"What are you all so surprised for?!" Chen Ling watched as Xue Fenglan scolded her friends again.
"I-its just that... we thought you were a boy..." the one called Blue Dragon stepped up hesitantly on behalf of the others, and muttered with his head down.
"All this time we hung out and you never figured it out?!" She seemed upset, but Chen Ling thought it was normal, as no girl would enjoy having her gender mistaken, though it was kind of her fault for dressing like a boy.
"Well, you've always looked and acted like a boy..." he spoke in a barely audible whisper.
"Are you saying I'm not cute enough to be a girl?! Do you want me to prance around in a skirt and play with flowers?!" She was angry now, and a glare stared down at Blue Dragon, who tried to make himself look smaller. Even if she dressed like a boy, that didn't mean she didn't want to be a girl! It may sound complicated but it was just an issue of misunderstood individuality. She was basically caught in between in her preference for boy clothes and a desire to be seen as a girl.
"Uh...er...um...!" Poor Blue Dragon was too young and was unable to work around the complicated logic, only stuttering incoherently.
Eventually, under her glare smoke started to come out of his ears. He then made a decision. He fled as fast as he could, with Black Tortoise and White Tiger at his tail. They had no wish to be the target of her anger. It appeared she was at the top of their unofficial hierarchy.
"Where are you going?!" Xue Fenglan yelled furiously, but she didn't pursue, and instead sunk down and hugged her knees.
"Am I really not cute at all...?" She wondered if this was what her parents were worried about when she went out in boy clothes. She never thought that clothes mattered so much. The corners of her eyes began to grow misty.
"I think you're cute." Chen Ling, who watched her gender reveal drama from the side said comfortingly.
"R-really?" Xue Fenglan said with blurred eyes. In truth, her face was cute, just that everything else she did was boyish, so when weighing it out, she had more boy factors, so people assumed she was a boy.
"Really." Said Chen Ling with a blinding smile, when she felt an abrupt impact on her stomach.
"Kh! If you were a boy I would've fallen in love with you!" Cried Xue Fenglan into Chen Ling's shoulder. She had suddenly embraced Chen Ling. Xiaohei had long since seen it coming, and had already fled her arms before he was sandwiched between two 8-year old girls.
"Um..." Chen Ling had no idea how to respond to such a thing.
"Human children are so strange. First the impudent ones who spoke nonsense, and for some reason they can't tell each other's gender. Then this one comes along, who was affiliated with the other ones, who were presumably enemies, is now crying in your arms. Are all children so volatile and strange?" Chen Ling didn't know how to respond to this either. She was just as confused.
"Hey! How about we be friends!" All of a sudden, Xue Fenglan recovered as if small that had never took place, only trace being a slight redness in the corner of her eyes, as she suggested this rather abruptly.
"She intends to become your ally! What could be her motives?! You don't know each other at all! Ask her intentions!" Xiaohei told her with urgency, he was obviously clueless about human relationships, only knowing ally and enemy, and none can come without reason, something like feelings just fly over his head.
"Un. Okay!" After a moment of thought, she ignored Xiaohei and agreed. She was quite sure that she knew more about human relationships than Xiaohei.
"Alright! You can call me Lanlan!" Said Xue Fenglan with a smile, hugging Chen Ling once again.
"You can call me Ling'er!" Chen Ling smiles as well with you! She was also rather happy, and had long completely forgotten about the large scale battle just before.
"By the way, why aren't you scared of Xiaohei like those boys?" She was rather curious, as Xiaohei showed quite the fearsome side in that battle.
"I actually arrived a little late, and only saw when he turned into a tornado, the rest of the battle took place inside there, so I didn't see anything other than the scary eyes. But that didn't scare me, my dad has the scariest eyes!" She was actually not affected by Xiaohei's Path Of Fear, because of an acquired immunity? Chen Ling knew all about Xiaohei's cultivation technique, and just how strong it was.
"Nya!" Xiaohei was somewhat indignant that he wasn't able to scare this little girl, shouting his protest, but he was too tired to waste energy trying to prove himself.
"Aw~! Are you mad because you didn't scare me~!" She turned to Xiaohei, and started to make a baby voice as she swept him up and squeezed his face, much to his protest.
"What are you doing human! How dare you!" Xiaohei was attempting to push her away, but his small frame and fatigue kept him from using enough strength to resist, and he wasn't allowed to use his claws unless it was a dangerous enemy
"See? He isn't so scary like this! He looks just like a cute cat!" She said to Chen Ling, who admired Lanlan for her outgoing attitude.
In truth, she had never had a real friend before, if that wasn't obvious before. She was a bit of an outcast after all. Perhaps this kind of girl who played with boys and cried would be one of the few kinds of people who would befriend her.
"Hmph! This girl is just like you and that Yang Suya your sister knows. Too touchy!" Chen Ling thought that he could probably run away from them if he tried, but she didn't say anything.
And in this way, after a fighting in the park, Chen Ling made her first friend.