Chapter 5: Intersection
The young woman in white with the high ponytail carried a black backpack. As she walked, a string of colorful charms hanging from it made a pleasant rustling sound.
Amidst the surrounding cacophony, she was like a secluded island, quietly relaxing her body a moment ago, now walking briskly, humming an unfamiliar tune, striding forward.
…Like a little deer.
By the time Xiao Luohan came to her senses, she was already following the young woman.
Because of her frail health, her feet had never been bound. Unburdened by physical limitations in the dream, she quickly caught up.
The young woman stopped at a food stall, accepting a dark purple object from a busy middle-aged woman. She unwrapped it and took a bite, a look of contentment spreading across her face.
A red light ahead turned green. The young woman, eating her food, joined the crowd crossing the white-striped road to the other side.
Xiao Luohan followed closely, her gaze fixed on the young woman, afraid of losing sight of her if she looked away.
A princess had never tailed anyone before; this was a first.
But she had to understand what this dream meant, and whether something awaited her up ahead.
She crossed the street with the young woman, then quickened her pace, circling around to get in front of her.
—The young woman’s face came into clear view.
Unlike the noblewomen Xiao Luohan usually interacted with, this young woman wore no makeup, her eyebrows unpainted. Her features were delicate. As she ate, her long, dark eyelashes fluttered like the blossoms of a silk tree in the breeze.
Xiao Luohan stared, transfixed. By the time she reacted, the young woman had reached her. In the next second, she passed right through Xiao Luohan, continuing on her way.
…As if passing through a ghost.
They were so close, yet destined to never truly interact.
Even so, Xiao Luohan continued to follow her.
Soon, sharp iron bars came into view.
Inside the fence, close by, the evergreen branches of camphor trees reached outwards. In the distance stood a pale golden building, its walls emblazoned with eight large crimson characters:
【Wisdom and Virtue】
【Truth and Excellence】
Xiao Luohan felt she was close to the answer. But just then, everything before her eyes twisted and distorted, the figure of the young woman in white blurring.
Dawn broke, and she opened her eyes.
The next morning, Jiang Xue struggled to turn off her 6:30 alarm. Sitting up, she stared blankly at her nightstand for a moment, then instinctively reached for her diary.
Her hand moved faster than her thoughts. By the time she realized what she was doing, she had already flipped to the last page.
The brushstrokes were still there!
Her trans-temporal pen pal was real!!
This realization jolted her awake. She sped through her morning routine.
Before leaving, she didn’t forget her phone. While waiting at a red light, she even checked her WeChat messages.
Two pinned contacts had sent her new messages. One was from her early-rising family doctor, saying she needed a little time to review the information. The other…
Jiang Xue hesitantly opened the message from the contact with a single plum blossom as their profile picture.
【Sword: Why have I never heard of this friend before?】
【Yu Xue: [Emoji of a cat playing dumb]】
【Sword: [Emoji of a cat looking suspicious]】
【Yu Xue: It’s a long story. I’ll introduce you later!】
【Sword: It’s 6:30, and you’re not out the door yet?】
【Yu Xue: I woke up late! I’m on my way!!】
Replying to her older sister’s message, Jiang Xue felt a cold sweat break out on her back.
Her sister’s intuition was too sharp!
She quickly exited WeChat, afraid of being further questioned about whether she had brought her phone to school. Besides, the doctor wouldn’t have a diagnosis so quickly.
Although she’d always been open with her sister, sharing almost every secret, this situation was simply too bizarre. There was no need to bother her sister while she was on a business trip. It was better to wait until the weekend to explain everything properly.
As soon as she entered the classroom, Jiang Xue rushed to her seat.
She pulled out her morning self-study materials and spread them out on her desk. Then, she grabbed her diary from her backpack and placed it within easy reach.
While waiting for the teacher, she made a schedule of her daily activities for Xiao Luohan, carefully labeling the times using ancient terminology, then slipped the paper into the diary, watching it vanish before her eyes.
Sending things through the diary was easier than she’d thought. Her pen cap had transported itself last night when she’d placed it on the diary. During the evening self-study break, she’d experimented with standing the new dictionary upright on the diary, and that had worked too.
And this function wasn’t limited to the day they’d made contact. From now on, she could show the Third Princess anything she wanted, simply by placing it on the diary when no one was around.
【You are about to begin your studies at this hour?】
The brushstrokes appeared in the diary almost as soon as the schedule vanished.
【Your Highness is up early!】
Jiang Xue was about to ask “Did you get enough sleep?” but thought better of it. The other person was a princess, and a sick one at that. Surely her sleep was well taken care of.
So, she replied to the princess’s previous comment: 【Yes, every day, except for weekends and when I’m sick.】
【Are you certain you have rested sufficiently?】
The question she hadn’t asked was now posed to her.
【Seven hours is enough! And there’s always naptime!】
Just after writing this, Jiang Xue crossed out “seven hours” and changed it to “three and a half shichen (two-hour periods).”
【Anyway, I wouldn’t shortchange myself! I need energy to study, and I can’t do that if I’m sleep-deprived!】
Each teacher had their own review plan, and Jiang Xue had hers.
She’d worked it out with her older sister, based on her academic performance from the first year of high school until now. It was a plan tailored to her own pace and abilities.
All she needed to do was complete her study plan comfortably, within her capabilities, before the college entrance exam.
The school respected students like her, who had clear goals and excelled academically, and didn’t interfere.
【I understand. Then you must attend to your studies. I shall disturb you again later.】
【Wait!!】
This triggered Jiang Xue’s frustration from the previous night. She quickly wrote, afraid the Third Princess would put down her brush and leave: 【I’m actually not that busy! Your Highness, please write whatever you want! I’m happy to chat about anything! I’ll reply as soon as I can!】
The brushstrokes didn’t reappear.
The shrill school bell rang. Several students scrambled into the classroom just as the teacher, her face expressionless, walked in behind them.
Jiang Xue closed her diary and focused on her morning self-study.
Forty minutes felt like an eternity, especially with the strict teacher pacing the classroom, stopping only to answer questions. Jiang Xue didn’t even dare to sneak a peek at her diary.
Finally, the bell rang, and the moment the teacher left the classroom, Jiang Xue opened her diary.
【I had a strange dream. I cannot make sense of it. Let me describe it to you.】
A strange dream?
Jiang Xue recalled the dream she’d had on the way home last night.
She hadn’t thought much of it. After all, she’d seen plenty of historical dramas and documentaries. Perhaps it was simply because of her new pen pal from ancient times that she’d dreamt of such a scene.
However, as she read her pen pal’s detailed account, her eyes widened in disbelief.
Sometimes, when she wanted a sticky rice ball for breakfast, she would ask Sister Cheng to drop her off at the intersection across from the school.
A familiar vendor always set up her stall there, selling sticky rice balls mixed with black rice. Many of her classmates loved them, and she was often asked to pick some up for them.
That could be a coincidence, but the real clincher came next.
A young woman in white, with a high ponytail, no makeup, carrying a black backpack decorated with a string of colorful charms… wasn’t that her?
“Wisdom, Virtue, Truth, Excellence…” wasn’t that her school’s motto? You could see it emblazoned on the wall of the teaching building, large as life, when walking from the side street.
That’s where the name “Siling Foreign Language School” came from!
(T/N: The school’s name “Siling” (思灵) combines:
-
思 (Sī) from 思敏 (Sīmǐn): Wisdom – Thoughtful and Sharp
-
灵 (Líng) from 灵慧 (Línghuì): Virtue – Wise and Perceptive)
Jiang Xue stared at the brushstrokes, stunned. Only when the line to the water dispenser formed behind her, and she heard the sounds of students filling their water bottles, did she snap out of it, covering her diary with a test paper.
Now she couldn’t make sense of it!
How should she reply?
If she told the Third Princess directly, “You dreamt of my school” and “That girl in white was me,” she would probably scare her.
After all, ancient people believed that strange dreams were messages from ghosts and spirits. She didn’t want the Third Princess to think she was a ghost again!
But if she just described modern society in general terms, what if the Third Princess, with her sharp intuition, picked up on the clues and figured out it was her? Wouldn’t that be incredibly awkward?
The bell rang before Jiang Xue could come up with an answer. It was math class, and the teacher spoke so quickly that even a moment’s inattention would make it hard to follow. Catching up later would be a pain.
Not wanting to leave the Third Princess hanging, Jiang Xue hurriedly scribbled “Are there any more details?” before the teacher started the lesson.
When the next break finally arrived, she glanced at her diary. The added details became clearer and clearer, confirming her suspicions.
Thanks to a full period of mathematical “brainwashing,” she had recovered from the shock and knew how to respond.
【Actually, I had a strange dream last night, too.】
Instead of interpreting the dream, she decided to share a similar experience and see how Xiao Luohan reacted.
Jiang Xue had always been a gifted writer, particularly skilled at describing scenes. She could vividly recreate everything she’d seen in her dream.
The break allowed her to use her phone to convert the text, quickly filling half a page.
Finally, she couldn’t resist adding: 【I’ve never dreamt of anything like this before I met you.】
For a long time, the brushstrokes didn’t appear. Just as Jiang Xue began to worry that her last sentence had been too forward, new ink finally flowed onto the page, just as the bell rang:
【The scene you describe is precisely what I saw and experienced on the day I left for my marriage alliance in Daying.】
Leave a Reply