Chapter 106: I Want to Draw a Sleeping Beauty
Although half of the winter break remained after the sixth day of the first lunar month, the two had to focus on their studies again.
They had enjoyed themselves enough, both with studying and with leisure.
Jiang Xue and Xie Xitong were studying in their usual spot on the first floor, while Xiao Luohan practiced guqin melodies alone in the study with the door closed.
However, the plum blossom branches with her elder sister’s soul and the action figure were both on the table beside her, so Xiao Linghan was accompanying her throughout.
Although Xiao Luohan had studied guqin for several years before crossing over, to reach the level required for the “Intangible Cultural Heritage Special Enrollment,” she still needed guidance from a professional teacher.
Three days after the birthday party, a familiar person knocked on the Jiang family’s door.
Opening the door and seeing Teacher Sui, dressed in a beige high-collared shirt and a dark brown mamian skirt, Jiang Xue couldn’t help but marvel inwardly: Teacher Sui was truly multi-talented!
She had originally thought that her older sister’s conversation with Teacher Sui was just to ask her to help find a teacher, but she hadn’t expected Teacher Sui to be able to teach this as well.
“I can teach the targeted exams for the beginner and intermediate level certificates,” Teacher Sui explained with a smile, seeing Jiang Xue’s curious gaze. “For the higher levels, you’ll need to find someone else, but you don’t have to worry about that.”
She had been to the Jiang family’s home once before, when she tuned the guqin. She simply said, “You go study,” and then went straight to the study on the second floor.
If it weren’t for the fact that excessive curiosity was impolite, Jiang Xue would have asked Dr. Qi directly what else her “old flame” was capable of.
Another hour of studying passed. Jiang Xue originally wanted to take the white cat and go find Xiao Luohan for a break, but the guqin music upstairs was still continuing. She waited for a while and heard Xiao Luo start playing from the beginning again. It seemed she wouldn’t be finished anytime soon.
She gave up on this idea, took the white cat from Cheng Shizhu, and joined Xie Xitong, who had been “slacking off” for ten minutes, in petting the cat.
—With Cheng Shizhu around, even if Xie Xitong brought her cat, she wouldn’t be easily distracted during their study sessions.
“It’s great that Xiao Luo has also started systematically reviewing,” Jiang Xue said, petting the cat.
“But you don’t seem very happy?” Xie Xitong commented.
“…Do I?”
“After all, before, when Xiao Luo was studying, she would either sit with us, within easy sight, or she would stop everything and respond to you when you went to find her during your breaks,” Xie Xitong pointed out. “Now, our study schedules are completely different, and you should also know that once you’re fully immersed in art-related practice, it’s difficult to stop on time.”
Jiang Xue had practiced both music and drawing. Recalling her own state of concentration, she couldn’t help but sigh. “That’s true… when I was obsessed with drawing, an entire afternoon would pass without me even realizing it.”
“Get used to it, this is just the beginning,” Xie Xitong said, snatching the cat from her arms, burying her face in its fur, and continuing to “twist the knife.” “You still have four months until your ‘liberation,’ while she has at least a year.”
Jiang Xue: …
Although she knew that this was normal during this crucial last semester of senior year, and that she should be focusing on her studies, she still dramatically collapsed onto her review materials.
No! She had to turn this frustration into motivation for studying!
Having not seen Jiang Xue for most of the day, Xiao Luohan, on the other hand, was very composed.
Perhaps because she had experienced a life of walking on thin ice, several near-death experiences, and finally escaped from a “prison” like the mire, she was much more mature and learned quickly. Facing completely unfamiliar fields, she worked even harder, trying to absorb the knowledge as quickly as possible.
In this state, she even memorized knowledge points before going to bed, even giving Jiang Xue her study guides and asking her to quiz her.
Jiang Xue was happy to help her consolidate her learning. Before the first quiz, she even created a new document specifically for recording the differences between Xiao Luo’s answers and the correct answers in real-time, so Xiao Luo could review them immediately after the quiz.
Unexpectedly, after the first quiz, Xiao Luohan didn’t immediately ask for the notes, but instead sat beside her, put an arm around her shoulder, and kissed her cheek.
Jiang Xue was stunned, her eyes filled with a mixture of surprise, joy, and confusion.
“Can I set up this kind of ‘reward system’?” Xiao Luohan asked seriously. “Just before bed after the quiz, it shouldn’t affect our study schedule, right?”
“O-Of course!” Jiang Xue quickly recovered and nodded vigorously. “Then I also want to reward you in return!”
Rewards should be mutual, of course!
She immediately brought her own review materials and notes on common mistakes, looked through them, and then asked Xiao Luo to quiz her on the parts marked with red circles. “The red circles are the knowledge points I’ve made mistakes on more than twice, but you don’t have to record them like I do, I can remember them myself.”
So after a short break, they started another round of quizzing.
After it ended, Jiang Xue immediately rewarded Xiao Luo, who had asked the questions.
However, instead of choosing the location directly, she used the dice function in an app on her phone to randomly select the spot for the kiss.
“I want to play like this~” she showed Xiao Luohan the dice. “We’ll list the places to kiss as options, and whichever one is selected, we’ll do it.”
This time, it was the earlobe, so she hugged Xiao Luo and nibbled on her ear.
“We can even use a 100-sided dice to determine the intensity,” she added after the kiss. “Like a light peck, or… uh, anyway, there are many ways to play!”
But for the sake of their studies, they agreed on a limit for the “reward sessions,” lest they become “too distracted by play.”
“It’s good that the younger sisters are learning to utilize the power of love,” Xiao Linghan said to Jiang Mei after receiving the observations from her soul fragment. “I think confessing earlier might be a good thing. As the saying goes, ‘it’s better to guide than to suppress.’ Instead of keeping it bottled up and overthinking, it’s better to be open and honest.”
“Being lovey-dovey and passionate during the honeymoon phase is normal, what’s difficult is maintaining it,” Jiang Mei said. “Moreover, people have different standards for friends and lovers. Some things, if done by a friend, wouldn’t affect the relationship, but if done by a lover, might lead to a breakup.”
“Then let me also say something that might not be pleasant to hear,” Xiao Linghan said. “Even if they really break up, would you really let Xiao Luo leave this family?”
Jiang Mei was speechless.
Even without blood ties, or even putting aside the possibility of “another Jiang Xue from a parallel world,” whether it was her, Ms. Wei, Ms. Jiang, or Sister Cheng and Cheng Shizhu, everyone liked this girl from ancient times. Having lived together day by day, they had already treated her as a new family member.
“More than best friends or lovers, Xiao Luo has already become A-Xue’s family, right?” Xiao Linghan said slowly. “If there’s more scrutiny between lovers, then there’s more tolerance between family members. Don’t they cancel each other out?”
She was more optimistic about this relationship than anyone, even using the WeChat account Jiang Mei had registered for her to chat with Xie Xitong about their progress while Jiang Mei was resting.
【Three Feet of Frost: Kissed twice tonight, the locations were…】
【XiXi Can’t Move (Holiday Study Edition): Who was more proactive? [cat spinning.gif]】
【Three Feet of Frost: My younger sister [sunglasses emoji]】
So the next day, during their study session, Jiang Xue occasionally noticed her friend giving her a disapproving look.
She was puzzled, and after thinking about it, could only conclude that it was probably because she had spent too much time petting the cat during their breaks, annoying the white cat’s true owner.
But she didn’t plan to change. She didn’t have much time to spend with Xiao Luo during the day, so she had to compensate in other ways—like petting the cat even more!
She petted the cat even more enthusiastically and persistently, to the point that the white cat became a little afraid of her, preferring to stay with Cheng Shizhu than approach her.
But this wasn’t a big deal. Jiang Xue baked some dried fish coated in egg yolk, and the cat reluctantly let her hold it, even offering its pink paw pads for her to squeeze.
This continued for a week, until Xie Xitong finally couldn’t take it anymore and “cornered” Jiang Xue in the bathroom while she was using it. “Can’t you use that enthusiasm on your girlfriend?!”
Jiang Xue: ??!!
She let out a confused and short “Huh?”
Of course, Xie Xitong couldn’t reveal that Xiao Linghan had been secretly observing, so she just narrowed her eyes and said, “Haven’t you noticed that you’ve scared Xixi? Are you using Xixi as a substitute because you can’t pet Xiao Luo?”
“I…” Jiang Xue opened her mouth, wanting to explain, but after thinking about it, she had indeed been using the white cat as her emotional support during the day, so she could only close her mouth guiltily.
“Why don’t you discuss it with Xiao Luo and Teacher Sui?” Xie Xitong suggested. “Balancing work and rest is important. Xiao Luo’s health isn’t good, and constantly studying isn’t good for her.”
Her reminder made Jiang Xue remember that Xiao Luo had casually mentioned “a headache” the night before last. At the time, she had thought it was a sign of a migraine due to the cold weather and had even ordered a draft stopper for the bed.
She hadn’t considered the possibility of overexertion and lack of rest.
Panicked, Jiang Xue hurriedly contacted Dr. Qi, who scolded her over a voice call: “Why didn’t you tell me earlier! That Sui has always been a workaholic! She can handle it, but Xiao Luo can’t!”
Despite the scolding, she personally drove over that afternoon and took Teacher Sui away, saying that she had been working hard for a week and deserved a shopping trip to relax.
Although the teacher was gone, Xiao Luohan didn’t plan to relax.
Jiang Xue couldn’t just watch her continue studying intensely, so after dinner, she stopped her. “That… I suddenly feel like drawing to relax today. Can you be my model?”
“Of course,” Xiao Luohan, knowing that she always had a study plan, readily agreed to this small request.
Before going upstairs, Jiang Xue secretly turned around and gave Xie Xitong, who was holding the cat, an “OK” sign.
Xiao Luohan didn’t notice this small action. She was still thinking about the theory Teacher Sui had taught her that morning.
It wasn’t until they entered the study and sat down, while Jiang Xue was setting up the easel, that she came back to her senses and asked softly, “What do you need me to do? What pose should I take?”
“I want to draw a sleeping beauty,” Jiang Xue had already decided. “Just find a comfortable sleeping position. If you think lying on the desk is too tiring, then… we can go to the bedroom, and I’ll draw you there.”
