First Glimpse of the Grilled Fish King

The two of them walked along the lakeshore, staying close, yet both tacitly kept silent, simply keeping each other company. Though there was no conversation, Zhang Lexuan always felt an inexplicable sense of comfort when walking beside this little rascal, even though she had grown up in Shrek since she was a child.

It was strange; despite having grown up in Shrek, it was only when she was with Su Qing that Zhang Lexuan felt that sense of security. That feeling of being needed was exactly what she had dreamed of all along. She suddenly seemed to understand what Mu En meant when he told her to live for herself.

That night, everyone slept exceptionally soundly, with the exception of Wang Dong, who had been left out in the cold outside the dormitory door all night.

"Damn Huo Yuhao! Making the dormitory smell like this! This young master will never forgive you!!!"

In the days that followed, aside from attending classes and cultivating, Su Qing rarely left his dormitory. After all, his meals were taken care of, so he didn't even need to go to the cafeteria, though most of the time, Zhang Lexuan would entrust Bei Bei to bring him food.

It was evident that as the inner court's senior sister, she was indeed very busy, and with her own cultivation to attend to, the number of times he met with Zhang Lexuan during this period could be counted on one's fingers. However, that was fine; having been a corporate slave before, he could fully empathize with her.

Because of the upcoming freshman assessment, Xiao Xiao also rarely came to hang out with him. Even when she did, it was usually after she finished training with Huo Yuhao and the others. Almost every time, she would be exhausted, crashing directly into Su Qing's dormitory, taking over his bed the moment she entered, and chatting with Su Qing while lying on the soft bedding that carried the scent of the Qiluo Pill.

In truth, she had long since discovered that Su Qing possessed a fragrance that could alleviate fatigue, but she was too embarrassed to burrow into his arms every day—it was just too awkward. Thus, occupying Su Qing's bed became the substitute.

As for whether breaking into Su Qing's dormitory would lead to gossip, Xiao Xiao's stance was: no, absolutely not. Senior brothers and sisters from the inner court ran in and out every day; these freshmen, unaware of the truth, even assumed it was a dedicated meeting place they had set up.

"The class monitor said he's taking me and Wang Dong to Sea God Lake to get some grilled fish. Do you want to come along?"

That day, Xiao Xiao crashed into the dormitory as usual, took two steps to Su Qing's side, and looked at him with hopeful eyes.

"There's such a good thing?!"

Upon hearing about grilled fish, Su Qing's eyes lit up. It wasn't that the inner court cafeteria food was inferior to Huo Yuhao's, but after eating so many delicacies, a wild barbecue was hard to refuse.

Moreover, if nothing went wrong, today would likely be the day they encountered the Flame Maniac Ma Xiaotao. Even if he didn't go, Huo Yuhao and the others wouldn't be in any real danger, but he knew for a fact that Xiao Xiao would definitely be clinging to his leg, crying a river of tears about how she almost burned to death...

Besides, one shouldn't let their guard down just because they know the outcome. The moment he participated in the causality, the future became an unknown. The original plot could only serve as a reference, not a standard answer. If something were to happen to Xiao Xiao, no amount of regret would change it.

"Yay! I want to eat ten!"

Seeing Su Qing agree, Xiao Xiao jumped up in excitement. Before her feet even touched the ground, she wrapped her arms around Su Qing's neck and kissed him on the cheek, then immediately bolted ten meters away with lightning speed.

"This girl..."

Feeling the slight dampness on his cheek, Su Qing smiled helplessly. Sometimes, he really couldn't do anything about Xiao Xiao. He wasn't the only one who felt this way; even Zhang Lexuan, upon seeing Xiao Xiao's adorable, dazed expression, would subconsciously ignore the fact that she was a romantic rival.

"Xiao Xiao, why are you running so fast?"

Wang Dong, who was helping Huo Yuhao set up the grill by Sea God Lake, looked puzzled. Just a moment ago, when Huo Yuhao mentioned grilling fish, she had vanished in the blink of an eye, and now she was rushing back. What on earth was she doing?

"Phew... I... I just went to call Xiao Qing."

Xiao Xiao, running at full tilt, panted as she explained to Wang Dong. Wang Dong, who had heard of Su Qing but never met him, was suddenly filled with curiosity:

"Is that the Su Qing who gave Yuhao the Mystic Water Pill? You two... nothing's going on, right? Hehe!"

"Ahem, 'as if'."

Hearing this, Xiao Xiao immediately perked up, blurting out the new vocabulary she had learned from Su Qing.

"?"

Seeing Wang Dong's confusion, Xiao Xiao explained:

"I learned this from Xiao Qing. It's basically a phrase used to respond to things that might happen in the future but haven't made any progress at this stage."

"Whoa! That's amazing, two characters can express so much meaning!"

Xiao Xiao's deadpan explanation successfully bluffed Wang Dong. In reality, Su Qing had never told her what the phrase meant; she had deduced it entirely based on the context at the time. She had always felt that this was a very fulfilling achievement.

"Who taught you to explain it like that?"

Before she could retreat from her state of pride, Su Qing, who had happened to overhear Xiao Xiao's explanation, slightly covered his forehead.

"Ahem, I figured that out myself, of course. Am I not very smart?"

As she spoke, she confidently patted her chest, expecting Su Qing's praise.

"You are indeed very smart, but normal people wouldn't go around researching these ambiguous terms."

"What? Do you mean to say I'm not a normal person?"

"No, I mean to say that you are a special person."

"Hehe, Xiao Qing is the best~"

Wang Dong, standing to the side, listened to their flirtatious-sounding conversation and, for a moment, didn't know what to say.

"Brother Su, please stop chatting with Xiao Xiao. Wang Dong won't be able to eat the grilled fish at this rate."

Huo Yuhao, who had returned with a few fish from somewhere, looked at the awkwardly cringing Wang Dong and felt a surge of pity. Of course, this stemmed from sympathy for his good brother who couldn't bear the torture.

"Yuhao, you're finally here. You have no idea how I've spent the time while they were talking!"

Seeing Huo Yuhao finally arrive, Wang Dong immediately went to greet him.

"Xiao Qing, let me tell you, I have a feeling Wang Dong and Yuhao have something going on? They usually walk around holding hands..."

Seeing the contrast in Wang Dong's attitude, Xiao Xiao seemed to confirm her suspicions and whispered into Su Qing's ear.

"Shh, don't say things that are detrimental to unity."

Su Qing responded in a voice only the two of them could hear.

He knew the situation between Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong all too well. Not to mention that Wang Dong was a girl to begin with, the fact that they held hands was simply because the Haodong Power could accelerate their cultivation. Though, that certainly had something to do with Wang Dong inexplicably cross-dressing as a boy.

During their conversation, Huo Yuhao had already skillfully started grilling the fish. Honestly, if not for considering Huo Yuhao's own wishes, he really wanted to give him a nickname—he might as well be called the Grilled Fish Douluo.

"Ah! It smells so good, I want the first one!"