stuck to it: "It's all your fault! Making me look so foolish!"

Heaven help us, this dead insect probably never thought it would be blamed for something like this.

"An insect? It crashed into the window?"

Bai Jingxuan tilted her head to look at the rag in Lin Xiaolu's hand and asked in confusion: "Are there any here too?"

"'Here too'?"

Her words caught Lin Xiaolu's attention, causing her to turn her gaze: "You encountered one too?"

"Mm, a moth crashed into the kitchen window."

Bai Jingxuan turned back and pointed to the kitchen, saying clearly: "It was probably attracted by the light inside the house."

As if to verify her words, a flying insect was circling the living room light, occasionally bumping into the shell of the living room decorative light, making a slight sound.

The gazes of the two girls were both drawn to this flying insect, watching its movements together until they saw it give up on bumping the lampshade and fly elsewhere.

"... Speaking of which, there really have been more insects these past few days. Although the weather has turned cool and entered autumn, we keep finding clothes moths on the walls inside the house; are they running in to warm up?"

"Is something broken in the kitchen?"

"That's impossible; we only moved in a month and a half ago, how could the food rot that fast."

Lin Xiaolu put one hand on her hip and lowered her head, pondering: "Looks like we need to find something to repel the insects."

"Try using camphor balls?"

Bai Jingxuan suggested: "I remember the teacher prepared a lot of cleaning supplies in the warehouse."

"The teacher... huh."

Sitting somewhat listlessly along the windowsill, Lin Xiaolu let out a long sigh: "Senior Cuique has been gone for almost half a month now; when will she be back?"

"Sister, didn't you ask the teacher in the group chat before?"

"I did ask, but I asked if she was coming back for the Full Moon Festival."

"I remember the teacher saying she wouldn't come back."

"... Yes."

Lin Xiaolu stared at the floor and unconsciously kicked her feet twice: "She said her work isn't finished yet and she won't be coming back."

This was the answer Lin Xiaolu received from the message two days ago.

She had sent messages to both her father and Senior Cuique, asking about their plans for the Full Moon Festival.

The final result was that Senior Cuique said she wouldn't be coming back and told her to spend it well with her family; Lin Yun told her he would be coming back for the holiday.

This was indeed an answer that somewhat surprised Lin Xiaolu.

Originally, she was actually a bit troubled, thinking about how she should arrange her schedule if both of them came back for the holiday.

This is a tradition of the Eastern Hua State: the Full Moon Festival is a day for families to reunite, and in most cases, being with one's own blood relatives takes top priority. If Senior Cuique and her own father both return to Fang Ting City for the festival, she might need to celebrate first at the secret base, then go home to spend the holiday with her father, even though she would actually prefer to celebrate with her companions at the secret base.

Now the problem has become simple: since Senior Cuique isn't coming back, she naturally has only one option left—going home to spend the holiday.

"A little regrettable," Bai Jingxuan said softly.

"Who says otherwise?"

Lin Xiaolu chimed in agreement: "But you should be the most regretful one, after all, the surprise you prepared will have to be delayed again."

Bai Jingxuan and Xia Liang treated this secret base as half a family; if Senior Cuique didn't return and Lin Xiaolu went back to her own home, their Full Moon Festival would indeed be much quieter.

"No, it's not really a surprise or anything; I just wanted to tell her properly after the teacher returns..."

Bai Jingxuan waved her hands somewhat frantically: "After all, talking about such things over the phone does seem a bit too informal."

"What's wrong with that? It's not anything bad."

Lin Xiaolu sighed: "You surpassed me, a senior who became a Magical Girl two months earlier, and awakened your Magic Armor first; be a little more confident."

"Sister Xiaolu..."

The sorrow in her tone left Bai Jingxuan at a loss: "Did I make you unhappy?"

"Unhappy?"

Looking at Bai Jingxuan, Lin Xiaolu narrowed her eyes and propped her chin with her hand: "How could I be happy? After being a Magical Girl for nearly five months, I'm still a Seed-rank, while an elementary school student who started later than me has already mastered Magic Armor; where would my happiness be?"

"This, I..." Bai Jingxuan opened her mouth, momentarily not knowing what comforting words to say.

The two fell silent, gazing at each other without a word.

—"Pfft, what's with that expression of yours!"

Lin Xiaolu saw her reaction, and after a moment, burst out laughing, pinching Bai Jingxuan's cheek: "I'm not such a petty person; I wouldn't hold a grudge over something like this. Don't look so gloomy, as if I'm bullying you."

"I am unhappy, but it's because I feel I'm terrible; it has nothing to do with you."

"But Sister Xiaolu isn't terrible at all."

With her face being pinched by Lin Xiaolu, Bai Jingxuan said somewhat seriously: "I think you're amazing."

"I already said, being comforted by an elementary school student isn't exactly uplifting."

Releasing her hand helplessly, Lin Xiaolu grinned: "If anything, thinking about my current situation just makes my sense of failure even stronger."

"But I..."

Bai Jingxuan tried to persuade her further, but her words were quickly cut off by a sound from the entryway.

Bang!

Accompanied by the crisp sound of a door closing, two cheerful greetings reached the two girls' ears: "I'm back!" "I'm back!"

It was none other than Xia Liang and Moke.

Xia Liang, dressed in casual clothes with sparkling earrings clipped to her ears and looking quite fashionable, walked into the room carrying large and small plastic bags: "Who can help me carry these? They're too heavy!"

"Ah, yes!"

Bai Jingxuan immediately rushed forward to help, while Lin Xiaolu followed leisurely behind; upon seeing Xia Liang, she immediately wiped away the faint smile on her face.

"What's with that expression?"

Xia Liang followed Bai Jingxuan into the living room, saw Lin Xiaolu's usual scowl, and said somewhat bewilderedly: "Did your period come?"

"What are you talking about? You're the one with the period! I'm just in a bad mood!"

Retorting irritably, Lin Xiaolu took a rag and approached Xia Liang: "What were you doing? Why did buying groceries take so long?"

"Well..."

Hearing this, Xia Liang smiled happily: "I happened to meet two classmates at the mall; after giving them some advice, we started chatting and had lunch together."

"Eh—"

Lin Xiaolu said gloomily: "So you left the two of us here to do chores while you went off to play the social butterfly all by yourself?"

"What do you mean 'chores'? You clearly lost rock-paper-scissors to me and said whoever lost would go buy groceries."

Xia Liang puffed her cheeks in dissatisfaction too: "I haven't forgotten that smug look on someone's face when they won; now you're already going back on your word?"

(End of this chapter)