Qian Renxue's visit

"Old Wang, pack it up." Seeing a faint smile appear on the girl's face, Leng Xiyue relaxed and prepared to say goodbye.

"What's your name?" the girl asked when she saw Leng Xiyue getting ready to leave.

"My name's Leng Xiyue. No need to thank me. Bye~" With that, Leng Xiyue hurried away impatiently. Her trip to the Outer City hadn't been wasted; she could take this opportunity to ask her contacts for information about Qian Renxue. If she could arrange a chance encounter and build a rapport with her, it would certainly be a tremendous help in the future.

Some underground information channels in the Outer City were no weaker than those in the Inner City. Of course, these groups were all legal. At most, they gathered information and sold it to interested buyers, and none of it was confidential-portraits or recordings of Qian Renxue, for instance. That sort of thing was hardly something she could ask about through Spirit Hall's internal channels.

Watching Leng Xiyue's retreating figure, the girl couldn't help frowning. "Leng Xiyue? That name sounds so familiar."

"Young miss, Leng Xiyue is your mother's personal disciple."

At some point, two middle-aged men had quietly approached. Seeing her lost in thought, they offered a reminder.

One was muscular, with a leopard's head, round eyes, a swallow's jaw, and a tiger's whiskers-the very image of an iron-hard tough guy. The other had delicate, feminine features that made anyone who saw him think of a scheming villain. They made a peculiar pair, but they stood quite close together, clearly on excellent terms.

The girl nodded upon hearing this. "I remember now. It seems my mother has a good eye."

"All right, let's stay in Spirit City for another two weeks this time. There's still time to kill that person anyway."

"But..." The delicate-featured middle-aged man looked worried. "Young miss, we only planned to return for two days before heading back. There's no one overseeing things there right now. If something-"

The girl's gaze sharpened, cutting him off. "I said we're staying another two weeks. Do you need me to repeat myself?"

"...Understood. I'll go back and take care of it right away."

Leng Xiyue successfully bought photographs of Qian Renxue's childhood public appearances from an information broker, and the moment she looked at them, she was filled with regret.

Who would have thought her first meeting with Qian Renxue had ended before it had even begun? She had even dragged her along to eat at a roadside stall. It had been far too informal.

It was all because Spirit City had so many pretty blonde young women. Otherwise, she would definitely have recognized her straightaway.

Still, it was too late to salvage her image now, and she had no idea when they might meet again. Leng Xiyue simply returned to her dorm, put the matter out of her mind, and enjoyed a good night's sleep.

By now, her dorm had long since been changed to a private apartment. Having over three hundred square meters all to herself was quite a pleasure. This wasn't special treatment arranged by Bibi Dong, but a benefit the academy had specifically prepared for its geniuses.

Leng Xiyue kept a very regular daily routine: after breakfast, she went out for a stroll, studied in the library during the morning, caught up with Hu Liena and the others over lunch, went to the Arena with them to fight in the afternoon, then returned in the evening to research equipment or wander outside. Year after year, her days followed the same pattern.

Just as she was eating breakfast, a sudden knock sounded at the door.

"Who is it?" Leng Xiyue was puzzled. Normally, no one came looking for her at this hour.

When she opened the door, she found the blonde girl from the previous evening standing outside.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Qian Renxue. Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Mm, just a moment." Leng Xiyue glanced back at her workshop and went to secure it with three locks before opening the door to let Qian Renxue inside. "Come in, Sister Xue~"

"So young, yet you have so many secrets." Qian Renxue noticed the locked room immediately, but she had no intention of asking about it and merely teased her.

After inviting Qian Renxue to sit in the reception room, Leng Xiyue asked, "Sister Xue, is there something important that brought you here?"

"Can't I come hang out with you without something important to discuss? I thought we were friends already."

"No, no, no, of course you can. It's just that you've seemed so weighed down with worries, Sister, that I thought you must have come for more than a simple chat," Leng Xiyue said with an apologetic smile.

Qian Renxue lowered her head, a trace of sadness crossing her face, though she pretended not to care. "It's nothing particularly important, actually. I just wanted to ask how your teacher-my mother-has been lately."

Bibi Dong had always loathed her. She didn't know why Bibi Dong rejected her so much; she only assumed her mother despised her for being incapable. Thus, ever since childhood, she had tried all sorts of ways to prove herself.

Now, only one final step remained before she completely replaced Xue Qinghe. Once that step was finished, she would probably have few opportunities to return.

She dearly wished her mother would pat her head at a time like this and offer her some encouragement, like any ordinary mother would. Unfortunately, for now, that could only remain an extravagant hope.

Leng Xiyue brewed a pot of tea and poured Qian Renxue a cup before sitting down. "Teacher... she's doing fairly well, actually. Her life is usually quite relaxed. Everyone in Spirit Hall is diligent about their duties, so there aren't many matters that require her personal decisions. She's been a little busy lately, though. It seems something happened over in the Heaven Dou Empire."

"Is that so?" Qian Renxue frowned, seemingly remembering something, then suddenly smiled faintly. She casually lifted her cup and took a sip, only for the strange taste to make her brow furrow.

Then she glanced at Leng Xiyue and, seeing that she had no intention of drinking any tea, couldn't help asking, "Is this what you usually drink?"

"Uh, I don't actually drink much tea, but these are the most expensive tea leaves anyone has given me. I don't usually have guests, either, so please forgive any shortcomings~" Normally, she used these tea leaves to make milk tea for herself~

"It's fine. I'm very pleased." Qian Renxue endured the peculiar flavor and drained the cup. She could tell that the tea leaves were quite high-quality, but there had been no brewing technique whatsoever. Leng Xiyue had simply added ordinary boiling water, leaving less than a tenth of their original flavor intact.

But as a guest, she couldn't refuse the tea her host had offered.

Leng Xiyue wasn't in the habit of drinking tea, and no one had ever warranted such formal treatment from her. When Hu Liena visited, they usually drank milk tea together or something similar. Preparing tea had merely been a courtesy, but since Qian Renxue had drunk hers, Leng Xiyue followed suit.

Upon tasting it, she felt it was no different from a decoction of medicinal herbs.

"Sister Xue, wait a moment." Unable to stand it any longer, Leng Xiyue went into the kitchen, took some premade milk tea out of the Storage Space, and brought it back.

Time seemed to stop flowing inside the Storage Space, or perhaps it was an absolutely sterile environment. Even after several months, anything she took out remained exactly as it had been when she put it in. To ensure she always had something to eat, she had stocked up on plenty of good things.

"Here, Sister Xue, try this. Though this sort of thing usually can't grace an elegant table, so please forgive me." Leng Xiyue switched to two larger stemmed glasses and filled them with milk tea.

This milk tea had no extra toppings and was very pure. Everything produced on the Douluo Continent was natural and unpolluted, without any "high-tech" additives. On top of that, she selected high-quality ingredients, such as those tea leaves, so it tasted far better than the milk teas from her previous life. In fact, there was no comparison.

"You should have done this from the start. With your personality, little sister, I can't imagine you being the sort to sit quietly savoring tea." Although the drink before her was a rather peculiar color, Leng Xiyue recommended it so highly that it surely couldn't be bad.

She took a small, gentle sip, and a wondrous, indescribable sensation welled up within her. Qian Renxue frowned again.

Before Leng Xiyue could say anything, she abandoned her ladylike demeanor and gulped it down, quickly emptying the glass.

"Little sister, could you pour me another glass?"

After a reader pointed it out, I found that the earlier chapters did indeed have some major problems. The first chapter was even missing nearly half a paragraph. The meaningless descriptions were enough to make my scalp crawl, too, so I'll be gradually revising them in the near future. Anyone interested can go back and take a look.