544 Chapter 544: High School Drama II

It took a while, but we finally managed to explain to Rossetti what was going on. In the meantime, I gained new information regarding Yue Jian's parents.

Apparently, after the visit to Headmistress Taylor's house yesterday, Professor Nan Gong had left on a trip to check things out. He was deliberately being vague, so Yue Jian had no idea where he was going or what he was checking out, but he insisted that she and her mother stay in Flandor City. Teresa Taylor, being a family friend, was able to arrange accommodation for mother and daughter, and even settled the enrollment matters.

It was unfortunate, but at the moment, Teresa Taylor was unable to offer any assistance regarding the rescue of Zhao Yan, Ji Yan and the other kidnapped students. She was still awaiting authorization from the government, and given how everyone was depending on the Midnight Order and Federation military to find out the whereabouts of the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan, they couldn't move out until they found the exact location.

This wasn't good.

On the other hand, Teresa Taylor also found Yue Jian's mother some employment, so that they could pay the rent for now. They had left most of their stuff back in the Nan Gong manor, and with the vampires running around, they didn't dare to return to the place for now. Fortunately, they were able to access their online savings and bank accounts in the city without much trouble.

"I see…" Rossetti was nodding after listening to all that. She placed a hand on Yue Jian's shoulder. "I'm very sorry to hear that. If you need any help, feel free to approach me! I'll definitely help you in any way I can!"

She then nodded toward me.

"Richard and Kufa too…oh, that's another friend of ours. We'll introduce you to him sooner or later. And when Kureha and Eliza return, we'll introduce you to them too."

"Speaking of which, what happened to the Franklin cousins?" I asked. They had been absent during the vampire attack, having run off on a mission or something.

"They are hunting the Dark Church, so they won't be back for a while." Rossetti frowned. "I heard they found a few agents and are trying to go undercover or something."

"That makes sense." I nodded. That would explain their absence for such a long period of time, and why they remained out of contact. They couldn't risk blowing their cover. Of course, there was another reason for their silence – one that was much more ominous, but I didn't want to think too much about it.

"All right, we're hitting the showers, and then going for lunch later. I'll see you then."

"Ugh…" Rossetti made a face. "Kufa and I have a class in a few minutes. We might not be able to join you."

"Don't worry about it," I assured her. "There are always other opportunities."

She then leaned over and held Yue Jian's hands, smiling brightly.

"I look forward to getting to know you more, Yue Jian!"

"S…same!" Yue Jian mumbled shyly. Rossetti then waved before leaving. I nodded and watched her go before turning around.

"All right, let's go."

"She's a very nice person," Yue Jian said softly. "Much nicer than the other girls in class, and Ling Xue Xiao."

"Yeah. I'm sure you'll be great friends."

After we showered and changed back to our usual uniforms, the class headed to the cafeteria. As Yue Jian said, her mother had found some employment, but I didn't expect her to be manning one of the stalls.

"Yue Jian! Richard!"

She called out to us cheerfully and waved to attract our attention. My stomach growled as I headed there.

"Mom…"

For some reason, Yue Jian was on her own. Thanks to her shy nature, she wasn't able to befriend anybody, so she did nothing but watch the other girls from our class slip past her as they engaged in joyful conversations while isolating themselves within their own cliques. Not a single one of them extended a hand of friendship to poor Yue Jian.

Wow…I know we had just experienced a traumatic attack about a week ago, but was there a need to ignore a newcomer like this? Wasn't this…a bit too blatant? It was almost as if it was a contrived plot device to ostracize the main heroine of a shoujo manhua, for no other reason other than make her a Pity Beggar Mary Sue. Perhaps it was a plot device to contrive the main heroine attracting unwanted attention from jealous girls when a hot guy saw her being alone, approached and talked to her, just so the author or artist could create stupid high school drama for the sake of it. And then poor Yue Jian would be bullied by a girl gang later.

What the fuck was wrong with some people?

Sighing, I strolled toward the floundering Yue Jian and gave her a gentle push.

"Yeah, your mom is calling you. Let's grab some food."

We went over to her mom's stall without any hesitation. I remembered what a great cook she was, having been treated to her meals a couple of times – once, when Zhao Yan invited me over to their house, and also last week when I went over to inform them of the news regarding their daughter. That was why I looked forward to the food she cooked, which consisted of rice and a bunch of dishes. Economy rice, if you really wanted to be specific.

Just as I would expect, Yue Jian's mother dumped a lot of food onto both of our plates. Winking slyly, she leaned over and whispered, "Just a little extra for the two of you!"

It was really great to have a mom on the cafeteria staff.

"Oh, hey!"

While the both of us settled in our seats at the corner of the cafeteria, not far from Yue Jian's mother's stall, I over heard a couple of guys whispering excitedly to each other.

"Did you hear about the transfer students?"

"Yeah! Apparently Nan Gong Zhao Yan's third sister is in Teacher Einsberg's ice magic class!"

And she was sitting right here, dudes. It was amusing to see them completely overlook the person they were talking about. I watched the two guys, but I didn't recognize them. They were not in Rossetti and Kufa's class, evidently, or they wouldn't be in the cafeteria. Otherwise they were skipping classes, but who knew?

While I feasted, I couldn't help but curiously pay attention to their conversation because I was a busybody. On the other hand, Yue Jian was blushing because she wasn't used to being talked about. It was perhaps a good thing that they didn't recognize her, or she would be even more embarrassed.

Fortunately, the guys shifted the topic from her to someone else.

"It isn't just her! We also have a beautiful senior and another guy transferring into our school! They're in the third year! The beautiful senior is Ling Xue Xiao, and the guy is…uh…"

"Lin somebody."

Lin Xuan Chi, actually. I felt sorry for him. Well, I was sure the girls would remember his name and not Ling Xue Xiao's, so it evened out in the end.

"Speak of the devil! Aren't those two the new transfer students?"

Yue Jian almost dropped her fork when she heard that. Frantically looking up, she caught sight of Lin Xuan Chi and Ling Xue Xiao walking together. They had already collected their food and were strolling across the cafeteria, looking for a seat.

They were really an eye-catching pair, brilliantly standing out as students watched them in admiration. The girls were gushing non-stop over how handsome Lin Xuan Chi was, while the guys were practically drooling over Ling Xue Xiao's tomboyish beauty. What they saw in that plain tomboy, I had no idea, but I wasn't going to judge. Beauty was only skin deep, after all.

In any case, they were getting quite the warm reception, especially when compared to poor Yue Jian. Even as I diverted my attention back to my meal, I could hear the girls and guys swarming over the duo, greeting them, exchanging introductions and pleasantries, and even requesting for photographs.

…did they not learn from the massacre that the obsession of taking photographs to post them online on social media would eventually lead to their deaths? Well…then again, this was a completely different context. There were no enemies attacking us and no state of emergency, so I was being overly cynical for the sake of it.

"They're receiving a very warm welcome in this school…"

Yue Jian sounded a bit envious as she watched the mobbed duo. I grunted in disinterest, but she took that as a signal to continue.

"I guess that's only to be expected. They're pretty good looking, and they have great personalities and remarkable charismas."

"Ji Yan was also charismatic and popular, if I remember correctly," I replied. Inwardly, I snorted. Ling Xue Xiao did not have a "great" personality, if you asked me…but clearly nobody asked for my opinion, so I didn't share it. Instead, I continued on what truly mattered. "But Zhao Yan was a lot less sociable. She wasn't exactly shy, but she usually kept to herself."

"…I see."

Yue Jian smiled to herself as she nibbled at a piece of chicken.

"So Zhao Yan wasn't very popular too…"

"You will be if you get over your shyness and learn to speak up."

"Eh?! Impossible, impossible!"

While I laughed cruelly at Yue Jian's frantic reaction, Lin Xuan Chi caught sight of us.

"Oh?"

He ignored the girls who were clamoring over him and trying to act all friendly, to get on his good side, suprising them by whirling away and heading toward the table Yue Jian shared with me.

"Is this seat taken?"

"Um…no! Uh, hello?"

Yue Jian was flustered at his sudden arrival, the words tumbling out incoherently from her mouth as she tried to greet him. I chewed my lip irritably, but did not respond or glare at him. That would be too obvious. Besides, I wasn't opposed to him dining with us. The more, the merrier. And it would make the atmosphere less awkward.

"I'll eat with you guys then!"

Lin Xuan Chi affably placed his tray on the table, sitting beside Yue Jian, who seemed to grow increasingly nervous.

As for me…

"What are you eating?" (It was actually a Chinese pun joke where I asked Xuan chi shenmo? Where choosing what to eat was homophonic with Xuan Chi's name)

"Can't you tell?"

Lin Xuan Chi was not at all offended and pointed good-naturedly at his tray of food. It appeared that he had taken bacon and egg with Western styled soup instead of economic rice from Yue Jian's mother's stall.

"No, I mean…never mind." I sighed. It took an intellectual to understand the value of pun jokes and evidently Lin Xuan Chi and the confused Yue Jian weren't intellectuals.

Lin Xuan Chi merely cocked his head before he pushed his tray closer to Yue Jian.

"I chose a lot of food, so if you don't mind, I would like you to try…"

��Ah?!"

The girls were utterly stunned by the loving attention Lin Xuan Chi was paying Yue Jian. While doing my best not to roll my eyes, I realized that someone was missing.

Blinking, I glanced up at Ling Xue Xiao, who was standing by herself some distance away and glowering in our direction. Biting her lip, she grumbled to herself.

"How hateful!"

Instead of raging over there by yourself, why don't you just…join us? Ah…I know! This was the typical shoujo drama where every female character was jealous of the main heroine because all the handsome male leads only paid attention to her for some odd reason. Shoujo manhua main heroine power, I guess.

"So any news on the spy?"

I decided to outright ignore the whiny bitch and cut straight to the point. Lin Xuan Chi stared at me, surprised, and then shook his head.

"No. We haven't found any clues regarding that."

"Well, it's only been a week since we got here…"

Yue Jian was actually speaking up for Lin Xuan Chi. See? You can do it if you try!

"Hmm…"

"Why are you so interested in our Association's internal affairs, anyway?"

Lin Xuan Chi was careful not to sound rude, emphasizing his curiosity more than taking offense. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I'm Zhao Yan's friend. If there's any way I can help her, I will."

"Ah. Yeah, that makes sense."

Lin Xuan Chi nodded in understanding.

"For now, we should just lie low, relax and go with the flow. I'm sure we'll find something as long as we're patient."

"…why? So that we can turn this story into some shoujo high school drama bullshit filled with angst and implausible romance where the heroines fall for the 'cool, bad guys' and indulge in toxic, abusive relationships? I'm sure Yue Jian doesn't want to waste time engaging in high school drama while her sisters are being held captive. She definitely wants to rescue them as quickly as possible, right?"

"Uh…"

You're kidding me. You're telling me you want to engage in romantic antics and high school drama bullshit over rescuing your sisters?

"Yes."

Phew.

Lin Xuan Chi nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. Sorry, Yue Jian. I didn't consider your feelings when I said that. Of course your sisters' safety is of the utmost priority."

"No, not at all."

"That said, rushing things through and recklessly looking for the spy or the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan might be counterproductive, especially if we call needless attention to ourselves. Even if this is an urgent matter, we cannot afford to be too hasty."

"I'm not denying that, but I don't think we have the luxury of relaxing and simply going with the flow."

"Of course, of course. That's not what I meant."

What did you mean, then?

"Well…" Lin Xuan Chi wove his fingers together and leaned closer to stare at me. "If you want to help, then let's meet up tonight." He glanced at Yue Jian before she could say anything. "Sorry, Yue Jian, but you shouldn't come along."

"But…"

"I'm sorry. But you don't have the proper training in combat and you're inexperienced, so it might be too dangerous. I wouldn't be able to face Professor Nan Gong if something happened to you."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of the matter in your stead," I assured Yue Jian, and she reluctantly relented.

"All right. Don't do anything dangerous, you two."

"It's not just us two." Lin Xuan Chi chuckled and glanced at the sulking Ling Xue Xiao, who had finally found a table of her own and was surrounded by both guys and girls. "Xue Xiao will be with us too."

He glanced back at me with what he probably thought was a charming smile.

"So are you up for it?"

I regarded him for a moment before I nodded, even though I couldn't shake off a chilling premonition that ran up my spine.