Chapter 57: If I Marry Jiang Xue in the Future…
When Jiang Xue asked Uncle Seuss for a blanket, she was met with a knowing look.
Her uncle, a staunch bachelor, enjoyed watching other people’s romantic entanglements unfold like a drama, especially the “push and pull” phase.
He saw through her but didn’t say anything, quickly finding a blanket.
“I’m not sure about the situation in your country, but the young ladies from wealthy families here love to sleep with life-sized body pillows,” Uncle Seuss said with a straight face, making things up. “The more particular ones even commission artists to draw their favorite person in three views and have it made into a life-sized body pillow.”
Jiang Xue: …?
She was a little confused, not understanding the deeper meaning behind her uncle’s words, but still politely replied, “I’ll ask Xiao Luo later. I’ll buy her whatever she likes.”
As for her uncle’s words, she would just treat them as an interesting anecdote.
Watching her walk away with the blanket, Uncle Seuss sighed deeply.
He had hinted so obviously, but this young person truly didn’t get it!
The fleece blanket, rolled into a makeshift body pillow, was placed in Xiao Luohan’s arms.
“By the way, there are plushies and pillows in my room. You should have seen them this morning, right?” Jiang Xue took the opportunity to ask. “Do you have anything else in mind? If so, there’s still time to order them now. They can be delivered tomorrow, and Sister Cheng can wash them. Then you can hug them when we get back.”
“…Not for now, thank you,” Xiao Luohan said softly, curling up slightly, hugging the “blanket pillow” and closing her eyes with a hint of disappointment.
Actually, she did have something in mind, but that incredibly well-behaved large cat could probably only be hugged in a dream.
Perhaps due to the side effects of the cold medicine, she didn’t dream this time. When she woke up, she found that the sky outside the window had darkened. It was time for dinner.
The medicine Dr. Qi prescribed was very effective. The sore throat and body aches from the cold had subsided significantly, and Xiao Luohan wanted to get out of bed and walk around.
The night before the “wedding day,” she had returned Jiang Xue’s clothes. Now, Jiang Xue had taken them all out again, laying them out beside Xiao Luohan, one by one.
“Sister Cheng bought a complete set of clothes, inside and out, top to bottom. They’ve already been washed, dried, and put away in the bedroom. Just make do with these for now.” Jiang Xue placed a pair of freshly washed socks at the foot of the bed. “You can get dressed yourself. Call me if you need help.”
After saying this, she carried a chair to the window, sat down with her back to Xiao Luohan, and took out her phone.
She seemed to be cramming for her liberal arts subjects, but her mind was elsewhere.
Since they were going to live together, they would definitely be changing clothes in the bedroom.
Did she need to buy a screen for Xiao Luo? When they were changing into their costumes in the dance studio earlier, Xiao Luo had kept staring at the floor and even blushed.
Ancient women were generally reserved, and even though they were transtemporal pen pals with a life-or-death bond, Jiang Xue felt that she should still be mindful of this.
Besides… she was feeling a little guilty now.
But as she opened the shopping app and started searching for screens, she felt she was being too presumptuous.
Since they had such a close bond, adding anything to their room shouldn’t be a unilateral decision.
She hadn’t even asked what Xiao Luo thought or if she minded, but was still subconsciously making arrangements based on stereotypes.
Then she remembered: Xiao Luo hadn’t written down “screen” on the shopping list.
So she asked, “Xiao Luo, do you want to buy a screen for our bedroom?”
Xiao Luohan’s hand paused slightly as she was putting on the sweater, but she quickly continued, pulling her head through the turtleneck.
If they didn’t buy a screen, when she changed clothes, Jiang Xue would turn around, and she would also have to turn around.
Unless she clarified that they were both girls of similar age and there was no need to be so reserved.
But if they didn’t turn around, she felt that she might really blush when watching Jiang Xue change, which would lead to concern and questions, and she didn’t want to bring this up so early—Jiang Xue still had her studies, and her energy should be focused on that.
Then what if they bought a screen?
After a moment of consideration, she nodded. “Okay.”
Jiang Xue immediately switched back to the screen browsing page and handed her the phone after she finished getting dressed, letting her choose.
Xiao Luohan scrolled for a long time, finally choosing a Japanese-style screen.
Most of it was white cloth lattice, with only a solid dark brown wooden panel at the bottom.
It was antique and elegant, and most importantly, through the white cloth, as long as there was light, she could vaguely see the figure behind the screen.
Jiang Xue, completely unaware of her complicated thoughts, simply thought “as expected” when she saw the screen Xiao Luohan chose.
This was indeed the style Xiao Luo would like.
She happily placed the order, and Xiao Luohan got out of bed, sat at the makeshift dressing table, and slowly brushed her long hair.
People in this world didn’t have the concept of “hair and skin being gifts from parents.” Regardless of gender, even men with long hair were rare now—even Uncle Seuss, with his shoulder-length hair, was jokingly called an “artist.”
Xiao Luohan had always respected her mother, but her mother hadn’t taught her about this. Even when she saw related content in books and asked about it, her mother had only said, “Since everyone is like this, if you don’t want to be bullied, don’t be different.”
Based on her understanding of her mother, she probably didn’t care much about this.
“Elder Sister… Mei-jiejie asked me how I wanted to style my hair,” she said to Jiang Xue while skillfully tying up her hair. “I hadn’t decided back then, but now I think it would be good to have it trimmed.”
She had many things to do here, and she wanted to visit many places in this world. Whether it was exercising, studying, or traveling, if her hair was too long, it would be time-consuming to manage.
But she also cherished her long hair. It wouldn’t be good if it was too short. Fortunately, there were many women in this world specializing in hair styling, so she could discuss her ideas with them later.
“Dr. Qi has a… uh, long-time friend who’s very good at styling ancient-style hairstyles, and also does manicures!” Jiang Xue said. “After we get back, I’ll ask her to introduce you?”
She almost blurted out “old flame,” afraid that Dr. Qi would glare at her if she found out.
The matter was settled. After Xiao Luohan finished styling her hair, they went downstairs, where Uncle Seuss had already prepared a table full of dishes.
Considering that Xiao Luohan wasn’t used to using knives and forks, he had thoughtfully prepared a table of dishes from her country, with both mild and spicy flavors—Jiang Xue liked spicy food, and she would try anything spicy, even the chili peppers from small snack shops.
Jiang Xue silently took a picture for Xie Xitong, who was already on the plane, figuring that she would send her a bunch of screaming emojis after landing.
Xiao Luohan, remembering Shizhu’s “spicy food method,” first filled her stomach with mild dishes, then took a small amount of mapo tofu and ate it with rice.
But after just one bite, she realized her spice tolerance was very low.
She had taken the food too quickly, and Jiang Xue, not expecting her to try the mapo tofu, was unprepared and continued eating from her own bowl. It was Jiang Mei who noticed something was wrong.
“Uncle’s mapo tofu is very authentic. Your throat is still inflamed, don’t touch it for now!” she hurriedly stopped her. “Rinse your mouth. I’ll get you some milk.”
Milk and soy milk were both good for neutralizing spiciness. After drinking some, Xiao Luohan felt much better.
But she still looked at the fragrant mapo tofu with a mixture of regret and longing.
“It’s okay! After your health improves, you can gradually learn to eat spicy food!” Jiang Xue said, seeing her expression, and quickly comforted her. “My sister used to prefer mild flavors, but once she went on a business trip to Sichuan for half a month, and when she came back, she couldn’t enjoy food without something spicy!”
As soon as she finished speaking, she was glared at by Jiang Mei.
Uncle Seuss put down his juice and smiled. “I hope that next time Xiao Luo comes, she can also enjoy my specialty dishes.”
“Next time.”
Xiao Luohan knew that he had already accepted her as a true relative.
As they were finishing dinner, Jiang Mei said, “Dr. Qi has taken care of Xiao Luo’s identification. But for now, she’ll be registered under your name, without any academic qualifications, only a medical history recommending ‘home recuperation.’”
There were similar cases both domestically and internationally. Some children, due to congenital conditions or disabilities, couldn’t attend regular schools, so they would apply to the government for a different educational path.
But Xiao Luohan was from another world. Although registering her after explaining everything wasn’t impossible, explaining the seventeen-year gap would be too troublesome and might even alert some government departments. It was more convenient to give her the identity of an “overseas relative.”
They all hoped that Xiao Luo could live a peaceful life here first. As for the future, they would let Xiao Luo, who would be familiar with the new world by then, decide for herself.
Xiao Luohan had already finished eating. While Jiang Mei and the others were talking, she listened quietly, nodding occasionally.
They were all sincerely thinking about her well-being, she could feel it.
After dinner, Jiang Xue wrapped a scarf around Xiao Luohan, put a woolen hat on her, and took her for a walk nearby.
They hadn’t walked far when they heard the sound of approaching hooves.
Uncle Seuss was taking his beloved “horse son” for a walk. As they passed by, the horse neighed, as if greeting them.
“Actually, we all call Uncle ‘Hermes’ in private,” Jiang Xue explained to Xiao Luohan after her uncle and the horse were gone. “But he truly loves this horse, which he raised since it was a foal, like his own son.”
“I remember some vloggers raising cats and dogs like their daughters and sons,” Xiao Luohan said.
“Yes, it’s similar for Uncle,” Jiang Xue nodded with a smile.
Xiao Luohan didn’t reply, her thoughts drifting.
She thought, this was good. If she married Jiang Xue in the future, they wouldn’t need children, just a cat for company would be nice.
Fortunately, the sky darkened quickly and deeply here. When she noticed her face burning, Jiang Xue was oblivious, looking up at the stars.
“I also have a telescope,” she said. “It’s in the attic on the roof of our house. When the sky is clear, I’ll take it out to look at the stars.”
Xiao Luohan thought for a few seconds. “For astrology and divination?”
She remembered that the Beiliao Imperial Palace had an Office of Astronomy, observing celestial phenomena to predict major events.
“Maybe A-Xi would do that, but I just look,” Jiang Xue said. “Perhaps… like appreciating flowers?”
At the mention of appreciating flowers, Xiao Luohan understood, then thought of the old plum tree in Wangmei Pavilion.
“I used to enjoy appreciating plum blossoms. Now I’ll also try ‘stargazing’,” she said.
Jiang Xue thought of Elder Sister Red Fox’s last words and couldn’t help but say, “I’m looking forward to the plum blossoms blooming.”
If the plum blossoms bloomed and never withered, it would fulfill Elder Sister Red Fox’s words, wouldn’t it?
—”I have already attached my soul to the plum branches. Even after decades, the blossoms will not wither.”
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