Chapter 108: Emergency Dinner

"You bullied me into only being able to throw fists and cloth! Do you still want to play?"

Moke popped out from the side and joined in the shouting: "We are the ones who went out to enjoy a wonderful afternoon tea, while you could only sweep the house and eat dust at home, meow-haha!"

"Afternoon tea?"

Lin Xiaolu glanced at it and said coldly: "Anyway, it was Xia Liang and her classmates having a great time chatting; you were just air on the sidelines, right?"

"And even without rock-paper-scissors, don't you go out wandering every afternoon anyway? Going out with Xia Liang is just changing locations, isn't it?"

"How are you speaking!"

Moke immediately blew its whiskers and glared: "How many times do I have to say, this is a Sower's job!"

"A Sower's job is to run to the Fuli Academy and expose the dark secrets of your companions to a little girl who knows nothing?"

Lin Xiaolu narrowed her eyes: "Impressive, truly you are, great liar."

"What Fuli Academy are you talking about? I haven't been there for a long time..."

Moke instinctively opened its mouth to refute, but suddenly realized what Lin Xiaolu's words actually meant. After a pause, it looked at Bai Jingxuan beside it: "Xiao Xuan?"

All it received was a somewhat embarrassed smile from Bai Jingxuan:

"Sorry, is this something that cannot be said?"

While sweeping in the living room this afternoon, she and Lin Xiaolu had talked about past experiences. At that time, she casually told Lin Xiaolu what happened when she first met Moke. Since Lin Xiaolu showed no obvious reaction while listening, Bai Jingxuan didn't realize that what she said was equivalent to selling out Moke.

It was far more than something that couldn't be said.

Moke wanted to shout this, but it was too late; it could only look stiffly towards Lin Xiaolu.

"What's wrong? Why are you standing so far from me?"

Lin Xiaolu put her hands on her hips and stared at Moke: "I heard you still want to play rock-paper-scissors? Come a bit closer."

Moke flapped its wings and stepped back two paces: "Meow-haha, I don't want to play anymore, meow."

"Don't want to play?"

Snorting coldly, Lin Xiaolu raised her fist: "That won't do. Now I demand we continue rock-paper-scissors. I'll use my hand, you'll use your face."

Moke shivered all over and retreated another step: "That's not a rock-paper-scissors game! Meow!"

Having said that, it turned and flew into the stairwell, fleeing towards the basement.

"Don't run! Stop!" Lin Xiaolu shouted and chased after it, rushing downstairs together with it.

Bai Jingxuan and Xia Liang, left in the living room, watched the two play-fight as soon as they met, and now they had run off without a trace. They could only look at each other helplessly.

"Don't mind those two childish people. Let's tidy up the things we bought and put them in the fridge," Xia Liang said with a smile.

The two returned to the kitchen together and began dealing with the large and small plastic bags piled up in the kitchen.

Opening these plastic bags, Bai Jingxuan took a look at the fresh vegetables packaged inside. At first, she didn't think much of it, but after staring closely, she subconsciously exclaimed: "Sister Xia Liang, the quality of the vegetables you picked is very high!"

Because the vegetables in the plastic bags all looked very good; even the worst ones were at least of good quality.

"I am still somewhat confident about this."

Xia Liang said somewhat proudly: "After all, I've lived alone for a long time. I am very proficient in basic life skills like buying groceries and cooking."

"Truly amazing!" Bai Jingxuan praised seriously. "I must study hard too."

"The pity is that you only called me to buy groceries near noon." Xia Liang efficiently organized the fridge. "The batch with the best quality has already been picked by others beforehand."

— "But I don't recall the agreed grocery shopping taking four or five hours."

Lin Xiaolu's voice suddenly rang out above the two. She was seen walking forward, holding Moke in one hand and with the other on her hip: "You made it so Bai Jingxuan and I could only eat takeout for lunch!"

"Even if you really bought groceries back at the fastest speed, it wouldn't be enough time to make lunch, right?"

Xia Liang smiled somewhat helplessly: "And I already sent you a message saying I wouldn't be back for noon."

"You just wanted to eat takeout yourself!" Moke, held in her hand, shouted along. "Heavy oil and heavy salt; sooner or later you'll grow a face full of pimples!"

"No need for you to worry!" Lin Xiaolu reached out and rubbed its head hard, saying in a bad mood.

After venting her emotions, she threw Moke aside, squatted in front of the plastic bag on the floor, rummaged through the bag's edge, confirmed the contents inside, and looked up to say:

"Speaking of which, everything bought is fresh produce; there are no pre-made dishes inside."

"You didn't say to buy pre-made dishes either."

Stuffing the vegetables in her hand into the fridge, Xia Liang turned back: "And always eating industrial products isn't good for health. Making it yourself is safe."

Lin Xiaolu didn't respond to her but continued searching for something in the bag. After a short while, she threw the bag aside again and looked up to ask: "So, where is our dinner?"

"Dinner?"

Xia Liang blinked a couple of times, not knowing for a moment how to reply.

"Didn't I tell you before you went? I asked you to bring back something ready to eat directly for the evening."

Lin Xiaolu crossed her arms over her chest: "Now, where is our dinner?"

These words finally reactivated Xia Liang's memory. She also looked into the plastic bag, first staring blankly for a moment, then couldn't help but exclaim: "Ah, I forgot!"

"You really forgot!"

Lin Xiaolu pointed a finger at her: "You even said playing with classmates wouldn't affect important matters. Isn't this a huge problem!"

"Um... I cannot refute that." Xia Liang said dejectedly and honestly.

"Now, tell me, Imperial Kitchen Minister!"

Lin Xiaolu reached out and knocked on the fridge door "bang bang," pointing at Moke, who had just received a lesson: "Where is my evening meal? Be careful or I'll chop off your head!"

"Reporting to the Emperor, this subject deserves death."

Xia Liang smiled awkwardly and bowed along with Lin Xiaolu's words: "Please, Your Majesty, give this subject a chance to atone for my faults. I will start cooking immediately."

"Very well. I want Bird's Nest Chicken Thread Soup, Braised Sea Cucumber with Pork Tendons, and Stewed Perch Tongues with Bear Paws!"

Withdrawing her hand, Lin Xiaolu loudly announced several dish names: "If I don't see these dishes later, I will chop off your head!"

Xia Liang looked at the vegetables she bought back, confirmed the gap between reality and ideals, and could only wipe the cold sweat from her forehead: "Reporting to the Emperor, even a clever woman cannot cook a meal without rice. This subject cannot do it."

"Chop off the head!"

"Spare us, Your Majesty!"

"... Um, I don't even know if I should say this."

Bai Jingxuan, watching the two's nonsensical little drama from the side, raised a hand and said weakly, "It's already six-thirty."

Her words seemed to wind a spring in the toys, causing the other two to turn and look at her simultaneously.

"Six-thirty?"

"Six-thirty!"

The two let out alert sounds together.

The reason this time triggered such a strong reaction from them was that it meant one thing—Hong Siyu was about to arrive.

Ever since Senior Cuique left Fang Ting and arranged for Hong Siyu to take care of them, every day, roughly between six and seven, Hong Siyu would make a special trip to the secret base after getting off work.

And if Hong Siyu arrived and found the children still hadn't eaten dinner...

"Is it too late to make dinner now?"

After the exclamation, Lin Xiaolu asked somewhat dazedly.

"If it's something simple, maybe half an hour?"

Xia Liang, looking somewhat troubled while fiddling with the pile of ingredients under her hand, said, "Cooking noodles should take even less time, right?"

"Then about how much longer until that woman... Hong Siyu arrives?"

"Based on her off-work time, probably at most ten minutes; if she's early, she might already be here by now?"

As soon as Xia Liang finished speaking that sentence, she seemed to realize something herself and suddenly stopped. She stared fixedly at the ingredients before her, then exchanged a glance with Lin Xiaolu.

Neither of them said anything, but the meaning expressed in their gazes was the same: We're in big trouble.

During this period of looking after the three little ones, Hong Siyu had walked into the kitchen several times with full confidence, yet the results she finally produced caused the girls to ask her to leave the kitchen again.

One could only say that regarding cooking, Hong Siyu's enthusiasm was commendable, but aside from that, there was nothing worthwhile about her.

Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang had long experienced her cooking skills, so they had long been wary of her culinary output, but Moke was different; after drinking the soup Hong Siyu made without any guard, it immediately collapsed onto the dining table and had to be moved aside to lie down for a while before recovering.

Only Bai Jingxuan, for some reason, could endure those dishes with completely distorted flavors, eating them with a calm expression.

But after that, Lin Xiaolu, Xia Liang, and Moke all began to strongly oppose Hong Siyu entering or leaving the secret base's kitchen.

Unfortunately, even though they had explained the reasons to Hong Siyu and explicitly stated her cooking skills were very problematic, they still couldn't stop her enthusiasm.

Regarding the three's opposition, Hong Siyu only became more courageous in the face of setbacks, displaying an attitude of "accepting the challenge," went home to conduct some research and improvement on her cooking skills, and then, who knows what exactly she researched, announced she had "completed her evolution" and walked into the kitchen again, disregarding all opposition.

The result was a table full of even more unpalatable dishes.

This time, facing the dishes she made, even Bai Jingxuan began to show a look of difficulty.

With cooking skills so consistently bad, naturally, everyone did not want Hong Siyu to continue cooking.

It's just that, under the current circumstances, if dinner isn't ready, there's no guarantee that Hong Siyu, who comes to take care of the girls, won't suddenly get an idea and offer to show off her skills.

Lin Xiaolu did not want her to show off her skills.

"What should we do? Order takeout instead?" Pulling out her phone and opening the ordering app, Lin Xiaolu stammered, "Is... is there still time? Should I just transform and fly over to pick it up?"

"Don't think about your takeout at a time like this."

Smiling somewhat helplessly, Xia Liang began to take off her coat: "Forget it; I was originally going to go home and rest, but now I'll just have to do it myself."

"Can you make it in time alone?"

Lin Xiaolu suggested with some concern, "Should I come help?"

"Just not causing trouble is the best help you can give." Xia Liang walked into the kitchen, pulled out arm covers and put them on her arms, then moved to the stove: "When I need you to hand me something, just hand it over."

"Something that small? No problem!" Lin Xiaolu said with full confidence.

"Maybe I should do it..." Bai Jingxuan, standing aside, wanted to follow into the kitchen but was blocked by Lin Xiaolu outside the kitchen door.

"Hot oil and knives are too dangerous; just wait for us to finish!" was her excuse.

And as the work in the kitchen began, Xia Liang also got busy at the stove.

As for Lin Xiaolu, at first she waited obediently for Xia Liang to assign her tasks, but as time passed bit by bit, she found there seemed to be nothing for her to do.

Bored, she could only stand behind Xia Liang and start pointing and commenting on the work in her hands:

"Isn't there too much water here?"

"The vegetable shreds are cut too thick, and they're so messy."

"It feels like the eggs weren't beaten evenly enough."

"The seasoning sauce is too monotonous; it feels worse than what Senior Cuique makes..."

Bang!

Xia Liang slammed the spatula in her hand heavily onto the cutting board beside her, turned her head, and although a smile was on her face, there was not a trace of amusement in her eyes: "Shut up."

Lin Xiaolu immediately shrank her head like a startled quail.

The work in the kitchen continued.

Just like that, Xia Liang acted at top speed; in just over ten minutes, a simple bowl of dried noodles was ready. The two girls carried the cooked noodles out of the kitchen and returned to the dining room.

"Luckily, that woman... Hong Siyu came quite late today." Holding her bowl with both hands, Lin Xiaolu let out a long sigh of relief. "If she had come in the middle and insisted on getting involved, that would have been trouble."

"You didn't play much of a role on the sidelines, did you?"

Xia Liang smiled with narrowed eyes: "Next time you talk too much in the kitchen, it's better to figure out whose hand is holding the knife."

"I know..."

Lin Xiaolu responded in a muffled voice, stirred the bowl with her chopsticks, picked out a strand of noodles, and sucked it into her mouth.

Then, her expression became incredibly strange.

"What's wrong?"

Xia Liang looked somewhat puzzled, took a bite of noodles herself, and then her expression also became subtle: "... Ah, no salt?"

"Why is that a question?" Lin Xiaolu tapped the rim of the bowl irritably.

"I did it too fast—I even forgot what I did…" Xia Liang pursed her lips.

Lin Xiaolu fell silent for a moment, then put down her chopsticks: "Execution!"

"Your Majesty, spare my life!"

Beside them, Bai Jingxuan watched the two in silence, ate her noodles without expression, then suddenly spoke: "By the way, hasn't Hong Sister arrived yet? It's already much later than usual."

"Probably something with work."

Lin Xiaolu rummaged through the fridge for a few jars of pickled vegetables and said indifferently: "If she doesn't come, she doesn't come."

"Don't talk like that—we still prepared her portion for dinner. You should at least send her a message."

Xia Liang said this, opened her phone, typed a message, and sent it to Hong Siyu. Soon, the phone vibrated—clearly, she had received a reply.

"What did she say?" Lin Xiaolu asked.

"Let me see…"

Xia Liang swiped across her phone screen: "She says she can't make it tonight—she has to work overtime."

"Why?" Lin Xiaolu focused on unscrewing the lid of the pickled vegetable jar.

—"Is it because of the recent Special Strategy Bureau exam?"

—"She says the Special Strategy Bureau is about to hold a recruitment exam, and she's helping to write the questions."

Two voices sounded almost simultaneously—but came from two different people.

Xia Liang read aloud the message, then realized she wasn't the only one speaking; she turned toward the voice and saw Bai Jingxuan had just said nearly the same thing.

"Did you know?" Xia Liang put down her phone, puzzled.

"Yes."

Bai Jingxuan nodded: "Someone I know told me."

"Who? Someone from Fuli Academy?"

"It was a caregiver from Fuli Academy."

Bai Jingxuan lowered her head and whispered: "Sisters should've met him before."

"We met him?" Xia Liang tilted her head.

"Remember that time when troublemakers came to Fuli Academy?" Bai Jingxuan continued. "The uncle who was with me then—that's him."

"I think I remember…" Lin Xiaolu tapped her chin.

"Yeah, that rude guy!" Mo Ke, sitting behind Bai Jingxuan, crossed his arms.

"Yeah, when I returned to Fuli Academy, I ran into him and chatted briefly."

Bai Jingxuan nodded: "He said he's preparing for an exam—if he passes, he won't work at Fuli Academy anymore."

"Is the Special Strategy Bureau job that good?" Lin Xiaolu finally unscrewed the pickled vegetable jar, set it on the table, and looked at Bai Jingxuan: "Why does it sound like the exam to join the Special Strategy Bureau is insanely hard?"

Silence followed.

Because both Bai Jingxuan and Xia Liang were staring at her as if she were an alien.

"Don't you ever listen to what Hong Sister says?"

After a moment, Xia Liang was the first to explain: "The Special Strategy Bureau? It's the best job for ordinary magicians!"

"The best job? Isn't it just a bunch of guys fixing up the city after the fact?" Lin Xiaolu blinked.

"They're also responsible for managing magical personnel outside of residual beasts and magical girls."

Xia Liang gave a dry laugh: "That's such an insulting way to put it."

"So… this uncle taking the exam—it's actually really tough?"

Lin Xiaolu picked up a pinch of pickled vegetables, lifted them with her noodles, and said flatly: "Then I wish him luck on his exam."

Yesterday I fell asleep again while writing drowsily, and then on Sunday daytime I had things to do—I never got around to updating.

If I really can't update on time in the future, I'll post a notice in the comments section—I'm truly sorry.

(End of Chapter)