Lin Xiaolu's Sense of Crisis

Lin Xiaolu's somewhat strange reaction caught Xia Liang's attention.

Seeing that the other person was staring motionless at the entrance hall where the Larkspur had left, she reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "Is there a problem?"

"Status..." Lin Xiaolu uttered in a low voice.

"Status?"

"My position is under unprecedented threat!"

Turning around abruptly, Lin Xiaolu grabbed Xia Liang's shoulders, her eyes swirling with confusion. "This absolutely can't go on! We can't let their relationship escalate any further!"

"Ah..."

This kind of startled reaction was typical of Lin Xiaolu's personality. After witnessing it several times, Xia Liang had developed a knack for dealing with Lin Xiaolu in this state. To this, she simply drew out her astonishment in a nonchalant tone, then asked with a forced smile, "Why?"

"Can't you feel it? If this continues, that child will monopolize Larkspur's attention!"

Unaware of Xia Liang's perfunctory tone, Lin Xiaolu was clearly greatly provoked. She clenched her fists and blurted out, "Just the fact that he takes her home alone every day and gives her so much time to be alone with Larkspur is just too enviable... too unfair!"

"That child lost both parents, is disabled, and calls me 'teacher, teacher' so sweetly every day. He has all the qualities of being 'well-behaved,' 'pitiful,' and 'likeable.' If I were in Larkspur position, I would subconsciously choose to take extra care of him."

"And once this pattern continues, their relationship will only get better as they spend more time alone together each day; Larkspur will also devote more and more attention to the child, until one day she completely surpasses us!"

"If it really comes to that, our four-person team will be reduced to just two names! We'll both become background figures, mere spectators!"

As she spoke, Lin Xiaolu could even imagine that day.

In her daze, she already saw Bai Jingxuan, who had completely won over Larkspur's affections, standing beside her, asking pitifully:

"Teacher, everyone in the team is a newbie, is it really okay to treat me like this?"

"Ah, it's okay, because you're the best one in my heart. The other two are just delinquent girls who can't even pass their school exams."

"But isn't Senior Little Brocade more outstanding than me?"

"She's too outstanding; she's already on the right track without my guidance."

"Wasn't Senior White Rose the person you were initially looking forward to?"

"A useless child who can't even master the Deviant Magic he finally awakened doesn't deserve my love."

"Teacher..."

"Xiao Xuan..."

"Aaaaaaah!"

Clutching her head, Lin Xiaolu was devastated by the scene she had imagined. She collapsed onto the sofa, letting out a heart-wrenching cry, "No! No! I don't want to see that day! I don't want to!"

This performance, which resembled a stand-up comedy routine, left Xia Liang almost dumbfounded.

Seeing that Lin Xiaolu was making a bigger fuss, she couldn't help but think, "Maybe I should just leave her alone?"

"Haha... Well, I don't think the junior would do that."

After a long pause, Xia Liang finally found a gap to interject and said with a dry laugh, "You don't need to think so pessimistically and complicatedly. Just like me, why not take everything in stride?"

Her intention was to prevent Lin Xiaolu from thinking about things in such an extreme and exaggerated way, but after she said this, she found that the other party calmed down surprisingly.

He fell silent, staring intently at Xia Liang's face. After a long while, he slowly looked away.

"Forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I talked to someone like you who was never favored from the start."

The living room fell into a deathly silence.

Lin Xiaolu was unaware of the devastating impact of those words, but after a moment of silence following their utterance, she felt her face being cupped in two hands.

Then Xia Liang, with a stiff smile on his face, had placed his hands on either side of Lin Xiaolu's face without her noticing, and then pinched her face hard with his fingers.

Lin Xiaolu struggled to her feet. "What are you doing?!"

"What am I doing? You really dare to say that, you really dare to say that!"

Xia Liang pinched Lin Xiaolu's face hard, smiling but gritting her teeth as she said, "Is this the arrogant mouth that uttered those words? There's a limit to how much you can talk nonsense!"

"That guy thinks he's so great just because the seniors treat him differently! What do you mean 'never been favored from the start'? What a great 'never been favored from the start'! It makes me so angry! Do you think I don't want to get a little more attention?"

"Throughout the summer, you and Xiao Xuan had individual guidance from senior mentors, but I was completely left to my own devices because I progressed too quickly! Do you think this is the result I wanted?!"

Lin Xiaolu tried to slap Xia Liang's hand away. "Woshuoduoshushuo (I'm telling the truth)!"

"I know! But it's precisely because it's true that it hurts!"

"Why are you taking your anger out on me?" Unable to escape Xia Liang's pinching attack, Lin Xiaolu simply switched from defense to offense and reached out to pinch Xia Liang's face as well.

"Who do you think made me so angry?!"

The two of them wrestled and played around like that for a long time until they felt hungry and finally managed to get rid of the topic.

As Larkspur had instructed, they had to have dinner before heading to Xia Liang's house for the evening study session.

They briefly reheated the food cooked by the hourly worker, then cooked the white rice and served it all in the restaurant. The two girls sat on either side of the table and picked up their chopsticks.

"What's going on between you two?"

Yawning, Moko, looked at the two of them with some confusion. "Why does your face look a little red and swollen? Have you gained weight?"

"It's none of your business!"

"This has nothing to Moko."

The two answered in unison, though their wording and emotional inclinations differed, but upon closer examination, their meanings were essentially the same.

Despite not having done anything to upset them, Moko ended up feeling awkward and confused.

"No matter what, this isn't a solution."

With her face swollen and red, Lin Xiaolu held her rice bowl and said, "Even if we discuss this without any ulterior motives, I think the current situation is too inefficient. You, me, Larkspur, and that child... the four of us live in four different places. Every time we have an activity, we have to meet up first, then change locations in the middle, and then there's such a small child who needs to be picked up and dropped off. Don't you think it's very troublesome?"

"There's nothing we can do, isn't there?"

Xia Liang took a sip of vegetables and chewed slowly. "To be honest, the young senior is the one who should feel the most troubled. She hasn't complained at all. Are you really going to be so heartless as to let such a young child fly back alone after the activity? Or are you planning to volunteer to pick her up and drop her off?"

"So, I said!"

Tapping her bowl with her chopsticks, Lin Xiaolu said loudly, "Even for the sake of Larkspur, it's time to come up with a win-win solution!"

"What plan?" Xia Liang stopped what she was doing and blinked curiously.

"Hmph, I haven't paid attention to magical girl anime for a long time. You, who have lost your childlike heart, wouldn't understand."

With a slight upturn of her lips, Lin Xiaolu raised her chopsticks and drew circles, saying with a touch of pride, "Speaking of magical girls, there's a classic element and scene that I think we can totally utilize!"

"A classic scene from a magical girl movie?" Xia Liang tilted her head. "School?"

"Zero points." Lin Xiaolu coldly delivered the verdict.

"What could it be?" Xia Liang put down her chopsticks and began to ponder.

By combining the previous topics with the current situation, considering the context in which Lin Xiaolu said those words, and listing out the ways to change the current situation one by one, Xia Liang felt that she had vaguely grasped the answer.

Seeing Lin Xiaolu's expression that seemed to say "I'm a genius," she opened her mouth slightly, then couldn't help but point at the other person.

Seeing that Xia Liang seemed to have an idea, Lin Xiaolu stopped keeping her in suspense and chose to reveal the answer.

In that instant, the two finally synchronized their thoughts and uttered the same word in unison:

"Secret Base!"