At 3 a.m., the landmines in front of the station

For Yuan Xiao, it was a small matter if her sister won, but a big deal if An Qing won.

No matter what her sister said, she could at least get a sip of soup. An Qing was the kind of cat with a very strong sense of territory. Once she got food, she would cling to that person like a miser.

That's absolutely unacceptable.

Yuan Xiao had already figured out the habits of domestic cats. Through numerous exchanges, her understanding of An Qing deepened day by day. And once, during a conversation with her sister, her sister suddenly said—

"She probably studied the most advanced 'Spiritual Way' in Tianhai, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to infiltrate his family."

Yuan Xiao couldn't refute her sister's point of view; the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

The child had heard a little about the secret manual "The Way of the Spirit"—

"The core strategy is to quickly integrate into the target's life, live in their home, spend every day together, sleep in the same bed, and wait for them to come to you."

If this isn't the most powerful technique, then looking across the entire Tianhai region, there's probably nothing that can be considered truly powerful.

[An Qing is most likely already in the "waiting for the rabbit to run into the tree stump" stage. Her sister said she's waiting for a person, waiting for A-Che to accidentally get a surge of dopamine and crave quenching his thirst one night.]

[But Ah Che clearly still has important things to accomplish, so he shouldn't be easily... well, he probably won't let An Qing take it away so easily.]

"Here, your ice cream scoop."

The shop owner prepared the food and handed it over in a paper cup.

The three-color ice cream inside is very cute; the red one is strawberry flavored, the white one is vanilla, and the yellow one is banana condensed milk flavored.

It's delicious, inexpensive, and refreshing.

Su Che led the child to a seat on the side to wait.

The seating consists of a round table with two stools and a huge parasol, a standard outdoor cooling setup for cafes in Tianhai City. The ice cream cart also has this setup.

"Ah Che, which color do you want to eat?"

The child handed over the cup and asked.

Either one is fine.

Su Che's main point was to buy it for her, not for himself.

Seeing her expectant look, he instantly understood, "Then let's go with vanilla flavor."

He picked up the small spoon and scooped a bite from the white ice cream scoop.

After putting it in his mouth, Yuan Xiao snatched the spoon away and scooped out another piece of red meat, which he then ate in one slurp.

No. Where's the other spoon?

Su Che remembered that the shopkeeper gave him two small spoons to stick in the ball, but now one was missing.

"I threw it away. Hehe."

"...?"

Helpless, he pinched the child's nose and began to lecture:

“Waste is bad, you should return it next time. Even if you don’t use it, I won’t disobey you.”

"Okay, okay! I'll just pick it out of the trash can! It was only thrown away for less than 8 seconds! It's clean!"

"........."

Sometimes, Su Che couldn't figure out what a child's thought process was like.

It feels like a little bird, lively and energetic, sometimes clever, sometimes adorably silly.

He always felt that even if he gave Yuan Xiao more pampering and care, it wouldn't make much difference.

The child is already quite pitiful, but she doesn't have any bad intentions, and she practices the piano so diligently, doing whatever I tell her to do—she's incredibly obedient. There's nothing wrong with me being nice to her.

He thought about it with that mindset.

The two shared a glass of tricolor balls under the shade.

You take a bite, I take a bite, making Xiao Xiao, who had been secretly observing from the flower bed, grit her teeth in disgust.

The secret is that the morals within the group are declining, and the connection between the lead vocals and the rhythm is indeed unclear.

"You guys! You actually stole food while I was away!"

Lin Xiao seized the opportunity, darted out of the bushes, and covered herself in flower petals and grass leaves, startling the two of them.

"No, how did you get here from that direction? And didn't you say you'd be here in a little while...?"

Su Che glanced at the time on her phone screen. Just 30 minutes ago, she claimed she hadn't left the house, but now she had been there for who knows how long.

"Hmph, how can we know what you're really up to if we don't do a spot check?"

She proudly gestured with her phone, then sat down next to Su Che, her panda backpack slung over her shoulder, squeezing in to his right, and said:

"I've recorded all the sweet moments between you two. When there's a meeting and the senior asks how everyone's relationships are, I'll just upload the photos and let her see if it's a peaceful and harmonious time."

"..."

Su Che tried to stop him, but to no avail.

Xiao Xiao has already witnessed the crime; if they want to keep quiet, they'll have to pay a price.

"Little kid, I don't think you're a good person either!"

Yuan Xiao muttered to herself, "People kindly gave you half of A-Che, but you repay kindness with ingratitude and bully me instead. You're bad, you're really bad."

"what?"

Reasoning with children often leads nowhere, and Lin Xiao certainly wouldn't be swayed by that. She simply countered with magic, asking in return:

"So, if I hadn't come, you were planning to keep him all to yourself, right?"

"!"

"Let me do the math. There are six people in the team... Hmm, Xiao Yuanxiao wants to eat one person by herself, so the other four will be left out. Oh dear, this is really bad... If the senior finds out, she might question you, saying things like, 'How can you be so selfish?'"

"You, you, you...!"

The child was rendered speechless by her words.

Su Che couldn't stand it anymore and took over the conversation: "Alright, let's go get an ice cream cone, then let's find a place to eat and talk about serious business, how about it?"

"You only talk to me about serious matters...?"

"I hope you understand that improper things often happen in seemingly proper situations."

Su Che gave a slight hint, walked to the food cart, and handed over the ice cream cone.

Lin Xiao's heart skipped a beat, knowing she had a chance. Her expression immediately relaxed, and she said cheerfully, "Okay~ then what shall we eat?"

She licked the snow-white part of the ice cream cone, the vibrant pink like a cat's tongue with barbs.

"What do you want to eat?"

Su Che immediately looked away and then asked the two women for their opinions.

Choosing what to eat before each get-together is always a problem.

Because everyone's dietary preferences are almost completely opposite...

For example, An Qing likes girly foods such as crepes, Pocky, sweet popcorn, cream puffs, etc., which are things that couples can eat together.

Yuan Xiao likes bread, candy, ladyfingers, and any food I buy for her;

Gu Zhi has been baking lately, eating cakes like waffles, cream crepes, and canelés every day;

Needless to say, Yu tide, a senior student, enjoys high-end cuisine, Japanese food, Michelin-starred restaurants, various exquisite desserts, and imported fruits.

As for Xiaoxiao...

She's the most down-to-earth type, and loves eating meat buns, shumai, fried dough sticks, and boxed lunches...

There's also Zhajiangmian (noodles with soybean paste).

Lin Xiao accepted all kinds of cheap and affordable food and ate them with great relish.

Therefore, when it came to team building after rehearsals, Su Che, as the person in charge, was struggling to find a suitable place to eat.

The varying economic conditions and completely different lifestyles are inevitable conflicts that every team will face. The more people there are, the more serious these differences in habits will become.

"Where's Yuan Xiao? What would you like to eat?"

Lin Xiao was quite polite, giving way to the child first.

"I want a bagel sandwich! I'm not particularly hungry today, but I'm really thirsty! How about we go to a coffee shop?"

"Sure! I was just craving coffee too. I had four cups last time and it wasn't enough. Hehe, normally I wouldn't even drink anything too expensive... Today I'm going to mooch off Su Che."

"..."

Su Che nodded and accepted.

"What type of food would you like to eat? Based on that, we'll choose the corresponding coffee shop."

Su Che is quite knowledgeable about coffee.

Because he often worked tirelessly from dawn till dusk, he had been to almost every chain and non-chain shop in Tianhai City, whether they specialized in hand-drip coffee or were hidden gems in corner stores.

Moreover, I've thoroughly explored the menu, trying almost everything.

These shops often offer light meals, some of which are delicious, while others are terrible, so careful evaluation and judgment are necessary.

Lin Xiao, of course, had no experience, so she simply said, "I want to eat noodles!"

"Okay, pasta it is. There's a good place."

"Okay!"

She happily agreed without arguing at all.

Lin Xiao enjoyed this feeling of being controlled.

He decides what to eat, where to go, and what to do. Lin Xiao doesn't have to think or worry about anything; she can just let him do whatever he wants. This is the feeling Lin Xiao likes the most.

Su Che stood up, and the two women followed him as they walked in a certain direction.

It was a large shopping mall located in the heart of the riverside area. The storefront on the first floor had a brightly lit "Peter" sign, and it was known as "Peter's Coffee Shop" by nearby coffee enthusiasts. It was niche, expensive, but the quality was guaranteed.

The interior is nice, decorated in gray and white tones. The central area is a bar with a luxury coffee machine and a display case of high-quality cakes.

Yuan Xiao looked closely and saw an incredibly tempting Black Forest cake inside. She was immediately captivated, grabbing Su Che's sleeve and pleading: