Chapter 62: I’ll Go to Bed Early Too
Xiao Luohan felt that she wasn’t particularly skilled at anything and didn’t have any strong preferences.
When Jiang Xue asked her what kind of things she liked, she thought for a moment and said she preferred elegant items.
But after seeing all the cat-themed accessories, plushies, and pillows in Jiang Xue’s bedroom, she felt that she could also appreciate cute things.
“Your situation is called ‘all-encompassing love’,” Jiang Xue said with a smile after hearing Xiao Luohan’s troubles. “It’s okay to love everything. A-Xi and I also buy things on a whim, things we like at the time. We might lose interest later, but at that moment, we just like it, want it, and it makes us happy to buy it.”
Xiao Luohan understood vaguely. “Is this also considered ‘spiritual sustenance’?”
“Of course.” Jiang Xue pulled out two sets of hanfu-inspired dresses from the closet. “Look, I bought these in my freshman year. I was really into this style back then, but I suddenly lost interest in my sophomore year, and I haven’t worn them much since.”
Seeing Xiao Luohan’s gaze linger on the dresses, she generously handed them over. “If you like them, they’re yours. They’re one-size-fits-all, so anyone around my size can wear them.”
Xiao Luohan didn’t refuse, thanked her, and put them away in her own separate wardrobe.
“By the way, even for the clothes I currently like and wear often, you can wear them if you like,” Jiang Xue added. “As long as you don’t mind that I’ve worn them, then mine are yours.”
She had long since considered Xiao Luo as another version of herself, and even if she wasn’t, she was happy to share her preferences with her “confidante.”
“Of course I don’t mind. Then I won’t stand on ceremony,” Xiao Luohan readily agreed, then added, afraid that Jiang Xue might worry, “Actually, back in my home country, I often wore Mother’s old clothes. Mother was good at sewing and could quickly alter them to fit me.”
Before leaving the bedroom, Xiao Luohan looked at the plum blossom branches on the windowsill.
Perhaps because it was so warm here, the buds were starting to bloom.
“I’m looking forward to them blooming,” Jiang Xue said, standing beside her. “But your health isn’t very good. If they bloom and the fragrance becomes too strong, I’ll have to move them to the study.”
People with weak constitutions were prone to allergies to floral scents. Even though she really wanted to keep the plum blossom branches, which held Elder Sister Red Fox’s soul, in the bedroom, for Xiao Luo’s health, she could only do this.
“It’s alright, Elder Sister likes reading and playing the guqin,” Xiao Luohan said. “And your study has everything.”
That was true.
Jiang Xue could confidently say that she and her older sister had a rich collection of books.
With that, they went to the study together.
First, they took out the guqin, then removed the dust cover from the piano.
Xiao Luohan tried a few notes. It was indeed out of tune and needed to be tuned by a professional. Jiang Xue put the guqin away, opened the piano lid, and played A Wish Across Time.
“We made a promise,” Xiao Luohan reminded her after listening attentively.
“Yes, I remember,” Jiang Xue withdrew her hands and turned to look at her. “When you come here, I’ll tell you the story behind this song.”
“It’s from a foreign anime a long time ago, about the reincarnation of a priestess—a modern female student travels back to the Warring States period, a time filled with demons, through an ancient well…”
By the time Sister Cheng came upstairs to call them for dinner, Jiang Xue had almost finished explaining the character relationships and plot summary of Inuyasha.
Xiao Luohan’s reaction amused her. “I actually want to see the priestess and her reincarnation travel together.”
Jiang Xue replied with a smile, “There’s no official work for that ‘what if’ scenario, only fan works. But there’s another anime where, after the male protagonist dies of old age, the immortal female protagonist and her disciple travel the world.”
Xiao Luohan’s eyes lit up.
The “recommendation” session paused for now, and Jiang Xue led her downstairs for the “welcome dinner.”
It was actually all home-cooked dishes, prepared by the other housekeeper according to Xiao Luohan’s preferences, with some dishes catering to the Jiang family’s tastes as well.
Although it was called a “welcome dinner,” the Jiang family didn’t have much of a sense of ceremony and didn’t make toasts or anything like that. After asking if Xiao Luohan wanted any drinks, they simply started eating.
Good food was the most important thing.
Jiang Xue was the happiest person at the table.
She hadn’t forgotten that when Xiao Luo was still in the ancient world, if she and A-Xi wanted to treat her to something delicious, they had to secretly place the bowl on the diary, carefully checking the bottom and asking Xiao Luo if it was convenient for her to receive it, even worrying about the Crown Prince suddenly barging in and causing trouble.
Because the diary wasn’t big, the amount of food they could send each time was limited. Now, Xiao Luo could finally eat to her heart’s content!
Xiao Luohan, whom Jiang Xue hoped would eat her fill, still maintained her composure at the table full of food.
She was a princess, after all, and even though she was born and raised in the cold palace, her mother had still taught her proper etiquette.
But Xiao Luohan was also very happy today. Even though she ate slowly, she still ate more than usual. However, remembering Dr. Qi’s instructions, she didn’t dare overeat and immediately put down her chopsticks when she felt slightly full, refusing to eat any more no matter how much they persuaded her.
It wasn’t customary to discuss business at the dinner table, and after finishing, everyone went about their own business.
Xiao Luohan was still thinking about how to offer to help with the dishes when Jiang Xue pulled her away from the table and led her straight to her room.
“Just leave the chores to Sister Cheng and the others. They’ve been working here for many years. If you try to help, they’ll feel awkward.” Closing the door, Jiang Xue explained, “You can learn those life skills later, when I go to a university far away and it’s not convenient for Sister Cheng to take care of me.”
“You’re going to a university far away?” This was something Xiao Luohan had never heard of. For some reason, she felt a little flustered.
“Not necessarily, it depends on luck,” Jiang Xue sat down at her desk, her hands resting on the back of the chair. “If a major I really want to study is only offered at a university far away this year, if I suddenly want to live in a certain city for a few years, if I mess up the college entrance exam and my score is only enough for a university far away… even though my grades have always been good, as the saying goes, ‘anything can happen’!”
“But these are things to consider after the results come out at the end of June. For now, I just need to set a general goal and then focus on studying and taking the exams.”
She always liked to simplify complicated matters, breaking them down into stages to consider and solve, so that worries wouldn’t accumulate.
Without internal friction, she could free up more energy to focus on the task at hand.
After listening attentively, Xiao Luohan slowly swallowed the words she wanted to say.
Actually, she knew the answer to the question she wanted to ask better than anyone.
She wanted to stay with Jiang Xue, and Jiang Xue wouldn’t feel at ease leaving her alone far away.
Even though they might not always be like this, at least for now, this was what they both hoped for.
“Would it be convenient to show me the textbooks tonight?” Xiao Luohan changed the subject.
She had to catch up quickly and couldn’t always have Jiang Xue looking back and pulling her along.
“I’ll find them right away!” Jiang Xue immediately jumped up from her chair and pulled out a storage box from under the desk.
She took out all the textbooks for the first semester of each subject in her freshman year and arranged them on the table according to subject.
“I wanted you to be able to understand them and also be interested in the knowledge of the new world, so the books I gave you were mostly liberal arts, and for the biology textbook, I chose the parts that didn’t require calculations.”
As she spoke, she picked out the science textbooks and handed them to Xiao Luohan. “After all, the accumulation of knowledge in science is different from liberal arts. I’ve never been good at science, so I won’t comment.”
Xiao Luohan hesitated for a moment, then chose the math textbook that Jiang Xue had often complained about, starting to read from the introduction.
…She really couldn’t understand it.
“Especially math,” Jiang Xue said, not surprised by her reaction. “Even if you have a solid foundation from elementary and middle school, if you get distracted in high school, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the problems.”
After comparing the various subjects, Xiao Luohan finally confirmed that she was better at “liberal arts.”
“Actually, if you’re more interested in music and art, taking the art exam is easier than the regular academic route,” Jiang Xue reminded her.
“But there are fewer majors and universities to choose from,” Xiao Luohan said, remembering that Jiang Xue had mentioned this in her diary before the class division in her sophomore year.
“No rush, let’s list out all the options first, and you can slowly choose, slowly find what’s suitable for you to learn and do,” Jiang Xue said.
She actually wanted to tell Xiao Luo that her situation was different from theirs. She had been limited by her era and environment for the past seventeen years, so her starting point would be lower, and she would even have to learn many things from scratch.
It was very difficult to master something, let alone so many things she had missed, but she could take her time. She and her family would support her.
But the words reached her lips, and she felt that saying this would only put pressure on Xiao Luo.
After all, Xiao Luo was still in a state of dependence.
Even though she and her family had promised to take care of her for life, she had grown up in this state and knew very well that if something happened to those who protected her, or if their attitude changed, everything she had would vanish in an instant.
Xiao Luo didn’t want to be left with nothing again, so she was anxious, wanting to quickly learn the rules of this world and integrate into it.
Thinking of this, Jiang Xue wanted to hug Xiao Luo again.
…And she did.
“I’m afraid you’ll overthink, and overthinking is bad for your health,” she sighed. “I want to comfort you, but I’m not good with words, I can’t find the right things to say. Here’s a hug!”
Xiao Luohan didn’t resist, letting Jiang Xue hug her, her hand still flipping through the textbook, looking for the most suitable subjects.
For a moment, she suddenly felt a little despicable.
“Developing habits” was normal, but if this involved another person, it could become a shackle.
If Jiang Xue gradually became accustomed to, or even enjoyed, these interactions, then she might use these habits to bind Jiang Xue to her side.
Even if they had conflicts in the future, they would still be entangled because of these “normal things.”
As soon as this thought crossed her mind, Xiao Luohan gasped.
Perhaps she had been reading too many “dramatic” romance stories recently. How could she… how could she think of their relationship this way?
Jiang Xue didn’t know what she was thinking. After hugging her for a while, she noticed that it was almost Xiao Luohan’s usual bedtime and casually asked, “It’s cold at home, do you want to wear fleece pajamas to sleep?”
“Okay.”
“Do you want to try the electric blanket tonight?”
“Okay.”
“Then I’ll go turn it on for you.” Jiang Xue let go of her and went to the bedside to adjust the electric blanket switch.
The warmth that had enveloped her disappeared. Xiao Luohan watched her leave, opened her mouth, and asked, “I go to bed early, what about you?”
Jiang Xue instinctively wanted to say that she planned to study in the study for a while, but then she thought that this was Xiao Luo’s first night home. Whether as a guest or as a family member, being left alone in the bedroom on the first night wouldn’t feel good.
So she started putting away the books. “I’ll go to bed early too. I have to go to school early tomorrow to tidy up your desk!”
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