Chapter 17: Red Scream
Inside the gymnasium, Jiang Xue sat down in a random seat in the stands, holding Xie Xitong’s jacket and opening her diary.
Xie Xitong was right, she couldn’t be impatient.
She and the Third Princess were just transtemporal pen pals, and they hadn’t known each other for long. It wasn’t appropriate to discuss overly private topics.
The Third Princess had only provided specific images but didn’t want to tell the related story, so when she responded, she shouldn’t digress and mention the elder sister.
Her gaze followed Xie Xitong’s figure as she ran around the court playing badminton, and Jiang Xue started mentally drafting her reply.
First, she would definitely praise the Third Princess’s drawing skills, which were clearly honed over many years, otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to imitate a style she had never encountered before in such a short time.
Second, she would express her liking for the chibi drawings related to herself and express some anticipation, such as “I want to see more.”
Jiang Xue also loved drawing and knew that recognition from others was one of the motivations to continue drawing.
Finally, she would engage in a deeper discussion about the specific content of the images.
This required careful consideration. The safest option was to only discuss the drawings related to herself. However, this would likely make the Third Princess feel that she was ignoring and avoiding the other drawings.
So she couldn’t completely avoid mentioning them.
Jiang Xue frowned slightly, as if hearing the whirring of her brain.
【Are your exams over?】
Just then, the Third Princess suddenly asked.
This short sentence shattered Jiang Xue’s mental draft. She quickly took out her phone, typed her reply, converted it to traditional characters, and copied it into the diary.
【They’re over! I just arrived at the PE class venue!】
She was still typing on her phone, having only gotten as far as “I saw all your drawings,” when she saw the Third Princess ask: 【What’s your favorite sport?】
Jiang Xue blurted out, “Good heavens,” and after racking her brain, finally remembered that this sentence was in the English newspaper she had sent over.
The Third Princess was already putting her learning into practice!
So Jiang Xue also told her in English that her favorite sports were ice skating and skateboarding, but unfortunately, both required special venues and couldn’t be done anytime, anywhere.
This English sentence was quite long, and Xiao Luohan didn’t reply immediately, probably looking up the words.
Jiang Xue thought for a moment and drew Xie Xitong, who was playing badminton, taking the opportunity to introduce a new sport to the Third Princess.
As she drew, Xie Xitong finished her game and sat down next to her, taking back her jacket.
“I’m going to buy drinks. What do you and the Third Princess want?” she asked, seeing Jiang Xue still busy.
Jiang Xue paused, hurriedly replied, “I’ll ask her,” abandoned her half-finished drawing, and wrote to the Third Princess: 【A-Xi wants to treat you to a drink. What do you want?】
She then attached a list of tasty drinks from the convenience store near the gymnasium.
This time, the Third Princess replied quickly: 【Scream.】
【Scream comes in several colors: blue, green, orange, red, and purple. Each color has a different flavor.】
Before Jiang Xue could list the differences between the flavors, she saw the Third Princess write without hesitation: 【Red.】
Jiang Xue fell silent, and Xie Xitong, who was watching, also fell silent.
“Do you really want to buy Red Scream?” Xie Xitong confirmed.
Jiang Xue struggled internally for a few seconds. “Buy it. The Third Princess chose it herself. And I feel like… the taste of Red Scream isn’t actually that strange?”
“That’s you!” Xie Xitong threw her jacket back at Jiang Xue, stood up, and launched into a rapid-fire rant. “I’d rather die of thirst than touch that stuff!!”
Then she left, without asking what Jiang Xue wanted. When she returned, she was carrying three bottles of Scream, two red and one purple. She took the purple one for herself.
Jiang Xue was both amused and exasperated. Before sending the red Scream over, she reminded the Third Princess to look at the bottle before drinking, to squeeze it instead of twisting off the cap.
After the Red Scream disappeared, she still felt a little guilty and added a warning: 【Many people find the taste of Red Scream strange, saying it’s like rotten apple water.】
【If you don’t like it, just use it to water your plants. The cap is perfect for a watering can.】
【To me, it tastes like ginseng water mixed with a very light fruit juice, with a slightly bitter aftertaste… it’s within my acceptable range.】
After writing this, she picked up her Red Scream and, under Xie Xitong’s watchful eye, took a sip, smacking her lips.
…It really wasn’t that strange! Could anything be worse than traditional Chinese medicine with seaweed?
—
After reading Jiang Xue’s warning, Xiao Luohan hesitated, holding the bottle.
But thinking that this was a kind gesture from Jiang Xue’s best friend, and that she had chosen the drink and color herself, she finally opened the cap.
She didn’t dare squeeze it, but instead gently sipped from the bottle. When she tasted the slightly bitter sweetness, her eyes lit up.
It seemed… not bad?
Xiao Luohan took medicine year-round, and compared to the strange-tasting medicinal soups, the unpleasantness of Red Scream was nothing to her.
With one successful attempt, she became bolder. She raised her arm, pointed the bottle at herself, and slightly opened her mouth.
Squeezing the bottle, a cool, sweet stream of liquid landed on her tongue.
—
【Delicious! Thank you, Xie Xitong!】
At first glance, Jiang Xue thought the Third Princess had written “thank you” too many times. After realizing what it actually said, she burst into laughter.
Xie Xitong also laughed non-stop, then reminded her, “Tell her to call me A-Xi! There’s no need to be so formal!”
Jiang Xue wrote it down, her body still shaking with laughter.
“Your tastes are strangely similar!” Xie Xitong muttered. “How does that song go? ‘Another me in the world, one moment I’m troubled by something, the next you’re laughing in the crowd’…”
She started humming the tune.
Jiang Xue’s pen paused.
She had never considered this possibility, but thinking back, she and the Third Princess did have many similarities in their preferences and tastes.
Besides that, they could also enter each other’s dreams, either as observers or with simple interactions.
“…Xie Xitong!” she couldn’t help but interrupt her friend. “Do you think… is it possible?”
“Huh?”
“Like, what you just sang.” Jiang Xue struggled to articulate her thoughts. “Is it possible for me and the Third Princess?”
Xie Xitong didn’t confirm or deny, but blinked curiously. “Why do you think that?”
“Uh, I just suddenly thought of it…”
“No, if it were just a random thought, you wouldn’t have called my full name in such a serious tone.” Xie Xitong sat up straight and gestured towards the diary. “Did you find some clue? Or did something else supernatural happen between you two that made you suspicious?”
This reminded Jiang Xue of showing Xie Xitong her diary last week.
At the time, Xie Xitong had been sleepy and had only briefly glanced at the diary, seemingly only seeing the Third Princess’s question about why she had changed the subject, without noticing the previous content.
That was the dream she had described and Xiao Luohan’s confirmation.
—【The scene you describe is exactly what I saw and heard when I was sent to Daying for marriage.】
“Something else supernatural… does exchanging dreams count?”
Jiang Xue flipped back through the diary, opened it to the relevant page, and handed it to her friend.
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