“Ding-ling-ling-ling!”
The lunch break was over, and the school bell suddenly rang.
Jiang Li abruptly bounced up from her desk, her cheeks dyed a brilliant crimson.
She was panting heavily, her eyes misty, not yet pulled back from that alluring, tender dream.
Why on earth would she have a dream like that?
Clearly, Xuan He was so good to her; how could she ever dare to profane…
Jiang Li swallowed hard, finding her throat bone-dry. She picked up the water cup by the desk and tilted her head back to gulp it down.
The ice-cold water stimulated her, waking her up quite a bit and helping her gradually calm down.
The moment she put the cup down, the imagery from the dream still lingered in her mind. Those entangled scenes kept tempting her, whispering sweet promises of beauty to her.
“Sigh.” Embarrassed and flustered, Jiang Li buried her face in the crook of her arm. Her earlobes burned almost as if they were dripping with blood, and her heart kept racing.
During the afternoon classes, she tried her best to banish those images from her mind and focus earnestly on listening to the lecture and studying. Unexpectedly, however, those very images only became clearer and deeper, as if they had been carved into her brain—unable to be driven away, and impossible to forget.
This left her physically and mentally exhausted for the entire afternoon, listless and spiritless.
Seeing Jiang Li wilting, her deskmate asked jokingly, “What’s wrong with you? Were your soul and energy sucked dry by a spirit or something?”
Jiang Li lay face down on the desk, half-burying her face in the crook of her arm without answering.
Yet deep down, she thought to herself: There really was a great spirit who sucked her soul and energy dry!
When school ended, she shouldered her schoolbag in a dazed state and returned to her front door, only to hesitate for a moment, not daring to open the door and face Xuan He.
Because the noon dream was truly too embarrassing, she was afraid that seeing Xuan He would cause those images to echo back into her mind once again.
Still, she had to go back eventually, because she had promised Xuan He to make the evening dishes.
After hesitating and pacing back and forth at the doorway for a dozen minutes, she finally took a deep breath, made up her mind, and slowly opened the front door.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Xuan He sprawled across the sofa and wailed, “Xiao Li, why did you take so long to come back?”
“Sorry, I lost track of time doing homework at school.” Jiang Li didn’t dare look at Xuan He, keeping her head down as she answered in a soft voice.
She hurried back to her room to put away her schoolbag, changed into her casual home clothes, and dashed straight to the kitchen. She didn’t pay any attention to Xuan He, and whenever possible, avoided talking to her altogether.
This left Xuan He feeling rather baffled.
Sigh, the child is growing up and has her own little secrets!
Xuan He didn’t dwell on it too much.
After finishing dinner, Jiang Li quickly returned to her bedroom and began searching her phone for information about relationships between women.
For the first day or two, Xuan He didn’t pay much attention to Jiang Li’s evasive attitude. But when four or five days passed with Jiang Li acting the exact same way, it became quite strange.
Especially since Jiang Li didn’t dare look her in the eye, frequently spaced out, and was always sneaking around looking at her phone—only to immediately put it away and pretend she wasn’t looking the moment Xuan He caught her.
Right before bedtime, Xuan He got up to pour a glass of water. Just as she reached the living room, she saw Jiang Li standing next to the water dispenser, holding a cup and staring blankly into space.
It was unclear what Jiang Li was thinking: her slightly moisture-veiled eyes were unfocused as they stared at the cup in her hand, her cheeks were lightly flushed, and the corners of her lips curved upward just a fraction.
However, before long, the curve of her lips began to droop downward, her pretty brows knitted in a frown, and finally her expression relaxed, leaving the entire girl enveloped in an aura of loneliness.
“Something’s off, it feels really weird,” said the little light orb.
Xuan He rubbed her chin and nodded.
The little light orb checked the database of worlds and concluded, “Great God, is our cub falling in love?”
“Huh?” Xuan He looked over at the little light orb in confusion.
“According to big data analysis, sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girls are right at the age of emotional awakening. They don’t like talking to family members, they always sneak glances at their phones, sometimes frowning, sometimes happy, and they’re always spacing out—this is definitely falling in love!” the little light orb affirmed with certainty.
Xuan He raised an eyebrow.
“Wuwuwuwa! The cub I worked so hard to raise has been stolen by some stinky brat!” The little light orb wailed bitterly.
Xuan He, however, remained unconcerned. “Human beings all have seven emotions and six desires; romance is simply something humans experience in the course of a lifetime.”
She paused, then corrected, “She is my cub!”
Her meaning was clear: she would not interfere and would let things develop naturally.
Jiang Li finally let out a sigh. The moment she looked up, she saw Xuan He standing not far away. She froze for a split second, then her face instantly flushed bright red.
“I, I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight.” Keeping her head down and not daring to meet Xuan He’s gaze, Jiang Li clutched her water cup and hurried back to her bedroom.
“Oh, goodnight,” Xuan He replied, watching Jiang Li’s eager, fleeing figure.
She sighed once again: The child is growing up, she has her own little secrets!
Because her worldview was undergoing reconstruction recently, Jiang Li was somewhat distracted during classes and failed to review properly when she got home, causing her grades to slip a little.
Concerned, the head teacher called Jiang Li out for a private chat.
“You’ve been absent-minded lately. Did something happen at home?”
Jiang Li hurriedly shook her head.
Seeing that nothing seemed to be wrong, the head teacher assumed Jiang Li was developing an aversion to studying and offered earnest, well-meaning advice.
“Your academic performance is normally very good; you could easily test into a key university. If your grades keep dropping, failing to perform well will affect your future, and the people who have expectations for you will be disappointed…”
The head teacher originally wanted to say that she and the school held high expectations for such an outstanding student, but Jiang Li immediately thought of Xuan He.
The very thought of Xuan He being disappointed because her grades dropped made Jiang Li instantly feel as energetic as if she’d been injected with adrenaline. “Teacher, please rest assured, I will adjust my state. There won’t be a next time!”
Seeing Jiang Li’s nervous appearance, the head teacher grew even more worried and probed cautiously, “Are you sure? Do I need to speak with your parents?”
The head teacher always felt as though something must have happened at home; otherwise, an otherwise stellar student wouldn’t have been so unfocused lately.
“Everything’s fine!” Hearing that the teacher wanted to look for Xuan He, Jiang Li panicked and repeatedly assured her that nothing was wrong. Only then did the head teacher let her go.
Jiang Li didn’t want to disappoint Xuan He. She forcefully locked away all her inner turmoil and began studying with fierce determination.
The teacher was right: once the college entrance examination was over, once everything was finished, she could do whatever she wanted to do.
What she wanted to do…
She wanted to…
Jiang Li pressed her lips tightly together, her expression gradually turning resolute.
The dynamic between Jiang Li and Xuan He returned to how it used to be, though it seemed Jiang Li had grown even clingier to Xuan He.
When she was tired, Jiang Li would ask Xuan He for a hug.
When she was fatigued, Jiang Li would ask Xuan He to pat her head.
When she was weary, Jiang Li would ask Xuan He to praise her.
Every single time, she would secretly inhale the uniquely pleasant scent on Xuan He, feeling like a cat that had stolen some cream, secretly rejoicing in her heart and wishing this moment could last longer—even longer.
Every day she counted down the days while silently praying for the college entrance examination to arrive quickly.
“I’m going to study now!” Jiang Li retreated into her room.
Xuan He sprawled across the sofa, sucking on a Fujiya lollipop, staring in confusion at the hyper-energized Jiang Li and watching her return to her room to study with full vigor.
“It feels like the cub has gone back to how she was before.” The little light orb also fished out a Fujiya lollipop—milk-flavored, quite fragrant!
Xuan He nodded, tossed the sucked-clean stick into the trash can, and reached out to pick up an Alpenliebe lollipop from the coffee table to suck on instead.
Mmm… sweeter than the Fujiya lollipop! A bit too cloying, though!
“Maybe they broke up…” Xuan He mumbled vaguely.
With a crack sound, the lollipop inside the little light orb’s mouth snapped in half, but it paid no mind, because its entire orb-body was currently venting steam.
“What! Which scumbag actually dared to look down on our cub?! Are they blind to break up with her?! This little light orb is going to, to, to…”
Xuan He turned her head to look at the little light orb, narrowing her eyes dangerously.
The little light orb knew this was Xuan He’s way of forbidding it from casually disrupting the order of the minor world.
“I’ll draw a circle and curse him, curse him, curse him…” The little light orb instantly wilted, secretly cursing the Great God in its heart as well: Only the Great God is allowed to set fires, while the light orb isn’t even allowed to light a lamp!
“I trust Xiao Li.” Xuan He shifted her gaze back to the television screen, continuing to watch the movie with great relish. “She’s quite smart; she won’t let herself be wronged.”
The little light orb slumped listlessly to the side.
Xuan He chuckled softly, her tone so light it sounded almost like talking to herself, “Even if she truly were wronged, she wouldn’t simply swallow her grievances in silence.”
Even though Jiang Li had decided to properly pursue the person she liked only after the college entrance examination, during this period—aside from studying—she still went online to search for all sorts of information.
How do women pursue women?
How to make a woman’s heart flutter?
How to imperceptibly make someone of the same sex fall in love with you?
Sixteen supreme techniques for pursuing your beloved, guaranteed to make them fall head over heels for you!
…
Naturally, there were also restricted topics.
Kissing techniques between women.
What kind of hand speed makes someone lose control?
Which positions make you beep-beep-beep…
xoxo beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep…
…
Reading all this made her face turn red and her neck swell, blood rushing upward in a surging wave.
Her nose felt sour and hot, and a wave of warmth welled up.
Oh dear, I’ve caught internal heat!
Jiang Li rushed rapidly into the bathroom.
Water splashed and flowed, and the cool water cooled down her heated nose while washing away the blood.
“What’s wrong?” Hearing the commotion, Xuan He walked over.
“Nothing, caught some internal heat.” Jiang Li rolled up some tissue paper and plugged her nostrils.
It was winter, and with the heating on, the air really was quite dry.
Xuan He didn’t think much of it. She simply dragged her slippers over, dug out a humidifier, and placed it right by the head of Jiang Li’s bed.
“Um…” Jiang Li had lingering doubts. Looking at Xuan He, she ultimately couldn’t help asking.
As Xuan He finished filling the humidifier with purified water and pressed the power switch, a mist-like vapor billowed forth, blurring their lines of sight.
“What is it?” Seeing Jiang Li stuttering and hesitating without saying anything after waiting for a long time, Xuan He couldn’t help prompting her.
Lowering her head, Jiang Li mustered her courage once more: “On my way home today, I saw two girls at the mouth of an alley…”
Meeting Xuan He’s puzzled gaze, Jiang Li quickly darted her eyes away.
“I saw them… kissing.” Jiang Li’s voice grew even softer.
Xuan He assumed Jiang Li had never witnessed same-sex matters before and found it rather amusing.
Raising a child really is troublesome.
“In this world, there are people of all kinds of shapes, forms, personalities, and preferences: men and men, women and women, men and women…” Hesitating for a long time without knowing how to explain it, Xuan He simply threw caution to the wind. “Existence is rationality! As long as it exists, it has rationality! So don’t be surprised by things between them; it’s all completely rational!”
The little light orb: “…” Great God, do you dare to be any more perfunctory?
Meanwhile, Jiang Li’s heart burst into wild leaps of joy.
She actually didn’t repel same-sex relationships!
That meant she might actually stand a chance!