My Girlfriend is a Cold and Aloof Sickly Beauty 87

Chapter 87: Someone Now Lived in Her Heart

The day of New Year’s Eve arrived. As soon as Jiang Xue woke up, she saw red lanterns and “fu”(fortune) character decorations hanging everywhere in the house.

“Wei Mommy always likes to create a festive atmosphere during the New Year. It’s like this every year,” she said, returning to her room and looking at the screen, explaining to Xiao Luohan, who was getting dressed. “And she prefers doing it herself. Jiang Mommy hangs the decorations, and Wei Mommy hands them to her.”

“Jiang Mommy even joked two years ago that when they get old, my sister and I will ‘take over,’ either the two of us, or with our partners, hanging the lanterns together.”

She looked at the large red lanterns in the courtyard outside the window and couldn’t help but sigh, “Although it’s a good thing that we grow up year by year and gradually become independent, I really don’t want Mom and Mom to get old…”

Especially after hearing Xiao Luo talk about the passing of Shizhu and the Ms. Wei of the ancient world, this feeling intensified.

But she was just complaining. For ordinary people, being able to live a peaceful life with their loved ones was enough.

Xiao Luohan also understood that Jiang Xue just wanted someone to listen to her and didn’t require a response, so she simply listened while quickly changing into her new clothes for the New Year.

A white sweater paired with a red mamian skirt, a knitted red scarf around her neck, her black hair, styled into a half-updo, with slightly curled ends cascading softly over her shoulders.

“This outfit looks great on you!” Jiang Xue praised as soon as she saw her come out.

Xiao Luohan smiled and nodded. “I want to wear this on my birthday too.”

“Then change out of it after today, and Sister Cheng can wash and iron it,” Jiang Xue said, adjusting her scarf, smoothing out the wrinkles.

Compared to the refreshed Xiao Luo, Jiang Xue didn’t have much interest in her own outfit.

“If I wanted to, I could wear a custom-made dress for both New Year’s and my birthday. Since I’m not bothering my sister, I’ll just wear my own clothes, whatever’s comfortable. I’m not too particular about festive attire anymore.” She opened her wardrobe, browsed through her clothes, and said, resting her chin on her hand, “Maybe I’m really getting old? When I was little, I always wanted to be the most dazzling one during holidays.”

Xiao Luohan thought for a moment and asked tentatively, “Do you need me to help you choose?”

She remembered that, whether in TV series or novels, helping each other choose clothes or accessories was a common activity for lovers.

Although there was nothing wrong with doing this as family members, if Jiang Xue agreed without hesitation…

“Sure!” Before she could even finish her thought, she heard Jiang Xue readily agree.

—There were two possibilities for such an immediate response.

Firstly, Jiang Xue might also secretly see her as a lover, so she allowed this kind of interaction, usually reserved for romantic relationships, to happen between them.

Secondly, Jiang Xue was completely oblivious to the implications and simply saw her as a close family member.

Which one was it?

Xiao Luohan pondered this question as she casually flipped through the clothes.

Standing behind Xiao Luohan, Jiang Xue was also nervous.

This was considered a rather intimate interaction, right?

Exposing her taste, preferences, past, and present to Xiao Luo, and giving her complete control, letting her decide her outfit for the most important day of the year besides her birthday.

…Besides family, only lovers would do this, right? Even a long-time friend like A-Xi might not be entrusted with such a task.

Would Xiao Luo think of this? Would elders in ancient times teach such details?

Her gaze followed Xiao Luohan’s fingers, watching as they moved past each piece of clothing, a strange feeling that the fingers were actually brushing against her own body.

This sensation made her shiver, and she quickly covered her mouth, taking a deep breath.

Don’t be so nervous! It was just choosing an outfit for New Year’s Eve!

“By the way, do you want to wear any accessories today?” Xiao Luohan suddenly asked. “There were many nice ones in the jewelry box you showed me before.”

“If-If you think I look better with accessories, then choose some,” Jiang Xue stammered slightly after speaking.

Xiao Luohan chose a long, dark brown, retro-style wool coat for her, paired with a soft, milky white thermal shirt, but she couldn’t decide on the bottom half.

She remembered that Jiang Xue liked wearing skirts, but the skirts in her wardrobe couldn’t cover her calves, and the temperature had dropped again today. If she chose pants, she wasn’t sure if it would be to Jiang Xue’s liking.

“If you can’t decide, let’s use dice,” Jiang Xue said, seeing her hesitation, and took out her phone, opened WeChat, and found the built-in dice emoji. “You roll.”

Xiao Luohan: …

She shook her head vigorously, trying to recall the winter outfit videos and “guides” she had watched, and chose a pair of fleece-lined, dark gray leggings and thick white knee-high socks for Jiang Xue.

“If you feel cold, you can come back and change into pants,” she reminded Jiang Xue as she took the clothes and went behind the screen to change.

“It’s okay! I’ll just use a heat pack!” Jiang Xue grabbed a pack of heat packs from the bookshelf, stood on tiptoe, and held them up above the screen.

When she came out after changing, Xiao Luohan put a rose gold necklace with a star-shaped diamond pendant around her neck.

They had wanted to help with the New Year’s Eve preparations, but the three housekeepers, including Sister Cheng, had refused—they seemed to only trust Cheng Shizhu’s housekeeping skills.

After changing, the two felt a little awkward staying at home, so they invited Jiang Mei, who also seemed to have nothing to do, to visit the Xie family.

Jiang Mei wasn’t idle. Princess Zhemei had been lucky enough to wake up last night and could spend the New Year with them.

She had been catching up on Xiao Linghan’s memories whenever she had free time these past few days and had already reviewed fifteen years’ worth of memories at double speed, at the cost of a throbbing headache. It was a good opportunity to visit the Xie family and ask Grandma Xie for help. Maybe she could use some magic to relieve the headache.

“Why are you in such a hurry?” Xiao Luohan asked with a smile on their way to the Xie family’s home.

“Wanting to quickly understand a consciousness residing in my body isn’t a problem, is it?” Jiang Mei countered.

“That’s true, but is my ‘search function’ not working?”

“That can only search for events before and after a keyword. I want to see the entire process,” Jiang Mei replied. “Only then can I truly understand the formation of your personality, habits, and way of doing things.”

She had her own persistence, and Xiao Linghan neither encouraged nor discouraged her, only reminding her with a smile, “Then you should get enough sleep, or your younger sisters will notice your fatigue. Or…”

“You must have a good suggestion, right?” Jiang Mei asked.

“Or you can rest like I do, and I’ll temporarily control this body,” Xiao Linghan said slowly. “You also wanted to ask about this when visiting Grandma Xie today, right? After all, if it works, you can become a ‘perpetual motion machine,’ greatly increasing your work efficiency.”

Jiang Mei: …

She had indeed thought about that.

Princess Zhemei, in many ways, was another version of herself. She even anticipated that after systematic work training, Xiao Linghan might be even more reliable than her.

However, although this was theoretically possible, there were still some risks.

“…Forget I asked,” she said hurriedly, focusing on walking and stopping the idle chatter with Xiao Linghan.

But Xiao Linghan’s thoughts were still being transmitted.

“Actually, I don’t have the kind of ambition you’re worried about,” Xiao Linghan said seriously, her smile fading. “The causality that brought me here, if it’s really just a ‘bonus stage’ as you said, then it’s best if I just remain an observer, a tourist, not getting too involved in this world, unintentionally creating more karma.”

“If something really happens to your body, of course I can take over, but other than that, it’s best if I minimize contact with people other than your two younger sisters.”

Jiang Mei had learned about the complexities and troubles of “causality” from Grandma Xie.

As someone who had already been severely affected by causality, Xiao Linghan was much more cautious about this than she was.

After careful consideration, Jiang Mei said, “Since the risks are controllable, I’ll at least give you ‘access.'”

This meant she agreed to ask Grandma Xie for help with the magic.

It was snowing heavily today. Knowing they were coming, Grandma Xie had the housekeeper clear a path in the courtyard beforehand.

Xie Xitong opened the door for them. Since she usually spent the New Year with her grandmother, and her two mothers were busy with work even during the holidays, she didn’t bother with formalities and, as Jiang Xue had said, “wore whatever was comfortable.”

She even came to the door in her pink fluffy pajamas, the white cat following behind her. It had intended to go straight to Xiao Luohan for some affection, but froze when it saw Jiang Mei, then its fur bristled, and it even started hissing.

Seeing the white cat’s reaction, Jiang Xue also paused, then realized.

—After Elder Sister Red Fox came over, her older sister had been working overtime. Even on weekends at home, she was in her room working. It had been a long time since she had interacted with Xie Xitong and the white cat.

And Xie Xitong had “yin-yang eyes,” and the white cat could sense “unclean things.” It had hissed at Xiao Luo when she came to play with it in her cat form—both of them should be able to sense Elder Sister Red Fox’s presence… right?

Jiang Xue hadn’t had time to explain this to Xie Xitong yet. Now, seeing them both standing at the door, their gazes fixed on Jiang Mei, she thought, “Oh no.”

“That… Xiao Luo is sensitive to the cold, why don’t we go inside and talk?” she said, finding an excuse. Anyway, it was better to go inside first.

“Okay,” Xie Xitong said, her voice and tone as languid as ever.

She bent down, picked up the bristling white cat, and walked ahead without changing her expression.

Although she didn’t show any unusual emotions, she didn’t take them to the living room, but straight upstairs, which proved her concern.

Grandma Xie had already predicted their arrival today. Seeing Jiang Mei, she even smiled and pointed to the seat opposite her. “Come and sit. I want to meet that child… oh, she should be older than me now, considering her age.”

“Since you already knew, why didn’t you tell me beforehand?” Xie Xitong, holding the cat, casually sat down on a cushion, finally showing her displeasure in front of her closest relative. “This way, wouldn’t there be two Mei-jiejies in one body?”

Jiang Xue sat quietly, not daring to speak.

She could understand why A-Xi was angry: The person she liked most now had “another person” living in her heart, and this soul could even communicate directly with the owner of the body. It was practically as if Mei-jiejie had become incredibly close to someone else!