Chapter 26: The Phone
It was two days later when Xiao Luohan received the new watch and the stun gun.
She could tell at a glance that the watch was valuable and couldn’t bear to keep it with her, so she placed it in her brocade pouch and continued using the previous digital watch.
As for the stun gun, after carefully reading the instructions, she asked Shizhu to secretly bring her a piece of raw meat. Closing the doors and windows, she tested the stun gun on the meat.
“Zzz!!”
A purple electric arc flashed, accompanied by a grating sound, making Xiao Luohan instinctively recoil and Shizhu almost cry out in surprise.
They stared at the raw meat, where a noticeable scorch mark remained, faintly emitting a burnt smell.
“…Princess, if this ‘ghostly power’ accidentally hits a vital point like the neck, it could cause immediate fainting, or even death!” Shizhu couldn’t help but warn.
“I won’t use it unless my life is in danger!” Having witnessed its power, Xiao Luohan was both shocked and frightened, and quickly assured her.
But amidst the fear, she felt a sense of confidence.
This way, even weak and defenseless, she had a chance to protect herself.
Shizhu found a jade box, and together, they carefully stored the stun gun inside, placing it on a bookshelf where it wouldn’t be easily seen.
Xiao Luohan took down the Lessons for Women book that hid the English-Chinese Dictionary. Jiang Xue had gone back to school, and she also had to continue learning about that world.
“Remember to watch the time, Your Highness!” Shizhu, knowing that the book hid something valuable, reminded her. “You’ve just recovered from a serious illness, and you’re still very weak!”
“Yes, the ghost or spirit sent me ‘time’ to remind me to rest more.” Xiao Luohan smiled and showed her the white digital watch.
She tried to synchronize her schedule with Jiang Xue’s class time, leaving a message in the booklet every two classes or so to report her safety.
However, Jiang Xue would often “slack off” during class, telling her about things happening around her, which she would read casually.
【A flock of pigeons flew past the distant clock tower, circled around, and then landed on the clock tower in unison.】
【A-Xi was called up to solve a math problem because she was sleeping in class. Her process was completely wrong, but somehow, the answer was correct. The teacher suspected she had memorized the answer beforehand. I don’t think so; it’s just her talent.】
【The biology genetics problems put a lot of people to sleep again. “Homozygote” is waking them up one by one.】
【The guard dog visited our class again! If it’s still there after class, I’m going to pet it!】
Xiao Luohan was now familiar with some slang words like “rua” (pet). Seeing the joyful, almost cursive letters, she smiled, thinking of the large white cat that had snuggled against her.
After that incident, although they both had dreams, they hadn’t dreamed of each other again. To be honest, Xiao Luohan felt a little disappointed.
Jiang Xue was trying to find the “connection” between them, and she also hoped for new clues to appear soon.
She was originally someone without a future. On the journey to Daying for the marriage alliance, she had lifted the curtain and looked out the window, only to see a vast expanse of fog, and her heart had been similarly clouded.
For others, the marriage alliance might be a way out, but for her, it was a life-or-death situation.
Just then, a ray of light from another world had shone upon her.
Even though hope was slim, she still strived for it. Besides resting and replying to Jiang Xue’s messages, she studied.
She had to get closer to that world, closer and closer…
Having no path behind her, she had to reach for that light for herself and Shizhu!
Just as this thought crossed Xiao Luohan’s mind, something flashed before her eyes.
She looked over in astonishment. A “board” emitting a bright light appeared on the booklet, about the size of her palm, with thin lines flickering on it.
Xiao Luohan held it in her hands, puzzled. She found that the words on it were clearly Jiang Xue’s last message, except that the characters were all horizontal, just like in the books Jiang Xue had sent.
She examined it for a long time, observing the glowing slab from all angles, caressing its smooth, snow-scene-decorated back, and looked at the booklet curiously. Not seeing any explanation from Jiang Xue, she traced the glowing slab onto a piece of paper and asked:
【What is this?】
Jiang Xue held her breath.
After her deskmate went abroad, she had been sitting alone in the last row. Although playing with her phone during class was usually unnoticed if she hid it behind a stack of books, when she was too excited, her vigilance would decrease.
With her guard down, no deskmate to “keep watch,” and the student in front of her asleep, under these multiple debuffs, she was finally caught red-handed by the teacher.
She heard footsteps stop beside her, and the next second, a deliberately lowered, gentle female voice came from above: “Jiang Xue, what were you playing with just now? Show it to me.”
Although their biology teacher, “Homozygote,” was usually easygoing, she was terrifying when serious.
Hopefully, the phone she had hurriedly tucked into the diary had already been transported!
With this thought, Jiang Xue resignedly picked up the diary and shook it vigorously in front of “Homozygote.”
Yes! Only two pens fell out!
She didn’t dare look at “Homozygote’s” expression. Fortunately, “Homozygote” didn’t make things difficult for her. She just patted her shoulder twice and continued walking to the front to wake up the sleeping students.
Jiang Xue didn’t dare open the diary until class was over.
Inside, there was a simple drawing of a phone, and a line of brushstrokes was being written:
【What is this?】
Jiang Xue: …
She hadn’t expected to introduce the phone to the Third Princess under such embarrassing circumstances.
Without the simplified/traditional character conversion software, she wrote very slowly. Afraid she wouldn’t be able to finish explaining the basic functions during break time, she asked the Third Princess to return the phone first.
This was even more awkward. It was the first time she had asked the Third Princess to return something she was interested in.
But the Third Princess seemed quite happy: 【It’s alright. This object seems far more powerful than the MP3 player. It definitely requires a detailed introduction!】
It was indeed much more powerful. The MP3 player was just a “condensed” version of one of the phone’s functions.
Jiang Xue quickly drew the icons of several commonly used apps, explained their usage, and told the Third Princess where to set the system font, changing all the characters to traditional for easier viewing.
Finally, remembering Dr. Qi’s instructions, she reminded her: 【My doctor has asked for pictures and videos of your tongue coating several times. Remember to take them!】
Even though she knew how attractive the phone was, far surpassing the English-Chinese Dictionary, Jiang Xue still sent her phone over again.
It was time for rehearsal at noon today, so let the phone temporarily keep the Third Princess company!
After switching the font, Xiao Luohan began exploring the phone.
She kept Jiang Xue’s words in mind, not daring to click on any icons she was curious about, only opening the ones Jiang Xue had drawn in the booklet, one by one, to check their contents.
A red background with a white “translate” character, a green background with a white imprint, a pink background with white letters, a blue background with a large “K”…
Each one dazzled her. The green reading app with the white imprint seemed the simplest. Clicking on a drawing would show neatly formatted text, all popular novels from that world.
After browsing, she tried taking a clear picture of her tongue coating, then a video of her face.
But while saving the video, she accidentally touched something in the corner, and suddenly, a dense collection of historical photos appeared.
Xiao Luohan wasn’t sure if this fell under the “don’t click” category. Wanting to avoid causing trouble for Jiang Xue, she instinctively tried to press the back button.
But as her gaze inadvertently swept over a certain photo, her finger froze, and then, as if losing control, she clicked on it.
Her elder sister.
Even though the clothes and makeup were vastly different, she recognized her elder sister at a glance.
Her elder sister and the Empress looked almost identical, the only difference being that her elder sister had a more heroic air.
In the photo, her elder sister was holding a long sword carved with plum blossoms, her gaze as sharp as a hawk’s. However, she was wearing loose clothing, and the background wasn’t snowy, but indoors.
Xiao Luohan couldn’t help but scroll down—it was a video. Jiang Xue had just taught her that a white triangle in the center of a black circle indicated a video file.
She clicked on the video, and accompanied by flute music, she saw her elder sister calmly wielding the long sword, dancing alone.
When the music ended, she was stunned.
It was as if her elder sister had come back to life.
Shizhu entered with snacks and saw her staring blankly, tears streaming down her face. She hurriedly put down the bowl and dishes and approached, wiping her tears with a handkerchief. “What’s wrong, Your Highness?”
Xiao Luohan came to her senses, turned off the phone screen, and shook her head with a smile. “It’s nothing, I just saw a touching story.”
But if her elder sister was already in that world, then what was the red fox that had guided Jiang Xue before?
She couldn’t figure it out. After Shizhu left, she couldn’t help but turn on the phone again, enter the unlock code, and continue scrolling through the photos, trying to find more clues.
【Hypothesis 1: The conditions for entering the dream are related to the degree of our interaction.】
The photos of her elder sister were gone, replaced by an image with black text on a white background, which caught her attention again.
It seemed to be Jiang Xue’s summary of the patterns of those dreams.
Xiao Luohan read it carefully, and scrolling down, she indeed found 【Hypothesis 2】.
She was surprised by Jiang Xue’s perceptiveness and even more surprised by their tacit understanding—although the wording was different, their lines of reasoning were very similar.
Because of these two hypotheses, she eagerly scrolled further, trying to find 【Hypothesis 3】.
But the images with black text on a white background ended there. Further down were the drawings she had sent, which Jiang Xue had photographed and saved on her phone.
Xiao Luohan sighed regretfully and finally pressed the back button.
She would ask Jiang Xue when she returned from rehearsal.
Jiang Xue’s rehearsal today didn’t go smoothly.
First, the computer in the borrowed classroom malfunctioned and wouldn’t turn on. After switching classrooms, because the mirror was positioned opposite to the previous classroom, one of the students in the group dance kept making mistakes.
According to Dan Yuanyuan’s plan, they should have moved on to the next stage today, but they were stuck on the current one.
“Can’t you just split yourself into two?!”
Dan Yuanyuan was getting impatient and complained to Jiang Xue during the break. “One of you performs the sword dance solo, and the other one replaces that clumsy extra!”
Jiang Xue, who usually observed during rehearsals because of her special solo part, didn’t dare say anything, but an image of the Third Princess dancing gracefully appeared in her mind.
“I wish I could!” she said meaningfully.
But she could only wish. How they could achieve two-way interaction in their dreams was still a mystery, let alone crossing time and space.
Back in the classroom, as soon as Jiang Xue sat down, she noticed that her diary was slightly bulging. Opening it, she found her phone had been returned.
The Third Princess had also left a new message: 【Do you have a “Hypothesis 3” now?】
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