A more proactive approach to dealing with the Abydos problem?
Si Wang gently tapped Sand Wolf Baizi's forehead. Seeing the girl's unhappy expression, he pulled his arm out of the girl's arms and thought seriously.
Chapter 145 Is there? If yes!
After coming out of the market with the Sand Wolf, Si Wang swore that this was the strangest journey he had ever taken in his three lifetimes.
On the one hand, Abydos is a remote city close to the desert after all. It is difficult to see buses and public transportation that are ubiquitous in other areas. Basically, you have to rely on two legs or two wheels as a means of transportation to get around in this city.
On the other hand, if there is a girl following you, sticking to your heels all the time and staring at your face, it is difficult for you to focus on such trivial matters as how far you have to go. Instead, you can't help but touch your cheek and look at your clothes, wondering if you forgot to wash your face before going out or put on your coat backwards.
But fortunately, this journey, which I don’t know whether it is long or torturous, is finally coming to an end.
Looking at the four big words "Chaiguan Ramen" hanging on the wooden house, Si Wang breathed a sigh of relief without saying a word.
"teacher."
Just as Si Wang was about to open the wooden door, he suddenly felt his sleeves being pinched by two small fingers.
Si Wang turned his head and saw the Sand Wolf Baizi reaching out to grab his sleeve. He tilted his little face up, and his black and white pupils were staring at him motionlessly, flashing bright light.
"Hoshino-senpai... I'll leave Hoshino-senpai in the hands of the teacher."
The girl stuffed a folded letter into Si Wang's palm and silently released her fingers.
"Take a deep breath, Baizi-san, take a deep breath~"
Si Wang turned over the letter, which still showed no signs of being torn down, and saw the clear words "Letter of Withdrawal from School and Department" appearing on the clean white cover of the letter.
Si Wang also did not rush to open the envelope. Instead, he put the letter in his arms, put down the plastic bag in his hand, half-knelt in front of Sand Wolf Baizi, carefully brushed off the sand on the girl's scarf, and smoothed out the wrinkles on it. "Teacher promises you that after everything is over, your lovely senior Xingye will definitely return to Abydos in one piece."
"Ok!"
Sand Wolf Baizi tightly grasped Si Wang's hand that was on his scarf, and took a deep breath according to Si Wang's words, "I believe in the teacher."
"In that case, let's go in quickly."
Faced with the girl's wholehearted trust, Si Wang didn't say anything more. He just gently patted the back of the girl's hand that was holding his and said with a smile, "Don't let Nomiya and the others wait too long and worry about you again."
The sand wolf Baizi nodded obediently and walked side by side with Si Wang.
As usual, as long as Si Wang didn't remind her, the girl acted as if she knew nothing and held Si Wang's fingers tightly without letting go.
But the difference was that this time Si Wang did not use a joking tone to implicitly remind Sand Wolf Baizi to keep his distance as he did in the past. Instead, he held the girl's slightly sweaty hand with greater strength than Sand Wolf Baizi used to hold his own, and took her hand and opened the door of Chaiguan Ramen Shop.
There is no reason and no excuse.
Si Wang himself didn’t quite understand what he was thinking at the moment, he just felt that he should hold the girl’s hand, so he did.
It's that simple.
"Hey, good afternoon everyone~"
The sound of the door opening attracted the attention of the girls in the room. Si Wang ignored the gazes of the Abydos girl who was looking at him, walked to the counter of the ramen shop, and put the plastic in his hand in front of General Chai who was tying an apron, "Boss Chai, Bai Zi and I bought a lot of magical things. I'll trouble you to cook later~"
"Don't worry, leave it to me, teacher!"
General Chai patted his chest generously with his furry paws. He reached out and lifted the black cloth hanging on the plastic bag to see what kind of food Si Wang brought. The next second, more than a dozen pairs of slightly glowing vertical pupils flashed and looked at him in unison.
"..."
General Chai subconsciously tilted his neck back, calmly covered himself with the black cloth, and touched the back of his hairy hand. The corners of his mouth twitched, but he still managed a forced smile, "Snake soup and lizard soup, I also saw them in the Classic of Mountains and Seas when I was young and studying abroad. It's not difficult to replicate them!"
Compared to the lively conversation between Si Wang and General Chai, the Abydos girls were much quieter.
Or it's eerily quiet.
The girls carefully observed Si Wang's slightly smiling profile and Sand Wolf Baizi's expressionless face, then looked at their hands that seemed to be naturally held together, and then looked at their faces again...
During this back and forth glance, even Kuromi Serika, who was the most impulsive in the past, did not speak. Although the girl opened her mouth several times to say something, for some reason she managed to hold it back in the end, revealing an uncomfortable expression as if her little finger accidentally kicked the table leg while walking.
This inexplicable strange silence was not broken until Si Wang brought Sand Wolf Baizi back to the seats of the crowd, and then Hoshino Kotori spoke.
"Wow, I didn't expect that in the moment when the uncle was distracted, the relationship between the teacher and Baizi-chan has reached the point where they are so close that they are connected by their fingers?"
Hoshino Takanari rolled up his sleeves and pretended to wipe the non-existent tears from the corners of his eyes, revealing an extremely lonely expression, "Oh my, although I have long known that the teacher is an adult who should not be underestimated, but such a fast progress is really far beyond my expectations. I can't help but feel a kind of loneliness as if I have been left behind."
"Oh? So Hoshino-san feels lonely because he was left behind?"
Si Wang raised his eyebrows, revealing an expression of "that's it", then moved his chair, pulled his thighs out from under the table, patted the girl, and gestured, "There's an empty seat here now, Xingye-san, do you want to try it and experience the feeling of being connected to each other?"
No matter facing provocation or teasing, Si Wang always adheres to the principle of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". Even if the girl sitting opposite him is a girl who has not graduated from high school and is less than 1 meters tall, he will never tolerate her and will immediately launch a powerful counterattack.
Then Sand Wolf Baizi, who had just pulled out the chair, stopped what he was doing and sat down on it without hesitation.
"..."
As a result, the looks the Abydos girls gave their companions became even more complicated.
"...Baizi classmate," after thinking for a long time, Si Wang lowered his head to look at the girl whose hair had fallen on his collarbone, "Don't you feel something is wrong?"
Sand Wolf Baizi looked down at his neatly-fitted clothes and skirt, and shook his head in confusion, "I don't feel anything is wrong, teacher."
"That's too much, Shirako-san."
Si Wang looked at the girl pretending to be stupid with an expressionless face, "Didn't you feel my big hand underneath?"
"..." Sand Wolf Baizi tilted his head in confusion, "Is there?"
Chapter 146: The Adult's Way of Fooling
"Is this definitely possible, okay, Senior Baizi?!"
Kuromi Serika couldn't bear it any longer, so she jumped down from her chair, grabbing her senior's arm with an emotion she didn't know whether it was shame or envy, and pulling it away with her face flushed, "There are obviously many empty seats here, why do you have to squeeze into such a small space for the teacher?! And sit on his legs! Don't you feel crowded and hot?"
"It's not crowded, and it's not hot." Sand Wolf Baizi continued to sit on Si Wang's lap, calm and composed, and answered the school girl's question calmly, "The teacher's hands are icy and cool, very comfortable."
"Shirako-chan..."
Even Izayoino was a little overwhelmed by Sand Wolf's powerful straight shot. The girl couldn't help but turn her head away, hiding the red blush on her earlobes, and forced a smile, "I didn't expect that you actually have such a ferocious...carnivore hidden in your heart."
"..." Sand Wolf Baizi turned his head to the side, avoiding his friend's meaningful gaze and pretending not to hear what she said.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!"
Kuromi Serika did not have the same calm mentality as her predecessor. She screamed like a boiling kettle, and bright red color climbed up her neck to her forehead, emitting visible white steam, making her head dizzy.
But the girl didn't loosen her grip on Sand Wolf Baizi's arm. Instead, she pulled even harder. "In short, Senior Baizi, please get down here as soon as possible!!!"
The sand wolf Baizi raised his head stubbornly, "I won't."
"No【no】!"
Kuromi Serika was almost amused by her senior's inexplicably firm attitude.
"It's okay, Serika-san."
Si Wang didn't care how firm Sand Lang Baizi's determination was. When Sand Lang Baizi was pulled by Kuromi Serika, he calmly pulled out his hand, placed it under the girl's armpit, lifted the girl off his thigh, put her on an empty seat beside him, and sat down next to Okumura Ayane, who had a red face and kept pushing her glasses, which was Kuromi Serika's original seat.
"Since Bai Zi likes that seat, just let her sit there." Si Wang straightened his wrinkled clothes and gently advised, "Teacher, just change the seat."
"..."
Kuromi Serika was silent.
She had originally planned to take advantage of the moment when Bai Zi-senpai was pulled up to prevent him from continuing to cause trouble and squeeze herself next to Si Wang.
But now... the plan seems to have failed.
So, now the confused-looking Kuromi Serika sat with the sand wolf Shirako who puffed up his cheeks and stared at her in silence, while Si Wang sat on a bench with Okumura Ayane and Izayoi Nomiya.
As for Hoshino Kotori, he was sitting on the chair that Si Wang had moved in a few days ago and that was specially left by General Chai. He was leaning on his cheek and looking at the juniors and teachers who were playing and fighting with a smile.
"That's right, teacher!"
The blush on her face slowly faded away. After her mind calmed down, Kuromi Serika suddenly remembered the news she had heard before Si Wang and Sand Wolf Baizi came back, which was the business. She hurriedly asked, "Did you know that Caesar Group not only bought the land near Abydos, but also planned to drive all the residents living here away and build a corporate city?"
It was like being suddenly in the polar region. The joyful atmosphere suddenly stagnated and everyone fell silent at the same time.
The shaking hair on Hoshino Kotori's head froze and then drooped down quietly.
"I know."
Si Wang, however, was unmoved, as if what he heard was not a piece of extremely urgent and serious news, but just a breeze blowing across his face. He nodded calmly, "A few days ago, I had a good chat with Boss Chai and the nearby residents about this matter."
"Ah? Teacher has already talked to General Chai and the others?"
Kuromi Serika showed a bewildered expression and couldn't help asking, "Why didn't I know about this before..."
In fact, it wasn't just Kuromi Serika. The other girls also showed a mixture of surprise and confusion in their eyes, and subconsciously turned their heads to look at Si Wang.
"Maybe Boss Chai and the others saw that you were already working hard enough, so they couldn't bear to tell you this bad news."
Si Wang raised his head and thought for a while, and suddenly saw General Chai coming over with a dish in his hand. He unceremoniously put all the responsibility on the cute Shiba Inu, "I guess he's afraid that you'll have more pressure on your shoulders for no reason."
"General, resolving the troubles in Abydos is clearly the responsibility of our [Countermeasures Committee]. This is not some extra pressure for no reason!"
As expected, the girl was fooled immediately. Kuromi Serika glared slightly, but she didn't dare to really glare. She could only puff up her cheeks and grumble a little to the kind boss who had always taken care of her. "Even if you don't want to tell us such an important thing openly, you can at least give us a hint quietly."
"Hmm? Oh, oh."
Before he could even put the dish on the table, General Chai was puzzled. He had no idea why Kuromi Serika suddenly started complaining to him. However, when he saw Si Wang winking at him from the corner of his eye, he immediately realized what was going on and shook his head with a smile. “It’s just some minor troubles between adults. It would be too embarrassing if you, underage students, were to worry about it.”
Although General Chai didn't know what Kuromi Serika was talking about, he could always go wrong by using the excuse of "adult matters".
"How can forcing you to relocate be a minor inconvenience?" Kuromi Serika's voice rose uncontrollably, "This is clearly..."
"Oh! I suddenly remembered that the snake soup in the kitchen had not been turned on the fire yet."
After hearing the first words from Kuromi Serika, General Chai immediately smelled the scent of trouble and blame with his keen intuition and years of experience as an adult.
Before the girl could finish her words, General Chai slapped his forehead, showing a look of late realization, put the dishes in his hand on the table, and immediately turned around and left, "It will be bad if the snake soup overflows, I have to go back and check it out!"
"…Really? This is a problem that we should all face together, so why are you always unwilling to tell us?"
Faced with General Chai who avoided the topic, Kuromi Serika had no choice. She couldn't just grab the other person and demand that he sit down and have a good talk with her.
That's so rude!
The girl had no choice but to pick up the chopsticks angrily, poke hard into the dish, and put it into her mouth without even looking.
The next second, Kuromi Serika's expression became indescribable.
"How is it, Qinxiang?" Looking at the girl who was frozen all over, Si Wang asked curiously, "How does the fried blind man made by General Chai taste?"
"..."
Hei Jian lowered his eyes, looked at the half tail hanging on him with the hook, and nodded with difficulty.
"Qingxiang." Sand Wolf Baizi immediately showed a proud expression as if asking for credit, "I bought this specially."
Hoshino Kotori, who had originally turned his head away and didn't dare to look at Kuromi Serika, couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Chapter Desert Festival
“Clang clang clang clang~ Hoshino-chan, look, this is an old poster of the Abydos Desert Festival~ It took me a lot of effort to finally get it~!”
"..."
With a cheerful ending, a clear voice like a lark chirped in my ears.
"That's great~ At that time, the oasis of Abydos looked as vast as the lake..."
Carefully rubbing the faded poster in his hand, a strong feeling of envy came out of that voice, "It would be great if I had the chance to see the grand scene of that time again."
"..."
"Ah, sorry, I was the one who called Hoshino-chan here, but you kept saying a bunch of weird things." The voice seemed to have sniffed, rubbed its face randomly, and quickly changed to its previous cheerful tone, "Then I'll give this poster to Hoshino-chan as a souvenir."
"..."
“Hey, this is a great poster, right~”
Looking up at the boundless night sky, the voice clenched its hands and couldn't help but let out a silly smile full of anticipation, "If such a miracle really happens, I hope that there will be so many people gathered like in the poster~"
That look, that posture, is like a monkey lying on the edge of a well, desperately reaching out to stir the water, hoping to fish the moon out of the well.
"Miracles don't happen, Senior."
The voice next to him, who had been silent the whole time, finally couldn't stand it anymore and spoke up, interrupting his senior's fantasy with a cold tone, "Miracles are called miracles precisely because they won't happen. Compared to those illusory things, shouldn't you look at the reality clearly?!"
"Wow!?"
As if startled, the cheerful voice shrank back.
"There is no oasis in Abydos anymore, and no one will gather here in the future!"
The cold voice gradually became impatient, filled with a sense of urgency to arrive at a certain place at a certain time, as if one was whipping oneself desperately.
