It was the first day of the Lunar New Year.
Rong City was enveloped in a festive New Year atmosphere.
Residents woke up late, ate glutinous rice balls, dumplings, or some other breakfast, welcoming the first day of the new year.
Su Tianqing, however, was an exception.
She woke up early, took out the dumplings made last night from the refrigerator in Jia Yu's house, and started fussing with them on the steamer.
Today, a highly anticipated event was about to unfold—
"The Hero Association's annual conference will be held at Qiuxi Road Plaza in Rong City. Citizens, please watch in an orderly manner. This annual conference will also be broadcast live simultaneously on television channels."
"It's this afternoon!"
While eating dumplings, Su Tianqing said to Nan Jiayu next to her.
Nan Father and Nan Mother had woken up very early, eaten breakfast, and gone out for a stroll, which was their daily routine. Everyone didn't pay too much attention, only reminding the two elders to be careful.
Nan Father had been in his bedroom since early morning, dealing with some unfinished work from before the New Year. Now he also came out to eat breakfast, and the family was enjoying themselves.
However, there were many people sitting around the dining table.
Su Tianqing's gaze swept around.
Jia Yu next to her, Nan Xiaofeng across the table, and Hua Ling and Lin Muyao next to Nan Xiaofeng, the three of them were fighting over a plate of shrimp and cabbage pork dumplings.
"Hua Ling, Mu Yao."
"Do you know, when eating dumplings, you need to eat them one by one from right to left, only then can you..."
"A loophole!" Lin Muyao swiftly extended her chopsticks.
"Guh-wah! No way!" Nan Xiaofeng also extended her chopsticks to block the last shrimp dumpling.
Seeing this, Hua Ling pushed up the glasses on her nose, the reflection on the lenses obscuring her eyes. Her chopsticks also shot out rapidly but were blocked by both Nan Xiaofeng and Lin Muyao.
A great battle for the shrimp dumplings erupted on the table.
Su Tianqing watched the three of them chattering with great interest, smiling as she put a chive dumpling into her mouth.
But just as the three pairs of chopsticks were in battle, a fork suddenly appeared in the center of the battlefield, deftly spearing the last shrimp dumpling.
"Ah-woo... chew, chew, chew..."
The blonde girl put the shrimp dumpling into her mouth, bit off half, and chewed carefully.
Then she looked up and met the gazes of the three stunned people across the table, immediately freezing.
"...If it's for Aurora, then it's fine too."
Hua Ling chuckled and sighed, picking up a cabbage pork dumpling, casually erasing the dramatic end of the dumpling battle.
—Aurora.
Because she played too late last night and had no car to return, after getting her Nan Father's permission, Aurora stayed overnight at Nan Xiaofeng's house, sleeping in a temporary small room.
According to Aurora herself, her family's tradition was to celebrate Christmas Eve and Birth Day, and they had no special feelings for New Year's Eve and Spring Festival here in Rong City, only treating them as local traditional festivals to celebrate.
Of course, her public identity was that of an international student. It was said that her father was contacting schools, and everyone didn't delve into it.
As for Xia Taotao and Fei Yelan...
After they finished setting off fireworks, they rode their electric scooters back. It was said that they met the boss who sold them fireworks on the way again, and it was unknown if they bought more.
"Moreover, Nan Father is also very confident in Rong City's security, so there's no need to worry," Aurora said.
After all, Rong City's Hero Association is quite famous nationwide. Su Tianqing thought.
You ask how Aurora dissolved her transformation early?
This brings us to the information Aurora discovered herself: as long as Ripper is dealt with, she can dissolve her transformation early, without having to wait until late at night.
But upon closer inspection, Golden Fox always felt that there was a very strange situation at this dining table—
Across the table were three heroes—Hyacinth, Iris, Nightingale.
On this side of the table were two old villains and one new villain—Xin Yuehu, Hellcat, Alice.
Adding both sides, there were a total of four Star Shadows. Except for herself, who could open the secret codex, both sides were very tacitly unaware of each other's identities.
Even the most unstable Aurora, her uncontrollable transformation only manifested when the sun set.
Magic Girl's cognitive obfuscation is really too useful. Su Tianqing thought.
Hey, secret codex, this wouldn't be the situation you wanted to see, would it? You wouldn't be secretly watching for fun somewhere, would you?
Su Tianqing tried to question the void but received no answer.
...
After breakfast, everyone went out.
The subway and public transportation started later, but the crowding was no less than usual.
Especially Line 1 and Line 2 leading to Qiuxi Road, if it weren't for Jia Yu acting as a gatekeeper in front, Su Tianqing felt that she and Aurora alone would not have been able to squeeze in at all.
"This is... Rong City's subway..." Aurora huddled timidly in the corner of the carriage, close to Su Tianqing and Nan Jiayu, and said in a low voice.
Su Tianqing, holding her extremely space-consuming Fox Girl tail, replied:
"It's not usually this crowded outside of peak commuting hours. Today, it's because there's an annual conference to watch, so everyone is so..."
"...Nianhui, is it very interesting?"
Aurora tried to read the word from Su Tianqing's mouth, but she didn't seem to be familiar with the pronunciation and didn't say it very clearly.
"That's called the Annual Conference, an event the Hero Association holds every year, you know."
"This year, the Autumn Osmanthus Squad was invited to perform. Their popularity is very high."
"Qiugui... Ah, I know them."
Aurora blurted out such a sentence.
"Huh? Aurora actually knows Qiugui?" Su Tianqing blinked in surprise.
She had originally thought Aurora was the kind of child who had few recreational activities, as she rarely even watched TV, yet she knew Qiugui, a popular idol.
But on second thought, she was a Magic Girl enthusiast after all, so it made sense that she would know these things.
"Mm, because Qiugui and her group once performed in London, and I went to see their performance."
"That was the last global tour, right? They toured over forty cities worldwide in two months." Su Tianqing finally remembered this matter and realized.
In short, the Autumn Osmanthus Squad was such a global idol group.
.
The subway arrived at the station.
The moment the train doors opened, the crowded people were like small blood vessels cut by an intern's scalpel during surgery, almost instantly occupying the entire station platform hall.
The three of them took the escalator up to the ground, and the bustling commercial street scenery of Qiuxi Road came into view, significantly different from their last visit:
The storefronts were hung with fiery red lanterns and Chinese knots, speakers played the festive "Gong Xi Ni Fa Cai," and the entire street was filled with a lively New Year atmosphere.
And the most eye-catching was the retractable stage set up in the center of the plaza.
Large posters of the Autumn Osmanthus Squad were hung all around, and enthusiastic fans had already begun their cheering activities around the stage, harmonizing well with the New Year's atmosphere.
"Wow..."
Aurora's mouth was wide open; she seemed to have never seen such a lively scene.
"How about it, the Autumn Osmanthus Squad's grand presence is quite something, isn't it?" Su Tianqing said with a smile.
"It certainly is grand." Nan Jiayu nodded in agreement.
After a brief silence, the Fox Girl and Hellcat exchanged glances, a pleasant smile appearing on both their faces.
"Tianqing, you're thinking strange things again." Nan Jiayu smiled and said helplessly.
"Hmph hmph hmph, of course, but for the sake of the New Year, let's just honestly watch the performance today~"
...Will she really be "honest"?
Watching the Fox Girl's mischievous smile gradually blossom on her face, Nan Jiayu swallowed.
A loud sneeze seemed to come from behind the stage.
Miss Qiugui. Good luck.