Everything here was so different from the palace she'd grown up in, so far from the nightmare that had followed.
"You don't have to be envious of me," Minghao said gently, catching that wistful expression. She set her books aside and turned to face Qing Qing fully. "I can tell the teacher that there are three of us in this debate, you, me, and Qin Xinyu."
Qing Qing's breath hitched, her fingers instinctively twisting together, a nervous habit she'd developed since the trafficking. "But... I've never been to school before. Not like this." Her Mandarin came out slightly halting, the tones not quite perfect, but at least she could communicate. "In the palace, tutors came to us. Everything was... structured. Formal."
"That's okay," Minghao reassured her. "The timing could actually work perfectly. In three to five days, you'll have recovered enough to attend school on Friday. We can show you around, introduce you to everyone. Then the debate is on Saturday."
