My Girlfriend is a Cold and Aloof Sickly Beauty 117

Chapter 117: A Promising Future

To accompany Xiao Luohan in paying respects to her mother and Shizhu, Jiang Xue and Jiang Mei separated from the two mothers and followed the direction Xiao Linghan had indicated, climbing an unfamiliar mountain path.

It was a desolate area. Although there was a path, it was a small trail made by woodcutters, and in spring, the overgrown vegetation blocked the way.

Jiang Mei had anticipated this and borrowed a hoe and a sickle from Grandma Du before leaving.

Jiang Xue also wanted to help, but her older sister refused, saying “A senior year student can’t risk injuring her hands,” so she followed behind, carrying the joss paper and offerings for Xiao Luohan.

Finally reaching the location Cang Ling had divined, the three looked down at the village below, the entire village in view.

Jiang Xue helped Xiao Luohan separate the two portions of joss paper, while Jiang Mei gathered stones from the surroundings, building a “wall” to contain the burning joss paper. This way, it would be easier to extinguish the fire after the ritual and minimize environmental pollution.

With everything ready, Jiang Mei took out the talisman paper Cang Ling had given her and handed it to Xiao Luohan.

“Just burn the talisman paper together with the joss paper,” Jiang Mei said. “As for the offerings, stick the talisman paper on them and place them near the joss paper, light three incense sticks for each portion, and it’s done when the color fades.”

Before leaving, she had repeatedly confirmed with Cang Ling, memorizing every detail.

Xiao Luohan personally lit the joss paper and incense, while Jiang Xue and her sister stood aside, quietly watching.

Although she wasn’t sure if her words would reach the other world, Xiao Luohan clasped her hands together in a prayer gesture as she watched the joss paper burn, murmuring:

“Mother, Shizhu, I’m doing well here.”

“Elder Sister has also returned to my side. She’s a hero who saved the world, and Heaven has given her a new life.”

“I now have a new family and a beloved, and I’m gradually emerging from the shadows of the past. From now on, every year, I will come here to burn joss paper and pray for you, hoping that you can be reborn in a good world and never again suffer the pain of separation and loss.”

There was no wind in the mountains, but as she finished speaking, a gentle breeze arose, carrying the fragrance of grass, trees, and wildflowers.

Xiao Luohan looked up in surprise, and a green bamboo leaf fell before her.

She immediately reached out and caught it, gently caressing it, then took out her phone, opened the case, and placed the leaf inside.

Jiang Xue noticed that the joss paper had also been blown away by the breeze, leaving only ashes within the stone “wall.”

After putting away the faded offerings, the three descended the mountain, gathering wild vegetables and fruits along the familiar path.

“A few years ago, someone tried greenhouse farming for wild vegetables and fruits, but the taste was never as good as the wild ones, so they gave up,” Jiang Mei said, picking vegetables. “I’ve been gathering these wild vegetables since I was little. As long as the environment doesn’t change too much, they’re safe to eat.”

Passing by a bamboo grove, they also went in to gather some spring bamboo shoots—the owner of the bamboo grove was Grandma Jiang’s best friend, and Jiang Xue remembered her saying jokingly when she was very young, “When you grow up a little, remember to come and pick bamboo shoots with your sister.”

The thin bamboo shoots in the grove were only as thick as her little finger. Xiao Luohan was afraid of crushing them, but seeing the Jiang sisters’ swift and skillful movements, she gradually became bolder.

Although Xiao Luohan wasn’t related to the Jiang family by blood, Jiang Xue still felt that she was another version of herself from a parallel world, so she took her to the Jiang family’s ancestral graves to pay their respects.

She even clasped her hands together and prayed, “Ancestors, please bless Xiao Luo! She’s a good girl. Please bless her ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage Special Enrollment’ and help her achieve her wishes! May her life here be filled with happiness and good fortune!”

Xiao Luohan looked at her, her hand instinctively going to the jade bracelet on her wrist.

The “tribulation of the college entrance exam” that Grandma Xie had mentioned came to mind again.

If wishes could really come true…

She also clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and made a silent wish: “May the ancestors protect A-Xue during the college entrance exam, and if any illness or misfortune befalls her, let it come to me instead.”

She had been wearing the jade bracelet consecrated by Taoist Master Xuan Nuo. If she was lucky, it should be able to ward off this tribulation.

Returning to the elders’ villa at the foot of the mountain, Jiang Xue took a few basins and washed the wild vegetables, fruits, and bamboo shoots.

The wild fruit, whose scientific name was “Rubus hirsutus,” looked like a raspberry. The wild ones weren’t sprayed with pesticides and were very clean, just needing a quick rinse in the well water. They were bright red, beautiful, juicy, and sweet.

Jiang Xue ate some while washing and also fed some to Xiao Luohan.

Xiao Luohan helped her peel the bamboo shoots. The shells of the young bamboo shoots were tender and easily peeled off with her fingernails, revealing the white and tender flesh, which looked very appetizing even just placed on a white porcelain plate.

This was part of their lunch.

Stir-fried bamboo shoots with preserved meat, cold tofu with Indian aster, shepherd’s purse chopped and added to various vegetables to make shepherd’s purse and tofu soup, thinly sliced beef and mutton, crispy fried bean curd sheets, and small glutinous rice balls stewed with fermented rice, osmanthus honey, and goji berries.

They were all home-cooked dishes, but each one was carefully prepared.

“Try Grandma Du’s cooking!” Jiang Xue said, using serving chopsticks to pick up a fried bean curd sheet, dipping it in ketchup, and placing it in Xiao Luohan’s bowl.

“Xiao Luo, if you like it, come back next year!” Grandma Du said with a smile, seeing Xiao Luohan’s cheeks puffed out, then looked at Jiang Xue. “A-Xue, you can stay for a few more days next year, right? I remember university students have normal holidays.”

Jiang Xue was about to nod when she heard Jiang Mei say, “Not necessarily, if she majors in traditional Chinese medicine, she might be even busier than now.”

…That was true. Jiang Xue remembered that when she was making inquiries a while ago, even Dr. Qi had mentioned more than once that she had been “extremely busy” during university. It was only because of her family’s special circumstances that she hadn’t been constantly busy from enrollment to graduation.

She shrunk her neck and didn’t say anything, just focusing on serving food and soup to Xiao Luo.

But she still wanted to major in traditional Chinese medicine.

If she became a doctor, no matter what happened to Xiao Luo in the future, she could treat her immediately, instead of just anxiously waiting.

Xiao Luo’s near-death experiences before crossing over had become a shadow in her heart, and she didn’t want to just watch Xiao Luo suffer from illness.

“Then it’s better to be busy,” Grandma Du said with a smile. “A-Xue has always wanted to be a doctor since she was little. Back then, when we learned that she chose liberal arts in her second year of high school, I even told A-Qin that A-Xue’s dream might not come true!”

Jiang Xue was stunned. “Eh?! I don’t remember that…”

“Because you were very young back then, just learning to talk.” Grandma Du suddenly remembered something and stood up. “By the way, we still have your childhood photos here. I’ll go find them and show them to Xiao Luo…”

“There’s no need to show those ‘dark history’ photos!” Jiang Xue said, amused, but she actually wanted Xiao Luo to see her past.

So after lunch, she took the thick photo album and sat with Xiao Luohan in the sunny room on the rooftop, basking in the sun and looking through the photos.

Ms. Wei loved recording these everyday moments, especially since Jiang Xue and her sister were her and her beloved’s children. As Jiang Xue opened the first page and saw her older sister’s confused and helpless baby pictures, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ahem… this should be a photo taken when she was a full-term baby,” she pointed at the picture and explained to Xiao Luohan. “This one was taken at the ‘Animal World’ in the neighboring province. I also went there once in elementary school, but it’s closed now… this one was taken at the plaza near our home, yes, the place where we watched the fireworks this year. Actually, the plaza has been renovated more than once…”

She flipped through a few more pages and found several photos with a reluctant young Xie Xitong, smiling wryly as she explained to Xiao Luohan, “A-Xi actually doesn’t like taking pictures, but as long as you bribe her with snacks, she’ll reluctantly stand beside us while eating. Look, she’s holding a bag of chips in this one, and there’s chewing gum in her pocket, all bought by my older sister!”

“No wonder A-Xi likes Mei-jiejie,” Xiao Luohan thought to herself.

“Look, this is the children’s palace near Mingjing Taoist Temple. Sometimes, when Mom and Mom were working overtime, my older sister would take me there,” Jiang Xue continued. “I would attend my extracurricular classes, and she would read and do her homework in an empty classroom. By the time my class ended, she would have almost finished her homework.”

The two sisters were nine years apart. In the photo album, Xiao Luohan even saw a teenage Jiang Mei holding her baby sister, and she couldn’t help but think of her own elder sister rocking her cradle, humming unknown melodies.

At the same time, in the villa’s bedroom, Jiang Mei, holding another photo album, couldn’t help but complain to Xiao Linghan in her mind, “Why did they keep all these embarrassing photos…”

“It’s just that there were no cameras when I was alive. Otherwise, Mother would definitely have recorded my embarrassing childhood moments with photos too,” Xiao Linghan said, not surprised. “She even showed me drawings, and she drew me so ugly!”

Then she laughed.

Jiang Mei also chuckled a few times, then, after she calmed down, asked tentatively, “If you want to pay respects to Mother…”

“No need, my mother passed away early, and it was because of that dog emperor’s schemes and injustice. When I met her, she was already ready to move on, telling me not to bother her with anything except for the dog emperor’s abdication,” Xiao Linghan said. “She had already reincarnated when I was still in the ancient world.”

Her birth mother, the Ms. Jiang of the ancient world, was a stubborn and free-spirited person. After learning about the Emperor of Beiliao’s fate, she had left without regrets.

A little after 2:00 PM, after eating some qingtuan (green rice balls) and warm mushroom buns, the Jiang family returned to the city.

Perhaps because there was another younger generation member this time, the two grandmothers were truly reluctant to see them go, but considering that the two girls had to “work hard” for their studies, they agreed to meet again during summer vacation.

“Thinking about it, there are so many things to do this summer vacation!” Jiang Xue said to Xiao Luohan on the way back, counting on her fingers. “Learning to drive is a must, helping Uncle Seuss pick grapes to earn some extra money, visiting Grandma and Grandma, going to the racetrack with my sister, and maybe even another trip to the amusement park…”

Xiao Luohan enjoyed listening to her carefully plan their future. After Jiang Xue finished, she unwrapped a mint candy and handed it to her.

With their two mothers present, Jiang Xue didn’t dare be too bold, only letting her lips brush against Xiao Luohan’s fingertip before quickly taking the candy.