Thick-Skinned Little Yun

Outside East Sea Academy, in a little restaurant with a signboard, the air was thick with the rich aroma of grease and the smoky heat of stir-fried chili peppers. A place like this was completely at odds with the refined cafeterias inside the academy, polished enough to reflect a person's image, yet it was deeply favored by young masters like Xie Xie who preferred to be "down-to-earth"—mainly because it was cheap and filling.

At a wooden table in the corner, Xie Xie and Tang Wulin were bent over a gleaming plate of boiled fish fillets and two heaping bowls of pork rib noodles. Xie Xie had just picked up a fish slice coated in red chili oil and Sichuan peppercorns with the tip of his chopsticks when the plastic bead curtain at the entrance, covered in fingerprints, was violently swept aside with a clatter.

The last traces of evening light were cut off by a figure entering the dimly lit restaurant.

The newcomer wore a modern, deconstructed outfit tailored tight against her body, making her silhouette sharp as a blade. Against its black base, blindingly bright orange trim ran from her collar all the way down her trouser seams. A Chinese-style knotted-button waist sash cinched her narrow waist. Her high ponytail swung in an arc with every step, its ends nearly brushing the doorframe. Most eye-catching of all were the laser-iridescent fabrics on her hems and arm guards, which flowed with rainbow light as she moved, as though a fragment of aurora had been sewn onto her clothes.

The long spear in her hand had an almost black shaft wrapped in crystalline patterns of some unknown material. Its tip was an orange blade set with crystals, with blue-violet light flowing through the veins of the blade. An energy ring hanging from its tail glowed faintly in orange and blue, clearly announcing that this thing was not some ordinary fire poker.

Yun Ying.

Her gaze swept across the room, accurately locking onto the table in the corner. She strode straight over, leaned her spear against the mottled wall, and let its butt strike the baseboard with a clang, making the proprietress poke her head out from behind the counter. Yun Ying then pulled over the empty stool beside Xie Xie and dropped onto it, making it groan under the strain.

"Hey." She propped an elbow on the table, lifted her chin, and looked at Xie Xie. "Do we know each other?"

The fish slice on Xie Xie's chopsticks dropped back into the dish with a plop, splashing several dots of red oil onto the back of his hand. He took a napkin and slowly wiped his fingers, rolling his eyes until almost nothing but white showed. "Know each other? When you flew over my head in the arena, did you ask whether we knew each other? Now you're sitting beside me. Are you paying for the meal?"

"Oh." Yun Ying turned toward the counter and raised her voice. "Boss, one serving of sweet and sour pork, extra sauce. One serving of crispy pork, make it crunchy. And cold wood ear salad, with extra vinegar—right, bring two more bowls of the noodles those two guys ordered. And him." She casually pointed at Xie Xie. "Add a tea egg for me before he pays."

The boss answered vaguely from behind the stove, "Coming right up."

Xie Xie nearly dumped his bowl over her face. "Who said I was paying?!"

"You'll say it when the time comes." Yun Ying's face did not redden and her breath did not hitch. She casually fished a rib from Tang Wulin's rather salty bowl of noodles, stuffed it into her mouth, and chewed with obvious enjoyment. "A little too salty, but the meat's stewed tender. Tang Wulin, you can eat this. Xie Xie, if you eat this much spice and your stomach hurts when we fight later, don't come looking for me."

Xie Xie's temples twitched. He could not take out the Light Dragon Dagger in the restaurant, or he really would have wanted to smack the back of her head with the flat of the blade. But he glanced at the spear in the corner—the orange-blue glow on the energy ring at its tail was steady, like a silent threat. They might not end up in the same group for the next round of team matches, but there would still be individual matches and team point matches afterward... Even if Xie Xie refused to admit it, he had to acknowledge the speed of that woman's spear, striking like a dragon. If he truly angered her, getting treated like a living target in the arena without being able to call a stop would be even more humiliating than today.

He gritted his molars and forced a smile at the proprietress. "...Add a serving of braised prawns in oil and a serving of sauced beef. Put her sweet and sour pork and crispy pork on my bill."

Yun Ying's eyes instantly curved into crescents. She tapped the edge of his bowl with her chopsticks. "Xie Xie, you're such a good person. I knew agility-type soul masters were all meticulous. Look at you—your combat uniform isn't as flashy as mine, but you've got the right presence. That side-step you made in the arena just now—tsk. If my spear wind hadn't grazed your scalp, you could've been on the academy brochure."

Xie Xie said, "...Was that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Of course." Yun Ying picked up a slice of cucumber from Tang Wulin's bowl and stuffed it into her mouth right in front of him. After chewing it down, she continued, "Your speed's pretty good. You're just too hung up on formations. That afterimage curtain when your twin daggers crossed—I was stunned for half a second. Really, half a second. Then I realized I needed to attack the heavy armor's lower half. Those daggers of yours are expensive, right? Light Dragon Dagger? That name sounds much better than mine."

Xie Xie could tell what she was doing, but when she so casually praised his martial soul, the awkward anger in his chest really did dissipate by half—then he became even angrier. This was a sugar-coated bullet! He knew it was fake! He knew that the next second, she could leap over his head and shout, "Tang Wulin, fill in!"

But then the proprietress brought over the sweet and sour pork. The sauce was glossy and red, and its fragrance rushed straight into his head. Yun Ying did not even move her chopsticks before pushing it in front of Xie Xie. "You try it first. You know spicy food. I trust your tongue."

Xie Xie stared at the plate of pork, then at her sincere expression that seemed to say, "I really think you're capable." In the end, he still picked up a piece. The sweet and sour sauce exploded across his tongue. He chewed silently, his ears growing a little warm. He did not know whether it was from the spice or anger.

Beside him, Tang Wulin quietly shifted his noodle bowl half an inch closer to himself so Yun Ying would not reach in with her chopsticks again. He only smiled gently and said, "Yun Ying, your outfit... is pretty distinctive."

Yun Ying peeled a tea egg, stuffed all the yolk into Xie Xie's bowl, and ate the white herself. "It's eye-catching and easy to recognize, so Xie Xie doesn't fail to find me in the arena and blindly charge in to give away a point."

Xie Xie said nothing and lowered his head to shovel noodles into his mouth.

His eyes were fixed on the scallions floating in his bowl, but his thoughts had already drifted far away—

You changed your clothes and think no one knows who you are... You were the one crouching in the back with a spear like some lucky mascot in the arena. You were the one who cleared the field in forty seconds. And now you're dressed like a walking neon sign, insisting that "we'll know each other when the time comes." Fine, Yun Ying. Fine.

One day.

The image in his mind was absurdly clear: the final round of the team matches, or perhaps an assessment arena. Xie Xie's twin daggers would turn into rainbows, Light Dragon and Shadow Dragon intertwining into a net. The first step would fool her spear line into sweeping empty air. The second would have the Shadow Dragon Dagger skim along the ground and slice through the knotted buttons of her sash. The third would place the Light Dragon Dagger against her throat. Her spear would fall with a clatter, and she would tumble onto the ground. She would roll around in the dirt, her combat uniform smeared with dust, its iridescent rainbow glow reduced to muddy light. She would cry, "Xie Xie, I was wrong, don't stab me!" Then he would crouch and tap her forehead with the hilt of his dagger. "Still filling in? Still calling Tang Wulin? Still saying I'm slow, off-angle, and badly positioned?"

Yes, just like that. Make her cry and howl. Make her understand that the unrivaled, elegant young master's agility attacks weren't there to serve as her automatic accessory.

The corners of Xie Xie's mouth could not help curling upward. It started as a faint smile, but the more he thought about it, the better it felt. The smile became impossible to contain, revealing eight teeth as his eyes narrowed. He even gave a silent "heh," tapping his chopsticks against the rim of his bowl in a cheerful rhythm. He looked like someone who had won the grand prize without having to split the money.

Tang Wulin held his noodle bowl and looked at him for three seconds before looking at Yun Ying.

Yun Ying was using the tips of her chopsticks to draw circles in sweet and sour sauce on the tabletop. Catching sight of Xie Xie's grin from the corner of her eye, she frowned and nudged Tang Wulin with her elbow. "Tang Wulin, did he eat himself stupid... He was so mad his face went pale just now, and now he's smiling like he found a soul-guided battery. Does he usually act like this?"

Tang Wulin set down his chopsticks and touched his nose. His gaze wandered between Xie Xie's unfocused eyes and twitching lips as he said thoughtfully, "...Maybe he thought of some new move while reviewing the fight?"

"A new move to fight me in his dreams?" Yun Ying raised a brow. "That smile of his looks like the village idiot from my hometown staring at a fairy in a New Year painting. Or like a gambler who lost everything and is fantasizing about rolling triple sixes. Xie Xie." She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. "Wake up. Not eating the prawns? I'm taking them."

Xie Xie snapped back with an "Ah," only to find Tang Wulin and Yun Ying both staring at him while a smile still hung on his own face. He immediately straightened his expression and put down his chopsticks. "Who's smiling like an idiot? I was thinking about positioning for the next round."

"You thought about positioning and showed eight teeth?" Yun Ying took the last prawn from his bowl as naturally as if she were taking her own food. "Fine. Agility-type soul masters have weird thought processes. I get it. But Xie Xie, that smile just now really looked like... hmm, how should I put it? Like you flirt with yourself in the mirror before stabbing someone with your daggers."

Xie Xie inhaled a mouthful of tea into his windpipe and coughed until tears came out. "You—!"

Tang Wulin hurriedly handed him a napkin, his shoulders trembling as he held back laughter. "She's joking. But you really did smile rather... vividly."

Xie Xie covered his mouth with the napkin and reinforced his fantasy of making her roll on the ground crying by another three layers. He glanced at Yun Ying—she was lowering her head to gnaw on crispy pork, the iridescent glow at her cuffs flashing with every chew. The cloud-patterned metal ornaments on her shoulders reflected the yellow light of the hanging lamps, making her look like a wild cat that had eaten and drunk its fill. He gritted his teeth, picked up a slice of beef, and chewed viciously as though he were chewing her spear shaft.

"I saw it." Yun Ying swallowed the last bite of sweet and sour pork, clapped her hands, then took several Federation Credits from the side pouch of her waist sash and laid them on the table. She pushed them toward Xie Xie. "I'll pay half the meal. What you treated me to is separate. Don't glare at me, Xie Xie. I said we'd know each other when the time came—don't we know each other now? Look, I know you like spicy food. I know what your daggers are called. I know that when your face turns pale with anger, you still add dishes for your enemy because you'll need to rely on me for the next assessment."

She paused, tilted her head, and let her long ponytail sweep across the back of the chair. "But with the way you were smiling just now, I really think you ate yourself stupid. Tang Wulin, is he usually like this too?"

Tang Wulin finally could not hold it in any longer. He laughed out loud and shook his head. "He's not usually like this. Today, maybe... he was hit pretty hard."

Xie Xie swept the Federation Credits into his pocket and sneered. "Hit hard? I'm calculating how to make certain people roll around on the ground."

Yun Ying picked up the long spear from the corner. The orange-blue ring at its tail went dark, and the crystalline patterns on the shaft dimmed. She stood, the iridescent glow of her combat uniform's hem drawing an arc as she turned. "Fine, I'll wait. But don't be late tomorrow."

She pushed the door open and left, making the bead curtain rattle. Xie Xie stared at the wavering shadow behind the curtain for a long while before draining the remaining noodle soup from his bowl in one gulp. The spice made him suck in a breath.

"Tang Wulin."

"Yeah?"

"Was she wearing that outfit on purpose for people to look at?"

Tang Wulin thought about it. "It looks pretty good."

"...I'm asking whether she wore it on purpose to annoy me."

"Maybe." Tang Wulin smiled as he stood and patted Xie Xie's shoulder. "Come on, let's review the fight. You didn't fight badly today. You just got pulled into someone else's rhythm—but that smile just now really does need reviewing. Why were you smiling?"

Xie Xie followed him outside. The evening breeze blew past, and the streetlights stretched the shadows of the three of them long and short. As he silently repeated, One day I'll defeat her, for the seventh time, he suddenly felt that... maybe she was not completely unbearable.