"More than that, I want to know what you're really thinking, Chu Lian. I don't object to you taking this matter upon yourself, but aside from the fact that you caused it and need to take responsibility, is there another reason?" Cai Ya did not answer what she needed. Instead, she once again asked the same question Chu Chu had just raised.
"Do you really want to hear it?" Chu Lian rested her cheek on one hand and turned her eyes toward the girls.
"If you don't want to tell us, then don't." Li Xiu'er hesitated for a moment, indicating that the decision was entirely up to Chu Lian.
"You can decide for yourself, Big Sis, although I want to know too." Chu Chu lay across the table, her swinging legs coming to a stop as she gazed at Chu Lian's back.
After exchanging a glance, Lux Lyle and Ruriko Nana spoke in unison. "Although it might be difficult for you, we still want to know the real reason."
"Just don't push yourself too hard." Liu Yanran knew that the moment Cai Ya asked the question, the outcome had already been decided, but she still needed to voice her position.
"The reason is actually very simple. I want people to see the version of us that exists on the surface." Chu Lian looked around at the different expressions on the girls' faces and smiled faintly.
"How should I put this? Because of me, all of you have actually become targets of attention for many factions, both openly and in secret."
"We could tell as much when we went to America and I was surrounded by those so-called fans."
"I'm sure you all realized that those people had been sent by various factions to test us. Once they obtained the information they wanted, they left. That could be considered both a minor warning and a gesture of goodwill."
"However, we can't possibly make every faction believe that we're harmless. What happens if some of them decide we pose a serious threat?"
"Especially after I recently dealt with the matters involving the Wang and Li families. Even if they know it couldn't possibly have been my achievement alone, most of their attention will still be focused on me."
"Since you're always by my side, they'll inevitably have information on you as well. They probably won't actually take action, but there will certainly be no shortage of surveillance."
"Once they have that information, it will become much easier for them to do certain things, such as threatening us or trying something else."
"Perhaps I'm overthinking it, but we truly need to prepare for such possibilities in advance. Only then can I avoid placing you in danger."
"Unless you leave me..."
The girls had been listening attentively to everything she said, but the moment those words left Chu Lian's mouth, they reacted.
"We won't leave even if it's dangerous. After everything we've gone through together, there's no need to explain how we feel about one another. How could dangers that haven't even happened yet make us leave?" Surprisingly, Li Xiu'er reacted most strongly. Although her face was slightly flushed, she spoke with complete seriousness.
"Hmph." Cai Ya merely snorted without saying anything more.
"Big Sis, those people can come whenever they want. I'm not afraid of them." Lightning surged around Chu Chu's body. She was the one Chu Lian needed to worry about least. On the contrary, she rather looked forward to someone coming to experience the lash of her lightning.
"Leaving is something that will only happen after we die, isn't it?" Lux did not speak, but Ruriko Nana expressed her feelings along with her own.
Liu Yanran spoke last. She blinked, her voice soft and gentle. "I don't believe they're capable of separating us."
"Ahem, I misspoke. Let's set that subject aside for now. I'll just finish what I was saying." Realizing that she seemed to have provoked everyone's anger, Chu Lian immediately deployed her grand topic-changing technique once again and redirected their attention elsewhere.
"When we perform onstage, no matter how many people see us, it will send them a message. 'They really are just children after all. They crave other people's attention. Perhaps everything they did before was only because they wanted to be noticed,' and so on."
"It doesn't matter even if most of them don't believe it. I never intended to make them truly believe it in the first place. I merely want to plant the idea in their minds."
"Afterward, we'll spend the next period resting properly and occasionally pop up in front of an audience. Once those people see that we appear to be 'enjoying ourselves,' they'll naturally pay less attention to us."
"Even if some of them refuse to give up, it won't matter. They have persistence, but so do we. Think about it. We'll be enjoying ourselves while they suffer through the tedious task of watching us. Won't that be tragic?" This truly was one of Chu Lian's wicked little pleasures. Teasing other people was wonderful.
"Once we make it through that period, we'll be able to handle certain matters in secret. For example, we can resolve Lux and Nana's problems. We can cover those trips with the excuse of going on vacation, can't we? After all, summer vacation is almost here! It starts on July first!"
"Although everything you said makes sense, I can't help feeling that you're really just looking for an excuse to laze around later..." Cai Ya had listened seriously, but when she saw how excited Chu Lian became at the words "summer vacation," she felt that the matter could not possibly be so simple.
"Aren't you looking forward to summer vacation? I am. I'm really, really looking forward to it." Chu Lian now firmly fixed the subject on summer vacation and refused to discuss anything else.
"Shameless." Cai Ya muttered under her breath but stopped pursuing the matter, merely watching the others chat.
As for the instruments and the performance, Chu Lian decided she would speak to each of them individually that evening.
Once she transferred the songs' various performance methods and the necessary proficiency to the girls, a single day of practice would be enough for them to coordinate properly.
"Since we're not doing any of that now, shouldn't we go home?" After they chatted for quite a while, Chu Chu yawned. She had been feeling rather sleepy recently, especially as the weather grew warmer.
Seeing that Big Sis did not appear particularly interested in discussing the arrangements for Monday's performance, Chu Chu brought it up herself, wanting to go home.
"That's true. Let's return to the classroom and collect our things first." Plans could never keep up with changes, so Chu Lian simply allowed matters to develop naturally. She only hoped no one would overthink things.
"Are you two coming?" Chu Lian stood and returned her chair to its place while asking Liu Yanran and Cai Ya.
Both of them had homes of their own, yet they had visited almost every day over the past several days. Chu Lian was a little worried their families might stop them.
"It's fine. Mom said I can do whatever I want as long as nothing goes wrong." Liu Yanran smiled faintly. She had the least reason to worry about that.
"I don't have any family at home, only a butler and maids. It doesn't matter whether I go back or not." Cai Ya had bought a villa somewhere in the mountains a few kilometers from the school. Whether she returned was entirely up to her.
"Then there's no problem." Turning around to close the door, Chu Lian sighed silently. I'll be back, this place.
When they returned to the classroom, many of the students had already left. Perhaps they had merely gone elsewhere in the school, but in any case, the room was much emptier.
Chu Lian and the others did not hesitate. They picked up their belongings and left without even informing Ning Zhiyuan.
"I hope you can continue going farther and farther." However, Chu Lian did not know that a pair of eyes was watching from above as the girls left the school side by side.
The watcher was Ning Zhiyuan, whom they had never thought to pay attention to. Her expression was calm and composed, yet as she watched Chu Lian and the others leave, her gaze was unexpectedly gentle.
"This cat is exhausted, meow~" Tina lay sprawled across the sofa, no longer willing to move.
The five-story house occupied more than a thousand square meters of land alone. It contained an absurd number of rooms, and some of them were filled with various objects, leaving them rather cluttered.
Under Li Mingxue's direction, Tina had spent the entire morning and half the afternoon barely managing to finish cleaning the third floor.
As for the remaining fourth floor and the rooftop on the fifth floor, she absolutely refused to move another step.
It was not that she was truly tired. Her feline instincts simply made her unwilling to overexert herself. All she wanted was to laze around and rest.
Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it. She was a maid, and maids were supposed to obey their masters and work dutifully.
"Hey, Tina. If you still refuse to move, I'll add milk to tonight's dinner." Li Mingxue's voice came from beside her. Her words made Tina immediately sit upright as though all her energy had been restored. "How could Tina possibly be tired, meow? I could do it another ten times!"
"Oh? Are you certain you mean that?" Hearing Tina claim that she could "do it another ten times," Li Mingxue looked at her with great interest.
"Please spare me, meow! I was wrong, meow! QAQ" Seemingly aware that Li Mingxue would bully her for making such a boast, Tina decisively surrendered.
"Very good. As long as you help me finish cleaning those places, I'll persuade Little Lian'er to let your kittens move in sooner." Combining kindness with authority was Li Mingxue's Noble Phantasm against unruly children, and it worked every time.
"Definitely!" Li Mingxue's promise was the greatest possible motivation for Tina. She immediately threw all thoughts of slacking off out of her mind. Holding a broom in one hand and a mop in the other, with cleaning cloths tucked between her fingers, she rushed upstairs in high spirits.
"What an adorable child." Li Mingxue set down her tea and was about to follow Tina upstairs to clean the remaining areas when she heard a noise outside the door.
She turned around and saw the front door open, followed by a line of girls walking inside. Unable to help herself, she smiled.
"Why are all of you here?" She rose and went to the refrigerator, took out some freshly squeezed juice, and placed it on the coffee table in the living room. Then she washed several glasses and set them out. She was delighted by the girls' arrival.
"Mm, everyone came over to have fun today. You must be happy to see us, Mom, right?" After changing her shoes, Chu Lian skipped inside and smiled brightly at the busy Li Mingxue.
"Of course I am. This gives me the perfect excuse to prepare a feast. It's only a little after three, so there's still plenty of time." Once Li Mingxue finished preparing refreshments for them, she hurried into the kitchen and began working.
Meanwhile, the girls squeezed together on the sofas and chatted about various things. Perhaps this could be considered a lovely afternoon.
Hm? Had they forgotten someone?
"Hey, where is everyone? Why hasn't anyone come upstairs to help Tina, meow? This place is huge! Tina can't finish it alone, meow!" After working for half an hour, Tina realized that Li Mingxue had not come upstairs and immediately understood that she must have found something else to do.
That meant Tina had been left to handle such an enormous place alone. Standing miserably at the fourth-floor stairway, she called out in an aggrieved voice, but no one heard her.