The Classic Slacker Disappearance

With the bulk of their conversation over, Lin Songmei and Yan Mingqing did some idle catch up with Liu Xueli while waiting for Han Youhong, Wang Taigang, and Zhao Liying to show up. It was only a couple of minutes before the doorbell rang.

Cracking the door open, Liying's red hair flashed into view as she peeked into the crack before walking into the apartment. Getting waved over to the living room by Mingqing and Songmei, Liying did a half-bow towards Xueli as she walked into view. "Greetings esteemed elder."

[No need!] Xueli laughed, propping her chin onto her hands. [So you're the new addition to the team... not bad, not bad.]

Flopping onto the couch behind Songmei and Mingqing, Liying's formality disappeared as she gave a weak thumbs up. "Thank... you?"

[It's a compliment!] Xueli reassured, laughing as she leaned back in her chair. [I'm really quite amazed you all managed to put aside your egos to work together. I remember fighting a lot while I grew up. If only I could've collaborated with you all...]

'Maybe then I'd be married,' Songmei finished Xueli's sentence in her mind. There was only a fifty percent chance her little joke was actually right, but it didn't hurt to make it in her mind.

[Anyway,] Xueli cleared her throat, checking the time, [I have to run, so have fun you all, okay? Stay safe~ I'll see you all in a day or two!]

With Xueli hanging up before she or Mingqing could murmur any sort of goodbye, Songmei sat back onto the couch, taking a moment to make sure she wasn't sitting on Liying's legs. "You're here awfully quickly, do you have any updates from Youhong and Taigang?"

"Yeah, they just messaged the group chat," Mingqing answered, sitting down on one of the other couches.

Stretching out and getting comfy on the couch, Liying nodded, using her hand to prop her head up. "They said they're waiting for Liu Liping-"

"Who? Wait what... the name sounds familiar," Songmei murmured, tapping her chin. "She's the third direct disciple from the Pavilion from our year...?"

"Yeah, that's right," Liying nodded, using her foot to pat Songmei on the shoulder. "Yeah, they said they're going to bring her over. But she explicitly said she doesn't want to room with us... so I guess she'll ask the receptionist to see if there's any free rooms?"

"I don't know..." Songmei shrugged, grabbing Liying's ankle and lowering it back down to the couch with a careful nudge. "I don't know her that well. All I've really gathered is that she has no interest in being affiliated with us."

Opening the door with a flair and interrupting the conversation, Youhong and Taigang walked in with smiles on both of their faces. Youhong, with a pair of sunglasses on—weird since they were inside—tossed lychee jellies at everyone in the room. "Liu Liping has been dropped off at the receptionist's desk and we're here to hang out!"

Doing a double take, Songmei shook her head, catching the lychee jelly as Youhong and Taigang made themselves at home. Liying, on the other hand, waving from her lying down position on the couch pocketed the lychee jelly tossed towards her before waving towards the two boys. "We were just talking about Liu Liping. You two know her better, do you know why she doesn't want anything to do with us?"

"No clue," Taigang shrugged, munching on the lychee jelly from Youhong. "The Pavilion is partitioned into a Yang side and Yin side, and Liu Liping is on the Yin side with Youhong, so... ask him, yeah."

"Well, I have no clue either," Youhong shook his head, juggling a handful of lychee jellies as he kicked his feet up. "To be honest, I really only know what Taigang knows. She really knows what she wants. And what she wants is to marry rich, settle down, and have a family. Well... I'm not sure about the family part, but she really wants to marry rich."

"Dang, we have so many rich people in this party though," Songmei pondered out loud, "Literally everyone here is rich except me."

"Yeah, that's why I'm just as confused as you," Youhong shrugged, pushing it out of his mind. "We have more urgent things to talk about though. We found out that all the inner disciples from the Pavilion... like all of them from the year before us, our year, and the most recent year, have all been independently caught."

Songmei froze. What?

With a sudden silence falling over the group, anything from a pin drop to a cough could be heard clear as day. How? Why?

"Okay, well I should give some explanation," Taigang interjected, seeing as Youhong kicked his feet back up and slid the sunglasses back on. "They were caught by the mayor, Pride, and Avarice respectively. Also, randomly Pride made a big declaration of 'I go by Vainglory now' so uh... yeah there's that."

"Well... that answers one question," Liying shrugged, pushing herself back up. "Guess we know a couple of the people we're going to be going up against. And that we're targeted, so I guess that's two questions answered actually."

"What about the other direct disciples from the Pavilion then?" Mingqing asked, her hand raised just a little before she realized she wasn't in school. "Are they safe?"

"Yeah, we brought them with us," Youhong nodded, giving a thumbs-up as he continued his lychee jelly feasting session. "Liu Liping is going to be rooming with them. The receptionist said your sect's housing opened up a lot since all the inner disciples from last year left recently."

"Ohh... yeah that'd certainly allow for a lot more space," Songmei agreed, tapping her fingers against her thighs. "Any other news from your three? If not, Mingqing and I can fill you all in on what our master told us, since we gave her a call just a few minutes ago."

With a moment of silence falling onto the group, Mingqing opened her mouth to begin conveying information when Liying gave a long sigh, putting a finger up in apology. "Actually... I have some stuff to share."

Checking her terminal, Liying raised her eyebrows before sliding it away. "So, a message from my sect or my family hasn't come in yet; however, I wouldn't be surprised if they give me the choice to just leave. After all, one of the islands in the west is... really similar to Westriver in terms of its unique Qi structure. When I decided to come here, transfer here really, they told me, if anything sketchy or threatening starts to happen, I'd be given a choice to leave because... not my place, you know?"

"I expected that..." Mingqing nodded along, musing out loud before everyone turned to look at her. "Hey, I'm literally from Starlight Lake, and my parents said the same thing. Our families are similar so I wasn't surprised."

"Yeah, they really are," Liying laughed, giving Mingqing an air high-five. "Well, my sect officially offered too. So... yeah I don't know. They're really quite overprotective so I was surprised a message hadn't come through yet. Maybe the information just passes over there slower..."

With Youhong motioning for Liying to continue, Liying couldn't help but snort. "Sometimes I still see that cheeky little bastard ten year old Youhong in you. Anyway, yeah, I was just going to say I'll be sticking around since... we're a party~ woooo, you know? I was considering hiding it, but... a little more openness never hurt anyone."

"Well, we're glad you shared," Taigang extended a hand, offering a handshake with his classic warm smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Liying raised an eyebrow, slapping Taigang's hand away. "And stop being so formal, I'm still the older sister of the party. So you all still have to listen to what I have to say. You're stuck with me! Hah!"