Master of Nine Stars

To Rong Taotao’s surprise, more and more people started gathering around him.

Shilou, Shilan, Lu Mang, Jiao Tengda, Zhao Tang, Li Ziyi... and Sun Xingyu, who was whispering with Fan Lihua.

Rong Taotao followed the sound and turned his head curiously, only to be taken aback!

Holy cow, what a lineup!

A real-life fruit salad!

It was as if a blazing fire of gossip was burning in the hearts of this bunch of ”fruits.” Only Zhao Tang, who was a few years older, was staring at Gao Lingwei’s training movements in the distance, his brow furrowed in thought.

”You’re back~ Hehe.” Sun Xingyu, clinging to Fan Lihua’s arm, excitedly ran forward and plopped down on the concrete ground, which was covered in a thin layer of frost and snow.

”Hey~” Fan Lihua stumbled as she was pulled along, glaring at Sun Xingyu with an annoyed look, her cheeks puffed out as if she were about to bite someone.

”Sorry, sorry.” Sun Xingyu quickly tried to placate Fan Lihua, patting her on the head, but then turned to look at Rong Taotao. ”Was the Starfield Vortex fun?”

Fan Lihua: ”...”

Rong Taotao shrugged. ”It was okay. Not as exciting as the Snow Realm.”

”Oh.” Sun Xingyu’s topic suddenly shifted. ”Did you take a picture of Black and White for me? Did you get his hands? They’re so beautiful.”

Rong Taotao looked up and saw Li Ziyi’s pained expression. ”I forgot.”

Hearing this, Li Ziyi let out a huge sigh of relief.

”What the heck? And you call yourself a good friend,” Sun Xingyu said, looking unhappy.

”Oh, right.” Rong Taotao slapped his forehead. ”The one I sent Da Wei was the second version. There’s another photo before that. Black and White was being mischievous and wouldn’t let me take a picture, so he covered his face with a fan. Do you want it?”

”Like a beauty half-hidden behind a pipa?” Sun Xingyu blinked her big, pretty eyes and said with a look of pleasant surprise, ”If he covered his face with a fan, that means I can see his hands!”

Standing beside them, Li Ziyi’s pained expression returned.

”Yup.” Rong Taotao gave a mischievous grin. As he pulled his phone out of his pocket, he made a fist and bumped it against Lu Mang’s outstretched one. ”How’d the match go?”

Lu Mang nodded. ”We won.”

”Huh?” Rong Taotao was stunned for a moment. ”You won? You really won?”

Lu Mang shrugged. ”Zhao Tang went on a rampage.”

Rong Taotao: ”...”

From behind, Zhao Tang snapped out of it and smiled humbly. ”That was all thanks to Tengda’s commanding. He’s got some sneaky ideas.”

Rong Taotao gave Lu Mang a strange look. ”So you’re saying you were the only one who didn’t do anything?”

Jiao Tengda chuckled. ”No way! Lu Mang was the bait, drawing all the aggro.”

Lu Mang: ”...”

”Come on, hurry up, seriously...” Sun Xingyu looked incredibly impatient. Still hugging Fan Lihua’s arm, she leaned her head in closer. She saw Rong Taotao open his photo gallery, but then she suddenly grabbed the hand he was using to swipe through the pictures.

Li Ziyi took a deep breath and looked up at the vast, swirling snow...

Sun Xingyu looked up at Rong Taotao and pointed at the Tulip Girl in the photo. ”Hold on! Who’s this?”

Shilou and Shilan also craned their necks curiously. Well... in fact, everyone except Zhao Tang had gathered around, full of curiosity.

Rong Taotao, Sun Xingyu, and Fan Lihua were sitting cross-legged on the ground, and in an instant, they were completely surrounded.

”A friend.” Rong Taotao thought for a moment, then added, ”A teammate.”

Based on Ye Nanxi’s actual performance over the past two months, she could indeed be considered a teammate.

”What a pretty girl. She looks so sweet. Aren’t you afraid Da Wei will beat you up?” Sun Xingyu asked curiously.

”Why would she beat me up?” Rong Taotao looked at Sun Xingyu helplessly. ”She’s just a teammate, we trained together. The moment I met her, I made it clear I have a girlfriend.

’Uh, she actually thought I was being conceited and called me crazy...’

There are tons of pretty girls in the world, so don’t go making stuff up. Besides, if you don’t let go of my hand, aren’t you afraid Li Ziyi will beat you up?”

”Beat me up? He wouldn’t dare!” Sun Xingyu said, but she smacked Rong Taotao’s hand away. ”Who’d want to touch you? I was just stopping you from flipping through photos. Besides, who told you to take her picture in the first place?”

Rong Taotao was exasperated. ”That’s because you don’t know how arrogant she was. I took that picture just to piss her off, shoved it right in her face to see if she’d still act so high and mighty...

Then I went into the Vortex to train, left my phone in the hotel, and completely forgot all about it.”

”Oh? She’s arrogant? Quick, tell me everything.”

”Alright, alright, I’ll send you the picture of Black and White on WeChat right now.” Rong Taotao deleted Ye Nanxi’s photo and said casually, ”What kind of weird hobby is this, liking people’s hands? Lu Mang’s hands are pale and long too, why don’t you go look at his?”

Lu Mang spoke up quietly, ”Don’t drag me into this.”

”*Pfft...*” Fan Lihua covered her mouth to stifle a laugh and whispered, ”You just got back and you’re already trying to ruin class unity, hehe.”

Rong Taotao gave Fan Lihua a clueless look. ”Ruin class un—Oh! Oh! You mean that jar of vinegar?”

Rong Taotao looked up at Li Ziyi. ”You haven’t said a word this whole time. Playing the cool, aloof type? You... uh...”

Suddenly, everyone scattered. Even Sun Xingyu, who was still on the ground, was forcefully pulled to her feet by Fan Lihua and whisked away.

Gao Lingwei strode over on her long legs, stopping in front of Rong Taotao. She looked down at him quietly.

It would have been one thing if Rong Taotao had been watching her quietly, but with a whole crowd gathered here, how could Gao Lingwei not have noticed?

”You’re, uh, looking good.” Rong Taotao looked up at Gao Lingwei and habitually scratched his head.

Seeing his slightly awkward expression, a small smile appeared on Gao Lingwei’s face. She leaned down and held out her hand. ”Hungry?”

Rong Taotao took her hand and pulled himself up. ”Time to get some food?”

”Mhm.”

”BUZZ... BUZZ...” They had only taken a few steps when their phones started vibrating.

Rong Taotao opened his messages and saw one from Sun Xingyu in the ”Fruit Salad” group chat.

Xing’Er: ”Congrats to Da Wei on being able to eat on time every day again! *Scattering Flowers*~”

Rong Taotao turned to Gao Lingwei. ”Why haven’t you been eating on time?”

Gao Lingwei leaned over to glance at Rong Taotao’s phone and said lightly, ”Xingyu is going to get a talking-to when I get back.”

”I’m asking you a question!” Rong Taotao nudged Gao Lingwei’s arm with his elbow.

Gao Lingwei: ”I’ll change.”

Rong Taotao grinned. ”I’m back now, so you don’t have a choice. I’ll be with you for all three meals, okay!”

Gao Lingwei smiled too. ”Mhm, okay.”

The two of them walked side by side down the familiar street, surrounded by the familiar nightscape.

Rong Taotao put his phone away. He let his hand drop naturally, brushing it against hers before taking it in his own.

”You’ve gotten a little taller.” Gao Lingwei turned to look at Rong Taotao. ”It seems Rong took good care of you.”

”Yeah.” Rong Taotao habitually squeezed her fingertips. It was the same familiar feeling.

A little cool, a little soft.

’Hmm... To be blunt, Rong Taotao said Sun Xingyu had a weird hobby, but he probably had one too.

Because his Lifebound Soul Beast was a Cloud Dog, Rong Taotao was used to squeezing the little pads on its paws, which led to him habitually squeezing Gao Lingwei’s fingertips...’

Rong Taotao asked, ”Coach Xia escorted me back. He said your Halberd Technique has improved by leaps and bounds, and that if we fought again, you’d crush me.”

Gao Lingwei: ”I hope so. It would prove my hard work has paid off.”

A thought struck Rong Taotao, and he asked weakly, ”Say... when you were training, your imaginary opponent wasn’t me, was it?”

’You have to be working hard for the school’s breakout match and the Outer Region rankings!

Please don’t be training so hard just to beat me up...’

Hearing this, Gao Lingwei’s expression turned a little strange. ”Actually, it was Coach Xia. I kind of dislike him... hmm, in a certain way.”

Rong Taotao: ???

He tightened his grip on her hand. ”Why?”

Gao Lingwei shrugged. ”The way he talks always reminds me of you.”

Rong Taotao: ”...”

”So you dislike me?”

”Nonsense.” Gao Lingwei shot Rong Taotao a smiling glare and tried to pull her hand back.

Rong Taotao paid her no mind, simply holding her hand tight and stuffing it into his down jacket pocket.

”Did you complete your objective?” Gao Lingwei asked as they walked into the cafeteria.

”Completed. Let’s practice together over the next few days and get a feel for how much we’ve each grown.” Rong Taotao led Gao Lingwei straight to the second floor. ”In this selection match, let’s teach those upperclassmen a lesson.”

”Heh.” Gao Lingwei chuckled, looking at Rong Taotao’s side profile. She liked his confident look. ”This is the last round of selections. There will be a lot of strong opponents. After all, they only picked three teams from the first three rounds, so everyone who didn’t make it is piled into this last one.”

”Hmm... it’s definitely a bit tricky.” Rong Taotao nodded. ”I’ll talk to Si Huan Nian tonight when we get back and see if he can help me activate the Lotus Petal in my body. If he can, things will be a lot easier for us.”

With that, Rong Taotao stood before the ordering window and waved at the chef, Gao, with a smile. ”Hey, Gao!”

Gao beamed, his small eyes narrowing into slits. ”Taotao’s here! Haven’t seen you for a few months. Did you get seriously injured again and just get out of the hospital?”

Rong Taotao: ”...”

”Haha!” Gao let out a hearty laugh. ”Coach Si already told me. I’m just messing with you. Tell Uncle what you want to eat, order anything!”

’You said it!’

’A chef can be worked to death, but a Lotus can never be stuffed to death!’

Rong Taotao immediately started rattling off a list of dishes to the uncle: ”Steamed lamb, steamed bear paw, braised deer tail...”

”SMACK!” The uncle slapped his hand on the counter. ”Speak English!”

Rong Taotao flinched and quickly reeled off, ”Guo Bao Rou, Di San Xian, stir-fried dried tofu with hot peppers, Liu Rou Duan...”

Only then did Gao turn and call out the order to the kitchen.

”About the selection match, you don’t need to feel so much pressure.” Gao Lingwei’s voice suddenly came from his side.

”Why?”

”I’m here.”

Rong Taotao, still standing at the ordering counter, turned to look at Gao Lingwei. ”Hm?”

And inside his down jacket pocket, Gao Lingwei’s hand gave his a gentle squeeze.

Her beautiful eyes locked onto his, and she repeated those two words: ”I’m here.”