“That’s right, when it comes to the specialty of Yunsheng County, it’s of course the seafood noodles.”
Although she really wanted to just turn around and leave, enjoying the vacation all by herself, facing two pitifully beautiful girls who looked at her with wide eyes asking about local delicacies, Liu Xiaohua ultimately couldn’t harden her heart and abandon them.
After all, she was still their homeroom teacher in name, and even if only to protect the students’ mental health, she was obligated to supervise them before they did anything even more outrageous…
Of course, she was also a little curious to see how these two girls, who were so talked about at school, actually got along in private.
In any case, driven by a mix of complicated feelings, Liu Xiaohua took Su Wanli and Meng Wange directly to the seafood noodle shop she had originally planned to visit alone.
The restaurant wasn’t big, and the decor wasn’t fancy, but it was clean and tidy. The air was filled with the unique aroma of fresh seafood and spices, making one’s mouth water.
“Come on, since I’m so unlucky today… ahem, since we happened to run into each other, let me treat you two to a meal.”
Liu Xiaohua forced a warm smile onto her face, then pushed a plate of golden, fragrant roasted scallops to the center of the table, and skillfully ladled out a bowl of fish soup for each of the other two.
“Try it—this shop’s signature dish, garlic roasted scallops. I order it every time I come back. If I weren’t getting older and prone to gout, I’d basically want to come here every day.”
“Is that so? In my opinion, you still look very young, Teacher.”
Meng Wange smiled and nodded at Liu Xiaohua, then used her knife and fork to pick up a small piece of scallop meat and took a bite to taste it.
“Mmm, it’s truly delicious. Thank you for sharing.”
After briefly complimenting Liu Xiaohua’s taste, Meng Wange picked up all the remaining scallop meat from the sizzling plate and naturally placed it into the bowl in front of Su Wanli.
“Miss Su, do you like seafood? If you find the flavor acceptable, I’ll try making it for you at home later.”
Su Wanli raised an eyebrow slightly, as if she wanted to say something to Meng Wange, but for some reason she didn’t speak up directly.
“…Hmph, it’s not like I don’t have hands. I can pick up what I want to eat myself. You just eat what you want to eat.”
“I see. I understand.”
Meng Wange thought for a moment, then gently closed her eyes and opened her mouth slightly toward Su Wanli, as if waiting to be fed.
Seeing this, Su Wanli instinctively glanced at Liu Xiaohua at the side of the table, then guarded her bowl with her chopsticks like a small animal protecting its food, and glared warily at Meng Wange—
“Ah? What do you mean by that? There are other people around! Stop making these misleading little gestures!”
“Huh? But didn’t you tell me to eat what I wanted to eat?”
“Don’t you know how to use chopsticks? What’s with opening your mouth at me? Do you want me to personally feed you?”
“But I just gave you the last piece of scallop, Miss Su.”
Meng Wange gently opened her eyes, showed Su Wanli an innocent expression, and pointed with her chopsticks at the empty scallop shell on the plate—
“As your personal maid, it would be quite rude to take food from your bowl. Of course, if you voluntarily feed me, that’s a different matter.”
“You, you rascal, you always come up with these twisted arguments all day long…”
Su Wanli hesitated for a long time, and finally picked up that piece of scallop meat in a huff.
“…Ha? For just this tiny piece?! Do you believe I’ll dump the rest of the scallop shells on your head?”
However, under Liu Xiaohua’s slightly dazed gaze, she stiffly brought the scallop meat to Meng Wange’s lips.
Meng Wange took a small bite of the scallop and showed Su Wanli a gentle smile—
“Thank you for sharing. I’ve had my share. Please enjoy the rest yourself.”
“Ugh… wah…”
Liu Xiaohua, who had originally been about to suggest adding another two orders of garlic roasted scallops, silently wiped the sweat from her forehead and rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
‘…Oh my god, have I been away from home so long that my body has changed somehow, starting to get allergic to seafood and prone to hallucinations?’
‘The black-haired girl with a shy and annoyed expression in front of her—was she really the campus overlord Su Wanli she knew?’
‘The eldest miss of the Su family, who never tolerated dissent at school, who would dump food on anyone she disliked, who would even talk back to the head teacher and principal—was she actually… picking up food and handing spoons to someone else?’
‘Wasn’t this change a bit too drastic!?’
‘In the past, she would never have imagined Su Wanli doting on someone to this extent.’
‘That’s right, given Su Wanli’s previous personality, her current behavior could be called doting…’
‘So, the rumors on the campus forum weren’t baseless?’
‘Su Wanli… she really has feelings for Meng Wange…’
Just as Liu Xiaohua’s heart was undergoing a storm, the brown-haired girl who had been flirting with Su Wanli suddenly changed the subject and turned the topic to Liu Xiaohua.
“Speaking of which, Yunsheng County is your hometown, Teacher Liu. Is there any place you could recommend for us to visit later?”
“…Eh, me?”
Liu Xiaohua snapped back to reality and pursed her lips slightly.
“…Um, places that are fun to visit, places that are fun to visit… Let me think, let me recall—locals generally don’t know where the truly attractive spots are… But I’ve got it! Did you pass by a bead bracelet shop earlier? The kind that weaves bracelets with shells, pearls, and such.”
Hearing the words “bead bracelet,” Su Wanli’s eyes lit up slightly.
She raised the bracelet on her wrist and shook it in front of Liu Xiaohua as if showing off.
“That’s right, we did pass by one. This was made by Meng Wange herself.”
“Ah, that’s our number one con artist in Yunsheng County. They claim the shells are picked fresh from the beach, but they’re actually mass-produced plastic products from factories, and the holes are pre-drilled.”
Liu Xiaohua had intended to lie and say a few nice things, but as a native of Yunsheng County, the DNA ingrained in her bones made her blurt out the truth unconsciously—
“The pearls in those shops are fake beyond belief. Drop one on the ground and it shatters into glass shards. Locals never go in there; it only fools out-of-towners…”
Su Wanli silently stuffed the bracelet into her lap and looked out the noodle shop window as if nothing had happened.
Seeing her expression, Liu Xiaohua belatedly realized she had said the wrong thing—
“Ah, but making bead bracelets is just a recreational activity. As long as they’re not sold at the highest price, they’re still cheap and decent. You don’t need to be too particular about materials being genuine. Actually, factory-made ones look good too, okay?”
Su Wanli silently rubbed the bridge of her nose, let out a deep sigh, and tossed the price tag from her pocket into the trash can.
“…I’m sorry, Miss Su. I didn’t do proper research beforehand. If I had investigated a few more shops, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”
Seeing that Meng Wange had already started apologizing to Su Wanli extremely seriously, Liu Xiaohua, realizing she had messed up again, hurriedly forced a change of subject.
“Ah, haha, what was it again? Speaking of which, where are you staying? If you haven’t decided where to stay tonight, I highly recommend the Yun Sheng Ocean Hotel! The rooms have great views, and you can watch the fireworks festival from the best spot! Plus, the owner has a great personality and will help with whatever she can. Just be careful not to mention the current pitiful tourist numbers in Yunsheng County in front of her—she gets inexplicably angry whenever she hears about it lately…”
Seeing Su Wanli’s expression twist further, Liu Xiaohua stopped her topic and scratched her chin awkwardly—
“Um, don’t tell me… you’ve already met Sister Yunsheng?”
“And we already said in front of her that the street looked like some wilderness with hardly any tourists.”
Su Wanli shrugged coldly at Liu Xiaohua.
“Oh, oh dear? This…”
“Teacher Liu, you seem quite familiar with Ms. Li Yunsheng. Could you tell us about her?”
Meng Wange didn’t feel awkward at all. She pulled out a small notebook from her lap as if she had caught a lead, and continued questioning Liu Xiaohua.
“…Sister Yunsheng…”
At the mention of that name, a look of nostalgia and longing appeared on Liu Xiaohua’s face.
She put down her chopsticks, rested her chin on her hand, as if lost in distant memories.
“She’s a legendary figure in Yunsheng County, my childhood idol. She was beautiful, had a great personality, and was incredibly talented at painting. In her teens, she won a national-level grand prize. Back then, we all thought she would go to a bigger city and become a great artist.”
“If later she hadn’t…”