“Goddess! How could you be so cruel?! I ran a good couple miles in this human form just to be here on time!” Xiaobai, now Wu Xiaobai, ranted and raved while bent over herself, panting roughly between curses.

 

Having a human form wasn’t as fun as she thought it’d be, running on two legs was so breathtaking and for no reason at all. Brushing through dark brown hair and putting on clothes was much harder than just grooming your fur every day.

 

Xu Xingjuan could only smile behind her hand and tease her. “I value your dedication to punctuality, Xiaobai.”

 

“Goddess!”

 

Xiaobai’s yelling got her a flick on her button nose. “Shush now, remember. I’m Xu Xingjuan now, not Wen Shuchun.” Although Xu Xingjuan was chiding her, she was still smiling in such a way that flowers would wilt themselves to avoid being compared to it.

 

“... I understand.” Xiaobai could only indignantly rub her nose and pout. If it weren’t for her beauty and power, she would’ve flicked her right back.

 

“Good, I knew you were smarter than you looked. Walk and talk now, dear. I know you’re capable of it.”

 

“Yeah, yeah- wait, what do you mean ‘smarter than I looked’?! I’m plenty smart inside and out!”

 

“Of course, you are, Xiaobai. With your infinite knowledge, I’m sure you’ll be getting your second foxtail in no time.”

 

“... You can attack my intelligence but please don’t attack my pride as a fox spirit.” Xiaobai couldn’t help but subconsciously put her hands at the base of her back where her fluffy tail would usually be. It wasn’t as if she was experienced enough to have another foxtail at her current age and power, but that didn’t mean that not having any more than one wasn’t a sore spot.

 

Xu Xingjuan realized she might have overstepped a bit. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it in that way. How old is Xiaobai now anyways?”

 

“100 years.”

 

“Then you’ve just now reached the age to get your second tail, right? One century at a time, they say.”

 

“Mhm…”

 

“Then Xiaobai is right on track. No need to rush. Who knows, maybe this experience will help you build wisdom.”

 

“What kind of wisdom could someone gain from witnessing humanity?”

 

Xingjuan could only smile and put a finger to her lips as the duo approached the shadows of a black school gate, which was gradually filling with the silhouettes of students and cars that cost more than the average person could make in a lifetime.

 

This was a school for the elite, or at least for those with enough money to pretend it was.

 

“Oh, that actually reminds me,” Xingjuan lightly tapped Xiaobai with her hand. “What exactly does the Wu Family do?” She had only gotten the bare bones of the plot and some of the memories of Xu Xingjuan, most of which consisted of only the most prominent families of City A. The Wu Family wasn’t included in that list. The Xu Family was invested in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically making their way into the biotech field, while Xie Family was a developing tech giant, but as of current in this World, there were no cellphones, just computers, and electricity (obviously). Distant contact depended on landlines and in the case of Goddess and fox spirit, spirit energy.

 

“Real estate and property. Things like development, renting of lots, those sorts of things.” Xiaobai counted off what she listed upon her fingers, nodding in little intervals.

 

“So I can trust Xiaobai to get me a good deal on an apartment if I ever need a getaway?”

 

“If I sweet talk enough I could get you an entire resort.”

 

Both girls snickered at the thought of somehow ending up in such a situation. Mortals were so strange in that manner, coming up with some of the most absurd ways to avoid their problems which often just made things worse.

 

Then again, just a decade or so ago the Oracle God hid in 20 separate universes to avoid being confessed to by one of the many Earth Deities, so maybe their definition of strange was a bit skewed.

 

The duo was snapped out of their musings with the loud honk of a car in their opposite direction, a girl wearing their school’s uniform on the road picking up her bookbag and its various spilled contents off the asphalt as the driver of the car kept honking at her.

 

“Did we just witness potential vehicular manslaughter?” Xingjuan couldn’t help but gawk at the scene.

 

Xiaobai sighed. “No. That was the first meeting of Li Tingting and Xie Muchen.”

 

“What?”

 

“He almost hits her with his car and then throws money at her to pay for any medical bills before driving off again.”

 

Almost as if on schedule, the driver side window of the car opened up and a wad of yuan came out, bursting into singular pieces on the road before the car backed up and drove away again, leaving Li Tingting sputtering on the ground in confusion while passing students made snide comments or simply pretended she didn’t exist.

 

“You simply must be kidding.”

 

“No, it just happened.”

 

“How does this somehow change into a love story? I’d have had his head on a pike for eternity.”

 

Xiaobai shrugged.

 

Xingjuan could already feel a migraine coming along and she hadn’t even been human for that long. “Let’s just go help that poor girl.”