Chapter 111: The Ill-Fitting Costume and a Mysterious Invitation

‘But this is still just an excuse to take advantage of me, isn’t it?’

Gu Xuanyu scratched her head sheepishly, her intentions laid bare by Ye Qing.

‘It’s probably better to be a little more obedient,’ she mused. ‘I can’t always make her angry like this.’

‘So, I can’t be too intimate… I’ll just pretend to be interrogating her.’

‘The method to break the curse, then.’

Ye Qing crossed her arms over her chest, pondering for a moment before arriving at a logical conclusion.

‘Indeed,’ she thought. ‘After defeating an evil executive, if your teammate is found unconscious, it only makes sense to interrogate them thoroughly.’

‘Then… like this?’

Gu Xuanyu suddenly reached out, gently pinching Ye Qing’s soft, plump cheek. The force wasn’t enough to cause pain, but it made Ye Qing instinctively lift her face, leaning into the direction of the pinch.

“Mmm… that works. This is fine…”

Ye Qing mumbled indistinctly. Suddenly, her other cheek was also pinched. The touch felt finer and firmer than Gu Xuanyu’s, seemingly from a smaller hand.

It was none other than Shen Congqing, who, in such moments, would never stand idly by.

“Then of course I must join in, to save little Chi from the curse, right?”

Gu Xuanyu’s brows furrowed, yet she found no reason to refuse. Her inner dissatisfaction subtly made her increase the pressure, causing Ye Qing’s cheeks to flush crimson and eliciting a startled cry.

“Ah! Let go, don’t be so rough! A symbolic pinch would have been enough!”

Both of them quickly released her, leaving Ye Qing to cup her reddened, swollen cheeks with a frustrated pout.

“Darn it, why are all of you so naughty? Can’t you learn some good habits, like little Chi?”

Little Chi? Ha, she was still asleep.

Ye Qing glanced helplessly at the red-haired girl with a trace of drool at the corner of her lips, letting out a soft sigh.

None of them were reliable. She only hoped that Chi wouldn’t fall asleep on the chair on the day of the performance.

***

The subsequent rehearsal proceeded quite smoothly. The acting skills of the two Magical Girls were by no means poor, especially since this was practically a natural performance, requiring only a shift into a different identity.

As for Ye Qing… she simply lacked a costume. And now, she was preparing to collect the one she had ordered.

With only one day left until the performance, she would have ample time to adapt and practice once she got the costume. All she hoped was that no major issues would arise with the outfit.

But what problems could a costume possibly have? At most, it might be ill-fitting. However, given Ye Qing’s physique, there was likely no costume she couldn’t squeeze into.

Yet, when Ye Qing saw the familiar, almost too familiar, stitched bear costume, a powerful sense of unease swept through her.

Ye Qing narrowed her almond-shaped eyes, approaching the stitched bear. She yanked off its headpiece, only to find no annoying, beautiful face beneath it, merely an empty costume.

Seeing this, Ye Qing breathed a slight sigh of relief. For a moment, she had almost believed An Yueying had infiltrated the Magical Girl Academy.

If that were truly the case, it would mean An Yueying was incredibly formidable.

But for some reason, Ye Qing actually missed An Yueying’s sinisterly charming face. Perhaps it was simply because it had been too long since they last met.

However, as Ye Qing attempted to slip into the costume, she noticed an undeniable problem.

Or rather, two problems.

Feeling the two distinct empty spaces in the chest area, Ye Qing tried to convince herself that it was merely an accidental flaw during the manufacturing process.

‘Yes, it must be… it’s too suspicious otherwise!’ she thought. ‘How could it be such a coincidence? It must have been left by that woman, An Yueying. It’s because she has those two burdensome lumps on her chest that she would leave such large hollows.’

And the origin of this costume was also beyond doubt. It was clearly a masterpiece created by An Yueying using dark magic. To maintain the costume’s existence, An Yueying would undoubtedly be lurking nearby, constantly observing all of Ye Qing’s trials.

An Yueying could only be nearby, which meant Ye Qing’s guess was correct.

Ye Qing gazed at the stitched bear costume, conflicted. She didn’t know An Yueying’s intention behind this, but she knew that this wicked woman would do many boring and superfluous things, such as…

Following her intuition, Ye Qing reached directly for the crotch of the costume. Sure enough, she touched something hard that shouldn’t have been there.

If she had slipped in without any precautions, she would have…

Ye Qing’s pretty face flushed. She quickly grabbed the cylindrical object inserted inside the costume and pulled it out.

It was just a hollow paper tube, but it had been maliciously placed in such a spot, as if anticipating her expression once she put it on…

Ye Qing vigilantly raised her head, looking around. She noticed no suspicious purple-haired individuals, then secretly breathed a sigh of relief and opened the paper tube.

Inside the tube was a small note, written in a wild, uninhibited hand. Ye Qing could almost picture the woman sprawled on a bed, scribbling that line:

“Tomorrow night, come to the dormitory rooftop. Follow me~”

Ye Qing’s delicate brows tightened, her emotions complex for a moment.

‘You’re so slow in coming; how am I supposed to decide now?’

Knowing that this question would be difficult to resolve, Ye Qing decided to tuck the note into her pocket and ponder it slowly.

‘First, what about the costume problem… An Yueying dared to bring this out, but I wouldn’t dare wear it.’

She knew that during the performance, if An Yueying merely had a thought, Ye Qing would instantly appear exposed before everyone’s eyes. The situation at that point would be dire.

But there was only one day left… Where could she get a new one? She couldn’t possibly get a Snow King costume; that would be far too comical.

In her helplessness, Ye Qing had no choice but to consider making one herself, roughly piecing together a cardboard costume for the time being.

Though ugly, it would suffice as long as it was usable.

This would put her crafting skills to the test. While she didn’t lack imagination or a sense of aesthetics, if it came to manual work, the results might very well be unsatisfactory.

However, she couldn’t tell Gu Xuanyu and the others about this, otherwise it would be difficult to explain the issue with the black stitched bear. To prevent An Yueying from being exposed, Ye Qing had to handle it herself.

And so, thanks to Ye Qing’s diligent efforts, the next day, the others saw her in her makeshift cardboard costume.

“Uh…”

Although Gu Xuanyu wanted to offer words of praise, seeing the crude costume that barely managed to cover Ye Qing, she couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

“What’s wrong? Is it really ugly?”

Ye Qing’s small face remained placid, quite satisfied with the results of her hard work. She had spent so long on it; if there were any ways to optimize it, she would have already done so.

Unfortunately, her crafting skills were somewhat poor. Some parts were ill-fitting and couldn’t be trimmed properly, so she could only just barely wear it.

The result was that her waist, from the mid-section downwards, was almost completely exposed. Her slender waist, disproportionate to the bulky upper body, made her look rather comical, like she was performing a lion dance but with an overly petite figure.

“Ye Qing, is this the effect you were going for? Or did the exhibition organizers make it so shoddy for you?”

Ye Qing pursed her lips, nodding reluctantly.

‘Darn it, if you can’t tell what’s wrong, don’t keep asking, okay?’ she thought.

But the two had no idea of her predicament; they merely felt indignant on her behalf.

“Ye Qing, don’t speak for them. They’re just merchants. If they don’t even show us this much respect, why should we give them a good attitude?”

Shen Congqing also chimed in, and the two of them went back and forth, leaving Ye Qing torn between laughter and tears.

‘I can’t possibly admit I made it myself, can I?’

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