Morning

In the morning, Xia Cheng was woken up by a fragrant aroma.

Usually, even after waking up, she would laze in bed for a while.

She preferred to enjoy the comfort of her bed a little longer than to eat breakfast, and as a result, she was often late.

But this morning was different.

The fragrance wafted through the crack of the door, filling the entire room.

The enticing scent made her get out of bed, a rare occurrence, and she rushed downstairs.

She saw a sumptuous breakfast on the table.

In truth, it wasn’t exactly sumptuous.

There were a total of seven or eight dishes, all rather classic breakfast items, a mix of Chinese and Western.

Everything was freshly made, arranged on the table, and emitting an enticing aroma.

In the eyes of Xia Cheng, who was already starving and felt like she could eat a whole cow, this was more than sumptuous enough.

Drool dripped from the corner of her mouth.

She didn’t even bother to wash up, just casually pulled her hair back and was about to grab some food with her hands.

But a pair of chopsticks suddenly tapped her on the head.

“Put your claws down, go wash your face and brush your teeth first, then come and eat!”

Xia Cheng glared behind her, only to see Jiang Yue glaring back at her even more fiercely.

Her momentum immediately deflated by a third. “Mom, you didn’t go to work today?”

“Are you so concerned about whether I’m at work or not? Hurry up. If you want to eat, go wash up. What kind of a girl are you?”

Usually, Xia Cheng would have retorted a few words when faced with her mother’s nagging.

But now, her stomach was extremely hungry, and there was delicious food on the table.

She had no intention of continuing to be stubborn and rushed into the bathroom without another word.

Seeing Xia Cheng like this, Jiang Yue nodded with satisfaction, then picked up a piece of bacon from the table and ate it.

It was cooked just right, so fragrant that her eyes narrowed.

The breakfasts she had eaten in her forty-plus years were practically a lie.

Xia Cheng’s washing up was also very quick, finished in less than a few minutes.

As soon as she came out, she saw her mother feasting at the table.

Even though there were a few more dishes than before, Xia Cheng was still afraid that her share would be eaten, so she quickly sat down and picked up her chopsticks.

“Mmm, delicious. Mom, which takeout did you order?”

Xia Cheng took a few bites of several dishes and let out a satisfied sigh.

There was nothing more comfortable than eating good food in the morning after a night of hunger.

“What are you talking about? Couldn’t I have made it myself?” Jiang Yue glanced at her daughter, but her hands didn’t stop, furiously sweeping through the delicious food on the table.

“Come on, don’t forget the time you boiled instant noodles and the pot exploded,” faced with her mother, Xia Cheng showed no mercy, mercilessly exposing her past. “Those who know, know that you were busy replying to a message and forgot to turn off the stove. Those who don’t would think you were conducting a nuclear test in the kitchen.”

“Can’t you just shut your mouth and eat!” Jiang Yue was so embarrassed and annoyed that she tapped Xia Cheng on the head with her chopsticks again.

Xia Cheng clearly didn’t care. She was more concerned with the delicious food in front of her, her mouth never stopping.

Her youthful appetite soon polished off the entire breakfast, and she let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Delicious, so satisfying.”

“Don’t eat so fast. Have some soup.”

Bai Hai came out of the kitchen, carrying a bowl of clear soup and handing it to Xia Cheng.

At the same time, he also gave Jiang Yue a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

“Oh, thanks.”

Xia Cheng took the soup without a second thought and took a big gulp.

But when she suddenly realized who had handed her the soup, she was startled and immediately choked.

“Cough, cough, cough!”

Jiang Yue couldn’t help but look at Xia Cheng with a disgusted expression.

Xia Cheng coughed a few times to recover, then pointed at Bai Hai and said, “You! You! What are you doing here!”

“Why can’t I be here?” Bai Hai replied calmly, holding a similar bowl of clear soup and drinking it elegantly with a spoon, a stark contrast to her disheveled appearance.

“You… don’t tell me you made all of this?!” Xia Cheng wiped her mouth haphazardly, her mind finally waking up completely.
She quickly figured out what had happened.

“Your brother made it.” Jiang Yue couldn’t stand it anymore and handed her a napkin. “He got up early specifically to make it for us.”

Bai Hai glanced at Jiang Yue, thinking to himself that high-level intellectuals really knew how to talk.

He had gone from casually cooking to specifically getting up early in an instant.

Xia Cheng’s gaze towards Bai Hai was filled with astonishment.

She had never thought that this person, besides having a good-looking face, could also cook well.

Was he really the male lead from an idol drama?

But right now, she was in a very stubborn phase, so stubborn that you could forge iron from her words.

Even though she had eaten his food, she could still find three unreasonable things to say. “Who asked him to get up and cook? Do I have to eat what he cooks? What if I get a stomachache… Hiccup.”

But then Xia Cheng let out a loud burp, so loud that she quickly covered her mouth.

But it was too late for no one to hear.

Jiang Yue and Bai Hai’s rather playful gazes both landed on her, which made Xia Cheng so embarrassed that she couldn’t even say the lines she had been preparing for a long time.

She turned and went back to her room.

And then she let out another one on the stairs.

After hearing the sound of a door being locked in embarrassment and annoyance, Jiang Yue and Bai Hai could no longer hold back and burst into loud laughter, not caring if Xia Cheng upstairs could hear them.

‘This kid is really fun to mess with,’ Bai Hai thought to himself.

As expected, Xia Cheng upstairs heard the laughter from downstairs.

She let out a shriek of embarrassment and burrowed into her quilt.

After a while, when she heard that the two had stopped laughing, she slung her bag over her shoulder, quickly went downstairs, opened the door, and left without a word.

And then the two of them laughed again.

But not long after, Jiang Yue replied to a few messages and also rushed back to the university.

The once-lively house was now left with only Bai Hai.

The sun climbed higher in the sky, beginning to release its light and heat of eight or nine in the morning.

Bai Hai moved a stool and sat quietly on the balcony, basking in the sun.

He held a cup of tea in his hand, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding houses and gardens, his heart at peace.

‘It’s not bad to stop and enjoy the quiet moments of life every once in a while.’

“Gulp… good tea.”

“Dun dun dun dun…”

Suddenly, his phone rang loudly.

The Fate Symphony, which was set as his ringtone, suddenly blared on the balcony.

Bai Hai opened the screen in time before the fourth note rang out and saw the caller—well, so much for the quiet moments of life.

“Hello, hello, can the new magical girl hear me? I have a lead on the clue you asked me to look into.”

“Chengzi, why are you here so early today?”

At the school gate, Pan Nannan, who was about to go in, looked at Xia Cheng rushing towards her with some surprise.

She called out to her, wondering to herself: It’s a miracle if this girl isn’t late. How could she be early?

Did she hit her head yesterday?

Xia Cheng heard someone call her and looked up.

Today, Nannan’s face was still bare, and she was wearing a loose-fitting sports school uniform.

Even though they were both teenagers, the classmates in their class had long been secretly putting on makeup.

After school, they would also change into those so-called fashionable clothes.

Only she had maintained the same lifestyle habits as in elementary school, dressing honestly and very low-key.

Completely different from her magical girl form.

But that being said, Xia Cheng genuinely felt that Pan Nannan didn’t need clothes or makeup.

Unlike others, she was one of those very rare, naturally elegant types.

She was naturally beautiful and elegant.

Just standing there, even if she did nothing, she looked like the armless Venus.

Sometimes, when she was with her, Xia Cheng always felt like a country bumpkin.

She took three steps and two leaps to get in front of Pan Nannan, her face showing a look of helplessness and embarrassment.

Without even greeting her, she began to complain, “You think I want to? Isn’t it because of that brother of mine who suddenly appeared? If it weren’t for him… Hiccup—I wouldn’t… Hiccup—!”

“…What, did you eat your brother?”

Pan Nannan looked at this person who had run over just to burp with a slightly strange gaze.

‘Hanging out with this embarrassing person every day, I feel like I’m turning into a young widow who brought her mentally challenged child to the city for treatment.’

“Aiya, no, it’s very complicated, very complicated. Let’s go in first and talk.” Xia Cheng wiped her mouth awkwardly.

To change the subject, she took the initiative to link arms with Pan Nannan and walk in, her mouth never stopping.

Xingchuan No. 1 Middle School was already considered a relatively good school in the city.

Its teachers, facilities, and teaching environment all had a good reputation.

But compared to the top schools in Xingchuan City, it was still a bit lacking.

As a top professor at Xingchuan University, if Jiang Yue’s daughter wanted to go to school, she could basically go wherever she wanted.

There would be people to arrange it.

In fact, Xia Cheng’s elementary school was the top private elementary school in the city.

However, despite both her parents being high-level intellectuals, her grades were at the bottom of the class for six consecutive years.

Jiang Yue once suspected that she had taken the wrong child home, but unfortunately, she hadn’t.

Later, when Xia Cheng was in middle school, many people promised to help arrange for her to go to a good school.

However, Jiang Yue didn’t agree.

She just chose a nearby one. Her original words were: “With her brain, going to a good school is just a waste of space. It’s good enough if she doesn’t become an illiterate and embarrass me.”

And so, Xia Cheng smoothly entered No. 1 Middle School.

As for Pan Nannan and Xia Cheng, they were two extremes.

Her parents and Jiang Yue’s family were friends from a long time ago and often got together.

So the two of them were also good friends who grew up together.

However, compared to Xia Cheng’s “pig brain” (Jiang Yue’s original words), Pan Nannan was the perfect daughter she could never have:

Perfect scores, excellent in sports, skilled in all four arts, and had participated in many competitions since she was young, all with good rankings.

The trophies and certificates she had could fill a whole wall.

It was theoretically impossible for someone like her to be in the same middle school as Xia Cheng.

In fact, she had already been reserved by several of the top schools in the city in the sixth grade.

But after a heated argument with her parents, she finally came to the No. 1 Middle School.

Because Xia Cheng was here (Pan Nannan’s original words).

What a great friendship.

It was said that Xia Cheng had cried for a long time while hugging Pan Nannan.

Of course, if you were to ask her about it now, she would definitely deny it and might even bite you…

And since entering middle school, Pan Nannan’s life hadn’t changed at all.

She still maintained the template of a perfect student, highly respected by teachers and classmates.

The only difference was that, compared to elementary school, Xia Cheng had recently started to like to complain to her.

In the short distance from the school gate to the teaching building, Xia Cheng held her and talked nonstop about the things she had encountered, most of which were related to that cheap brother of hers.

Pan Nannan listened without speaking, just watching her smile—when she got tired of talking, she could have some peace and quiet.

But the moment she entered the building, Pan Nannan suddenly turned around and stared intently in a certain direction.

“What’s wrong?” Xia Cheng was a little confused by Pan Nannan’s strange behavior and looked in the direction she was staring, but saw nothing.

“Nothing, I thought I saw something,” Pan Nannan replied casually, retracting her gaze and following Xia Cheng into the building.

But in her mind, she kept thinking back, thinking back to the flash of silver she had just seen.

‘Maybe I really didn’t see anything…’