In the car, my phone rang. I thought it was Lin Xi replying, so I took out Ya Nan's phone (which was with me). It wasn't. It was another phone, Meng Po's. She was asking where I was.
I said I was in Meihekǒu City, just browsing. I asked Meng Po to inform His Highness the Little Yama, telling her I was temporarily safe and she didn't need to worry about me falling into the hands of any "mountain or river" figures.
After a minute, Meng Po sent a video call. I pressed the green button to answer, and saw the face of the Little Yama. Judging by the background, it wasn't near the Bridge of Sighs. It was in the human world, with mountains and water. I didn't know where it was. Meng Po's figure also flashed across the screen; it turned out she could also come to the human world.
"You escaped?" the Little Yama asked.
"Mm."
"How did you manage it? Even my three commanders working together couldn't..." The Little Yama possibly realized someone was with me and didn't finish mentioning that embarrassing matter.
I pointed to my head: "By wit."
"Awoo!" Ni Tai Mei shouted from the back seat, "L-Little Yama, Your Highness!"
"How do you know her?" Ya Nan asked. She wasn't surprised. Although she hadn't met the Little Yama before, Ya Nan knew about my dealings with the underworld officials and that the Little Yama was my direct superior as a living underworld envoy.
"I-I don't know her! But I k-know her appearance!"
I turned back, signaling them to be quiet. This was a formal meeting, discussing work.
"Wait for me. I'm coming to find you," the Little Yama said coldly.
"Isn't that a bit far?" I frowned. From Shengjing to Meihekǒu, it was probably over 200 kilometers.
"A matter of minutes. Send me a location," the Little Yama said, then hung up.
I sent the coordinates of the Second High School to Meng Po, planning to meet at the school gate. Unexpectedly, there was traffic ahead. By the time we arrived, the Little Yama was already standing at the entrance, her back to me, examining the school's honor wall. She seemed to visit the human world often and knew the local customs. She had changed into normal human clothes: a small suit jacket, and to ward off the cold, a thin down jacket. When she turned around, I realized she was even wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, looking exactly like a teacher!
Fortunately, classes were in session, so there weren't many people at the school gate. I introduced the two parties, who were still looking at each other with curiosity. Ni Tai Mei was excited to see everyone and praised the Little Yama again, stammering, calling her "Your High-Highness" repeatedly, which annoyed the Little Yama a bit. She frowned and said, "Can you not call me Highness? This is your world, it sounds odd to me, and it's inappropriate if others hear it."
"Then what should I call you?" I asked, still not knowing her name.
"Qin Shuyao." The Little Yama reached into an inner pocket of her suit jacket and pulled out an ID card. It indeed read "Qin Shuyao," with her picture. However, the address wasn't Fengtian or Linji Province, but a mountainous city in the southwest. That made sense; the Little Yama managed the underworld corresponding to Yanxia, not just the northeastern region.
I couldn't use "Yaoyao" as a nickname because it was the same as Mu Jige's. Perhaps "Shuyao"?
When asked, the Little Yama said it was up to me, whatever I wanted to call her, as long as it wasn't Highness.
"Where are you going?" the Little Yama asked.
I pointed to the school: "Inside to see beautiful women. Are you interested?"
"I want to talk with you. Let's go inside then."
"Um... In what, what capacity?" Ni Tai Mei poked her fingers, thinking. "Ya Nan's s-sister? Mr. Wu's m-mini sister-in-law?"
"Just say she's a new teacher," I said.
"Ah! Right! She looks like one!" Ni Tai Mei slapped her forehead. The four of us walked to the guardhouse at the school gate.
The guard was a man in his early forties. As soon as he saw so many beautiful women, his eyes lit up. He fully believed our story about our identities. After a simple registration, he let us into the school.
The school was quite large, not like a high school at all, more like a university campus. The landscaping was well done. It was late autumn, and the ground was covered with golden maple leaves, like a carpet spread across the campus. And these three beautiful women walking on campus seemed to embody the saying "In books, there are beauties" and "In books, there are golden houses." With me, it would be "In books, there are a thousand bushels of grain," where I played the role of the "eater."
We passed a row of teaching buildings, and behind them was the sports field, where two classes were having P.E. lessons. Beside the field was a pavilion. Our appearance with the campus beauties attracted considerable attention from the students in class. The Little Yama didn't seem to mind, sitting with me in the pavilion, ready for our talk.