"Looking good, just this outfit for today?"
Bai Ningning blinked and casually said, "It's okay, I wear this often."
Lingyin was slightly taken aback: "Often?"
"Yeah, often," Bai Ningning said nonchalantly, "When I go out to play with others, I basically dress like this."
"Um..."
Lingyin suddenly remembered that Bai Ningning often hung out with other girls, sometimes right in front of her, like last Wednesday, when she was sitting in the pavilion with that pretty girl in a white-collar uniform...
"Bai Ningning, do you usually hang out with girls like this?" Lingyin asked tentatively, "Does your girlfriend get angry?"
Bai Ningning shook her head, then nodded: "She does."
"Then why do you still..."
"What's the point of getting angry," Bai Ningning said softly. "In the end, you're only hurting yourself."
Just look at how imposing Qin Yue was when she first came to the Qin family, but in less than two months, she had already fallen to such a state. Just like last night, even though she was already very angry, she still had to endure.
Bai Ningning believed that this was all because she usually got too angry, which was bad for her health.
In esports, being angry is useless, and most of the time, Bai Ningning didn't even know what she was angry about.
"I see," Lingyin looked down and glanced again, "Then let's go."
Bai Ningning, the junior, sometimes really was quite clueless; her girlfriend must often get angry. But then again, if she weren't like this, she wouldn't have had the chance for this date.
For a moment, Lingyin didn't know whether to be annoyed or happy, so she temporarily set those thoughts aside and looked a few more times—her junior's legs were really white.
One more look.
"President, which way are we going? I haven't been very clear about it in recent years... What are you looking at?" Bai Ningning blinked in confusion.
As she walked, she turned around and found Lingyin's gaze a bit strange.
"I, I'm looking at the ground," Lingyin's pretty face flushed, "The ground at the entrance of Xicheng University is old tiles, and it rained a few days ago, so I'm afraid of stepping on loose tiles."
Bai Ningning tilted her head.
But if she remembered correctly, the entrance of Xicheng University had been renovated just last year, with new tiles laid down. And the last time it rained was already a week ago.
"What did you see?" she asked.
"Nothing unusual," Lingyin stammered, "Just very white."
Bai Ningning thought, of course, the white tiles would be very white.
"Anyway, as long as there's nothing wrong, just be careful while walking," Lingyin averted her gaze and lifted her leg to walk forward, "Let's take this road."
Calm down, YN said before, although you should take advantage of what you can, you must remember to go with the flow during the process.
There was a small park near Xicheng University, and next to the park was an old street, which had an anime merchandise store. A few years ago, it was like that, but with the rise of popular culture in recent years, the industry had flourished, and the store gradually expanded from one to many, until almost the entire old street had turned into a two-dimensional paradise.
Although on the surface, it was called "Anime Street."
Bai Ningning used to go there often, but in the past two years, she had been busy with internships and graduation projects, so she hadn't had time to go back and didn't know how it had developed. When she stood at the entrance of the old street and saw a whole street filled with various merchandise stores, she gasped in surprise: "Wow."
"How is it? Surprised, right?"
"The two-dimensional industry in Xicheng has developed to this extent," Lingyin said happily, "So when I mentioned getting local businesses to sponsor us before, I was quite optimistic... Of course, now that we have a better plan, we don't need to do that anymore."
Bai Ningning nodded, looking at the bustling anime street, feeling quite emotional.
Just like the chat she had online with the old president that day, times have changed, and their era has completely passed.
But the new era is quite good.
Lingyin had clearly been here many times, pulling Bai Ningning forward.
"Although many things here can be bought online, I think it's still better to stroll around in person; it feels more like shopping, don't you think?"
Lingyin's heart was pounding. She remembered what YN taught her: when taking advantage, it must be natural—under the pretense of leading the way, she naturally held onto Bai Ningning. This was her first success.
She touched the soft little hand of her junior.
It was really soft, and maybe even a bit fragrant.
But why wasn't she responding?
Lingyin turned her head and found Bai Ningning's gaze stuck on a shop behind them, which was a specialty store for various Gundam models and figurines.
"Do you like those things?"
"Eh? I guess, but not really," Bai Ningning came back to her senses, "I just think they look fresh."
"Fresh?" Lingyin was confused by her choice of words, "But models and figurines aren't exactly new things."
Usually, when browsing Bilibili, uncles often recommend membership purchases to you.
"Ah, I see," Bai Ningning was a bit dazed, "Yes, I just wanted to take a look... Let's keep walking."
They weren't new, but back when she found them fresh, she couldn't afford them and could only look from afar. Later, as the years passed, her interest faded, but her memories remained stuck in the past.
"Bai Ningning, what's wrong with you?" Lingyin touched her forehead, "You seem distracted."
Her temperature was normal; she wasn't running a fever.
"Nothing, as one gets older, one tends to reminisce about the past," Bai Ningning said in a cool voice, sounding quite old-fashioned, "It's normal."
Lingyin's expression was strange; she thought, aren't you two years younger than me?
Never mind, let's get down to business.
"Let's first buy the clothes we need for the exhibition. This cosplay store has everything, from outfits to accessories, colored contacts, and wigs—all in one go, and the quality is great," Lingyin asked her, "Which character do you want to dress up as?"
Bai Ningning was still reminiscing and blurted out, "Shakugan no Shana."
"Ah?"
Lingyin's mouth twitched: "But that's a really old anime, why would you think of that?"
"Because that's... cough, I just said it casually," Bai Ningning pouted, "Let me look at something else."
She almost revealed her post-90s identity; that was close.
Indeed, that anime was quite old, but the emotions she felt when she first watched it were still vivid. Nowadays, the workshop that produced that outfit might not even exist anymore.
"Let's go with this one." Bai Ningning stopped in front of a set of otherworldly-style maid outfits.
Lingyin walked over, took a look, and nodded: "That's quite reasonable. Although it's been a few years, the sequel anime keeps coming out, and its popularity hasn't diminished; it's very well-known. And most importantly, this is also a major (R) character, which suits your figure very well."
Bai Ningning tugged at the corner of her mouth, not saying anything. In fact, her choice had no deeper reason; it was just that the character's name resonated with her current state of mind.
Tears welled up.