Chapter 49: Moving Out
At 9:30 the next morning, sitting on the smoothly flying international flight, Jiang Xue was still thinking about last night.
She had spent a long time talking with Xiao Luohan, listening and comforting her. When she woke up, it was almost 3:00 AM.
She was lying in her own bed, with Jiang Mei and Xie Xitong still in the room. When she opened her eyes, her sister was taking a nap with an eye mask on, and it was Xie Xitong who was watching over her.
“Your sister was worried, afraid something might happen to you, so she asked me to keep watch,” Xie Xitong explained softly, sitting on the edge of the bed. “If anything happened, I would contact the elders in my family who understand metaphysics and call your soul back.”
The incident had been sudden, and everyone had been startled by Jiang Xue’s “fainting.” Fortunately, Dr. Qi was also present and had made up an excuse to reassure the students. The few who knew the truth quickly took Jiang Xue home.
“It was Elder Sister Red Fox who ‘pulled’ me over there,” Jiang Xue also lowered her voice, her tone filled with anger as she briefly recounted what the Crown Prince had done. “How dare he bully Xiao Luo, whom everyone cherishes so much! I’ll make him pay!”
Xie Xitong, however, wasn’t focused on this. She frowned. “I’m thinking… did the red fox’s power increase, allowing her to pull you, who was awake, into the dream and to that world, or did she, to save her younger sister, overexert herself to pull you over there?”
Jiang Xue was stunned by her question.
“Although according to your description, it will only take three days to completely resolve the Third Princess’s situation, but if the ‘connection’ between the two worlds is maintained because of the red fox’s intervention, and if it’s the latter case, can she really recover her overexerted power in just three days?”
Xie Xitong, as an outsider, continued to ask calmly, “If not, how will your channel for crossing over be opened? Assuming the assassination is successful, even with a silencer, if the Crown Prince doesn’t appear for a while, his servants will definitely come to check. Then the Third Princess will be in danger!”
“You have to ask the red fox clearly before the assassination!”
The issue Xie Xitong was worried about had actually been considered more than once by the Jiang sisters and Xiao Luohan.
After all, based on all the clues so far, they couldn’t be certain that “the channel for crossing over will open at a specific time.” The only thing they knew for sure was that Xiao Luohan’s will greatly influenced the “connection” between the two worlds.
Jiang Xue had also considered asking the red fox directly, but firstly, the red fox wasn’t always available, and secondly, even if she asked, the red fox wouldn’t speak.
Actually, she felt that the red fox should be able to speak. Otherwise, in the dream where they went to the Ministry of War, the red fox, transformed into a coachman, should have been mute. As for “naturally taciturn,” that was even less likely. It could only be that the questions were difficult to answer, or that, due to some factor, it simply couldn’t answer.
After trying a few times, she stopped bothering the red fox.
Compared to her, the red fox Elder Sister should want Xiao Luohan to go to the other world even more, right? Otherwise, why would she establish this transtemporal bond for them?
That being said, this was still a gamble, and they were all willing to trust that elder sister.
Jiang Xue sighed. Before she could explain to Xie Xitong, she saw the diary on her pillow bulge.
“…I have to pack things up!” She hurriedly got out of bed, opened the diary, took out the notebook and pen she had given Xiao Luohan, and placed them on the desk.
To prevent another book-burning incident, Xiao Luohan insisted on returning everything to her.
“She doesn’t want her cherished gifts to be treated like that,” Jiang Xue explained to Xie Xitong while writing a message to Xiao Luohan, telling her that she was ready to receive the items. “Since she can’t protect them, she’s temporarily leaving them with me. She’s only keeping the winter supplies and food.”
She paused, then said, as if trying to comfort herself, “It’s also… another reason for her to ‘have to come over.’”
Even if moving out was part of the original plan, taking the initiative to move and being forced to move felt completely different.
Jiang Mei, a light sleeper, was soon awakened by the commotion. After understanding the situation, she also helped them pack.
Xie Xitong found a storage bin for the burned books, waiting for Xiao Luohan to come over and decide whether to keep or discard them.
Jiang Xue placed the Shiba Inu plush toy, Xiao Luohan’s favorite, in the most prominent spot on the pillow, making sure it was the first thing she saw when she entered the room.
Small items quickly piled up in a corner of the bedroom, including the damaged Scream bottle.
As Jiang Xue sorted, packed, and stacked the items, she couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: They had sent so many things over there.
No wonder Xiao Luo was always thinking about how to “repay their kindness.” Their casual acts of kindness had unknowingly become a large part of her life.
Along with the things they had sent, there were also items Xiao Luohan had brought from Beiliao.
The brocade pouch that held important items was stored together with the plum blossom jade bookmark Xiao Luohan had initially sent.
But when Jiang Xue opened it to check the contents, she found the rainbow sticker and the MP3 player she had sent were inside, even the spare earphones were neatly folded and wrapped in a clean white handkerchief.
Most of the other small items were dowry jewelry and gold and silver treasures. Xiao Luohan had sent over everything that could fit on the diary.
Finally, there was a slightly wilted plum blossom branch.
Jiang Xue remembered it. Last night, when she was checking the room, it had been lying in a pool of water with the broken vase and the physical copy of the novel.
But plum blossoms were resilient. She immediately found an empty vase at home, filled it with water, placed the branch inside, and carefully put it on the windowsill where the sunlight was best, planning to ask Sister Cheng to bring back the plum blossom branch from her rented apartment and place it together with this one.
By the time the “moving out” was complete, it was past 4:00 AM.
Jiang Mei had booked a flight for 9:00 AM and had to leave at 7:00 AM. The three of them quickly washed up and went to bed.
Xie Xitong slept in the guest room. She was happy to participate in this meaningful “New Year’s holiday activity” and had even brought her suitcase over and placed it in the living room!
But Jiang Xue had slept from before 8:00 PM last night and woken up around 3:00 AM, a total of seven hours. After lying in bed for a while, unable to fall asleep, and since Xiao Luohan had also gone back to rest, she simply got up and rummaged through her drawers for pain relief and anti-inflammatory ointment, and collected and printed a large pile of diagrams and instructions on gun assembly and usage principles.
Around 6:00 AM, after confirming that Xiao Luohan had woken up, she sent the ointment and materials, along with a lighter, over.
Since Elder Sister Red Fox was watching over them, what if?
What if she still had the strength to send a dream to a trusted member of the Beiliao maternal family? Perhaps this information could help…
“Get some sleep. I’ll watch the diary for you,” Jiang Mei’s voice came from beside her, interrupting Jiang Xue’s thoughts. “Even if there are no delays, it will still be more than four hours before we land.”
The first-class cabin was very comfortable, and there was no noise to disturb her. Jiang Xue left a message for Xiao Luohan, placed the open diary on the small table in front of her sister, reclined her seat, drew the curtain, and closed her eyes to rest.
Perhaps because she slept too deeply, when she arrived in Xiao Luohan’s world through a dream, Xiao Luohan was already preparing lunch.
It was self-heating mixed rice, Cantonese sausage flavor. Perhaps because the Third Princess really loved instant food, Jiang Xue felt that her movements in unpacking and heating the rice were even more proficient than her own.
After Xiao Luohan added hot water and covered the container, Jiang Xue finally spoke: “I’m on my way!”
“A five-hour flight, you must be tired,” Xiao Luohan said, turning to look at her apologetically.
“It’s okay! I travel frequently. Five hours is nothing. I’ve even taken fifteen-hour flights!” Jiang Xue shook her head. “And for these long flights, my sister always books first class. It’s spacious and clean, so don’t worry.”
Xiao Luohan nodded slightly, then asked, “What’s it like to fly on a plane?”
She had seen “flying on a plane” in various works, but since it wasn’t usually part of the main plot, she couldn’t tell what the characters felt.
“It depends on the stage…” Jiang Xue tried to use the self-heating rice container as a height demonstration prop, but burned her hand and had to use a pen holder instead. “Usually, it’s a little uncomfortable during takeoff and landing, about twenty minutes. There’s a strong sense of weightlessness, and you’ll also experience tinnitus… uh, it’s like your ears are blocked for a while, and you can’t hear anything, but it’s normal…”
She slowly explained, recalling her own experiences, and Xiao Luohan listened attentively, her chin resting on her hand.
Jiang Xue, however, was thinking that Xiao Luohan hadn’t eaten lunch yet. After talking for a while, she glanced at the digital watch beside her—the watch she had given Xiao Luohan had also been returned during the “move.”
After eight minutes, she found a way to end the conversation and urged, “See if it’s ready to eat.”
“I like it softer,” Xiao Luohan’s attention was still on her. “Let it sit for another two or three minutes.”
She had already thought about how to repay Jiang Xue’s kindness, but things in this world hadn’t been settled yet. If something went wrong, making a vow prematurely would only become a source of regret for Jiang Xue.
…Yes, just “regret,” not a scar.
She didn’t think she was qualified to become a deep-seated scar. Just over a month of acquaintance meant nothing in Jiang Xue’s seventeen years of life.
Even if she failed, time would heal everything.
But last night, when she sorted and returned all the items from that world, one by one, she found that sadness overwhelmed her like a tidal wave.
It was the same sadness as losing her elder sister and leaving her mother.
She even had a dark thought that even if she couldn’t kill the Crown Prince, she had to go to that world.
To be by Jiang Xue’s side, in the same world, not just connected through letters and dreams.
But she still didn’t know what this emotion was.
Was it youthful impulsiveness and naiveté? Or was it the unwillingness to lose another important person, so she wanted to stay by Jiang Xue’s side?
She vaguely understood a little, but it was just a vague awareness. The only thing she knew for sure was that she not only enjoyed being with Jiang Xue, but also wanted to live under the same roof.
“Jiang Xue…” At this thought, she called out subconsciously.
“What’s wrong?”
“I want to pet the cat.”
—She also wanted to hold Jiang Xue in her cat form, or be held by Jiang Xue in her cat form, like last night.
Jiang Xue was now very used to transforming into a cat. To make herself seem more like a cat, she had even spent her day off observing Xie Xitong’s large white cat.
Soon, the fluffy white cat jumped onto Xiao Luohan’s lap, looked up at her, and its large, fluffy white tail gently swept across her palm.
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