Were all the girls in the Sun Moon Empire this direct?
That was the first thought that sprang to Huo Yuhao's mind.
He kept his expression calm, cleared his throat, and stepped half a pace aside, instinctively trying to steer the conversation toward someone else. "Meng Hongchen, if you're looking for Teacher Xuan Ziwen, he's in the Laboratory."
"Why would I be looking for Teacher Xuan?" Meng Hongchen pursed her lips, plainly unimpressed. The hem of her white dress swayed with the movement. "I came to find you. You beat me at the Continental Tournament, fair and square. When I heard you'd come here as an exchange student, I made a special trip over."
The corners of her eyes lifted when she smiled, making her look like a sly little fox. She spoke openly, without a trace of coyness. "The market in Mingdu's West City opens today. Want to come browse with me? And maybe... let me pick your brain?"
She called it picking his brain, but the admiration in her eyes was plain to see. Her wish to ask him out was only half concealed, which somehow made it harder to refuse than if she had said it outright.
Huo Yuhao rapidly weighed whether to go.
Refusing would seem petty, and he had wanted to see the market anyway.
But accepting felt too sudden. They weren't that close yet.
Before he could decide, Meng Hongchen spoke again, a challenge in her voice and a slight lift at the end of each question. "What? The genius from Shrek doesn't dare come with me? Afraid I'll whisk you off to Bright Virtue Hall?"
"Baiting me won't work." Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow, paused, then changed tack. "But I do want to see the market."
"Then let's go!" Meng Hongchen's eyes lit