Baiheng: I Really Deserve to Die

Baiheng flicked her ears and rose alongside Jingliu, ready to pass Xianyu's message on to her friend.

At the front counter, the server looked puzzled when Jingliu asked to pay. "That gentleman already paid earlier."

Jingliu froze where she stood without a word.

Baiheng felt a little guilty at that. "Uh, I don't think he's ever given us a chance to treat him. We either split the bill, or he buys us drinks and food..."

"Yes," Jingliu said softly. "He's always like that."

The more Baiheng thought about it, the guiltier she felt. "How about I'm more careful next month and crash fewer Starskiffs... then the two of us can treat him to a meal?"

"All right."

The Foxian looked up, only to find that Jingliu's usually cool expression had changed. Whatever she was thinking about, her eyes and expression had become remarkably... gentle?

Baiheng was stunned for a moment. She didn't know how to describe it.

Uh, maybe it was like discovering a long-lost sword technique? Or getting her hands on some legendary weapon?

The Foxian blinked in bewilderment. Before she could give it any more thought, her friend who wanted to chat Xianyu up came over.

Her friend looked excited. "Well? Did he say yes? I'm willing to wait!"

Baiheng shook her head. "He said he has a girlfriend, and she'd get angry if he gave out his contact details."

Her friend looked scornful. "Oh? He has a girlfriend, but he's having dinner alone with another woman? Isn't that scumbag behavior?"

Before Baiheng could work out how to answer, Jingliu frowned beside her and said coldly, "He isn't a scumbag."

Jingliu couldn't bear hearing Xianyu put himself down, much less hearing other people misunderstand him.

Her friend narrowed her eyes impatiently. "Why are you getting so worked up? Are you his girlfriend?"

Jingliu instantly fell silent.

Baiheng was dumbstruck, her ears immediately flattening sideways.

Huh? What just happened?

Why had things suddenly gotten so awkward...

She looked from her friend to Jingliu, then had a flash of inspiration. While her friend wasn't looking, she winked frantically at Jingliu. "Yes, she is."

Her friend looked skeptical. "Oh? You're his girlfriend? But Baiheng just said you two weren't a couple."

Baiheng kept shooting Jingliu frantic looks. "Because they only just started dating. Even I had no idea, hahaha-"

Jingliu paused in silence, then folded her arms and gave a soft "Mm," looking perfectly calm.

Baiheng breathed a sigh of relief. Afraid that her friend's poor acting would give them away, she hastily placated her other friend with a few words, then asked to leave early.

Her friend had lost interest in chatting with Baiheng. She readily waved goodbye and said she would double Baiheng's pay.

Delighted, the Foxian reached out to pull Jingliu along, but couldn't budge her.

Baiheng turned in confusion, only to see Jingliu covering her face with one hand, leaving only her bright red ear tips exposed.

Was it too warm in here?

Seeing this, Baiheng quickly pulled her outside. Once Jingliu had left the Barbecue Restaurant, much of the redness faded from her ears.

Baiheng sighed in relief and gave Jingliu a thumbs-up. "Great teamwork! We almost gave ourselves away. Oh, right, what were you going to tell me earlier?"

Jingliu took a deep breath. Facing the Foxian's curious gaze, she still couldn't bring herself to say it.

What was she supposed to say? That despite being so much older, she had fallen for Xianyu just like Baiheng's friend?

Jingliu shook her head and said softly, "Nothing."

Baiheng looked thoughtful, then changed the subject and began talking about something else.

As a social butterfly with an extensive circle of friends, she was very good at getting along with people.

If Jingliu didn't want to confide in her right now, Baiheng wouldn't ask. She would wait for Jingliu to bring it up herself.

Baiheng and Jingliu walked together for a while before parting ways. Humming cheerfully, Baiheng went home, hurried through washing up, and climbed into bed.

After a busy day, Master Bai tried to get some sleep.

But it was as though a video player had been installed in her head, replaying everything she had seen and heard that day on a loop, forcing her to watch and review it over and over.

Baiheng: The more I thought about it, the more something seemed off...

Wide awake, the Foxian rolled back and forth in bed, watching the minute hand make a full circuit.

Why did the way Jingliu and Xianyu interacted feel so strange?

Baiheng rolled over, picked up her Jade Abacus, and hastily added Jing Yuan, Yingxing, and Dan Feng to a group chat.

[The Luofu's Best Pilot: Do you guys think Jingliu's been acting a little strange lately?]

Dan Feng was in excellent spirits.

He had just finished arguing with a Dragon Preceptor, leaving the man so angry that his beard trembled.

The moment he saw the message, his impassive expression crumbled. Alarmed, he contacted Yingxing.

[Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae: Yingxing, didn't you tell Baiheng?]

Dan Feng regretted sending it immediately. He should have asked Jing Yuan.

Yingxing was usually so absorbed in his work that he might not even remember to eat, let alone check his Jade Abacus and reply.

Dan Feng: I worried myself sick over my friends every day.

If he and the other two hadn't quietly helped out, that short-life species man's lifespan would probably have been even shorter.

If Jing Yuan hadn't stopped him, he would have found eight people to look after Yingxing long ago.

For once, the overtime-addicted Yingxing replied immediately.

The craftsman usually burned the midnight oil, refusing to leave until the Artisanship Commission's elderly gatekeeper came looking for him.

If he could reply instantly this time, the old gatekeeper had probably been especially insistent today.

[Yingxing: Huh? Didn't you tell her?]

Dan Feng fell silent. He understood now. Everything became crystal clear.

He, Yingxing, and Jing Yuan-three people in total-had all assumed someone else would tell Baiheng about it. In the end, none of them had.

If Baiheng found out...

She was usually warm and easygoing, but if they really upset her...

Dan Feng felt a headache coming on. Then inspiration struck: Jing Yuan. He immediately decided to shift the blame onto him.

[Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae: Why didn't Jing Yuan tell her?]

Yingxing caught his meaning at once and joined forces with Dan Feng to criticize Jing Yuan.

[Yingxing: Yeah, what's up with Jing Yuan?]

Though they were in different places, the two were perfectly in sync, opening Baiheng's impromptu group chat at the same time.

[Yingxing: Didn't Jing Yuan tell you?]

[Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae: Yeah, didn't he tell you?]

They backed each other up as though they really had asked Jing Yuan to tell her.

Baiheng was utterly baffled by their messages.

[The Luofu's Best Pilot: Where are you?! @Jing Yuan]

Baiheng waited and waited, but no reply from Jing Yuan came.

He was probably still working overtime at the General's Residence.

The Foxian immediately turned her sights on Dan Feng and Yingxing, who were being deliberately mysterious.

[The Luofu's Best Pilot: And you two, quit keeping me in suspense. Spit it out! Fox sharpening a knife.jpg]

Baiheng waited a little longer. When neither of them said a word, she gave a cold laugh.

[The Luofu's Best Pilot: Are you going to tell me or not? If not, I'm flying a Starskiff right to your doorstep.]

Coming from the accident-prone Baiheng, that was practically a threat.

I'd be at your doorstep any second.

On the other end of his Jade Abacus, Dan Feng considered it. It was only a Starskiff, not a Stellar Destroyer. Let her crash it. The Dragon Preceptors would be the ones suffering, not him.

As for the cost of repairing the buildings... it probably wouldn't even cover one outfit for him.

The High Elder stubbornly refused to reply.

[Yingxing: Jingliu likes Xianyu.]

The moment Baiheng saw Yingxing's message, her mind went blank.

What? Who? Jingliu... Who did Jingliu like? Xianyu...

Countless moments flashed through her mind: trying to pair Xianyu up with someone else right in front of Jingliu, helping her friend chat him up...

Especially that one remark-

"By the time he's two hundred, he'll probably have plenty of young ladies swooning over him-"

Baiheng: I really deserve to die, qwq.