High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 662: Chapter 10 Last Night’s Qixi Festival _1

When Zheng Qing left the Wandering Bar, it was already past four in the afternoon. Young wizards who were planning to party all night were starting to gather in the bar in twos and threes, vying for a good position.

Zheng Qing checked the time, swore inwardly, and bolted towards Doctor Du Zemu’s house.

He had promised to meet Jiang Yu at half past three, and he was already more than half an hour late.

As a young man, it was terribly rude to keep a girl waiting, especially when Jiang Yu was helping him; it was simply inexcusable.

As he ran, he cursed the disrespectful Wandering Wizard under his breath. Despite being wealthy and highly skilled, the wizard was nitpicking over every detail with a child much younger than himself, a disgrace to all older wizards.

Originally, according to his plan, Zheng Qing could have left the Wandering Bar at half past two - If he had left at that time, he wouldn’t have been late and would have arrived early enough to demonstrate a gentleman’s demeanor. But because the Wandering Wizard was busy telling stories and negotiating prices with Zheng Qing, time had slipped away.

Of course, this time was not wasted.

Zheng Qing patted the grey cloth bag in his arms.

In a small red sandalwood box deep within the bag, neatly arranged, were one hundred and twenty jade coins. These were his earnings from selling the game from the school hunting party. Originally, there should have been one hundred and thirty, but in order to persuade the Wandering Bar to put a stop to the rumors spreading around the school, Zheng Qing had painfully spent ten jade coins.

”I hope it’s not too late.”

The young wizard prayed silently, his mouth bitter.

Because it was just after the hottest time of the afternoon, the air still had a heavy warmth to it, so the pedestrian street was not very crowded. Even so, some sharp-eyed people spotted the young wizard running wildly down the street.

”That’s Zheng Qing, right...? Why is he running so hard? Is something wrong?” a wizard tilted his head and looked out the window, asking in surprise. ”He looks like he’s being chased by a bunch of demons.”

The speaker was currently sitting by a window in a café on the street. In front of him was a white porcelain cup, from which black coffee steamed in hot waves, creating odd shapes in the air.

Across from the wizard was a young witch.

Instead of coffee, in front of her was a plate of skinned, bloody frogs. A large snake hung around the witch’s neck, its red tongue flicking greedily over the raw frog flesh.

Not far away, a café waiter watched the witch, the snake, and the frogs in despair - this eccentric combination had scared away many young witches in the café. But because the young witch was a top student at Jiuyou Academy, the café owner dared not drive her away, and could only pray to all the gods and Buddhas in the sky to take this little tyrant away quickly.

”Nicolas! Don’t dodge my question!” Liu Fei Fei glanced at the public student flitting past outside the window and then turned her head, glaring at the green-faced wizard sitting across from her, speaking indignantly. ”...even if Zheng Qing is streaking down the street, what does it have to do with us?!”

”I’m only asking you one thing... do you want to pass the final exams and advance to the second year, or not!”

Nicolas looked nervously at the small porcelain cup in front of him, his hands clasped, his thumbs rubbing the rim of the cup. After a long while, he finally answered in a low voice: ”I do!”

”Since you want to advance, why have you not been studying in the library lately?!” Liu Fei Fei’s tone grew angrier, and her voice slightly louder. ”Not only are you not studying, you’re avoiding me! Am I that scary? Is avoiding me useful? ...If it wasn’t for Elena helping me find you, were you planning on hiding for life!”

Feeling its master’s rage, the snake that had been happily licking frog flesh suddenly raised its head and hissed threateningly at the wizard across the table.

Several suppressed screams rang out in the tiny café. Soon, a few witches dropped their money and hurried away, leaving the café owner behind the counter, nearly in tears.

”Shut up! When adults are talking, you don’t get to interrupt!” Liu Fei Fei slapped her snake’s head, pushing it into the pile of frog flesh, and scolded it irritably.

The snake swayed its head in confusion, cautiously glanced at its master, then at the mixed-blood boy across from it, blinked, and obediently buried its head between two frog legs and began to nibble on the frog flesh again.

”I wasn’t avoiding you... it’s just that it’s Hunting Moon right now, and many stores are hiring part-timers... I’m just earning some living expenses with my spare time...” Nicolas stuttered his explanation, denying, ”I wasn’t avoiding you! I swear!”

”Don’t you have a scholarship?” Liu Fei Fei furrowed her brows, slightly displeased, ”We’re still students; as long as we have enough for living expenses... your primary task right now is to study for the exam! Are you hoping for a fourth chance from the school? Or do you think it would be an honor to be the first student in history to have attended the first year of all four colleges?!”

Nicolas fiddled with his fingers, hesitated for a long while, and finally sighed, murmuring, ”The scholarship is only enough for me. I have a little sister who’s not in good health and needs medication every day... Also, New Year’s is in a few months, and I ought to prepare a New Year gift for each of you.”

Liu Fei Fei was stunned, then humphed lightly, her body leaning slightly back while her angry expression eased.

”You should have told me in advance!” The top student at Jiuyou Academy grumbled, ”Even so, you can’t neglect your homework... Let’s do this, every night after your shift, I can squeeze some time to help you review the key points and difficult parts of your lessons. We can schedule it from nine to eleven-thirty every night, is that okay?!”

Although it was a rhetorical question, judging by her expression, she didn’t seem to expect a different answer from Nicolas.

Fortunately, Nicolas wasn’t stupid. He quickly nodded his head, ”No problem...we can start anytime.”

With the issue resolved, they both fell into a period of awkward silence.

Liu Fei Fei idly watched her snake eat frog meat for a while, then found an excuse to steer the conversation back to the track Nicolas had laid earlier, ”You asked a good question earlier... What could Zheng Qing have been rushing for?”

As she spoke, they both turned back to look out the window.

The pedestrian street was bustling with people coming and going. The young student from Astronomy Class 08-1 had long disappeared in the crowd, his figure nowhere to be seen.