Sneaking a Bite

Smoke rose from the back hill.

Tang Wulin spotted it on his way to the forging room. The path cut along the edge of the field, passed the old equipment shed, and turned toward Crooked-Neck Grove at the foot of the back hill. At this hour, there was usually nothing on the hill besides the occasional stray cat darting out. But today was different—a thin wisp of white smoke drifted from deep within the trees, scattered and gathered again by the night wind, carrying an unmistakable charred fragrance. Grilled meat. Someone was secretly grilling skewers on the academy's back hill. His first thought was that some upperclassman had broken the rules to cook a private meal. But then he reconsidered. What student would dare light a fire on the back hill on a weekday evening? Eastsea Academy's patrols were no decoration. Unless—

He changed direction instead of heading to the forging room, circling around to beneath Gu Yue's dormitory building. He picked up a small pebble and lightly tossed it at the second-floor window. It struck the glass with a crisp tap. The window opened, and Gu Yue leaned out. Her black hair was still not completely dry, draped over her shoulders. She had clearly just finished showering.

"You'd better have something important." She looked down at him, her tone cool.

"Someone's grilling meat on the back hill. The smoke's drifting over from Crooked-Neck Grove." Tang Wulin lowered his voice.

Gu Yue shut the window. Half a minute later, she appeared downstairs with her hair casually tied into a low ponytail and slippers on her feet. The two of them crept along the edge of the field toward the back hill, their steps light. They were still dozens of paces from Crooked-Neck Grove, yet the scent of meat was already strong enough for them to make out the proportions of cumin and chili powder. Tang Wulin pushed aside the final clump of brush and saw a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.

Beneath the largest ancient tree on the back hill, Lu Menge sat cross-legged on a flat boulder. She wore a loose black long T-shirt that fell to mid-thigh, barefoot, with her stiletto heels kicked beneath the rock. Three lamb skewers were in her hand. With a flick and press of her wrist, fat dripped onto the charcoal and sizzled, white smoke curling upward. Beside her sat a small portable grill, neatly lined with over a dozen raw meat skewers, several chicken wings, two ears of corn, and a small jar of homemade dipping sauce. Little White Tiger lay on a tree branch keeping watch, its tail dangling and swaying, but its eyes were clearly no longer on guard—fixed intently on the grill, its pupils contracting and widening with every turn of the skewers.

"Stop hiding. Come out." Without turning around, Lu Menge flipped the skewer in her left hand while continuing to sprinkle cumin with her right. Her lazy tone made it sound like she was calling two kittens home for dinner.

Tang Wulin and Gu Yue exchanged a glance, then obediently stepped out from behind the bushes.

"Sis Lu." Tang Wulin scratched the back of his head.

"We smelled something delicious." Gu Yue followed beside him, her voice already several degrees softer.

They had not called her "Teacher Lu" in a long time. During the struggle over the Golden Dragon King Seal three years ago, Tang Wulin had changed how he addressed her. Gu Yue had changed even earlier—one night, she had hugged Lu Menge beneath a ginkgo tree and rubbed against her shoulder. From then on, she had never called her teacher again.

"What about evening study? You two—why aren't you staying properly in the classroom? What are you doing on the back hill?" Lu Menge lifted the lamb skewer in her hand and blew on it without looking back.

"There's no evening study today." Tang Wulin admitted honestly. "Teacher Wu went to a meeting. This is our free time."

Lu Menge finally turned around. Her amber fox eyes glimmered with fine sparks in the firelight. She looked first at Tang Wulin, then at Gu Yue, before sighing and handing over the three grilled lamb skewers. Tang Wulin reached out to take them, but Gu Yue beat him to it and took two. She bit into one and gasped from the heat, yet still refused to let go of it. "Too spicy," she mumbled.

"Last time, you said it wasn't spicy enough. Last time was last time, now is now. Add even a little more and you complain it's too spicy—next time I won't add anything for you at all." As she spoke, Lu Menge picked up the jar of dipping sauce and lightly brushed a layer onto Gu Yue's skewer. Her movements were gentle, yet practiced as if she had done them ten thousand times. Gu Yue let her do it, her fingers still clutching a small corner of Lu Menge's sleeve.

Tang Wulin took his own skewer and burned his mouth as well. As he chewed, he watched Lu Menge line several more chicken wings onto the grill. Her movements while brushing on oil flowed smoothly, and her technique for sprinkling cumin was even more professional than the cafeteria chef's. Then a question suddenly occurred to him. "Sis Lu, these skewers—"

"I took them from the fridge." Lu Menge did not look up. "The fridge in the teachers' dormitory. I cleared it with Director Long."

"...When did you clear it?"

"This afternoon. I also mentioned that Class Zero's training had been intense lately, and the two little ones needed more nutrition. He approved it as soon as he heard."

Tang Wulin and Gu Yue stopped chewing at the same time. So this grilled feast had been approved beforehand? Even Director Long knew about it?

Lu Menge continued turning the chicken wings on the grill, the corners of her lips lifting slightly. Of course she knew Long Hengxu would not stop her. Lu Menge had spent the past few years at Eastsea Academy collecting Outstanding Teacher awards until her hands were full. Her biggest usual expense was buying snacks for the two little ones. Wu Changkong had already grown used to helping her receive deliveries and sign logistics forms for her.

"Big sister." Gu Yue's voice suddenly sounded, soft and brief, its ending still carrying the flavor of unchewed grilled meat. She set the empty bamboo skewer aside, rested her chin in the hollow of Lu Menge's shoulder, and poked half her face out from behind her. "The corn's about to burn."

Lu Menge hurriedly turned the corn and brushed on a layer of honey water. Gu Yue's chin remained in the hollow of her shoulder, her black eyes reflecting tiny flecks like shattered gold in the firelight, her leg resting against Lu Menge's knee. Lu Menge's amber fox eyes lowered helplessly toward her. "You mixed the honey water yourself. And I only grilled corn because you said last time that you wanted something sweet. You're this greedy, and where will the Silver Dragon King's dignity go—if you hold on any tighter, you won't need to eat at all."

Gu Yue neither let go nor argued back. Instead, she buried her face behind Lu Menge's shoulder and said in a muffled voice, "Why would I need dignity with you?" Her arms had already wrapped around Lu Menge's waist as she leaned crookedly against her back on the stone. Lu Menge had been pulled so hard that she had to brace herself against the rock with one hand to keep her balance, while using the other to remotely direct Little White Tiger to blow the wind away from the tree. After finally stuffing the turned corn into Gu Yue's hands, she used the hand holding the bamboo skewer to pat the paws around her waist.

Tang Wulin took a bite of chicken wing and pretended not to see. Still, he could not help sneaking another look at the way Gu Yue leaned against Lu Menge's shoulder—that utterly unguarded, natural intimacy. Gu Yue always kept strangers at a distance outside, but only before Lu Menge could she act spoiled without asking why. He rarely could do that. It was not that he did not dare; he simply did not know how. His parents worried about his martial soul, so he had grown used to sharing good news and hiding bad. Teacher Wu treated him well, but with that cold face set in front of him, he would pause half a beat even before greeting him. Lu Menge was good to him too, but her affection for him came in ruffling his hair, assigning training tasks, and adding an extra piece of meat to his lunchbox. Her affection for Gu Yue came in rubbing against shoulders, tugging sleeves, and burying her whole face in her hair. The difference was small, but it was still different.

Lu Menge divided the second batch of grilled skewers between two plates. Looking up, she saw Tang Wulin repeatedly adjusting the angle of a chicken wing with his chopsticks as he dipped it in sauce. She hooked her foot beneath the stone and nudged her matching thermos toward him. "It's not like I said you can't act spoiled too."

Tang Wulin took the thermos, tipped his head back, and gulped down a mouthful. Then he pushed the cup toward Gu Yue. Gu Yue reached out from Lu Menge's shoulder, grabbed the thermos, and pulled it over.

Lu Menge turned the remaining skewers on the grill and glanced at Little White Tiger in the tree. Little White Tiger immediately turned its head away, pretending it had been keeping watch all along. Thinking about Class Zero's training plan for tomorrow, she casually asked, "Combat drill tomorrow. Class Zero's instructor is Wu Changkong—did he say it would be simulated terrain combat?"

Tang Wulin wiped the cumin from the corner of his mouth. "Teacher Wu said it'll be three against three. Gu Yue, Xie Xie, and I are one team. Zhang Yangzi, Wang Jinxi, and Wei Xiaofeng are the other. The map is simulated forest terrain, with elevated ziplines and cover. Dark Phantom Eagle's aerial scouting combined with Bone Dragon Shield Armor's ground defense won't be easy to deal with."

"Xie Xie is fast, but he gets carried away easily. Zhang Yangzi's aerial scouting will let him discover your positions first." Lu Menge took the final chicken wing from the grill and placed it on a plate, speaking casually. "Lure them into the area with dense cover before fighting. Your Golden Dragon Head will ricochet more easily through the forest than in open ground. When Dark Phantom Eagle's view is restricted in midair, its tendency to veer left is probably under thirty percent—an old habit."

She paused and turned to look at Gu Yue. "Leave Wei Xiaofeng to you. He recently trained a new move, Earthspike Ambush. Last time in the training grounds, he nearly skewered Xie Xie straight through. Use the earth element to predict his stealth route, then harden the soil the instant before he launches his Earth Spike—leave the rest to Wulin."

Leaning against her shoulder, Gu Yue sounded so lazy that she seemed about to fall asleep. "I've already worked it out. Three earth walls with a layer of Water-Mirror Reflection will trap his Earth Spike along its own path. Then you hit him with Dragonhead Shock, and I'll follow with an Ice Spear from the side to lock him down. He won't have a chance for a second round."

Lu Menge listened as Gu Yue laid out the plan sentence by sentence from her shoulder. Seeing that the small dish of dipping sauce on her knee was about to go cold, she nudged it closer to the charcoal fire. Over the past three years, it was not only their cultivation that had grown, but also their mutual understanding and the trust within it. She wiped her hands clean on a towel, stood, and brushed the bits of leaf from her skirt. "When you're done eating, bury the skewers. Don't touch the charcoal; I'll come back to clean it up later. Finish up and get back to sleep. Don't be late tomorrow." She bent down to put on the stiletto heels she had picked up from the ground, then added a gentle reminder, "There's a layer of chili oil at the bottom of the dipping sauce dish. Don't spill it on the mountain path."

Tang Wulin lowered his head and held the dipping sauce dish and thermos, one in each hand, carefully pressing the lids tight. Gu Yue was still lingering on the rock. After stretching lazily, she slowly stood, pulled a tissue from Tang Wulin's hand, and wiped her hands while using the tip of her slipper to gather the raw meat skewers beside the dirt pit.

They watched Lu Menge walk downhill in her stiletto heels, carrying the garbage bag. Little White Tiger leaped down from the branch and landed on her shoulder, its tail curling around the back of her neck and draping over her other shoulder.

"She grilled this specifically for us," Gu Yue suddenly said.

"...How do you know?"

"She doesn't like cumin. But everything today was covered in cumin." Gu Yue crumpled the last tissue into a ball and tossed it into the garbage bag. Tilting her head, she looked at the thermos tucked under Tang Wulin's arm. "Next time, just sit beside her. You don't need to wait for her to invite you—she won't refuse."

Tang Wulin switched the dipping sauce dish to his other hand and moved one step closer to Gu Yue. They stood side by side beside the dying charcoal fire, while the ancient tree overhead rustled in the night wind.

Together, they cleaned up the plates, bamboo skewers, and dipping sauce dish from the stone, tied up the garbage bag, covered the charcoal with dirt, and walked downhill. At the fork in the road, Gu Yue glanced toward the teachers' dormitory. The light in Lu Menge's room was already on, the curtains drawn, with a fluffy white silhouette crouched on the windowsill. She stopped, and Tang Wulin stopped with her. The two exchanged a glance, waved at the window together, then turned and ran back to their respective dormitory buildings.