Morning light spilled like honey as I followed Aunt Yuqiu’s directions to Heavenly Melody Academy.

The campus rose like a stone sea, sprawling over almost a tenth of the city.

Students pressed to the gate like a tide, yet only twenty would be chosen from the crowd.

I felt smug; the invitation in my pocket was a warm talisman against worry.

There—a dedicated lane ran like a clear stream through the jam.

Privilege put wind at my back; I walked humming, chin up like a bobbing sparrow.

Under a spray of envious looks like pinpricks of rain, I stepped toward the special passage.

The examiner was slumped there, asleep like a cat in sun, jaw on the tabletop.

Deep-blue hair spilled like ink across the desk, hiding her face behind a loose waterfall.

Her casual clothes hung like weekend clouds; for an examiner, that felt shamelessly lazy.

"Recommendation letter... put it there, then... you can go in."

Her voice drifted up like smoke from under that curtain of hair.

Annoyance prickled first; the carelessness grated like grit in my teeth.

"Miss, you should take this job seriously."

"At least wear your uniform; it’s daytime armor."

"No one in this world dares to manage me, nor has the right."

"So, what will you say to your homeroom teacher for the coming term, little sister?"

She raised her head; indigo-violet eyes slid into mine like cold moonlight, probing quiet waters.

Shock hit first, like a dropped drum; Xuewei—of course it was Xuewei.

Focus, I scolded myself; but she was scandalously underdressed, all breeze and bare skin.

Even her bra padding peeked out like a pale petal from ill-kept fabric.

"What are you laughing at?" Xuewei asked, displeasure sharp as a knife-edge.

She measured my face, hesitated, then her gaze stopped at my chest; her tongue clicked.

'Tsk, this little cow again.'

Embarrassment burned; I swallowed pride, the word catching like a fishbone.

"No... I just want to ask, did you mean you’ll be our teacher—um, ma’am?"

"Yes. Move along now. You’re blocking the people behind you." Xuewei’s tone stayed sour.

I turned, startled; a girl my height waited behind me, small and golden like wheat.

Her hair shone gold, but she wasn’t the one I met when I entered the city.

Both had childlike faces, two blossoms on one branch, but this one was shy spring rain.

The other had been a small adult, brisk as a winter wind; this felt right.

"Um... could you please let me through? I want to submit my invitation..." she murmured.

Her voice trembled like dew on a leaf at dawn.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean it!" I slid left, drawing aside like a curtain.

She seemed bad at talking, folding into herself like a tender leaf.

But an invitation meant talent and lineage, a bright seal on her future.

Gold hair often marked the Radiant Empire’s royal line, though gold wasn’t always royal.

Many royals wore gold like sunlight, but sunlight falls on many fields.

"Thank you..." she said, the words barely a thread.

"No need to thank me; it was my fault." I kept my tone light as wind.

"No... I wanted to remind you, but I didn’t dare."

"So I stood here, and you got scolded by the teacher..."

"She didn’t scold me." I knew Xuewei’s temper; true anger goes silent like frost.

"But..." The single word hung between us like mist.

"It’s fine." Warmth first, action second. "We’ll be classmates anyway; we should understand and forgive."

"Besides, neither of us did anything at all." I laughed, easy as a brook.

I smiled and offered my small, fair hand like a new leaf unfolding.

"Let’s get to know each other? I’m Qingsheng Tangxue. And you?"

"S-Snow Orchid..." Her name fell light, a snowflake on the tongue.