Su Ling Ready for Battle, Lin Mu Eagerly Awaiting Nourishment

For working professionals, weekends are sacred and inviolable days off.

In the online novel industry, editors also have their own work accounts, and most of them won’t respond to messages during their days off (unless a veteran author has their personal contact and they’re willing to handle work-related matters on their days off).

Lu Qing knew that Sister Yaoguang had at least two or three accounts. While it was easy for her to reach out to him, he had to wait until she was back at work to get a response from her.

Therefore, any message he sent was essentially a "message board"—she’d reply whenever she saw it, and he wasn’t in any particular hurry anyway.

"Brother, let’s go."

By the time he finished sending the message, Su Ling had already dried her hair and was ready to head out.

"Alright."

Lu Qing slung his backpack over his shoulder and turned to take a look at the girl.

Today, her makeup was delicate and her outfit was stunning—

She wore a pink-and-white Blovelan floral dress with a petticoat underneath, cinched at the waist with a small bow.

Her long, straight legs appeared bare at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it was clear she’d opted for flesh-colored thermal tights, seamlessly blending them with her skin tone, creating an eye-catching look.

On her feet were thick-soled platform Mary Jane shoes, a standard and affordable Lolita style—cute and foolproof.

Notably, she had also used a curling iron to style her naturally straight black hair, curling two strands and letting them fall naturally over her chest, just below her collarbone, giving her a fresh and elegant appearance.

Wow.

Lu Qing was almost stunned.

He thought to himself, *We’re just going out for lunch and coffee. Why is my sister dressed to the nines, as if she’s about to slay some evil demon from another realm?*

He couldn’t help but ask,

"Su Ling, why are you all dolled up like this?"

"Huh…?"

She paused for a moment, looking thoughtful.

Then, her expression shifted to one of mild resentment as she shot back, "Brother, don’t tell me you’ve never really looked at me before?"

"?!"

"Have you never properly paid attention to me? Do you just lump me in with all those other random girls out there, completely ignoring all the effort I put into my appearance every day, hmm?"

"...No, that’s not it."

Even Lu Qing, dense as he was, could tell that his sister wasn’t happy.

Her subtext was clear: she had always been dressing up and taking care of herself at home, all for the sake of catching someone’s attention, waiting for that someone to notice and compliment her.

And now, his sudden surprise at her appearance made Su Ling realize that her brother rarely paid attention to her looks! Even though she took such good care of her skin every day, making sure she was soft and fragrant before bed! How could he…!

"Hmph, brother, you’re always looking so far ahead, I don’t even know what to say about you."

"I…"

Lu Qing wanted to explain, but then it dawned on him that he didn’t really need to.

After all, Su Ling never gave him a hard time over small things. After just half a sentence of complaint, she forgot all about his earlier oversight, like a goldfish with a seven-second memory.

She simply put on her shoes, linked her arm with his, and waited for him to lead her out the door.

"...I’ll pay more attention from now on."

Lu Qing felt a little guilty, but Su Ling’s understanding and good nature made things comfortable.

So, he thought to himself, since his sister had gone to such lengths, maybe he could try to meet her expectations a bit more in the future? Give her a more enjoyable experience when they went out together?

Yeah.

As long as things didn’t get out of hand.

"Let’s go."

As they chatted, they left the house, stepping into the warm midday sunlight of the weekend, heading toward the outdoor park together.

……

At the same time.

Twilight Café.

Today was a rather important day for Lin Mu.

On most Saturdays, she would sleep until noon.

After all, her bed was in the attic, which had no windows, so the sun couldn’t wake her up.

Thus, in her world, "morning" didn’t exist.

Her "daytime" was in the afternoon, her "evening" was at noon, and "late night" was when the sun had set.

As for going to bed, that had to happen after she finished practicing her instrument, recording videos, writing her diary, or working on a longer piece—strictly on schedule, without fail.

Nothing could disrupt this routine.

But this lifestyle changed after Qing "came back to life."

"Ugh, I don’t know why, but I feel a bit tired today."

Under the warm glow of the lights, Lin Mu sat up in bed, her legs tucked under the covers, and her gaze fell on the corner of the room where the glowing figure of "Saintess" stood in a humidity-controlled cabinet.

Every time she woke up, the first thing she saw was the beauty of her beloved instrument.

"Good morning, sister."

Lin Mu greeted her violin.

Then, she stretched and prepared to get out of bed.

As a rock girl on a break from school, Lin Mu’s only rule for herself was—"As long as I complete my daily practice, I can do whatever I want."

In other words, she had prioritized "improving her skills" above all else.

Her schedule was packed with music-related activities, leaving little room for anything else, to the point where she almost entirely neglected the small joys of life.

"Oh right. I should open the café today."

Lin Mu murmured to herself, "If I don’t, all that cream and butter Gao Ban sent over will go bad again…"

What motivated her to open the café wasn’t anything grand—it was simply her reluctance to waste the high-quality ingredients Gao Ban had sent her.

Even though she was wealthy and didn’t need to worry about money, she couldn’t stand the thought of letting good food go to waste.

"Hmm, I’ll skip my morning practice for today, take a shower, and then bake some pastries."

She made a plan as she spoke.

"Qing once said that eating sweets can help improve your mood when you’re feeling down. So, I should have something sweet for breakfast."

Lin Mu had always taken his words to heart, to the point where she had removed all "sugar-free" options from the café’s hand-drawn menu—

Customers could only choose between "half-sugar" or "full-sugar" for their coffee, a twisted way of commemorating Qing.

Even if it made her the laughingstock of the coffee community, she didn’t care.

[*As long as I don’t interact with others, what does it matter if they think Americanos should be sugar-free? I like my coffee sweet.*]

Now that Qing was "alive" again, Lin Mu’s mood had brightened like the sky after a storm, filled with renewed energy.

…

"Hehe, should I make red bean scones or cranberry bagels later?"

"If I can’t finish them, I’ll give them out as free samples with coffee orders. Maybe, just maybe, someone might accidentally wander in today… It’s not completely impossible, right?"

Lin Mu held onto that hope.

She put on her little whale pajamas, pulled up the soft hood, and muttered to herself as she walked downstairs to the high-end bathroom in the separate room.

"Speaking of which, I really pissed off Neptune last time, and then I ran into him at my sister’s café. So awkward. So, so awkward."

"If I get any customers today, I can’t afford to be rude, even if they’re a couple showing off their love. I have to hold it in, as long as they don’t get too cringy. Yeah."

With no experience running a café, Lin Mu’s social skills had remained at a childlike level due to her long-term isolation. She even typed slower on her phone than a middle schooler…

This often left her feeling deeply troubled, as if life was just too complicated.

She frequently pondered one question—

"Why do humans have to interact with people who don’t matter in the grand scheme of things?"

She couldn’t figure it out, nor could she understand it.

She always felt that as long as she had money, time, and space, she could live a perfectly good life on her own.

For a wealthy girl like her, such naive thoughts were perfectly normal.

"Ugh… dealing with customers is so complicated. Come to think of it, running a café is part of the service industry, isn’t it…?"

"I like baking cakes and making coffee, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy dealing with people or serving others…"

Lin Mu wore a look of utter disdain as she passed by the table, instinctively reaching for a cigarette.

But halfway through the motion, she changed her mind.

She thought, *Why not just reach out to Qing today?*

After all, he was "alive" again, and they were friends now! Even if she sent him a bunch of messages, he probably wouldn’t get mad, right?

"~"

At this thought, a genuine smile spread across the rich loli's smooth, milky face.

She quickly picked up her phone, scrolled through her friend list, and found Qing. After editing for a while, she finally asked:

"Qing, what are you up to? The sunlight in Tianhai is so warm today. Do you have any plans later?"

……

……