In the blink of an eye, a few days passed.
Little White and Lin Xing still maintained their usual way of interacting, tacitly never mentioning the incident in class.
When they met, they would greet each other with a smile, and during training, they’d huddle together to quietly discuss tactics.
Only sometimes, when their gazes accidentally met, both of their ears would flush faintly red at the same time.
They would quickly look away again.
This subtle, unspoken atmosphere seemed to add a hint of ambiguity to their usual interactions.
Lumiya crouched on the nearby railing, agitatedly swishing her golden tail.
Watching those two exchanging glances, the innate possessiveness of a Dragon made her feel thoroughly disgruntled.
Her claws scratched deep grooves into the railing.
So what if they touched for a moment? Was it really that big a deal!? She wanted to dash over and break those two up right then and there.
But remembering she was the real culprit behind everything, she could only swallow the words on the tip of her tongue in annoyance.
She turned her head to pretend to look at the clouds in the sky, but the tip of her tail kept swishing, clearly still unhappy.
“Lin Xing, do you have time this weekend?”
Little White looked at Lin Xing with anticipation.
Lin Xing had just drawn the flames back into his palm.
Hearing Little White’s voice, he turned his head, still a bit sweaty from training.
“This weekend? I don’t think I have anything else planned, why?”
Little White shook the promotional pamphlet in her hand, her fingertip lightly tapping the cover, cheeks glowing with a smile.
“I passed by Commercial Street last week and saw a super cute new clothing shop! The window was full of dresses with little wings and bells, all sparkling—just perfect for Lumiya~
And our usual Sweet Shop has a new ice cream cake that releases rainbow smoke! What do you think? I bet Lumiya would love it!”
Lin Xing was a little stunned at her words, and glanced at Lumiya beside him—she looked as if she didn’t care, but her tail was standing upright, clearly paying close attention.
“Sure, I wanted to see the new items at the Sweet Shop anyway. I wonder if Lumiya heard us~ I wonder if Lumiya wants to go?”
The moment Lumiya was called out, her ears instantly turned red—she’d been caught eavesdropping!
Clutching the railing with her paws, she gave a shake, then suddenly jumped down and turned into her golden-haired little girl form.
Her adorable face was tinged with a blush. Hearing that the two were about to leave her behind, Lumiya couldn’t care about anything else.
“Of course I heard! I want to go!”
After agreeing to meet at ten o’clock Saturday morning at the Commercial Street entrance,
Lin Xing had just pushed open the Dormitory door when a golden little head darted out from behind him, her Dragon Tail patting his arm gently.
“Do I have to get up early tomorrow? I want to sleep in~”
Lin Xing laughed and rubbed her head.
“Then you can go into the Tamer’s Space. I’ll call you when we get to Commercial Street, so you won’t miss out on buying dresses or eating cake.”
He turned to rummage through the storage box in his wardrobe, which contained several little dresses he had bought for Lumiya.
Pink, blue, ones with lace, ones embroidered with stars—he simply couldn’t help buying them whenever he saw them.
Lin Xing picked up a pale yellow puffy dress, holding it up as he muttered to himself,
“This light yellow matches Lumiya’s true form pretty well, doesn’t it?”
But Lumiya had long since made her opinion of his ‘childish taste’ clear with her actions.
Last time, she wore the lace-embroidered Princess Dress only half a day before deliberately rubbing the hem with her Dragon Tail against the back of a chair.
The skirt ended up with several little holes, and she innocently swished her tail, claiming, “The dress ripped on its own.”
Although Lumiya always gave Lin Xing face and obediently put on whatever clothes he prepared,
if there was a style she just couldn’t accept, she would always quietly ‘sabotage’ it behind his back.
Fortunately, after observing her a few times, Lin Xing caught on to her little tricks.
Afterwards, he avoided overly pink and complicated styles, picking simple yet cute clothes, and only then did Lumiya stop ‘causing trouble’.
Lumiya curled up by Lin Xing’s bed, watching him pack as her tail idly swayed.
When she saw him pull out a bottle of scale-care Beast Tamer oil from the drawer, Lumiya immediately buried her face in the blanket, leaving only half of her golden tail poking out.
“No need for all that trouble! My scales are naturally shiny, I don’t need your care oil!
Besides, I’ll be in little girl form outside—no one can see them even if you apply it!”
Yet when Lin Xing came over with the oil, she slowly lifted her head, her Dragon Horn nudging toward him.
Though she grumbled nonstop, her body honestly enjoyed Lin Xing’s massage.
Little White returned to the Dormitory, hugged Snowball, spun around three times, then stuffed all the meat and biscuit treats she’d prepared for Lumiya into her bag.
Facing the mirror, she flashed a ‘V’ and picked out a yellow T-shirt with a little bear print and denim overalls, tying her hair into two round buns and clipping on some hairpins.
Afterwards, she hopped onto the bed, hugging her pillow and giggling non-stop, her mind full of scenes of strolling around with Lin Xing and Lumiya.
At 9:50 a.m.,
Lin Xing arrived on time at the Commercial Street entrance, carrying Lumiya on his back.
Lumiya held Lin Xing’s hand at the street corner, her golden hair tied into two tiny buns.
Standing on tiptoes, she looked all around, her little leather shoes tapping lightly on the ground.
“How come she’s not here yet? Did she oversleep?”
Just as she finished speaking, a yellow figure came bouncing over—Little White, waving two sticks of cotton candy.
“I’m here! I bought strawberry and blueberry flavors—Lumiya, which do you want?”
She ran up to them, her hair buns bobbing with her movements, cheeks flushed pink from running.
Lumiya’s eyes lit up. She immediately reached out and took the cotton candy, chomping away happily, her Dragon Tail wagging.
Lin Xing shook his head with a smile, following behind the two as they skipped ahead.
As soon as they entered the clothing shop,
Lumiya was dragged by Little White straight to the children’s section. Lumiya dragged her feet, muttering,
“What’s so fun about shopping for clothes? I’d rather go have cake sooner…”
When she was pulled in front of a pink dress, her nose wrinkled.
Lin Xing picked up the dress and gave it a shake.
“Just try it on. I bet it’ll look great on you.”
Lumiya turned her head away but was pushed toward the fitting room by Little White.
Unwillingly, she took the dress and slowly walked in, deliberately letting the curtain fall with a loud ‘swish’.
There was no movement from inside for a long while. Just as Lin Xing was about to knock, Lumiya’s muffled voice came from within.
“Lin Xing! Come here! How do you tie this stupid ribbon?!”
The curtain was pulled open a crack, and she poked her head out, little wings drooping crookedly, cheeks puffed up like a bun.
Lin Xing suppressed his laughter as he helped her tie the ribbon and straighten her wings.
“See? Doesn’t it look nice?”
Lumiya glanced at herself in the mirror. Cute—yes.
But she really couldn’t accept such a pink, adorable little girl as herself.
Little White’s eyes sparkled as she rushed over, grabbing Lumiya’s wrist and giving it a shake.
“So cute! So cute! We have to buy it!”
Before Lumiya could protest, she was pulled to the checkout counter, and Little White called back to Lin Xing,
“Lin Xing, hurry up! This dress matches Lumiya perfectly!”
Lumiya stumbled after her, muttering, “I didn’t say I wanted to buy it,” but she didn’t actually shake off Little White’s hand, her ear tips quietly turning red.
After buying the dress,
Lumiya used her Dragon Tail to carry the shopping bag, looking like a lifeless rag doll as Lin Xing pulled her along.
But the moment they reached the Sweet Shop, Lumiya seemed to revive on the spot,
rushing straight to the counter.
“I want the rainbow smoke ice cream cake—with extra strawberry sauce!”
Lin Xing followed after her.
“And two strawberry milkshakes, please.”
Little White sat across from them, unable to hold back her laughter at Lumiya’s expectant look.
Soon, the cake was brought out.
On top of the pale pink cake were colorful firework sticks; when lit, the smoke looked like a miniature rainbow.
Lumiya stared wide-eyed, picked up her fork, and shoveled a huge piece into her mouth, her eyes instantly curving into crescent moons.
Lin Xing watched her wolf down the cake and smiled as he wiped the cream from the corner of her mouth.
“Slow down, no one’s going to take it from you.”
Little White bit her fork, her own eyes turning into crescents.
“This rainbow smoke is amazing! There’s no Elemental Fluctuation at all, but it looks just like magic!”
She lifted a piece of cake to her mouth, then seemed to remember something and winked at the cake.
“I have to take a picture of this cake to show my roommates—they’ll be so jealous!”
She pulled out her phone, snapping several pictures of the cake, then a few selfies with the cake.
But Lumiya’s sharp eyes caught it—
In those ‘selfies with the cake’, Lin Xing’s face clearly took up seventy percent of the shot! Obviously, those weren’t cake selfies at all—they were selfies with Lin Xing!
Lumiya narrowed her eyes, gave a little humph, but didn’t say anything.
As they ate, Little White suddenly remembered something and looked at Lin Xing.
“The Freshman Beast Taming Potential Tournament is next week. How’s your preparation coming along?”
Lin Xing patted Lumiya’s head.
“Just about ready. We still need to practice our Combined Attack Technique a bit more.”
“Snowball and I will work hard, too!”
Today, Snowball was still in Little White’s Tamer’s Space absorbing the Talent Ascension Stone.
Lumiya waved her hand.
“With me around, there’s no way we won’t get first place!”
After finishing their cake, the three of them wandered around a bit more.
Little White pulled Lin Xing into the Beast Tamer Supplies Store, her eyes immediately drawn to the ice-type specialty items on the shelves.
She picked up a collar with a little snowflake pendant.
The label said it would enhance the slowing effect of icy mist after being worn.
She also squeezed a fluffy Perpetual Ice Silk Cushion shaped like a cloud—made of temperature-controlled ice silk that could speed up ice-type Beast recovery.
She whispered,
“Snowball will love this!”
Her eyes crinkled into crescents as she swiftly put the items in her shopping bag, unable to resist patting the bag as if she could already see how happy Snowball would be when she got her gifts.
Lin Xing, on the other hand, didn’t buy any tools.
First, because the Freshman Potential Tournament next week didn’t allow their use.
Second, he’d vaguely noticed that these items actually had no effect on Lumiya.
As the sun set,
Lumiya turned back into her Dragon Form and crawled onto Lin Xing’s shoulder, curling up around his neck with a yawn,
Still holding the candied haw in her mouth that Lin Xing had just bought.
“I can’t walk anymore~.”
Lin Xing nodded and said goodbye to Little White.
On the way back, the wind carried the sweet scent of candied fruit.
Lin Xing looked at Lumiya munching on his shoulder.
He pulled out the photos he’d taken that day and set one as his phone wallpaper.
In the photo, the little golden-haired girl in a pink dress held a candied haw; the sugar glaze glimmered in the sunset, her smile sweet as a crescent moon, even her eyes sparkling with joy.