Chapter 20: The Date

Since the new timetable and courses hadn’t been implemented yet, the first class was still a self-study period, which passed quickly while everyone slacked off.

When the bell rang, Xu Chuyao shot a look at Shen Ning, who was sitting by the window, then left the classroom and walked to a quiet, empty path outside. There happened to be a public bench by the road, so she casually sat down to wait.

Thinking back, the first time Shen Ning had asked to talk to her alone, it had also been in this very spot. Back then, Chuyao had thought Shen Ning wanted to settle a score, but unexpectedly, she’d just invited her out for a meal. And now look where that had led them.

“Life is so unpredictable. Truly full of surprises.”

The Big Thunder girl muttered softly.

Not long after, the white-haired girl appeared on the path and greeted her. “I’m here.”

“Took you long enough, dragging your feet.” Xu Chuyao reached out her hand. “Where’s my present?”

She really asked that seriously, but luckily Shen Ning had come prepared. She pulled out the box of chocolate milk she’d bought before class and placed it in Chuyao’s hand. “Here. The chocolate milk you mentioned last time. I didn’t get the chance to buy it at the mall before, but I got it from someone today.”

Xu Chuyao looked down at the milk in surprise—she hadn’t expected Shen Ning to actually remember. But of course, she had to go through the routine, so she said, “I don’t think your gift really touched my hea… heart.”

She couldn’t remember the exact phrase, so she just filled in a random word. Close enough in meaning.

Didn’t touch her heart? Shen Ning thought for a moment, then took the chocolate milk back from Xu Chuyao and gently placed it on the Big Thunder girl’s big thunder.

Xu Chuyao stared at her, stunned.

“What are you doing?”

“You said yourself—it didn’t touch your heart.” Shen Ning pointed to Chuyao’s proud chest, where the milk carton was perfectly nestled. “Now it has.”

“…”

In a way, she wasn’t wrong. Fine. The usual girly tactics didn’t suit her anyway. Xu Chuyao decided to do things her own way.

But this time, Shen Ning spoke first. “Why did you agree to be my girlfriend?”

Xu Chuyao stuck in the straw and drank from the carton pressed against her chest, her lips wrapped around the straw. “Weren’t you the one who told me to be your girlfriend?”

Chuyao absolutely refused to acknowledge anything she overheard about “I want to gra—” someone. A confession is a confession. Period.

And besides, how was “I want to gra— you” not a confession?

“Okay, then let me rephrase. Why did you agree to be my girlfriend?”

“Because I’m kindhearted. Out of the 365 days in a year, there’s one random day when I’ll grant someone’s request.”

“……”

Shen Ning clenched her fists. Meanwhile, Xu Chuyao received a system prompt: [Villain Value +40]

Kinda low, honestly.

“In that case, can you grant me one more request?”

Despite feeling annoyed, Shen Ning held her temper and made her request.

Xu Chuyao blinked innocently. “What do you want?”

“I… I want to take a walk with you around campus during lunch break,” she emphasized, “holding hands.”

A walk, hand in hand?

Xu Chuyao’s beautiful eyes locked onto the white-haired girl, staring until Shen Ning’s expression started to falter. Then she revealed a little devilish smile. “What a pure little wish. But you see, I was planning to take a beauty nap at noon. Unless… you beg me~”

Shen Ning watched as Xu Chuyao stood up and began circling her, taunting with an exaggerated swagger:

“Beg me~ Beg me~ Pure little schoolgirl, if you beg me, I might consider it. Just consider—hey, what are you doing?! Ah!”

Smack!

****

Several minutes later, as the break ended, Xu Chuyao returned to her seat clutching her butt. She turned to her desk mate.

“Xiaolu, I’m skipping my nap this noon. Got something to do.”

Mi Xiaolu glanced at her behavior and hesitated before asking, “Did you get spanked?”

She hadn’t planned to ask—this kind of thing was kind of embarrassing to bring up—but looking at her roommate’s radiant expression, she clearly wasn’t ashamed at all.

“That’s right! Shen Ning is unbelievable,” Xu Chuyao huffed. “She wants her girlfriend to go on a lunch date. Girlfriend refuses, so she spanks her to force it. I didn’t even provoke her! Ugh, she’s just—she’s the worst kind of girlfriend!”

“Well… if you put it like that, yeah… but let me ask, was it only because you refused?”

Mi Xiaolu gave her a meaningful look. She knew her roommate well—maybe not before, but ever since they’d gone together to visit Shen Ning outside the confinement room that night, she’d gotten a real sense of how shallow this girl could be.

Xu Chuyao blinked innocently. “I’m a benevolent soul. I didn’t turn her down completely—I left her a chance. I told her if she begged me, I might consider it. But instead of begging, she spanked me!”

“That means she went easy on you.”

She really did hold back, Shen Ning.

—

After school, and after lunch, Xu Chuyao went back to the dorm to change into something more suitable.

“I think your usual JK-style school uniform is just fine,” Mi Xiaolu said, confused. “It matches the campus date theme too. Why the dress?”

The dress in question was a cream-white spaghetti-strap sundress, light and flowing. Paired with Xu Chuyao’s curvy figure, if the wind blew just right, her hair and hem would flutter together like a dreamy scene from a fantasy.

The only problem? The wind was a harsh autumn-winter wind. Sure, cultivators had better resistance to cold, but still—wasn’t this a bit too out of season?

“You don’t get it,” Xu Chuyao tugged the straps neatly onto her fair shoulders. “What if Shen Ning’s holding a grudge and this date is a trap to drag me to the training ground halfway through for a spar? If I dress like this, she won’t be able to!”

Just like last time at the restaurant—Chuyao always planned ahead.

—

In another dorm room, Shen Ning stared at her wardrobe, filled with nearly identical outfits, and for the first time, considered buying some new clothes.

Ten minutes later, she arrived at the flower bed beneath the dorm building—the meeting spot she’d arranged with Xu Chuyao. It was nap time, so the campus was quiet and empty, the only sound being the wind rustling through the leaves.

You had to wait a bit when dating, right? Li Renhao had said sometimes he waited over thirty minutes for his girlfriend.

Thinking this, Shen Ning moved toward the bench—only for a big cutie in a white sundress to pop up from behind the flower bed.

“Ta-da~! I got here before you. Bet you didn’t expect that!”

…………………

—

In the office building, in the homeroom teacher’s office, Teacher Yu Jing pressed her furrowed brows and occasionally glanced at the door—but no one showed up.

Her earlier warning in class about being “late-stage first-tier or higher” was meant for those two girls in particular. And after hearing from the dorm supervisor that neither had returned during the lunch break, Yu Jing had been sitting here, waiting.

But where were they now?

Where had they gone?