The person nearest the door, Haitang, swung it open and a cute head with red-tipped hair peeked in — she looked around, then hopped inside.

“Yaho — everyone’s here? Are we the last ones?!” she called, then dragged a maid in from outside.

“I brought Sharo!” she announced.

Sharo followed behind, shy and awkward.

“You should’ve let me change first! You just yanked me out like that and I’m still in my maid outfit… walking around the street like this — don’t I have any pride?”
Xiao Lei herself was in her Biyang Girls’ uniform, but Sharo seemed to have been pulled straight from work, her shift clothes still on.

Whoa — a sixteen-year-old blonde beauty in a short maid outfit walking from the Tianping district all the way to school — imagine how many heads she turned along the way. No wonder Sharo’s cheeks were flushed.

Qiaojue whistled. “Ooh! A delinquent maid? The contrast between rebellion and obedience — that’s a great vibe!”

“E-excuse me,” Sharo said as she stepped in, and her eyes landed on Meow Meow standing in the middle of the living room. She looked a little intimidated — getting spanked on the sofa in front of her gang left a mark.

“How’d you get through the school gate?” I asked, pointing at Sharo’s maid outfit. “She doesn’t have a gate card and she’s not in uniform, right?”

Xiao Lei: “Oh, Sis Qiuluo was on the gate duty, she saw it was us and let her in.”

Sharo: “I kinda guessed, but Sis Xiao Jiu really isn’t a high school girl, huh!”

You’ve worked together that long and you only just noticed?

I asked, “Sis Qiuluo’s on duty today? So is it just Senior Changpu at the shop right now?”

Sharo nodded. “Yeah, Sis Saki is probably swamped.”

That wasn’t great — even for Saki’s sake we should wrap the meeting up quickly so the maids can get back to work.

With that in mind, I pulled Sharo into the circle and stood beside Meow Meow.

“Introduce everyone — this blonde here is Sharo, leader of the gang ‘Rakshasa.’”

“Don’t call it a gang! Call it a club!” Sharo snapped.

“She’s also a Meow Meow fan — though Meow Meow did spank her once.” I added.

“Wait, why would you say that?!” Sharo blurted.

“She once kidnapped me and Little Jing and wouldn’t give me cookies,” I said.

Sharo: “…(murderous intent rising)”

Meow Meow: “Go ahead and punch her, I won’t stop you.”

[This part needs to be censored.]

Even though Sharo landed a clean hit, I’m the MC who has the setting of never showing scars, so I was fine. But Tangerine shot Sharo a hostile look — after having kidnapped me and now getting punched, some hostility was expected — her cats started meowing at Sharo in alarm. Sharo, lost and flustered, reached out like she wanted to pet them.

I asked, “You know why we wanted to see you, right?”

“Yeah — silly Xiao Lei told me on the way. You want me to get Rashomon’s meeting time and place from my side, right?”

“So you’re willing to help?”

“Would I have come all this way to get myself killed otherwise?” She snapped at me — still not over being pulled into maid work — then rolled her eyes as if looking at a dumb deer.

“I told you before, most of Rakshasa’s members are kids of local shop owners. The ‘club’ was set up to protect merchants’ interests. If those trash gangs are gone, Rakshasa wouldn’t need to exist.”

Right — she doesn’t see herself as a thug. To her, Rakshasa is a neighborhood self-defense group.

I brought a chair for Sharo; she crossed her arms and sat, casually crossing her legs — that short skirt was risky.

She continued, “Bottom line: the police messed up. Those street thugs should’ve been cleaned up ages ago.”

Speaking of the police, I glanced at Lei Luo-chan in Sis Yuanyue’s arms; the goth-loli looked ready to protest but couldn’t find the words.

“The police have their problems too,” Meow Meow said. “But back to business — the meeting time and place?”
Sharo shrank at that.

“I don’t know yet.”

“What? Didn’t Rashomon invite you?” I asked. “Because you can’t even kidnap properly?”

By size and presence, Rakshasa is a pretty big outfit — if Rashomon looks down on them, that’s something else.

Sharo waved a fist at me in warning. “Don’t mention the kidnapping again or I’ll deck you!”

You already did that once, though.

“They sent an ‘invitation’ — but Rashomon hides things well. The time and place aren’t revealed until right before the meeting. I only know they’ll call me.”

Meow Meow frowned. “What did the invite say? How will they notify you?”

Sharo: “The invite came with info on several Rakshasa spots and shops. It’s less an invitation and more a threat.” She was heated. “Oh, and they included a contact phone, saying they’ll call before the meeting.”

“Cautious,” Meow Meow said.

Lei Luo-chan added, “Those old hands are slippery. Even if you catch someone, you can’t get the evidence. In a few days they’ll be out again.”

Sharo glanced at Lei Luo-chan, puzzled, but kept quiet.

“Where’s that phone?” Yang Qi asked. “Cangyu’s worried it might have a backdoor.”

I noticed Yang Qi holding a phone — the black camera lens pointed at us — probably streaming for Cangyu.

Sharo pulled up her apron and produced a cheap off-brand phone from a side pocket. I checked it; nothing fancy.

“It’s fine. My tech guys checked it. No tampering.”

Since when do gangs have tech teams?

Xiao Lei: “So we wait for their call and then ambush?”

“Not that simple. Looks like Rashomon is careful — they likely won’t reveal the spot directly. Like when Sharo kidnapped me, they might blindfold you and walk you in circles through Tianping alleys until you’re lost.”

Sharo shot me an annoyed look. “You petty woman, can you stop bringing up the kidnapping?”

“What about you not giving me cookies?” I shot back.

“…”

Yang Qi asked, “Any rules on who can attend?”

Sharo stood and waved a hand. “Only the boss or high-ranking members — but you can bring two attendants, subordinates or muscle.”

“Then bring me and… Meow Meow. I know the area, and Meow Meow can protect us,” I said.

Lü Le — who’d become small after transforming and had been quiet in Sis Xi’s arms — suddenly spoke up. Sharo jumped. “You’re letting such a small kid into something dangerous?”

Lü Le shot back calmly, “I’m twenty. Older than you.”

“Liar.”

“Really.”

Because of the notebook, the body age is seventeen, but yes she looks very young at under 1.6m.

“Such a cute, tiny sister,” Sharo cooed, suddenly interested in this “little” sister.

“What’s your name, sis?” Xiao Lei asked — she didn’t know Lü Le’s female name.

Lü Le hesitated.

Sharo already knew Lü Le’s real name from the Rakshasa base, so she couldn’t use it here — I wasn’t ready for Sharo to learn my secret.

Meow Meow wrapped an arm around Lü Le’s neck and answered for her.

“Lei Shan! This is Lei Shan — she’s my sister.”

To make it more convincing she even pointed to Lei Luo-chan in Sis Yuanyue’s arms. “And that one’s Lei Luo — my sister too.”

Sis Xi spat her tea in surprise. Even their own father wasn’t spared; Lei Luo-chan squealed and was locked in place by Sis Yuanyue.

Sis Yuanyue: “Isn’t that fine?”

Meow Meow’s little stunt left Lü Le wide-eyed — she’d gone all the way, even changing the surname.

Sharo, sweating, said, “You’ve got a lot of siblings, huh?”

I waved a hand. “No big deal — the Li family has seven siblings, you know that, right?”

“Oh, right…”