My Girlfriend is a Cold and Aloof Sickly Beauty 167

Chapter 167: The Meaning of Orange Roses

Whether in the ancient world or this one, people liked to ascribe various meanings to flowers.

In this era, people called these meanings “flower language,” and even roses of different colors had different meanings.

When arranging flowers, you had to consider not only the color and layering of the petals but also whether the flower language matched the message you wanted to convey.

Xiao Luohan chose a bouquet of orange roses and a few pink tulips, decorated with white violets. While the florist was wrapping them, she asked for a card with a faint fragrance and used the shop’s glitter pens to write a message.

When Jiang Xue arrived at the shop with her fruit salad, Xiao Luohan had just finished writing and was blowing on the ink to dry it.

“Why did you suddenly buy flowers?” Jiang Xue asked, a little surprised, seeing the florist hand a large bouquet to Xiao Luohan.

“Just a whim, I wanted to give you a bouquet,” Xiao Luohan smiled and attached the small card with a string to the flowers.

Jiang Xue quickly switched the fruit salad bag to her other hand and held the bouquet, feeling her ears burning. “Th-Then should we go home and put them in a vase?”

Actually, she wanted to quickly look up the flower language and see what Xiao Luo had written to her.

Xiao Luohan thought for a moment. Her body still couldn’t be around flowers for too long, she was prone to allergies, and there was a place to put the bouquet at home, so she nodded in agreement.

After leaving the flower shop, they informed Cheng Shizhu, then went to the café to pick up their “decaffeinated” jasmine lattes, and headed home.

Cheng Shizhu didn’t mind what they did. After all, they would be living here for the next four or five years, or even longer, and by the time she returned from university, they would probably be more familiar with the shops in this area.

The outing had been long enough, and the vlog footage, after editing, would be sufficient. She diligently filmed along the way, only turning off the camera when they were about to leave the shopping street.

The first thing Jiang Xue did when they got home was ask Xiao Luohan if she had any allergic reactions, since she had been in the flower shop for a while and had even touched the flowers. Seeing Xiao Luohan shake her head, Jiang Xue, still worried, asked her to wash her hands and face.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xue asked Cheng Shizhu where they could put the bouquet in their new home without the fragrance and pollen affecting Xiao Luohan. After placing the flowers, she hesitated between searching for the flower language and reading the card, then chose to read the card first.

【May we have a bright future, full of happiness and prosperity.】

It was a sincere and simple wish, written in red and gold glitter ink.

There was indeed a full moon tonight, and her beloved had given her a beautiful bouquet.

Jiang Xue’s fingertips gently traced the outline of the card. After quickly searching for the flower language of the three types of flowers, her gaze lingered on the word “desire” in the description for orange roses.

The new semester hadn’t officially started yet. After registration and receiving their textbooks, there would be a two-week military training, but since Jiang Xue’s health wasn’t very good, and Ms. Wei was afraid she might faint during the training, she had asked Dr. Qi to get a medical exemption from a reputable hospital.

This meant that she just had to sit and watch while her classmates trained, or if she was willing, she could help with logistics.

Then…

She carefully put away the card with the message and, when Xiao Luohan came to find her after washing her face and hands, tentatively asked, “Do you want to do something… to celebrate tonight?”

Xiao Luohan: ?

She wondered if she had misunderstood, but looking at Jiang Xue’s shy expression, she thought that perhaps Jiang Xue was simply in a good mood and, even with the start of university approaching, wanted to try something new with her in their new home, to see how it felt in a different environment.

This wasn’t a problem. They had moved in early, just in case, so even if she was a bit too much for Jiang Xue, Jiang Xue would have plenty of time to recover.

And her new guqin teacher for the advanced certificate had already been decided. It was Professor Yan, Teacher Sui’s mother. Considering how close Teacher Sui was to her mother, she must have mentioned their relationship…

After considering all the internal and external factors, Xiao Luohan nodded seriously. “Okay, you first, or me first?”

Jiang Xue hadn’t actually decided. She thought that since Xiao Luo had chosen orange roses to hint at her, she must want to be the “little spoon,” but now, observing Xiao Luo’s expression and hearing her ask about who would take the initiative, she became uncertain.

But despite her uncertainty, she still leaned in and tentatively kissed Xiao Luo.

She felt a cold hand, freshly washed with cold water, grasp hers, making her shiver.

Xiao Luohan kissed her back, leading her towards the bedroom.

After closing the door, it was Jiang Xue who pulled her to the bathroom.

The items they had bought abroad had all been cleaned and brought here. But before they started, Xiao Luohan tied a red collar with a bell around Jiang Xue’s neck.

Jiang Xue also chose a black lace collar she liked and tied it around Xiao Luohan’s neck in the same spot.

Two cups of decaf jasmine latte with less ice were placed on the desk away from the bed. As time passed, the ice cubes slowly melted.

It wasn’t until someone, drenched in sweat, finally remembered them that they took off their finger cots, got out of bed, and took a sip.

Jiang Xue turned around with some difficulty, moved next to Xiao Luohan, also took a sip of the latte, and then asked, “Speaking of which… shouldn’t we avoid coffee at night?”

“It’s decaf.”

“But decaf still has some caffeine… mm!”

The jasmine and milk flavors blended together, with a hint of coffee.

“But we’re not in a hurry to sleep tonight, are we?” Xiao Luohan said, gently touching the bell on the collar, her fingertip then trailing down Jiang Xue’s neck. Jiang Xue swallowed a mouthful of latte, and she could feel the slight movement as it went down.

Jiang Xue couldn’t help but wonder again—had Xiao Luo been secretly reading extensively recently?

But since they had already bought the lattes, it would be a waste not to drink them, so they shared the two cups, finishing most of them, then, fueled by the slight caffeine and excitement, spent some time being intimate.

Cheng Shizhu had sent the footage to Jiang Xue after returning, but it wasn’t until almost 11:00 PM that Jiang Xue received the notification.

She stared at the screen for a full minute, then gave up on the idea of persuading Second Miss to go to bed early and went about her own business.

Second Miss always took messages and files from family seriously. Having taken so long to acknowledge the message, she must be with Xiao Luo, adapting to their new environment.

Young couples were so sweet.

“…So, you didn’t know about that meaning of orange roses either?” Jiang Xue asked, a little embarrassed, after hearing Xiao Luohan’s explanation and stopping the video editing. It was almost 11:30 PM.

That’s right, just searching for “flower language” yielded a long list of results. Xiao Luo was so close to her now, if she wanted anything, she would just say it directly, or even cling to her and initiate intimacy, there was no need to use flower language to hint.

“I’ve been enlightened now, thank you,” Xiao Luohan said, her tone unusually sweet.

Jiang Xue coughed a few times, pretending to have choked, and forced herself to focus on the screen.

She couldn’t tell if Xiao Luo was just playing along, or if she genuinely thought she was trying to seduce her.

This was too ridiculous, they had both misinterpreted each other’s intentions!

With these mixed emotions, she finished editing the vlog, showed it to Xiao Luohan twice, and after confirming that everything was fine, including the blurring of other people’s faces, they added a title, wrote a description, and jointly uploaded it.

Waking up the next day at noon, they checked the data and the feedback was indeed good.

“They’re still calling us ‘wife’,” Xiao Luohan said, scrolling through the comments.

“It’s just a term of endearment,” Jiang Xue replied. “Just treat it like ‘older sister’ or ‘younger sister.’ Anyway, I would never give you up for anyone.”

The two “future wives” spent the next two days reading various books, cuddling together. It wasn’t until Jiang Xue officially started university that Xiao Luohan, driven by Cheng Shizhu, went to the Sui family’s home to study for the advanced guqin certificate.

The textbooks arrived in batches. After collecting them, she could take them to the dormitory on her way. Jiang Xue, however, rode her shared bike and brought them back to their new apartment, placing them on the bookshelf.

University was different from high school. There were no fixed classrooms for all-day classes. Each subject had its own location, and they just needed to bring the corresponding books and materials.

But that was after classes officially started. For now, it was mainly military training.

To have something to do while observing, but not wanting to be seen as a “nerd” by her classmates for studying all day, Jiang Xue brought her easel.

While everyone was training under the sun in their military uniforms, she would set up her easel in a shady spot and sketch. There were a few other girls who had also been medically exempted, some playing on their phones, some playing games, ostensibly “observing,” but actually just resting outdoors.

“You’re so good at drawing!” a chubby girl greeted Jiang Xue. “Are you going to join the art club?”

Jiang Xue stopped drawing and looked at her, noticing that her face was a little puffy, like a side effect of long-term hormone treatment.

“I probably won’t have time for club activities. I just draw whenever I feel like it,” Jiang Xue replied seriously. “I tend to lose interest in things quickly. I might be playing on my phone after a few days of drawing.”

“That’s true, but I think it’s good to have diverse interests. If you’re too invested and then can’t continue, it can be heartbreaking,” the chubby girl said with a wry smile. “By the way, my name is Shu Cheng, the ‘cheng’ in ‘orange.'”

“Jiang Xue,” Jiang Xue wrote her name on the canvas, then, thinking that they were both in medically related fields, couldn’t help but ask, “Your condition… what’s your current situation? I know a specialist, do you want me to ask her?”

Shu Cheng was a little embarrassed at first, but seeing that Jiang Xue was sincere, without any intention of mocking her weight, she slowly explained her situation.

After listening, Jiang Xue immediately messaged Dr. Qi, also adding this case to her records—Dr. Qi had said that accumulating experience was crucial if she wanted to pursue this path.

After returning home from school, she also told Xiao Luohan and Cheng Shizhu about this.

Xiao Luohan didn’t think there was any problem and even supported Jiang Xue’s actions. Cheng Shizhu, however, gasped. “It’s a good thing that new classmate of yours isn’t malicious!”

If she had encountered someone with bad intentions, they might have even used this opportunity to twist things around and gossip about Second Miss behind her back, saying she was “sick in the head and needed treatment”!