Xiao Xiao

"Bei Bei, Tang Ya, do you know a first-year girl named Huo Yutong?"

"We do! Of course we do!" Tang Ya laughed, planting her hands on her hips. "Little Yutong is the third-in-command of our Tang Sect!"

Gao Ren: ಥ◡ಥ

Goddammit, how did you manage to make the Tang Sect having only three people sound so 'fresh and refined'...?

Seeing Gao Ren struggling so hard to hold it in, Tang Ya immediately blushed. Even someone as silly as her could tell that he was making fun of her.

"Bei Bei! Let go of me! I'm going to fight little Gao Ren to the death!" Tang Ya grabbed one of Bei Bei's arms, putting on an act as though he were holding her back.

Bei Bei: -_-||

"Xiaoya, you're the one who won't let go of me, okay?"

"Show some respect! I'm your teacher! What do you mean, Xiaoya? Call me Teacher Xiaoya!" Tang Ya continued her performance. "Bei Bei, let go of me!"

Gao Ren: Goddamn, that's incredible! As expected of Thunderclap Tang Ya!

"Um... Bei Bei, Tang Ya, if you two want to indulge in some weird roleplay, please do it somewhere else. The cafeteria is a public place, honk, honk, honk." By the end, Gao Ren couldn't keep a straight face himself and burst into goose-like laughter.

At those words, Bei Bei and Tang Ya both turned red, their hearts pounding.

This was the first time anyone had pointed out what they were doing so bluntly.

"Ahem, ahem." Bei Bei coughed a few times, trying to ease his embarrassment, then asked, "Gao Ren, why are you suddenly asking about Yutong?"

Tang Ya's eyes immediately lit up when she heard that.

"Right! Why are you suddenly asking about Yutong?!"

With her vivid imagination, Tang Ya began furiously dreaming up scenarios, as though she had discovered a whole new continent.

The older girls who usually surrounded little Gao Ren were all ferocious, big-breasted monsters.

Now that he had seen a poor little thing like Yutong, such a stark contrast must have felt refreshing to him, right?

Little Yutong looked so frail that she could easily stir a desire to protect her-a wonderful feeling those ferocious, big-breasted older girls could never possibly give Gao Ren!

Yes, that had to be it!

Just as Gao Ren was about to answer, Tang Ya beat him to it, grinning mischievously. "Little Gao Ren, I never thought you were that kind of person!"

Gao Ren: ???

"Tang Ya, what do you mean, 'I never thought you were that kind of person'?" Gao Ren was utterly bewildered.

"Oh, now you're playing dumb." Tang Ya declared confidently, "I heard a little about you choosing a lucky diner at noon, too.

"The reason you picked little Yutong must have been that she stirred your protective instincts, making you want to choose her as today's lucky diner. I'm right, aren't I?!"

Without waiting for Gao Ren to respond, she shook her head and sighed to herself.

"Men all like women who stir their desire to protect them. Our little Gao Ren has reached the age when he wants to protect someone, too..."

Gao Ren's voice rang out abruptly. "Bei Bei, would you mind if I revoked Tang Ya's permission to eat and drink here for free?"

"Not at all. Do whatever makes you happy." Bei Bei pressed a hand to his forehead.

Tang Ya: Huh?

Then Gao Ren returned to the kitchen.

When he next appeared, he was holding a notice with a chibi portrait of Tang Ya on it.

[Tang Ya and dogs are forbidden at this serving window!]

When Tang Ya saw Gao Ren actually sticking the notice beside the serving window, she grew even more frantic than King Hurry.

"Little Gao Ren! No! You can't do this! If you won't let me eat Overlord Drumsticks, you might as well kill me!"

Tang Ya: Sumimasen, hontō ni sumimasen!

After Tang Ya engaged in some profound self-reflection, Gao Ren finally relented and allowed her to keep freeloading off Bei Bei's privileges.

Of course, those free meals wouldn't come so easily. From now on, she would have to come to the kitchen for unpaid reform through labor... Although Gao Ren wasn't truly angry, he still thought he ought to teach Tang Ya a lesson, lest this thunderclap menace keep taking a mile whenever he gave her an inch.

Jiang Nannan: Serves you right!

Afterward, Gao Ren successfully learned about Huo Yutong from Bei Bei. Her circumstances were almost identical to those of Huo Yuhao in the original story.

The only difference was that Huo Yuhao was male, while Huo Yutong was female.

She really is little Miss Huo...

After sighing inwardly, Gao Ren carried two Overlord Drumsticks through the staff entrance into the cafeteria hall, just as he had at noon, and began looking for the evening's lucky diner.

As the official start of term drew closer, considerably more students came to the cafeteria for dinner than had been there at noon.

However, the lucky diner from lunchtime wasn't among them.

Gao Ren guessed that Huo Yutong was probably having his Overlord Drumstick for dinner alongside the leftover dry rations she had brought with her.

The first thing Xuan Zi had done upon becoming the Sea God Pavilion Master was improve the living conditions for Shrek Academy's Outer Court students.

Soul-tool water boilers and heaters had been installed in the dormitory corridors, making the students' lives much more convenient.

"Who should I pick as tonight's lucky diner?" Gao Ren entered the first-years' dining area and slowly began searching for his target.

Then he spotted a bottomless stomach whose height was about the same as his waist circumference, wolfing down food from Gao Ren's serving window.

Gao Ren: No need to give this one anything. He's already eating it. Next.

After wandering around the first-years' dining area for a little while, Gao Ren finally found someone he thought might be a potential customer.

It was a female student sitting in a corner. She wasn't tall and looked very petite.

The girl wasn't exceptionally beautiful, but her features were delicate and fresh, the sort that grew on you.

Carrying the Overlord Drumsticks, Gao Ren sat directly opposite her, just as he had done with Huo Yutong at noon.

The girl looked up and froze briefly when she saw a stranger suddenly sit down across from her.

Then she got a clear look at Gao Ren's face, and a faint blush unconsciously crept over her cheeks.

This girl had little resistance to handsome boys.

Yet just then, she tilted her head and glanced at the Overlord Drumsticks. Their aroma made her turn toward them despite the handsome boy sitting beside her.

"Huh? Isn't that Yutong's dinner?" The girl stared at Gao Ren in surprise. "So, handsome, you're the really nice guy Yutong was talking about!"

Gao Ren: Looks like little Miss Huo handed me a nice-guy card without me even knowing.

"Are you Huo Yutong's roommate?"

At Gao Ren's question, the girl nodded vigorously.

"Yes! I'm Yutong's roommate! My name is Xiao Xiao, and I'm a first-year student, too!"

Upon learning the girl's name, Gao Ren couldn't help raising his eyebrows.

So she's Xiao Xiao. No wonder she's such a tiny little thing!