After leaving the rooftop, Su Ziling took her newly bought lunch and returned to the rental house.
“I’m home.”
“Mom! I’m starving!” Su Lili cried out impatiently, like a fledgling waiting to be fed. “Why are you so late?”
“It took a while to queue up.”
Su Ziling placed the boxed lunch on the table and looked at Su Lili, who was wolfing it down. For a moment, she felt a headache coming on.
Logically, this kid was already twelve years old. She should be going to school instead of idling at home every day.
But the problem was that she didn’t even have a registered residence or an ID card. How could she go to school?
And even if she managed to get an ID, tuition would be a huge problem.
This wasn’t like her previous life, where there was a nine-year compulsory education system.
Although the Federation had laws similar to compulsory education, in reality, those schools were greedier than one another.
Tuition could indeed be reduced, but wool still came from the sheep. They always found creative ways to squeeze money out of your pockets.
So this was actually a significant expense.
With her financial situation, she simply couldn’t afford it.
Could she go negotiate with Lin Yizhou?
Su Ziling felt like she had two huge problems weighing on her head.
Fortunately, it wasn’t the start of the school season yet, so she still had a little time to prepare the funds.
The place where she originally worked had now closed down. At this rate… was she really going to have to work at the maid cafe?
Su Ziling scratched her head and ultimately had no choice but to compromise.
After all, she wasn’t that close with Lin Yizhou. Suddenly asking him to foot a large bill felt really inappropriate.
And honestly, just recalling how forcefully she had made him pay for meals was already abstract enough.
But there was no other way!
Given his eating habits, who could stand to watch?
If Su Lili found out, she would inevitably sneak out at night to bring him food again. So it was better to take the initiative and be practical.
“Mom, Mom, how did it go with Dad today?”
While eating, Su Lili’s little eyes kept darting toward Su Ziling. The latter glanced at her expressionlessly, then asked in a calm tone.
“Did you sneak out again?”
“Hmm hmm hmm~” Su Lili blinked, playing coy. “How could that be? I’ve been very good, staying home without going out.”
“I didn’t talk to him at all today.”
“Huh? Then Mom, what were you doing on the roof?”
“…”
“…Ehehe~” Realizing she had let something slip, the little one quickly tapped her head, pretending to be innocent. “I guessed… No, no! Don’t hit my head! I won’t grow tall!”
The moment Su Ziling raised her hand knife, Su Lili completely caved.
Seeing Su Lili in that duck-and-cover pose, Su Ziling ultimately didn’t bring the hand knife down.
“I’m so done with you…”
“Didn’t you say it yourself, Mom? As long as I don’t sneak out at night, it’s fine.”
Su Lili not only showed no sign of remorse but even put her hands on her hips, straightened her back, and said righteously.
“It’s daytime now, so Lili isn’t wrong.”
“Just eat your food.” Su Ziling rolled her eyes at her. “With all this food, it still can’t shut your mouth.”
“Right, right, absolutely right,” Su Lili snapped her fingers. “That’s the tone of a mother… Ouch!”
Before she could finish, she received a hand knife strike.
“After you eat, remember to take out the trash. Don’t let it stay in the house and attract cockroaches.”
Withdrawing her hand knife, Su Ziling stood up, looking like she was about to head out.
“Mom, do you have class this afternoon?”
“No class this afternoon, but I need to find some part-time work. Otherwise, I can’t afford to feed a glutton like you.”
That’s what she said, but in reality, she had quite a few things to take care of on this trip.
First and foremost, she needed to get money.
Second, Su Ziling had to go find that magical girl, Pei Keke, and make it clear that she had no intention of cooperating with her.
Su Ziling didn’t want to become famous. Once famous, she might get tangled up with some annoying pest.
Then there would be endless troubles, possibly even exposing her identity and attracting more monsters.
“I only eat that much to replenish my magic, okay…” The little one muttered a bit defiantly. “If you let me go hunt monsters, I wouldn’t need to eat so much.”
On this point, Su Lili wasn’t wrong. Compared to hunting monsters or magical girls, the mana gained from eating was far too little.
“What are you muttering about?”
Because Su Lili’s voice was a bit garbled, Su Ziling, who was tying her shoelaces, didn’t catch what she said.
Hearing Su Ziling’s question, Su Lili immediately shook her head repeatedly.
“Nothing, nothing. Have a safe trip, Mom!”
“…Okay. Remember not to open the door for strangers.”
“Mhm mhm!”
After giving her instructions, Su Ziling left home and headed toward the maid cafe where Su Xiaomeng worked.
—
“Welcome!”
As soon as Su Ziling pushed open the door, a very strong anime culture vibe hit her in the face.
What met her eyes were basically all kinds of girls, and the walls were printed with very cute two-dimensional characters.
Calling it a maid cafe was more like… a character cafe.
They weren’t cosplaying specific characters but rather anime archetypes.
For example, little sister type, big sister type, tsundere, emotionless, loli, etc.
“Oh!” Su Xiaomeng, who was working, widened her eyes when she saw Su Ziling. “Is the sun rising from the west today? Bro, what brings you here?”
Su Xiaomeng was of course playing the little sister role. And it was precisely this enthusiasm, along with the gazes from everyone in the shop, that made Su Ziling want to retreat for the first time.
This place did make good money, but why did it feel like selling one’s looks?
“Oh my? Who’s this?”
A mature golden-haired woman came out from the back room. Sensing the atmosphere in the shop, she noticed Su Ziling at the door.
Before Su Ziling could answer, Su Xiaomeng immediately explained.
“Shopkeeper, shopkeeper! This is my brother! See? In terms of appearance, he’s got tons of potential. Plus, he’s good at cooking and housework. He definitely won’t disappoint you!”
“I haven’t even stated why I’m here yet.”
Su Ziling’s mouth twitched. Sometimes, having siblings who knew each other too well wasn’t a good thing.
After hearing Su Xiaomeng’s words, the shopkeeper’s eyes instantly lit up, and she rushed in front of Su Ziling like a hungry wolf pouncing on prey.
“Please, you must join our team!”
The fervent expression scared Su Ziling so much that she took two steps back. Looking at the maid uniform in the shopkeeper’s hand, her mouth twitched again.
“Hello, thank you, goodbye, farewell!”
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