Guests

Jiang Xuan came home on her day off, made dinner for her two sisters, then sat on the sofa yawning as she watched TV.

In Jiang Han's eyes, Comrade Zhen Ling was still considerate enough to give her elder sister some face. She obediently handed over the remote.

The petite Jiang Xuan took the remote and pressed the buttons with both hands, changing the channel.

It was a tournament called the Witch C-League. As she watched, she asked,

"Zhen Ling, who are the rising stars in the C-League lately?"

"There's a Chen Xinyi who's fought four days in a row, with twenty-three wins out of twenty-four matches." Jiang Zhenling mumbled around a mouthful of food.

Witch Gladiator could be considered the only sport, with a strict set of rules.

The braised pork was delicious today... Jiang Han silently praised it, too.

Although she had no idea why putting meat in a cauldron and boiling it over high heat for ten minutes turned it into braised pork, that didn't stop it from melting in her mouth.

"What about Teacher Yu, Yu Sitong?" Jiang Xuan asked again.

The image of the pretty commentator appeared in Jiang Han's mind.

Her younger sister had already polished off her first bowl of rice. With a snap of her fingers, she automatically filled another, then let out a breath and said,

"Teacher Yu got wiped out on the first day. She favored Steel Guard and got taken out by a Russian player's Empowered Triple-Combo."

"Empowered Triple-Combo?" Jiang Han asked.

"Empowered Fireball, Empowered Vodka Spray, Empowered Flame Shroud. The Bear Triple-Combo. If you don't use a curse resistance or fire-element defense, you're dead if you take that hit," Jiang Zhenling answered.

Just hearing about it made her feel irritated...

Jiang Han nodded. The Archwitch's lessons had said, "Empowered spells are good, spell penetration is beautiful. Empowered spells with spell penetration are both good and beautiful."

We played evocation. We weren't as dirty as the people who played transmutation or illusion. The whole point was to kill the other side in one burst—or get killed by them...

She hurriedly shoveled down a couple more bites of rice. Once she had finished, she returned to the sofa.

Jiang Zhenling finished eating soon after and sat back down on the sofa. Without a second thought, she pulled Jiang Han into her arms and held her like a doll, drawing a strange look from Jiang Xuan.

"You two are getting along so well now?"

"Not bad." "Pretty well."

They watched the match together until late at night. Jiang Han checked the time, went upstairs, picked up the bag with her work qipao, changed into her witch robe, and came back downstairs.

Zhen Ling waved to her.

"Off to work?"

"Yeah." Jiang Han nodded, then suddenly remembered something.

Cen Jing had driven her home yesterday, and she'd left her broom at the Market Management Office...

Leaving it overnight meant paying a five-yuan "parking fee."

That was already pretty expensive. It could buy twelve foreign Witch Eggs... Jiang Han felt a pang at the thought, then gave her younger sister an ingratiating smile.

"Could you take me to the Witch Market?"

"...Huh? Sure." Her younger sister nodded, got up, and headed to the entryway with her in casual clothes, without changing. She took out her broom. "Do you work at the Witch Market, too?"

"Yeah." Jiang Han decided to say as little as possible to avoid saying the wrong thing. But to keep her sister from getting curious, she quickly changed the subject. "Yesterday, Cen... my mentor took me home, but forgot to help me get my broom."

She'd rather let her younger sister keep teasing her about laying eggs than let her find out she sold drinks at a bar! Jiang Han made up her mind.

Her younger sister teased her a couple more times along the way, but thank goodness, she lost interest in Jiang Han's job.

Around half past eleven, Jiang Han arrived at the Witch Market. She got off the broom, thanked Jiang Zhenling, then carried the clothing bag to the Flight Platform Management Office on the sixth floor. After paying yesterday's parking fee, she headed to the Witch House.

Jiang Han pushed open the tavern door and felt a pleasant cool breeze. All the candles in the tavern had been replaced with candles made of ice. Their flames gave off a hazy, suggestive mist, making the place feel like it had both a humidifier and an air conditioner running.

Qin Shunying, wearing an ornate cloak and an elaborate witch's hat, was chatting with a woman at the bar. When she saw Jiang Han, she smiled and beckoned to her.

"Good evening, Ms. Qin," Jiang Han greeted her politely.

Qin Shunying returned her greeting, then gestured for her to wait. She sweet-talked the customer into leaving before smiling at Jiang Han and saying,

"I heard you're starting a society?"

...How had the secret gotten out so quickly? All Jiang Han could do was smile.

"Yes. Our society is called Wings. It's just for everyone to get together and relax."

"I know. You're also working on a very profitable spell, right?" Qin Shunying asked.

...Good grief, had absolutely everything leaked? Jiang Han put on another sincere smile.

"Yes, it's Ms. Du Ningzhuang's spell project. We've only made a small contribution."

"Hahaha, I can offer you some sponsorship from my personal funds. I have high hopes for you." Qin Shunying looked every bit the investor. "But I have to say, I didn't expect your magic power to be so high. I'm not bad at spotting talent, but I didn't expect all the people I found to be this impressive. Hahaha, you can call me Qin the Talent Scout from now on!"

...Damn it, even their magic power had leaked? Jiang Han kept smiling and chatted with Qin Shunying for a bit, then went into the break room and headed for the changing room.

She expertly took off her robe, changed into her qipao, then pulled a pair of disposable pantyhose at random from the box and put them on.

As Jiang Han pulled on her stockings, she glanced at the messages on the box.

[Girls, have we registered the society yet? --by-TW]

[Bestie, we have. I even used your underwear photo to get our first sponsorship: 5,000 yuan. --CYJ]

[Huh? What? --TW]

[QWQ So amazing. --DNZ]

[If you're going to use the Seduction Technique, Miss Jiang would be a better choice. --CLG]

[Bestie, your spell has a lot of potential. We'll probably get another sponsor or some funding soon. --CYJ]

[Girls, what are you talking about? What am I doing? No, why did I say no? --CY]

[Miss Chai, your woman belongs to us now. The four of us did this and that to her. --CLG]

[So much potential OvO, thanks, A-Chu OwO. Is our magic power a little high? --DNZ]

[Wait, what did you do? --CY]

[We did to Miss Tang what you would do to her, bestie. --CLG]

[That's a linguistic trap! --CY]

...Damn it, so this was where the secret had leaked.

...And besides, we got the sponsorship because everyone had high magic power. The sponsor simply thought we had potential, right? How did it become "we traded Tang Wen's photo for sponsorship"? No, maybe saying it that way was actually a good thing. It was all good.

...Du Ningzhuang was such a secret flirt, already using emoticons fifteen years ahead of their time.

...Little Sister Chai, we did something unforgivable to Big Sister Tang—we tricked her into playing with us.

Jiang Han thought for a moment, picked up a sticky note and pen, and left a message:

[A-Chu is awesome! --JH]

After writing it, Jiang Han put on her work uniform, left the changing room, and walked over to the bar.

"Am I still waiting tables today?" Jiang Han asked.

Qin Shunying shook her head and answered in an even tone,

"Sunday is a day off. We have customers, but most of them aren't here to watch the matches, so it's not as lively as yesterday. You don't need to wait tables."

"Then should I work behind the bar?" The tips were a little lower, but Jiang Han genuinely liked the bar and the work there.

Qin Shunying shook her head again and nodded toward the tavern's second floor, indicating that Jiang Han should look over.

The Witch House was a single-story building, but that didn't mean it had no second floor.

The second floor was more like a quiet tearoom, lined with bookcases. It wasn't much like a tavern at all. Since using one of the upstairs private rooms cost 300 yuan, few witches booked one of the handful of rooms.

On the inward-facing balcony upstairs, there was a figure.

There were only three private rooms, all semi-open to the inside, a little like the boxes at a sports arena. They faced the stage on the first floor, and since they were elevated and veiled by a thin layer of magical mist, people on the first floor and outside couldn't see who was inside.

"Your customer," Qin Shunying said.

"You should give it a try. See if you can sell her two bottles of regular liquor."