Chapter 88: I Am Also Smiling, But Not Showing It

The morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

The school Commercial Street is very lively.

The air is filled with the sweet fragrance of roasted sweet potatoes. The steamed buns in the shop on the right have just come out of the oven; as soon as the steamer lid is lifted, steam puffs out. Many students have already finished their exams and gone home today, but there is still a long line in front of the porridge shop.

Why must one drink porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month?

Porridge isn't even delicious.

Sweet porridge is even less delicious.

It is better to drink plain porridge, or vegetable porridge, century egg porridge, or minced meat porridge, paired with the pickles Chen Shu makes; one can spend a very plain morning or evening that way. Ning Qing has spent many breakfasts and dinners like this in the past.

Ning Qing queues while lost in thought, a long-haired white cat wearing red fuzzy clothes and a hood sitting upright at her feet.

This cat is too clingy.

She didn't want to let it come, but it insisted.

Every time this cat is by her side, someone always comes to strike up a conversation with her, as if the cat were a breakthrough point.

Wearing a mask is useless.

Looking at the floor is useless.

Fortunately, Ning Qing also brought headphones; she can put them on and stare straight ahead, pretending not to hear when others ask her things.

Soon it is her turn.

Three cups of Laba porridge, packed in a bag; she shows the payment interface, hooks the three cups of porridge with one hand, tucks the other hand into her pocket, and turns to leave.

Taozi moves her four legs quickly, following closely behind her.

Ning Qing's expression is calm, her pace very steady.

Someone is following far behind her.

It is Zhang Suannai.

Since leaving the Dormitory, Zhang Suannai has been quietly following her, and has been tailing her like this for several days now.

To be honest, Zhang Suannai's tracking skills are superb; she never looks directly at her for more than a second, and even when she occasionally glances over, she hides that "deliberateness" very well. Furthermore, most of the time she acts just like any other student, as if following her is just a coincidence.

Even a Martial Cultivator with keen Spiritual Sense would likely be unable to detect her tracking.

But the Secret Sect is cheating.

"..."

Ning Qing remains silent.

She thinks this person is a bit neurotic.

Yujing has been too cold these past two days.

Today, Zhang Suannai is wearing three pairs of pants and four layers of clothing under her down jacket, wrapping herself tightly layer by layer until her legs look much thicker. She is also wearing a fuzzy hat that covers her entire head and has two ears on top, and is wrapped in a red scarf; as soon as she lowers her head, the scarf covers her entire chin.

It is completely different from her usual image.

But even wrapped up so bulkily, she remains tall, her legs are still very long, and the face above the scarf remains exquisite, her skin snow-white, unable to hide her beauty.

Zhang Suannai has both hands in her jacket pockets, a lollipop in her mouth, and her neck hunched as if she is very cold, striding forward while occasionally scanning the two figures—one large, one small—ahead of her with her peripheral vision.

That hateful Qingcai Keke!!

Zhang Suannai is deeply puzzled.

In what way is this silly group member tracking Ning Qing? Why has she been tailing her for over half a month and still gained nothing?

Could it be the few times Ning Qing went out on her motorcycle?

Zhang Suannai naturally cannot catch up to a motorcycle; it is not that she absolutely couldn't, but it is inconvenient to chase in the city. As a beautiful girl in her prime, she couldn't possibly go sprinting down the road at sixty or seventy miles per hour, could she?

That would be too much.

But thinking about it, that is also unrealistic.

Unless Ning Qing is going to see her on purpose, how could it be such a coincidence that she happens to run into Ning Qing every time she rides out?

Eh? Going to see her on purpose...

This thought suddenly pops into Zhang Suannai's mind.

But she quickly dismisses it.

Ah, impossible...

With Ning Qing's personality, plus her Celestial Bloodline—everyone in Yiguo knows the personality of a Heavenly Human; they have no emotions, and once they grow up, they don't even recognize their own biological parents.

Zhang Suannai bites down hard on the plastic stick of the lollipop, unable to figure it out and feeling very angry.

On such a cold day, with no classes, she should have been staying in the Dormitory, lying on the sofa watching cartoons, playing games, or begging her roommate to leave that very spiritual white cat behind for her to pet when she went out. Instead, she has to disguise herself like this and engage in the deeds of thieves and rats.

Truly hateful!

Zhang Suannai secretly decides—

If she catches this junior, she will definitely give her a beating!

Then she will learn from this junior and reveal a little bit of her information in the group every so often to scam the group members for a sponsorship.

No!

Not learning from her!

This junior doesn't know all of her own information and is still investigating, whereas if she catches this junior, she will know everything... So she is just using a similar method to this junior, but in reality, it is to scam those trash group members; the core is completely different.

Phew!

These silly group members don't do any real work all day long, they only know how to gossip!

Are they so free because the New Year is coming?

They deserve to be scammed out of their money!

As she walks, Zhang Suannai fantasizes about the fun things she will do after tracking her roommate and catching Qingcai Keke, and she even cannot help but want to laugh out loud on the street.

However, having said that, although this short period of tailing had not yielded the desired results, it had led to a much better understanding of her roommate. To be precise, she had discovered more contradictions in her roommate. For example, she would sometimes dress up before going out. For example, she sometimes seemed to be on a video call with someone. For example, a person like her would actually look at her Mobile Phone frequently while walking on the road, as if paying attention to someone's messages, and would sometimes stop to type. And for another example, she would go to buy fruit every Monday without fail.

Zhang Suannai had seen many indifferent, detached people, and they would not be like this.

A Heavenly Human would be even less likely to be like this.

These contradictions, when combined, instead pieced together an image of her roommate in Zhang Suannai's heart that was more concrete, clearer, more vivid, and closer, making Zhang Suannai feel that this roommate was no longer cold and unreachable, and she became increasingly curious about her.

Perhaps she could be friends with people.

This process took one semester.

Thinking of this, Zhang Suannai couldn't help but think—

If her goddess-like, aloof roommate were to one day truly fall into the mundane world because of feelings, whether it be love or friendship, what would she look like? Would she act like other girls, acting spoiled toward a lover or playing and bickering with close friends?

She couldn't imagine such a scene.

"Hmm?"

Ning Qing in front turned a corner and was no longer visible.

Zhang Suannai pretended to take out her Mobile Phone to look at it, as if because of some urgent matter, and then ran forward in a panic.

Just past the corner, her Spiritual Sense felt something unusual.

"Woah!"

A white cat pounced toward her, biting her pants; to gain traction, all four of its paws were splayed out, trying to drag her toward Ning Qing.

Ning Qing held the porridge and looked at her.

Facing her roommate's indifferent expression, Zhang Suannai confirmed one thing—she truly could not imagine a scene where her roommate was like an ordinary girl; perhaps her roommate would never be like that, she was just her, the unique her, irreplaceable.

But the situation before her was slightly awkward.

"Hehe..."

Zhang Suannai lowered her head, burying half her face in her scarf, rubbed her hands, and said in a rough voice: "Classmate, is this cat yours? You really should watch it; if it ruins my pants, you'll have to pay for them, they cost over a hundred..."

A crude trick.

Ning Qing didn't speak either, just looked at her.

"Hehe..."

Zhang Suannai giggled twice more, finally couldn't hold it in, raised her head, and asked aloud: "How did you know I was tailing you?"

Ning Qing did not answer, but just handed her a cup of porridge and said in a low voice:

"Laba porridge."

"Emmm..."

Zhang Suannai took this cup of Laba porridge; it was still very hot, and she pressed further: "You still haven't said, how did you know I was tailing you? My tailing skills are such that even a small-time boss of a gang that has been trafficking drugs for years wouldn't be able to discover me."

"Why are you following me?"

"To protect you!" Zhang Suannai straightened her back, righteous and confident, "Didn't I tell you? There's a pervert in the school recently, specifically tailing girls; the prettier the girl, the easier it is to be targeted."

"Is that so?"

Ning Qing met her gaze.

Zhang Suannai immediately felt guilty.

For some reason, her roommate's eyes seemed to be a bit of a bane to her; she didn't know when her birthday was, she should buy her a pair of sunglasses, preferably permanent ones.

Zhang Suannai avoided her gaze, still stubborn: "I'm just worried about you..."

"I am not being followed by anyone."

"You are! You just haven't noticed!"

"..." Ning Qing looked at her deeply again, feeling sorry for her intelligence, "Then it seems the pervert's tailing ability is even stronger than yours."

"That's right!"

Zhang Suannai understood in an instant.

Her eyeballs rolled around twice.

It must be that she had expressed her intention to catch Qingcai Keke a few days ago, so Qingcai Keke hadn't dared to tail Ning Qing these past few days; the information she had thrown out two days ago was something she had already investigated beforehand, just to confuse her, make her mistakenly believe she was still continuously tailing Ning Qing, and then make her run out in the middle of winter to suffer and wear down her patience.

Perhaps when she calculated that her patience had been worn out, she would appear again and continue tailing Ning Qing.

Because that junior student had self-awareness, knowing that her strength in all aspects was far from being comparable to her own wise and martial self, so she used this method to temporarily avoid her counter-tailing and gain the possibility of tailing and investigating again in the future.

What a psychological battle!

What a green tea bitch!

"Hmph hmph...

"Clever..."

Zhang Suannai snorted coldly in her heart; didn't expect that, did you? You are clever, but Grandma here isn't stupid either!

I have already figured out your routine!

Ning Qing looked at her, rolled her eyes, and then said: "I'm going to the small courtyard I rented, are you still going to follow?"

"What's wrong?" Zhang Suannai asked back without thinking, "The Dormitory can't give you the feeling of home?"

"..."

Ning Qing just looked at her quietly, waiting for her answer.

"I won't follow."

Zhang Suannai shook her head and said repeatedly.

She couldn't catch up to Ning Qing riding a motorcycle in the city, and that weakling junior student definitely couldn't either. Moreover, she had figured it out; during this time, that weakling junior student would definitely not appear around Ning Qing again because of fear of her.

Zhang Suannai was incomparably certain.

Ning Qing glanced at her again, and Taozi also glanced at her; the person and the cat stepped away, paying attention to the passing cars, and walked toward the other side of the road. After passing the intersection, the person and the cat turned their heads again and looked at her.

Zhang Suannai stood where she was, waving and smiling at them.

The school bus drove over, and as it passed through the middle of the road, it blocked the view of both sides for a moment.

"..."

After the bus drove past, there was no sign of Zhang Suannai where she had been standing; she had just vanished into thin air on the other side of the road.

Seeing this, Taozi immediately stretched her neck, looking left and right for her, but could not find her anywhere, which left the little kitten in Surprise.

"..."

Ning Qing walked away with an expressionless face.

In the courtyard.

Two sparrows stood side by side on the persimmon tree.

As Ning Qing walked around the courtyard, scanning the entire area and calculating which flowers to plant where next year, she said to Chen Shu behind her, "We finished our last exam today; which day should we book the tickets for?"

"Let's talk about it in a few days," Chen Shu said lazily, sitting on a stone stool and drinking Laba porridge. "Chen Banxia said she would help us book them, and we can save quite a bit of money, too."

"Plane or high-speed rail?"

"Are you bringing the flowers from your Dormitory back?"

"No."

"Leaving them here? Will someone water them?"

"This is Yujing, not Bai City," Ning Qing said without turning her head. "Roses in Yujing go dormant in winter; I've already done the winter pruning. Just spraying some water on the soil when I leave will be enough to last until next spring."

"Then let's take a plane."

"Okay."

"Are you going to bring all the flowers over next year?"

"Mm."

"Plant them all here?"

"Mm."

"Plant them in the ground?"

"Plant them in the ground."

"Then what about when we move in the future?"

"I will live here for many years," Ning Qing said, still not turning back. She paused, then corrected herself by two words, "We."

"Amazing, amazing..."

"Do you still have one exam left?"

"I still have one 'History of Cultivation and Cultivation Systems' to take; it's tomorrow."

"Mm."

"I've been staying in the Dormitory every day these past few days, only spending two hours a day helping my roommate design Rune, and I haven't taken any commissions either. I'm starting to get a bit unaccustomed to it."

"Not going to find the history professor to earn credits anymore?"

"There aren't any these past few days."

"Okay."

"Then since you're done with your exams, are you going back to the Dormitory? Or will you keep living here?"

"I have to go back."

Ning Qing finally withdrew her gaze. She had memorized all the large and small greening areas in the courtyard, as well as their orientations, how many hours of sun each spot could get on a clear day under the shade of the courtyard walls, and whether it was morning or afternoon sun, then matched them one by one with her flowers.

Some flowers were large shrubs, some were small shrubs, some were miniature roses, and others were climbing roses.

Some varieties were shade-tolerant, while others were sun-tolerant.

They had different requirements for space and light.

Large shrubs would be planted in large open spaces, small shrubs in smaller areas, and miniature roses could be used to fill the gaps. Climbing roses would be planted against the walls, and with the help of wooden trellises, they could create the effect of a flower wall. By paying attention to the color coordination of the varieties so that the color scheme in one area wouldn't be too chaotic, and finally clearing out the mondo grass used for greening and replacing it with seasonal flowering plants, it would be a very, very beautiful garden.

Ning Qing turned her gaze to Chen Shu and shared with him, "My roommate said recently that there's a stalker at school, so she has turned into a stalker herself every day, saying she wants to protect me."

"Pfft!"

Chen Shu couldn't help but laugh out loud, spraying his Laba porridge everywhere.

Ning Qing glanced at him calmly.