All Gone

Lu Menge realized she'd miscalculated that very night.

She was curled up in a rattan chair, flipping through Class Zero's training schedule for next week. Little White Tiger was dozing on the windowsill, its tail dangling and swaying lazily. Her communicator buzzed. The message from Tang Wulin was brief, but every word carried cautious embarrassment: "Sister Lu, um... the money's gone."

Lu Menge stared at the screen for several breaths. She had calculated Tang Wulin's allowance at twice the standard cost of an ordinary couple's date in East Sea City—one meal, a few small purchases, a stroll around town; it should have been more than enough. She had also considered that these two children were no ordinary people. The Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King had metabolisms far beyond those of Soul Masters their age, so she had deliberately budgeted generously. She had thought she'd covered everything. Clearly, she had not.

Before she could reply, Tang Wulin sent another message: "There's actually a little left. But Gu Yue said she wanted grilled fish, so we went in. Then she ordered two, and I ordered two. Later, she said the salt-and-pepper flavor was pretty good too... so we added a third one."

Lu Menge shut the training schedule over her lap. She remembered scouting out that grilled fish restaurant in the western district last week. She had ordered one medium fish and couldn't finish it. One medium fish, and she couldn't finish it alone. Yet those two little brats had eaten four grilled fish—not counting the grilled squid, sesame pastries, fried rice cakes, and two bowls of ice jelly they had already demolished at the front of the snack street. She seemed to have underestimated the appetite of nine-year-old Soul Ancestors. No, what she had underestimated was the combat power of the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King when they joined forces to forage.

A third message lit up right after: "Gu Yue also packed one up. She said she'd bring it for my lunch tomorrow—she thinks grilled fish tastes good cold too. She also said that since Sister Lu raised my allowance, we should come again next week."

Lu Menge stared at the words, "Since Sister Lu raised your allowance," on the screen. She scooped Little White Tiger off the windowsill, buried her face in its fluffy belly, and let out a muffled sigh that could have been either laughter or heartache. She knew Gu Yue could figure out anything. That girl did not need logical deduction—just from Lu Menge looking at Tang Wulin one extra time that morning, slipping him one extra envelope, and adding, "Don't let her pay," she could reconstruct the entire matter, from the motive to the source of the funds. And not only did she not expose it, she accepted the extra subsidy as a matter of course—and even packed food to take away. The Silver Dragon King never took a loss. In that respect, she had inherited the Dragon God's nature perfectly.

Tang Wulin did not ask about the money again, but that line, "We should come again next week," was more effective than any bill collector.

Resigned, she picked up her communicator and transferred Tang Wulin additional funds, adding a note: "Order five next week. Don't let her pack cold food. Buy her hot food."

After sending it, she leaned back in the rattan chair and let out a long breath toward the ceiling. Class Zero's second instructor, Sacred Beast White Tiger, had been defeated by the stomachs of two nine-year-old brats.

Wu Changkong learned about it at noon the next day. During lunchtime beneath the ginkgo tree, the four of them sat on the ground as usual. Lu Menge retold last night's experience as a joke—how Tang Wulin had sent several messages reporting the expenses, how Gu Yue had wanted to pack food even after finishing her meal, and how she herself had laughed when she transferred more money in the middle of the night.

"...So you gave him more," Wu Changkong said.

"What else was I supposed to do? Let Gu Yue eat cold food tomorrow?" Lu Menge put a piece of braised pork into Wu Changkong's bowl, as naturally as if she were merely switching her thermos to the other hand. "You saw the part where he reported the expenses too—'the salt-and-pepper flavor was pretty good too.' Obviously, Gu Yue wanted to order it but didn't want to say so herself, and he spoke up for her. What does that mean? It means he's already learned how to put my 'don't ask, just buy it' lesson into practice. The money was well spent. The strategist's budget increase was entirely justified."

Wu Changkong fell silent for a moment. Looking at Lu Menge's smug expression, he did not argue against her theory of "increasing the strategist's budget." He simply ate the braised pork she had given him, then placed the biggest piece of sweet-and-sour spare rib from his own bowl into hers.

"Give them twice as much next time. Calculate based on their appetites."

Lu Menge looked down at the sweet-and-sour spare rib that had suddenly appeared in her bowl and froze for a moment. Then she understood—Wu Changkong normally never touched sweet-and-sour dishes, but this piece had been the one she deliberately placed near the edge of the lunchbox when arranging the food today, the closest one to pick up and the most thoroughly braised. He had put it right in the center of her rice. She picked it up and took a bite. The balance of sweet and sour was perfect.

"Fine. Double the allowance next month—you have the final say." She gnawed the rib clean and set her chopsticks over her empty bowl.

Tang Wulin and Gu Yue sat across from them. Tang Wulin was using his chopsticks to carefully divide the last piece of braised pork in half, keeping one half for himself and pushing the other into Gu Yue's bowl. His movement was gentle and practiced; clearly, it was not his first time. Gu Yue did not refuse. Before his chopsticks had even lowered, she used hers to put the remaining half portion of vegetables from her bowl back into his. Neither of them said a word throughout the exchange.

Gu Yue placed the last spare rib into her bowl, looked up at Tang Wulin, and said in her usual calm tone, "There's another newly opened place on that snack street next week. We can try it while we're there. No need to pack anything this time—the freshly grilled food tastes better."

Tang Wulin chewed his braised pork and nodded solemnly. "Okay. Sister Lu said next week's budget is doubled. The new place has a line, so we should go early."

"Doubled." Gu Yue repeated the word, her black eyes glinting faintly beneath the shade of the ginkgo tree as they shifted toward Lu Menge. "Sister Lu—the budget for next month was set by Teacher Wu, wasn't it?"

Lu Menge's hand holding the thermos paused for an instant. Wu Changkong calmly picked up another bite of food. Tang Wulin looked up blankly with his chopsticks in his mouth, not knowing why the conversation had suddenly turned to Teacher Wu.

"How did you know he set it?"

"Teacher Wu nodded when you said 'additional funds.'" Gu Yue lifted her soup bowl, her tone matter-of-fact. "Besides, you never do calculations yourself. You used to just give money on a whim. The only person who would precisely double it—could only be him."

Lu Menge turned and glared at Wu Changkong. Wu Changkong neither denied it nor explained. He merely moved the last piece of sweet-and-sour spare rib from the edge of his bowl into hers. It was slightly smaller than the previous one, but the sauce was richer—he had deliberately saved it for last.

A ginkgo leaf drifted down from the branches and landed precisely in the gap between the four lunchboxes. Gu Yue set down her soup bowl, and Tang Wulin casually picked up the leaf and placed it on the grass beside the picnic cloth. Then the two of them stood up at the same time to clear away the bowls, their movements as coordinated as a position swap during combat training.

As Tang Wulin cleaned up, he suddenly paused and asked Gu Yue in a lowered voice, "So... next week, can we use Sister Lu's new budget for the snack street?"

Gu Yue stacked the lunchboxes into a cloth bag without looking up. "She said it's doubled. If she doubles it, we go. How much is the budget?"

Tang Wulin pulled the small expense notebook from his pocket and flipped to a page. He left two blank lines for the new restaurant she had mentioned, then quickly made a rough estimate on the right according to Lu Menge's additional-funding ratio. Gu Yue leaned over to glance at the number, tapped the page with the end of her chopsticks, and added two extra amounts. Tang Wulin nodded and copied the revised number onto a new line. Crouching side by side beside the neatly packed picnic cloth, the two lowered their heads to plan next weekend's menu, quietly muttering, "Why isn't that new taro ball shop on the list?" At the same time, Wu Changkong gently pushed Heavenfrost Sword deeper into its sheath and looked toward Xie Xie, who was still doing extra training on the distant field. Lu Menge raised her thermos and lightly tapped its rim against his.