The wind picked up

"I'm not Little Cicada! I have a name!"

"Didn't you just call me Taoist, though?"

"Because you are a Taoist."

Watching Wen Zhixia explain this to him in all seriousness, Chen Shi'an couldn't help laughing.

So there really were people whose mere presence made everything seem brighter.

"Why are you walking so slowly? Aren't you hungry?" Wen Zhixia asked again. It was lunchtime, and every student on the path was hurrying along. He alone looked as if he were taking a leisurely stroll.

"I am."

"Then why are you still walking so slowly?"

"The cafeteria isn't going anywhere."

"The cafeteria isn't going anywhere... but we have to line up! Come on, hurry!"

With that, Wen Zhixia set her two short little legs moving and quickened her pace.

Considerate enough to worry that Chen Shi'an might not keep up, she was just about to look back when she found him already beside her.

He matched her pace, but unlike her visibly hurried movements and expression, Chen Shi'an still gave the impression of strolling leisurely, even at this speed.

"H-how are you walking so fast?"

The girl was already on the verge of breaking into a jog. The clearest distinction between running and walking was that, when running, both feet left the ground at the same time for an instant. Chen Shi'an was plainly still walking, but a closer look at his "walking" revealed something that seemed to defy common sense-his legs weren't long enough to account for the great distance each light step covered, yet there was nothing exaggerated about his movements.

Wen Zhixia was astonished. She had no idea how he managed it. It was as though the wind was particularly obedient to him, offering no resistance as he walked and even giving him a push from all around.

Acting included a classic exercise in miming, where performers used movement and expression to make the audience believe there really was a ball or a wall in empty space. Could Chen Shi'an have specifically trained to control his movements and expression too? Was he practically running while making it look as though he was still walking?

Unfortunately, someone without any cultivation could only see the surface, not the subtleties of his footwork.

Chen Shi'an offered no further explanation. He merely smiled and said, "I've got long legs."

"Hmph! What's so great about having long legs? Mine aren't short either!"

Chen Shi'an looked her over. She wasn't wrong. Though she wasn't tall, the proportions of her legs really were perfect.

The school had over four thousand students and staff, and three cafeterias: two for students and one for teachers.

Ordinary students could only use their meal cards at the student cafeterias, but teachers' cards worked at all three.

As they approached the cafeterias, Wen Zhixia slowed down. Like a local showing a visitor around, she began explaining to Chen Shi'an which cafeteria was better.

"Cafeteria One has pretty good noodles and other wheat-based dishes, but the rice meals are just so-so, and each item costs a little more. Still, there's more variety. I heard the contractor running Cafeteria Two comes from the principal's hometown, but he's pretty honest. Most of the dishes suit local tastes. There's less variety, but it's cheaper too. Do you want noodles or rice?"

Having run into each other by chance, and with both of them on their own, the two tacitly agreed to be temporary lunch buddies.

"Rice for me. What about you?" Chen Shi'an said. Cafeteria Two was where he'd bought takeout yesterday. He'd tried the food and thought it tasted decent.

"Mm-hmm, rice for me too. But there are so many people now..." Wen Zhixia looked at the lines ahead. Every serving window had at least a dozen people waiting, which meant a wait of ten minutes at the very least.

"No rush. Food tastes better when you're a little hungrier."

"True!"

Chen Shi'an joined the line for the woman who had served him yesterday, and Wen Zhixia followed, standing behind him.

She held her little hand over her head and moved it horizontally toward him, bringing it to roughly the level of his ear.

Chen Shi'an turned to look at what she was doing and couldn't help saying, "Are you comparing our heights? Didn't your hand drift upward?"

"No, it didn't."

"You should only come up to my chin at most."

"...How tall are you?"

"About one eighty. You?"

"I'm... one sixty!"

Chen Shi'an was skeptical. By his estimate, she was about one sixty with her shoes on... but-

"I meant barefoot."

"Th-then I'm still one sixty!"

"You're not just one fifty-nine, are you?"

"Of course not!"

The girl's pretty face flushed with embarrassment. Then she began saying incomprehensible things like, "I'm one sixty-one with shoes on," "Who goes out without shoes anyway?" and "What's the point of measuring barefoot?"

Seeing her occasionally lean out to peek at the line and serving window because her view was blocked, Chen Shi'an made room for her.

"Why don't you stand in front of me?"

"Okay!"

Wen Zhixia didn't stand on ceremony. They were already set to have lunch together, so it made no difference who got their food first. As it happened, the girl ahead of Chen Shi'an wasn't tall either. Even with taller people blocking the view farther ahead, Wen Zhixia at least had a much more comfortable amount of space to look through.

Once the girl stood in front of him, Chen Shi'an found himself looking at her back.

His gaze passed over her profile, catching the smooth line of her jaw tapering toward the side of her neck. When she tipped her head up slightly to look at the line ahead, her neck formed a delicate curve.

Wen Zhixia really was sensitive to heat. Perhaps because she had hurried all the way here, a light sheen of sweat covered her pale neck. The ends of her shoulder-length hair rested just above her delicate collarbones. As she turned her head, her soft hair brushed her small, rosy ears. Together with the fine sweat on her neck, it gave her a summer freshness that was at once dewy and bright.

Because of his cultivation, a pure, tranquil Taoist aura naturally suffused the space around Chen Shi'an. Its strength was limited, though, and it wasn't "cool" in a physical sense.

Seeing that the girl really was hot, Chen Shi'an stirred his intent ever so slightly, and something like a breeze arose around her.

The breeze didn't even move a strand of her hair, yet it brought her a touch of genuine coolness.

Before his eyes, the little hand she had been using to fan herself slowly came to a stop.

She carefully took in the sensation, then turned to speak to Chen Shi'an, her eyes round with delighted surprise:

"Taoist, did you feel that breeze? It's so much cooler in front of you than where I was standing! It suddenly doesn't feel nearly as stuffy!"

"Oh, so you were too hot to talk. I was wondering why you'd suddenly gone quiet."

"It's so hot! The more I talk, the more I sweat. The school is such a cheapskate. They know the hottest part of the cafeteria is where we line up,

"yet they won't install a few more fans..."

"Do you usually eat by yourself?" Chen Shi'an asked curiously.

He looked at the students around them and noticed that few were eating alone. Most came in groups of two or three.

"Mm-hmm, I usually eat by myself."

Wen Zhixia's answer surprised Chen Shi'an a little. With her personality, she ought to have plenty of friends.

"Don't you have any friends?"

"I do."

"Then why don't you eat with them? Are you excluding them?"

"Of course not!"

Wen Zhixia rolled her eyes at him. "It's because they all live on campus. After lunch, they need to hurry back to the dorm to rest. And I eat really slowly, so I'm always the last to finish. They feel bad if they don't wait for me, and I feel bad if they do. It's just awkward all around, so I come to eat by myself. It's better than everyone having a lively meal together, then them leaving first while I'm left eating slowly on my own..."

The girl's sensitivity and consideration made Chen Shi'an see her in a new light. She wasn't nearly as carefree as she appeared.

After explaining, Wen Zhixia asked him, "What about you? Why are you eating alone too?" Before Chen Shi'an could answer, she went on, talking to herself. "Oh, right... you only just transferred here. Eating with people you don't know is pretty awkward. I'd rather eat alone too..."

"You've said it all. What's left for me to say?"

"Hmph. I'm saving you the trouble of talking, and you're still not happy."

Then she mused aloud again, sounding curious. "But it really is strange. I'm not that outgoing either. We've only known each other for two days, so why do I feel like I already know you so well?"

"Maybe we just clicked at first sight. Some people feel like old friends the moment you see them."

"Ah! You feel that way about me too?"

"No, I just think you're amusing," Chen Shi'an said honestly.

"Oh, get lost! Amusing means interesting, doesn't it? I knew I was an interesting person."

The girl was very good at putting a positive spin on things for herself. Calling someone interesting ought to count as high praise!

Chen Shi'an now understood how she'd developed such a sunny, cheerful personality.

"Then how about we eat together from now on? Be meal buddies, like you mentioned this morning?" Chen Shi'an offered.

"I eat really slowly, you know."

"I'm not a fast eater either."

"Really? Don't you boys usually sit down and walk off with an empty plate five minutes later?"

"Look how slowly I walk."

"Oh, true!"

He'd said, "I'm not a fast eater either," rather than "I don't mind" or "It's okay, I can wait for you."

That distinction mattered a great deal to Wen Zhixia! The fundamental reason she didn't eat with her friends was that they all ate faster than she did, not that they wouldn't wait. She was a girl who hated causing anyone trouble because of her own needs.

"Hmm..."

Wen Zhixia considered it for a little while, then finally turned back with sparkling eyes:

"Okay! Then let's be meal buddies too!"

"What if I eat even slower than you?" Chen Shi'an asked with a smile.

"I'll wait for you."