In a restaurant, Lin Songmei and Yan Mingqing occupied a table tucked away in a corner alcove. With a few vines hanging down the entrance of their little alcove to obscure them, they sat on either ends of a table, making some light conversation while looking out of the window.

“We could just... not tell Xueli too, you know?” Songmei ventured with an awkward hand motion before offering it out to Mingqing with an embarrassed cough. “She probably wouldn’t care anyway, and it wouldn’t be like we suddenly change what we do, so she might not even notice.”

Placing her hand on top of Songmei’s, Mingqing shrugged, at a loss of words. “I’m not really sure. It doesn’t matter if we tell her, does it? We could just not talk about it, but if she asks we could just be open about it. After all, there’s no real need to lie.”

“True... yeah...” Songmei mused, flipping through the menu with her other hand. “I guess uhhhm... uh-... What are you thinking about having? I was thinking about some salad... but with an extra order of double croutons. I’m craving some croutons, not gonna lie, and Youhong mentioned once that this place has good croutons.”

Finishing off her sentence with a nod, Songmei couldn’t help but give herself a pat on the back. As always, only the smoothest of topic transitions. Unparalleled levels of conversation skills.

Raising an eyebrow at the smooth transition, Mingqing gave Songmei’s hand a squeeze before leaning over to take a look at the menu. “I’m honestly up for anything. Maybe the croissant sandwich? I know it’s kinda a brunch item, but the croissant I had this morning wasn’t that great, so I want to make it up with another croissant.”

“Croissant addict~” Songmei sang, sticking her tongue out while tapping on the small screen built into the table. “You sure you want it, though? And if so uhh... which one do you want?”

“Yeah, I’ll just take the basic one,” Mingqing murmured before bolting up and stopping Songmei’s hand before she could hit the “confirm order” button. “Actually, add an egg, I want an egg in that sandwich too! Also extra cheese too, thanks.”

“Sure, sure, It says it’ll probably take ten-ish minutes.” Songmei laughed, adding the things to the order before confirming it and sending it off.

The ordering system was impressive—sadly it wasn’t that common because restaurants valued tradition—it was a screen built into the table and allowed the patrons to order just from their table. It worked especially well in this nature-themed cafe restaurant hybrid that had an air of seclusion to it. Of course, most restaurants didn’t have it, to Songmei’s chagrin, that meant having to talk and clarify when ordering.

Her worst nightmare... socializing.

Leaning back in her chair now that the order was done though, Songmei reached out towards Mingqing with her other hand and fluttered her fingers. “So, other than kicking my ass in a spar, how’s cultivating been?”

“Cultivating has been fine, a little annoying because I feel like my progress has been slow, making me fall a little behind you.” Mingqing admitted with a squint while puffing out her cheeks. “Also, don’t worry about that duel, that environment favored me a lot. It won’t be until we get to higher realms where you start to get close range attacks, and where I get long range ones.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Yeah... I wish we could get to those higher realms fast, though” Songmei complained with a mutter. “That’s when things start to look cooler, and things become more fun.”

“That’s when things also become more dangerous too,” Mingqing reminded, patting Songmei’s hand that she was already holding. “But yeah, techniques are much more fun when they’re stronger, I don’t think anyone would disagree with that.”

“They’re also so much more flashy~” Songmei laughed, miming out a bow shot before clearing her throat and bringing the conversation back to its other topic. “So do you think you’re close to opening your fifth meridian or not? I mean it doesn’t matter much either way.”

“I’m close, I’m excruciatingly close, but also so damn far,” Mingqing lamented with a sigh, “It’s like being in a desert, but seeing a massive frozen tundra in the not-so-far distance. But then also, for some reason, the sand in the desert isn’t actually sand, but actually some sand-monster that is constantly trying to yank you away.”

Th... that certainly was an analogy. Freezing in place as Mingqing extolled her experiences with exasperated hand motions, Songmei nodded along, interjecting where she could with small comments offering her condolences. Along with it, Songmei continued to give Manning's hand a long gentle squeeze as she vented.

With her little, light-hearted rant coming to a rapid close, Mingqing let out a relaxed “whew” before leaning back into her chair, matching Songmei.

Gazing out the window together, Songmei and Mingqing sat there in a bit of comfortable silence—comfortable for all but their arms, which were now stretched over the table to keep their hands connected as they leaned back in their chairs.

With their plates being dropped off in a flash (by either a person or a machine, it was something too fast for Songmei to see), Songmei and Mingqing both gave each other a long look, letting out a long sigh before pulling each other up.

“Does it look good? Does it live up to your croissant expectations?” Songmei raised an eyebrow, poking at the sandwich with a fork. “Wait woah... it’s like... crispy, crumbly, flaky, light? But really, that’s a nice croissant.”

“It is... It does look splendid actually, much better than I honestly expected,” Mingqing agreed, picking it up and inspecting it all over before taking a bite out of it.

Chowing down on her own salad, Songmei savored the satisfying crunch of the crouton breaking apart while eyeing her salad. It was a little subpar in both looks and taste if Songmei was to be honest—she was never really a salad person anyway, feeling rather more aligned with team soup.

As silence began to fall while they enjoyed their food, Songmei broke it after a moment. “So... wait... wait a second.”

“Hmm?” Mingqing looked up from her croissant, holding it in her mouth midbite.

“It’s just starting to register,” Songmei trailed off, her fork drifting back down to the table. “We’re like... we’re like girlfriends now, aren’t we?”

“Mhm,” Mingqing nodded with an almost giddy grin, continuing to devour her croissant sandwich.

“But... wait...” Songmei asked, a little flusteredness entering her voice. “Shouldn’t we like... go on a date then?”

Pausing, Mingqing set down her sandwich and stroked her chin a few times before nodding, “Yeah, we probably... probably should do that, when though?”

“I mean, we’re meeting with Youhong and Taigang tomorrow, right? But that’s like morning, lunch.... Maybe early afternoon? So what about after that?” Songmei asked, an apologetic look appearing with the late scheduling.

“It’s kinda abrupt, but it wasn’t like I, or us two in general, had other plans so... sure! Sounds like a plan, I’ll uhh... uhh... block my calendar? I don’t use a calendar...”