My Girlfriend is a Cold and Aloof Sickly Beauty 79

Chapter 79: Cute, Want to Kiss

The plan to visit the amusement park had been tentatively decided before the final exams, but since the winter break was still a long way off, Jiang Xue and Xie Xitong hadn’t asked about Jiang Mei’s work schedule.

Now that they were bringing it up again, and they were at home, and it was still early, Jiang Xue immediately went next door and knocked on her sister’s door.

Before entering, she heard soft footsteps behind her and turned to see Xiao Luohan, also wearing a jacket, following her, holding the vase with the plum blossoms that held her elder sister’s soul.

It seemed Xiao Luo valued this outing.

The soul had attached itself to the action figure on the desk. If she also wanted to express something, this was more convenient.

“I can’t go before the New Year, I’m too busy. But I’m free from after the New Year until the tenth day of the first lunar month,” Jiang Mei replied without hesitation after hearing their request, as if she had already anticipated this question. “Do you have any specific dates in mind?”

“How about the sixth day of the first lunar month?” Jiang Xue asked. “It’s Xiao Luo’s and my birthday, and some businesses will have reopened by then, so the amusement park shouldn’t be too crowded.”

Jiang Mei didn’t reply immediately, but looked at Xiao Luohan.

“Any day is fine with me, whenever it’s convenient for you,” Xiao Luohan said. She didn’t have anything planned for the near future. She had already asked Grandma Xie and knew that even if she wanted to find a guqin teacher, she would have to wait until after the school reopened—many people worked hard all year and wanted to relax during the New Year’s holiday.

So the date was set.

But Jiang Xue didn’t leave immediately. Seeing that her older sister wasn’t working, she quickly brought up the matter of Xiao Luo wanting to take the “Intangible Cultural Heritage Special Enrollment” exam.

“It’s up to Xiao Luo,” Jiang Mei said, readily supportive. “But if you really want to take this path, you should be prepared to dedicate at least ten years to it.”

“The ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage Special Enrollment’ has very strict requirements for the student’s specialization in their chosen subject, and it emphasizes ‘focus.’ Unlike undergraduate students, who can switch majors if they find they don’t like or aren’t suited for their chosen field, if you give up halfway, it might be difficult to enter that field again in the future.”

“Yes, I know,” Xiao Luohan nodded calmly. “Just ten years is already very good. In our world, if you specialize in something, you’re bound to it for life.”

In her world, women who studied music mostly did so to make a living, or if they were from wealthy families, it was a “bonus” for marriage prospects.

She was very grateful that the current era allowed those who truly loved these skills to dedicate their lives to researching and passing them down. It was said that the government even provided funding to cultivate such cultural talents.

“Then I’ll have the guqin I bought before tuned,” Jiang Xue said. “Although I bought it on a whim, it’s a good brand, perfect for Xiao Luo to practice.”

Jiang Mei contacted a tuner and casually explained to Xiao Luohan, “She always loses interest in things quickly. Many of the instruments in the study have been sitting there for years. She’s only truly passionate about drawing.”

“I was truly interested at the time…” Jiang Xue defended herself softly.

“So if you like any of the instruments and want to try them, just clean them and play,” Jiang Mei continued. “At least they can be used instead of just being collectibles.”

Because of her words, the next day, Xiao Luohan asked Jiang Xue to take down a xiao (vertical bamboo flute), cleaned it, and started practicing.

It was their most familiar melody, A Wish Across Time. Jiang Xue, sitting beside her, listened for a while, then opened the piano lid and added accompaniment to the latter half of the piece.

Xiao Luo was truly talented in music. She could basically learn any song by ear. Jiang Xue didn’t know if she had perfect pitch or had received training when she was young.

Since she had thought of this, she couldn’t help but ask.

Xiao Luohan couldn’t quite remember. “Mother taught me. Usually, she would play it once, and I would follow along. After practicing a few times, I would learn the piece. I never really put much effort into learning. I thought everyone was like this.”

Jiang Xue: …

What a genius! Xiao Luo was too amazing!

“That’s similar to how I learn to draw,” she said, quickly finding their artistic similarities. “I also learned by imitating. Maybe I have a good eye? I can remember the correct positions and proportions after looking at them for a while, and I also have my own ideas, but the coloring is all based on feeling. If I don’t feel it, I can’t paint it.”

Hearing this, Xiao Luohan realized that she was indeed more interested in drawing than playing music.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t interested in the “Intangible Cultural Heritage Special Enrollment” for drawing, preferring to doodle freely. If she wanted stability, it was better to learn music.

Silently keeping this thought to herself, Xiao Luohan continued playing the xiao for a while, then cleaned and put it away, her gaze landing on the easel in the study.

“That’s what I used when I was still learning to draw,” Jiang Xue quickly explained, noticing her gaze. “It’s a folding easel, good for carrying to the studio or for outdoor sketching.”

She paused. “If you like it, I’ll buy you the same one. Then we can go hiking and paint landscapes together.”

So Xiao Luohan added “easel” to her mental shopping list.

“Visiting the mountains and rivers mentioned in travelogues and recording them in paintings, hopefully collecting them into a series… this has been my dream since I was young,” she said to Jiang Xue. “Unfortunately, this dream never came true, not even until I was married off.”

“It’s not too late to revisit your old dream now,” Jiang Xue said quickly. “I heard from A-Xi that her grandmother was still visiting Taoist temples all over the country when she was sixty!”

“Those were places she had heard of when she was young. Even though the internet is so developed now, and every Taoist temple has an official account posting videos, at such an old age, she was still interested in visiting them in person and seeing them with her own eyes.”

Xiao Luohan wasn’t surprised. “After all, those are just other people’s records and impressions, with some embellishment and omission. Only by visiting the place yourself can you have a deeper experience.”

They spent half the day playing musical instruments in the study and then drawing. If Xiao Luohan hadn’t preferred drawing on paper, Jiang Xue would probably have added a drawing tablet and stylus to her shopping cart.

After lunch, the tuner Jiang Mei had hired arrived.

Jiang Xue opened the door and froze. “Teacher Sui?”

“Yo, it seems your sister didn’t tell you it was me,” Teacher Sui said with a smile. She was wearing a light pink down jacket and a black mamian skirt, carrying a large gray cloth bag.

Jiang Xue remembered Dr. Qi’s warning that Teacher Sui always had strange habits when working, so out of respect, she took Xiao Luo to the Xie family’s home.

Actually, the Xie family’s home was also very quiet. Xie Xitong’s two mothers were rarely home, and Grandma Xie didn’t like using smartphones, at most using a small speaker to listen to music.

The only downside was that there was a clingy white cat that would occasionally interrupt their activities.

Having just finished their final exams, only Xiao Luohan was still in the mood to study. After telling Xie Xitong about the amusement park plan, Jiang Xue asked if she could play video games in the living room.

“How did you know I wanted to play video games this afternoon?” Xie Xitong pulled out a storage box from under the coffee table, filled with game controllers. “To introduce Xiao Luo to gaming, should we play games on the S platform, or cartridge games?”

“Cartridge games first, they’re plug-and-play. We can gradually transition to the S platform from the classics,” Jiang Xue said, skillfully picking out two controllers and handing one to Xiao Luohan. “I don’t think I mentioned this activity much in my diary?”

Xiao Luohan tried to recall and asked uncertainly, “FC? Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers?”

“Yes, yes, that’s it,” Jiang Xue said happily. “I’ll teach you what each button does!”

While she was teaching, Xie Xitong explained the difference between “single-player” and “multiplayer” games, then took out her phone and recommended several popular mobile games to Xiao Luohan.

After listening, Xiao Luohan thought, “Mobile game developers really know how to make money.” Single-player games were much purer. The money spent on one gacha pull in a mobile game could buy five or six good quality single-player games, enough to play until the S platform went bankrupt.

Besides that, she found that Jiang Xue was clearly very good at gaming. While she had only vaguely understood during the explanation, once she started playing, she immediately understood Jiang Xue’s instructions.

Even though she was a beginner, Jiang Xue knew how to adjust her pace to match hers, so within half an hour, they had cleared Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, then moved on to other two-player games with levels.

During this time, Xie Xitong “tried her best” to prevent the white cat from disturbing them. Seeing Xiao Luohan struggling to keep up, she placed the white cat beside her. “I’ll take over, you rest, Xixi misses you!”

The white cat, suddenly called out, looked up at her and meowed in displeasure, then turned and snuggled into Xiao Luohan’s arms, who had just put down her controller.

Xiao Luohan rested on the sofa, holding the cat. But as soon as Xie Xitong took over the controller, the game’s style changed drastically.

According to Jiang Xue’s classification, it should be… a fighting game?

Each controlling a female high school student from the martial arts club, they fought their way from the school campus to the streets, finally taking down a small gang’s hideout hidden beneath the city.

And while playing with Xie Xitong, Jiang Xue became much more talkative.

“Throw me a cola… not a steel pipe! I’m comfortable with the weapon I’m using! Now that you’ve forced me to switch, where can I find another one…”

“Hey, hey! Don’t interrupt my charging! Don’t throw me at people at this time!!”

“Xie—Xi—Tong! You activated the trap, and I’m covered in paint, I can’t hit anyone now, aah!!”

…Quite endearing.

Xiao Luohan started to imagine.

When would Jiang Xue also talk to her so casually and relaxedly, in this tone?

But after they cleared the game, Jiang Xue, who had just been “bickering” loudly with Xie Xitong, looked at her cautiously.

“Sorry, we were too loud…”

Xiao Luohan paused, then smiled helplessly. “A-Xue, I actually prefer seeing your unrestrained side.”

Unconstrained, shedding the “well-behaved” facade, revealing her imperfect flaws, such a Jiang Xue seemed more real to her.

And while interacting with her, although Jiang Xue was relatively relaxed, she would still subconsciously restrain herself, as if afraid that her “negative emotions” and “bad temper” would explode and hurt her.

Actually, it wasn’t like that. She found Jiang Xue endearing no matter what.

She wanted to kiss her.