This girl is my classmate?!

August 31st, the first day of the eighth lunar month. Clear skies with a light breeze.

Recommended for: Marriage, adoption, opening business, travel. Avoid: Groundbreaking.

Chang'an Airport.

Zheng Qing counted on his fingers for a long time, calculating the auspiciousness of the day, and was very satisfied with the date chosen by the school.

Before coming to the airport, he had made another trip to Huizi Market to carefully ask Pan Lü'er about the boarding process.

"Take your boarding pass to any counter without a queue and ask the ground staff to exchange it for a registration card. Then, just follow the instructions on the card to board the plane," Pan Lü'er explained casually. Zheng Qing, however, listened with a worried frown.

"Any counter? And why should I find one without a queue?" he pressed.

"Isn't it slower if there's a queue!" Pan Lü'er looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Why would you go to a counter with a queue when there's one without? Do you have that much free time?"

Zheng Qing silently lowered his head, holding his little notebook to jot down the general procedure.

"When you're out and about, don't be shy to ask if you don't understand. Plenty of people fly for the first time. Airports have information desks everywhere, just find a pretty lady to ask," Pan Lü'er waved him away impatiently.

"Is any regular airport information desk okay?" Zheng Qing emphasized the word 'regular'.

"Are you suggesting First University should put up a sign for the Wizard Alliance at Chang'an Airport?!" Pan Lü'er rolled his eyes, blowing a lock of hair from his forehead.

Zheng Qing was speechless.

He somehow felt that the boarding process should, perhaps, maybe, have a bit of a wizardly flair.

Like crashing through a wall with his suitcase?

Or reciting an incantation in front of a strange mirror in a deserted airport restroom?

However, reality was surprisingly simple.

With his ticket stub, Zheng Qing found a counter without a queue and exchanged it for his boarding pass in less than a minute.

No checked baggage, no long waiting time, not even any tedious security checks or complicated boarding gates. Zheng Qing simply declared 'pet transport' and entered the departure lounge with Poseidon in his arms.

The ground staff at the departure lounge led him to a VIP entrance and politely bid him farewell. Following the signs, Zheng Qing walked across the soft red carpet, the hard aisle, the squishy upholstered surface, and soon boarded the First University flight.

The cabin was much more spacious than it appeared from the outside, arranged with two seats on the left and one on the right. Every two rows of seats faced each other.

The flight attendants were all wearing crisp, dark blue robes, with their hair in buns and belts cinching their waists. They wore polite smiles, holding spellbooks in one hand and guiding Zheng Qing to his seat with the other.

Zheng Qing noticed that the spellbook the flight attendant was holding was a Bologna-bound edition he had seen at Shangyuan Bookstore. Its exquisite patterns and ornate quill looked brand new and clean.

These flight attendants looked quite wealthy, Zheng Qing marveled inwardly. He recalled that the spellbook cost over twenty Jade Coins at Shangyuan Bookstore, while his full scholarship was only ten Jade Coins.

Guided by the flight attendant, Zheng Qing found his seat without difficulty.

His seat was in the fifth row on the left, by the aisle. The passengers around him were already seated, with only the window seat next to him still empty.

Zheng Qing secretly prayed that the seat belonged to a beautiful woman.

The seats were very spacious, with soft black leather upholstery that made his whole body feel much more relaxed. The armrests on both sides gleamed with a silvery-white metallic luster, and his arms would inevitably slide back into his embrace when he rested them there.

Placing Poseidon on his lap, Zheng Qing observed the passengers around him.

Directly opposite him sat a short boy with a bowl cut, wearing large black-rimmed glasses, busily writing something in a large black hard-shell notebook. Next to the bowl-cut boy was a tall, handsome student with a mid-ponytail. This student was holding a suspicious long, cylindrical package and was quietly looking out the window at the dry concrete ground, his face turned to the side.

Maybe a girl, maybe a boy. Zheng Qing couldn't quite tell as he looked at the handsome student. He turned his head to examine the two people across the aisle.

Across the aisle sat a bald, chubby boy wearing a plain grey robe, with a string of deep purple longan prayer beads around his neck. He was holding a scripture scroll and rocking back and forth as he read. The passenger opposite the young monk was slumped over the tray table, fast asleep. Zheng Qing could only guess the passenger's gender from their exposed wine-red, wavy hair.

Looking around, no one's gaze met his.

Zheng Qing felt bored.

So, he took out his talisman paper from his grey cloth bag, flipped open the hidden small table under the armrest, took out his brush and cinnabar ink, rubbed his hands, and began his daily practice.

The talisman paper was found at Huizi Market. It was Huizi-grid, yellow parchment, sixty pages per pad, with one commonly used talisman on each page, such as ghost-repelling, calming, evil warding, heavenly communication, deity summoning, and soul deliverance.

The copied talismans could be torn off and used at any time. If not used, they could be sold back to the stationery shop. Six pages of intact talismans could be exchanged for a blank pad, with no cheating. If an entire pad of talismans was error-free, Zheng Qing could exchange it for ten pads. Granny Cai at Hundred Herbs Hall would even smilingly gift him a piece of cinnabar ink or a wolf-hair brush.

Since he was ten years old, Zheng Qing had never spent money on talisman paper. In fact, the cinnabar ink and brushes he had exchanged from the stationery shop owner were enough for many years.

He breathed on the cinnabar ink, carefully wrote with the brush in block script, then paused, focused his mind, and in a moment, finished with a flourish.

Zheng Qing looked at the Calming Talisman and nodded with satisfaction.

There was nothing more relaxing than writing a talisman. If there was, it would be writing two talismans.

He picked up his brush again, but was interrupted by a voice.

"Hello," a timid voice sounded beside his ear.

Zheng Qing looked up.

A girl of about ten years old, dragging a pink rolling suitcase, stood before him nervously.

The girl had two pigtails, wore a pink dress, and sported a pair of white round-toe leather shoes. She clutched a crumpled registration card tightly in her hand.

A loli! Zheng Qing roared inwardly.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the bowl-cut boy opposite him stop writing and look up.

"I think my seat is inside," the little loli said hesitantly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, please come in, please come in." Zheng Qing hurriedly stood up, forcing a friendly smile. "Where's your guardian? Aren't they with you?"

As he spoke, he helped the little girl shove the pink rolling suitcase into the overhead storage compartment.

Zheng Qing had long since stuffed his own heavy luggage into his grey pocket; he hadn't expected any wizards to be dragging such cumbersome baggage.

"Didn't the notice from First University say parents weren't allowed to accompany their children?" the little loli's surprised voice sounded behind him.

Zheng Qing's hand relaxed, and he narrowly avoided being hit on the head by the small pink suitcase.

He shoved the suitcase into the compartment and slammed the door shut.

Then, he lowered his head to look at the little loli in front of him.

Is this brat my classmate?!