“A maid outfit!?”

Xi Feng took a step back with her right leg, staring in shock. “You’re not joking?”

Bei Yaoyue paused, then lowered her phone and looked straight into Xi Feng’s eyes. “Do I look like I’m joking?”

A serious, unwavering light shone in Bei Yaoyue’s green eyes, as if to say she wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted.

Xi Feng felt her whole brain short-circuit.

She’d thought Bei Yaoyue was only teasing her that day. Now it seemed Bei Yaoyue really was determined to make her wear a maid outfit.

Making a strapping young man like her wear a maid outfit—what kind of twisted hobby was that!

Faced with such a despicable act, the upright Xi Feng, of course…

…agreed at once.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Xi Feng kept a calm expression, but inside, her heart was bleeding.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to refuse. But after taking a few hard knocks from reality, she’d come to understand one cruel truth.

In front of Bei Yaoyue, Xi Feng didn’t even have the most basic human rights.

“Morning Restaurant.”

Xi Feng silently repeated the name on the sign. It was a simple name, but surprisingly nice.

Inside, the place was just as simple. The counter for ordering and paying was on one side, and several dozen small tables were on the other. The clean decor and fresh colors helped soothe a restless mind, letting the exhausted office workers who’d hurried in settle down and enjoy a peaceful morning.

“Do you usually eat breakfast here?” Xi Feng rested her right arm on the table and watched Bei Yaoyue quietly eat across from her.

“Mm.”

After giving a simple answer, Bei Yaoyue lowered her head and took a small bite of the pork bun in her hand.

Three pork buns and a bowl of freshly made soy milk—a very ordinary breakfast.

She could easily afford to splurge on a fancier breakfast, but she didn’t like eating anything too elaborate in the morning.

Besides, she liked the atmosphere of this place. It was peaceful.

One reason she disliked dealing with people was that she couldn’t stand all the noise and commotion.

She glanced up at Xi Feng, who was spacing out across the table, and asked, “Aren’t you going to eat anything?”

“No, no.” Xi Feng hurriedly shook her head.

Strangely, she didn’t feel hungry at all. It seemed vampires didn’t need to eat every meal.

The sight of ordinary human food did nothing for her appetite. If anything, she felt an instinctive aversion to it.

She figured she ought to try some blood-based foods when she had the chance, like beef blood or duck blood. Maybe those could fill her up too. If drinking human blood was her only option, staying alive was going to be a real challenge.

With nothing better to do, Xi Feng decided to find something to talk about. It was also a good chance to learn more about Bei Yaoyue. “By the way, why don’t you live with your parents?”

Unless you were an orphan like her, with both parents gone, you shouldn’t be living on your own at fifteen, right?

A shadow passed over Bei Yaoyue’s eyes. Then she continued eating her bun in small, unhurried bites, as if nothing were wrong. “Do you want to know?”

“I do.” Xi Feng nodded honestly. Why would she have asked otherwise?

“I’m not telling you.”

Realizing she’d been toyed with, Xi Feng’s face darkened in an instant.

Still, it was someone else’s family business. Bei Yaoyue had every right not to tell her. Xi Feng cleared her throat and tried another angle. “Your parents must be pretty rich, right?”

“They are.” Bei Yaoyue nodded. She usually didn’t flaunt her family’s wealth, but she didn’t see any harm in telling her own little maid.

“What do they do?”

“My dad works in real estate. My mom’s an artist.” The answer was brief.

Real estate!?

Those three words hit Xi Feng like a bolt from the blue.

This wasn’t some small, third-tier city. It was New Moon City, one of Chongguo’s three directly administered municipalities, where every inch of land was worth a fortune!

Anyone in real estate here had to be rolling in money.

“It must be nice to be rich.” Xi Feng sighed from the bottom of her heart. So she’d ended up attaching herself to a rich girl after all.

She wasn’t obsessed with becoming rich, but that didn’t mean money meant nothing to her. They said money could make even a ghost turn a millstone. Nobody said no to cash.

A wave of indignation rose in her. Bei Yaoyue was clearly loaded, yet she’d hired Xi Feng for the lowly job of maid and was paying her only a thousand yuan! That was outrageous!

“But what does their money have to do with me?” Bei Yaoyue said expressionlessly.

Xi Feng blinked. “Don’t you live off your parents’ money?”

A complicated look flickered in Bei Yaoyue’s eyes. She asked as if the answer were obvious, “Why would I use my parents’ money?”

“Uh…”

That question left Xi Feng at a loss. As far as she knew… no, as far as most people knew, parents were supposed to support children of this age.

Chongguo’s laws even stated clearly that parents had a duty to support their children until they became adults. If they failed to do so, the children had the right to sue them for support.

After a moment of silence, Xi Feng asked, “You mean you earn all the money you live on yourself?”

“Of course.” Bei Yaoyue answered calmly, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

“…Seriously?” Xi Feng found it hard to believe. How did a fifteen-year-old high school girl have time to earn money while keeping up with her studies?

And it couldn’t be a small amount. After spending the day with Bei Yaoyue, Xi Feng guessed her monthly spending money was at least five figures.

It sounded like something straight out of a fantasy.

“Hmph.” Bei Yaoyue gave a cold snort and didn’t answer. She seemed too lazy to say anything more, and might as well have had “Believe it or not” written across her face.

Then something occurred to Xi Feng, and her expression turned strange.

A fifteen-year-old high school girl. A job in her free time. A five-figure monthly income…

Putting those pieces together, Xi Feng came up with a truly awful explanation.

“You’re not, like, selling your bo—mmph!”

Xi Feng was about to say more when something soft was suddenly shoved into her mouth, cutting off the rest of her words.

She looked down and realized Bei Yaoyue had stuffed the bun in her hand into Xi Feng’s mouth.

Bei Yaoyue’s brows knitted together. “Don’t make wild guesses,” she said, displeased. No girl would be happy to have someone suspect her of doing something like that.

Xi Feng pouted. Well, if you wouldn’t tell her, she had to guess.

But she could tell she’d upset Bei Yaoyue with what she’d just said, so she let the matter drop.

Xi Feng pulled the bun from her mouth and noticed a bite missing from it. That meant Bei Yaoyue had already taken a bite.

A faint pink flush rose to Xi Feng’s face. Did that count as an indirect kiss?

“I’m done. Let’s go.” Bei Yaoyue picked up a napkin and wiped her mouth.

“Where are we going to buy… that thing?” Xi Feng was too embarrassed to say the words “maid outfit” out loud.

Of course, she was even more embarrassed about wearing one. But she had no right to refuse.

“It’s not far. About three kilometers. We can walk.”

“Three kilometers… Could we get a cab?” Xi Feng gave an awkward laugh.

She had so little faith in her body right now that she didn’t even know if she could manage the three-kilometer walk.

“Why?” Bei Yaoyue looked puzzled. “Do you need to get back in a hurry?”

“Not really…”

“Then let’s take our time. We can treat it as a stroll. Three kilometers should take about half an hour.”

“…Okay.”

Seeing how determined Bei Yaoyue was, Xi Feng could only give in.

She figured a slow stroll shouldn’t be too bad, right?

After a night of heavy rain, New Moon City’s streets looked much cleaner. The morning air carried a faint, earthy fragrance that made you feel refreshed.

They walked in silence. Bei Yaoyue led the way, her head down as she played on her phone. Xi Feng quietly followed behind, then eventually got bored and started playing on her own phone too.

Still, Xi Feng couldn’t help feeling a little gloomy. How had something as romantic as taking a morning stroll with a beautiful girl turned into the two of them walking along while staring at their phones without saying a word?

How had things ended up like this?

It was my first time going for a walk on a morning after the rain. It was my first time having a beautiful girl to stroll around with. Two happy things had come together, bringing me even more happiness. I should’ve had a dreamlike, blissful time. But why… why had it turned out like this?

“We’re here. This is the place.”

Bei Yaoyue stopped in front of a shop called “Pudding Maid House” and turned to look at Xi Feng. She noticed Xi Feng’s cheeks were flushed an unmistakable, unnatural red, and her body was trembling slightly.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”

“It’s nothing…” Xi Feng pressed her lips together, but inside she could only laugh bitterly. How was she supposed to say something like that out loud?

“What’s wrong? Hurry up and tell me.” Bei Yaoyue furrowed her brows.

Visible embarrassment and hesitation flickered across Xi Feng’s face. Only after Bei Yaoyue’s questioning gaze wore her down did she whisper a few words. “It’s chafing a little…”

Bei Yaoyue froze, then asked, “Where does it hurt?”

“…My chest…”