Chapter 39

Outside the cafeteria, evening.

Tang Wulin had just returned the training equipment to the storage room and washed his face. He was about to head to the cafeteria to find Gu Yue when Lu Menge stopped him. Unusually, she was not wearing her white lab coat today. Instead, she had changed into a loose beige knit cardigan, her high heels clicking crisply against the stone pavement outside the cafeteria.

"Wulin, come here. I need to tell you something."

Tang Wulin wiped the water from his face and obediently walked over. Lu Menge pulled him behind a pillar by the cafeteria's side entrance and lowered her voice, sounding as though she were assigning some top-secret mission. "This is for you. Secretly. Don't tell Gu Yue."

She stuffed an envelope into his hand. Tang Wulin lowered his head and opened it—it held a stack of Federation currency. The amount was not enormous, but it was certainly no small sum. "Sister Lu, this is...?"

"Spending money. It's been increased. You've done well these past few years, and your forging has improved, so your spending money should go up too." Lu Menge slipped both hands into her cardigan pockets and said casually, "But—it's for when you take Gu Yue out. You can't let her pay."

Holding the envelope, Tang Wulin's expression gradually shifted from confusion to embarrassment, then from embarrassment to the solemnity of someone entrusted with an important mission. He opened his mouth. "Sister Lu, I've saved up some myself—"

"What you've saved is yours. This is extra. Taking her out for food, buying clothes, browsing those fancy little shops—it all costs money. Especially when she looks at something a few extra times but doesn't say she wants it. Just buy it. Don't ask. Asking makes you look oblivious." Lu Menge raised a finger and gestured toward his nose. "If it isn't enough, ask me for more. But there's one rule—Gu Yue absolutely cannot find out I gave you this money. She'll connect me secretly raising your spending money to me funding your dates, then connect that funding to things I haven't even figured out myself. That girl's mind runs deep."

Tang Wulin carefully tucked the envelope away in his pocket and nodded solemnly. "Understood. Thank you, Sister Lu."

"What are you thanking me for? Come on, let's eat." Lu Menge turned toward the cafeteria's front entrance. After taking a few steps, she looked back. "Oh, right—the grilled fish place you said you liked last week. I asked around for you. There's a branch in Eastsea City's West District too. It's a little more expensive than the one here, but it tastes better. Take Gu Yue—she knows where it is."

Tang Wulin stood beneath the pillar, slipping a hand into his pocket to feel the outline of the envelope. Then he ran toward the cafeteria's front entrance. After a few steps, he slowed down, straightened his collar at the door, and only then pushed it open. Lu Menge was already seated at their usual spot by the window. Gu Yue sat across from her, while Wu Changkong sat beside her. Tang Wulin took the empty seat next to Gu Yue. She casually pushed the extra serving of ribs she had gotten toward him. He picked up his chopsticks and said softly, "This weekend—the West District opened a new snack street. Let's go together."

Gu Yue raised her dark eyes and looked at him, her tone flat. "Who's paying?"

"Me." Tang Wulin pressed down the edge of the envelope in his pocket, speaking as naturally as if he were announcing the formation for their next combat training session. "There were leftover materials from the Ice Spear components I made for you last time, and Teacher Mang Tian settled the bill. From now on, I'll pay. See if there's anything you like on that snack street. If you look at it twice—no need to ask. I'll buy it."

Gu Yue's chopsticks paused. She placed another rib into his bowl. Beside them, Wu Changkong lifted his eyes and glanced at Tang Wulin, then turned to look at Lu Menge, who was holding a thermos with an innocent expression. Lu Menge winked at him and mouthed three words: "You taught him." Wu Changkong neither admitted nor denied it. He merely picked up the last piece of braised pork from the table and placed it in her bowl, as naturally as sheathing the Heavenfrost Sword. Tang Wulin lowered his head and continued eating. His ears were still a little red, but he did not suppress the corners of his mouth.

After nightfall, Lu Menge went alone to knock on Wu Changkong's door. She had changed into a casual cotton T-shirt, slippers on her feet and a thermos cradled in her arms. Leaning against the doorframe, she tilted her head at him. "Wulin is taking Gu Yue to the snack street today—what do you think he'll buy for her?"

Wu Changkong set down the training schedule in his hand. "How much money did you give him?" "Not much. Enough for a few good meals." Lu Menge smiled with airy calm. "How did you know I gave him money?"

"He never voluntarily suggests taking Gu Yue out to eat. Today, he mentioned it twice. And when he said 'forging payment,' his voice was half a pitch higher than usual, and his left pinky touched his pocket—you gave him cash. The envelope in his pocket was about as thick as the ones you used when you stuffed prescription slips into my drawer last time."

Lu Menge froze for a moment, then lowered her head and smiled. "You even noticed Tang Wulin touching his pocket—then did you notice that every time I went to scout the West District last week, I brought you an extra serving of salt-and-pepper ribs?" She raised her head and gently placed the thermos in his hand. The bottom still carried the warmth of her palm.

Wu Changkong lowered his head and looked at the crooked Little White Tiger sticker on the thermos. He was silent for a long time before returning it to her hand. "Next time you go to the West District, there's no need to scout it beforehand. Just call me."

Lu Menge stood in the corridor holding the thermos, watching his back as he returned to the desk and continued reviewing training logs. The door was not fully closed, leaving a narrow crack. Light from the desk lamp spilled through it, falling precisely over the patch of floor beneath her feet. Her happiness had not all been spent yet—the money she had slipped Tang Wulin, the date funds she had gathered for Gu Yue, the recipe she had used to give Wu Changkong an extra meal. Only now, after he had completed the half-sentence she had left unspoken, was that unfinished happiness truly settled. She pressed the thermos to her cheek, turned, and walked toward her own room, her white T-shirt swaying softly in the draft flowing through the corridor.