“Wow, nice haul. Meng Yuelian, when did you pick this? And this—Henghuang Gold, a whole slab. Even chiseling it off your bones would take days, tsk.”

Dawn Sugar Snow moved like a magpie on a free spree, finger tapping the priciest shelves like rain on bronze bells.

“Uuu…”

“Eh? Why the tears? I didn’t say I wouldn’t pay this time. Just bill the student council, like clouds drifting to a fat moon.”

“Shut it!” Jiulan’s glare cut like a knife of ice. “Pick and go. Don’t let me see you again.”

“Heh. Don’t you get tired of that line?” Dawn Sugar Snow smiled like a crescent, a sly star flashing in her eyes.

“You must be hiding more treasure. Won’t you show your ‘sisters’ a moonbeam?”

“Scram, scram! Who’s your sister? Keep away—waa!”

Jiulan slipped, and Tangxue’s thread of water looped like a leash. She spun Jiulan in place like a top, and treasure spilled like beads from a broken string.

“Hoo, didn’t expect you stashed so many sweets. Even Soul Moon Incense with an item spirit? How did you know I wanted this? Thanks, like dew on a thirsty leaf.”

She turned on a heel like a swift gull. She scooped up most of the fallen goods, yet left a handful like crumbs for sparrows.

“Eh? You two not picking? If you feel bad, take one piece, like plucking a plum. We’re ‘buying’ fair and square. Qianya, everything here is the real deal, pricier than those stall trinkets under dusty sun.”

Glare!!!

“…”

Jiulan fixed Qianya with a wolf’s stare. The next second, Tangxue thumped her forehead like tapping a gourd.

“Uwah!”

“What’s that glare for? What if you scare my cute junior, like thunder spooking a rabbit?”

“You bastard…!” Jiulan’s teeth ground like flint on steel, yet against Dawn Sugar Snow she had no blade to draw.

“Pick whatever. Don’t worry about revenge, let it drift like smoke. It’s on me.” Tangxue patted Jiulan’s head, the way you pat a pet ox.

“Ah-ha-ha…” Qianya laughed, stiff as frost on grass, then turned away to appraise the treasures like a bee among flowers.

Since the boss spoke, not picking would be foolish, like leaving fish in a drying pond.

Xuewei didn’t just stand there. She moved aside to choose, her gaze sweeping like a calm tide. If Tangxue was treating, the Academy’s bill was wind behind sails.

Yueyu said nothing, quiet as moonlight. Her sister had shaken down Jiulan before; her sister always chose Yueyu’s share, so she didn’t lift a hand.

“I’ll take this…” Qianya chose a space grimoire, then stepped back like a shadow at dusk. Xuewei picked a jade-green gem like a spring frozen into stone.

“Oh? A space grimoire and a Life Gem? Sharp eyes, little ones,” Dawn Sugar Snow said, praise warm as morning sun.

“So these it is. Put the tab on the student council, like geese flying south. See you, Great Philanthropist Jiulan dear.”

“Scram!!!!”

On the way back, doubt pricked Qianya like thorns. “Tangxue, what’s between you and Senior Jiulan? She looked like she hates you, storm-dark.”

“Huh? We’re close. Didn’t you see?” Tangxue’s smile was gentle, like tea steam.

“I… couldn’t see it,” Qianya admitted, her heart a muddle like fog over marsh.

“Ha. Jiulan’s expressions are over the top, like masks on a festival stage. But that’s what fondness looks like. If you don’t care, you don’t speak for decades, snow piled on quiet roofs.”

“That makes sense.” Qianya’s smile thawed like ice in sun. “But, Tangxue, we took so many good things from her. Won’t she get back at us?”

“Don’t be fooled by her thunder. Those trinkets hurt her less than a hair lost to wind. Jiulan’s Authority is Wealth. No exaggeration—her assets outstrip all gods combined, like oceans against ponds. She can sit at home and windfalls drop like pies from the sky.”

“This…”

“Her Authority trades off her luck. Blessing bound to curse. The worse her day, the richer the boon that follows, like dawn after storm. Shake her down hard, and she might squeeze the student council for a fat budget that very night.”

“But won’t someone lose money, like leaves blown from a tree?”

“So what?” Tangxue’s smile was clear water. “Resources flow like rivers. They pool for a time, then spread into fields. Jiulan knows this better than me. That’s why she ‘welcomes’ me, the extortionist knocking like rain.”

“I’ve got one more question…”

“Aiya, Qianya, you’re a little sparrow full of questions. Ask.”

“Did Senior Jiulan offend you once… by accident?”

“Eh… how do I answer,” Tangxue sighed, like wind against a paper door. “Not me. She crossed Yueyu, so I gave her a tiny ‘lesson,’ like a tap on a bell. Later I found her decent, a stone with good grain. So I eased up.”

“Ah, I see.” Qianya’s thoughts clicked like beads. Jiulan did look arrogant and sly at first; a regular student could be tricked like a fish to bait.

Black robs black? No—mutual aid, tide meeting tide.

“Then, see you tomorrow, you two. I’ve got to help Yueyu prepare the item spirit, hush like night rain.”

“Mm, see you tomorrow.” Qianya and Xuewei waved, then returned to their dorm, lights like fireflies.

“Shoot! I forgot to ask Tangxue how to use this.” Panic fluttered through Qianya like startled sparrows. She stared at the space grimoire, lost as a boat in fog.

“M-my gem seems to know,” Xuewei said, fingers curling around the jade, green as new willow. Life energy seeped into her like warm spring water.

The wonder of a Life Gem is renewal. It’s not a storage you drain and refill like a bucket. Like a Divine Artifact, this jade draws heaven-and-earth qi, turning it into basic life force, dew on parched earth.

Any living thing that brushes it finds healing, like grass after rain.

“Eh!? Xuewei, how do you know—”

“The gem told me. Just touch it, like palm to stream.”

Life flowed. Xuewei’s pale cheeks took peach color, cuter by a shade, like blossom after frost.

“So comfy…” Her voice melted like honey.

“Uwaah! So good. Mine… I’ve got no clue.” Qianya stared at the grimoire, mind blank as white paper, then gave up like a candle snuffed. She planned to ask around tomorrow.

“Not done yet, Qianya? I’m turning off the light.”

“Mm. Go ahead,” Qianya nodded, soft as moth wings.

Sleep should have come like nightfall. Instead, the space grimoire gnawed at her thoughts like mice in the walls. Qianya didn’t sleep a wink.