"Either could be interesting."

"I'll make a note of that."

She laughs. "It's a bit of a tangent, right now."

"Maybe after graduation."

Softer smile. "Something to consider."

"Mm. In the meantime... This could be a good opportunity to open contact with New York."

"Ask that girl what happened?" Or if she wants her toes nibbled?

Chengsu nods. "This event has an impact on the whole population, not just the English speakers."

"And there are too few bridges as it is... Not just between us and New York, but between us and all the English speakers. The handful of us taking classes in both languages hasn't been enough... And even then, nearly all of those doing that speak Mandarin first, English second."

Partly because she's encouraged others from Shanghai in her year and below to do that for at least one class, if they're fluent enough in English - and she knows her older sister has encouraged much the same, though as much more of an afterthought. Still, very few who speak English natively seem motivated to learn Mandarin. 

"It is a deep-rooted issue."

"Then we can't let a chance to pull it out go by."

"I recommend going straight to the provocateur, Daniella Lake. Not only is she their strongest student in the year, but she's closely related to the top candidate for the next New York Dominus. You have the social status to match her there, and though she doesn't appear to take much note of that sort of things, others will."

"I've seen her crossing between tables pretty freely," she agrees. "Usually to whoever's currently prettiest."

"You could exploit that, if you wanted to."

"Dress up a little?"

"Or strip down, maybe."

" - Not something I've really done before..."

"It certainly wouldn't be required."

Small, appreciative smile. "I'd prefer dressing up."

"All right. I'll get that outfit out."

"Thank you - and please let her know I want to meet."

"Yes, Xunyu."

(She had a portion of her weight allowance dedicated to extra things for Xunyu, as part of the arrangement that got Chengsu into the Scholomance, and will get her and her eventual children into Shanghai. Her family worked very hard to get this deal for her. She's coming around to the value of it. (It helps that her affinity for small, intricate bits of artifice means she didn't need much material for herself.)) So, the light blue cheongsam she's been keeping safe and... maybe a hairclip, the agate would match nicely. And, helpfully, has flame retardant enchantments. (Chengsu's being doing a lot of those on things Xunyu might use, Daniella doesn't spend a lot of time out in the hallways looking for trouble, but- The New Yorker gets stuck into the white knight bit over her latest crush often enough to make it worthwhile.)

Next step, setting the meet. Daniella doesn't have anyone specific running interference for her like Chengsu does for Xunyu, so this is fairly easy. A two-step note pass sets up an after-dinner meeting in the library.

(She thinks it's... Silly, in some ways, that her family had Chengsu bring her things like outfits, and not more intensely useful things, or things for the wider allied student body - but she'll trade this outfit on at the end of her senior year, to whoever will be leading the enclavers in the Scholomance after her, and she sort of understands politics. And Chengsu really understands politics, and approves, so...)

(And her mom had listened to the requests Xunyu sent out with the departing seniors at the end of her first year, quick enough that a few of those things came in with the freshmen, and that the next induction - the one that brought them their current freshmen - had a significantly refined version of the system for sorting who gets seats for providing an advantage to Shanghai and what they bring that Xunyu had suggested.)

She's dressed up in time, with her hair styled by Chengsu to fall loose and long rather than in its usual tight bun, with a few snacks that'd been slowly gathered from snack bar runs and stored in a secure box for potential diplomatic meetings, additionally wearing a light blue nail polish and a warm red lip color - both alchemical; the nailpolish will change color subtly if it gets near something with malia, so it'll detect both mals in her food and maleficers across her table, and the lip color will neutralize poisons (or just bacteria or toxins from spoiled food) and tingle if it touches any. (She's been encouraging some of the alchemy track students to mix things like this in large enough batches to trade or spread around.)

Daniella is present as arranged. "Uh. Hey. You look nice."

"Only to match how nice you always look," she responds in Mandarin, with a flirty smile.