TAISS – Chapter 49

Jian Lingxuan met Lu Yuanchen when she was in middle school.

She was from a commoner planet, studying on the Capital Star. But she was in the Dihua Star System, running around with her mothers all day, so she completed her studies remotely through the Q Net.

Her mother knew Lai Yinhua, so it was only natural that Lu Yuanchen and Jian Lingxuan met.

A seventeen or eighteen-year-old Jian Lingxuan would take the eight-year-old Jian Heng running around everywhere, and Lu Yuanchen, who was preparing for her university entrance exams, would follow behind them like a bodyguard.

Little Jian Heng really liked the new older sister. She was calmer than Jian Lingxuan and knew more.

They could communicate without any barriers. Lu Yuanchen was occasionally surprised by how much she knew, but never thought to look deeper into it.

Over time, Lu Yuanchen became a familiar face at Jian Lingxuan’s home, almost becoming Song Qinghua’s third daughter.

Back then, Jian Lingxuan had a crush on an upperclassman. Sometimes she wouldn’t come home because she was chasing after the girl, staying at her place.

Neither Jian Heng nor Lu Yuanchen thought anything of it; it just meant the two of them could share Jian Lingxuan’s room.

“Sister Yuanchen.” At that time, Jian Heng couldn’t call Lu Yuanchen “Sister-in-law” yet.

She privately thought her sister was too flighty and would surely be a lot of trouble for Lu Yuanchen. She never considered playing matchmaker.

Besides, Jian Lingxuan was enthusiastically pursuing that upperclassman and hadn’t been home for two days again, probably staying over at her place.

“Have you ever thought that besides the universe we live in, there might be other universes in the world?” Despite her young age, Jian Heng’s focus was quite unusual, and her thoughts ran deep.

She even knew some secrets that the royal family might not have been clear on. The Xuanxing Empire was in peril.

“Parallel universes? Someone my professor knows is researching the theory you mentioned.” Lu Yuanchen didn’t treat Jian Heng like a little girl; she didn’t disbelieve or refute what she said.

When Jian Heng heard this, she knew she had found the right person.

So, in the beginning, it was Jian Heng’s plan. Canglin Xilan primarily provided the theory, and her wife was responsible for half of the execution.

The other half was perfected by Lu Yuanchen, whom Jian Heng had recruited herself. Jian Heng believed her team needed someone with medical knowledge.

As for Jian Lingxuan, she only found out by chance much later, at which point Jian Heng had no choice but to let her join the team.

About two years later, Jian Lingxuan graduated from middle school and was going to attend the same university as Lu Yuanchen.

Meanwhile, Jian Heng was steadily preparing for the transmigration. She wanted to find a way to break the deadlock, to see what a world that didn’t rely on spiritual power was like.

And Jian Lingxuan also began to interact more with Lu Yuanchen.

They went to the library together, ate together, and even lived together.

Jian Heng was slow to realize this.

She finished her work and went to find Lu Yuanchen, only to discover her at Jian Lingxuan’s house.

“Sister, is this right?” Jian Heng pointed at Lu Yuanchen, her eyes wide.

“Wh-what’s wrong?” Jian Lingxuan was a little flustered.

She was afraid her precocious younger sister would see through her.

But Lu Yuanchen had known for a year already.

“Didn’t you like her more—” Jian Heng hadn’t even finished her sentence.

before Jian Lingxuan stuffed a freshly peeled rose pastry into her mouth.

She chewed slowly, watching Jian Lingxuan panic, afraid of scaring Lu Yuanchen away, her mind going blank.

It was over. Her partner was being poached.

No, that wasn’t right. Her sister was about to bring disaster upon her partner.

Jian Heng finished the rose pastry, and not wanting to disturb them, she quietly slipped out to chat with her online friend. Li Zhaoge was there keeping her company.

Leaving the two people in the room, who had heard Jian Heng’s words loud and clear, sitting side by side.

Lu Yuanchen, however, was calm. She still saw Jian Lingxuan as a child.

Her view of Jian Heng was different. Jian Heng’s thinking and intelligence were clearly those of an adult. After learning of her background, Lu Yuanchen felt her suspicions were all too real.

But Jian Lingxuan was a genuine eighteen-year-old. Her mentality wasn’t much different from an eight-year-old’s; otherwise, she wouldn’t find joy in teasing Jian Heng all day long.

Someone so straightforward and cheerful was nice.

Lu Yuanchen, on the other hand, had been the quiet type when she was an underclassman.

As a genius, she was precocious and knew her own heart. She thought that perhaps Jian Lingxuan’s feelings would change in a couple of years.

After all, Jian Lingxuan’s last crush had only lasted for two years.

Jian Lingxuan, on the other hand, was the first to get nervous. She was in a panic, the tips of her ears turning bright red.

“Yuan… Yuanchen.” Her eyes were misty as she held out a plate of fruit, stumbling as she offered it. Jian Heng had been so loud just now. Lu Yuanchen must have heard, right?

Lu Yuanchen took the fruit platter from her.

Jian Lingxuan didn’t even have time to breathe a sigh of relief before a freshly peeled piece of fruit was at her lips.

“She said… was she blocked by the person she likes?”

Jian Lingxuan’s pupils constricted. Her dark brown irises were exceptionally clear at that moment, glinting with light, making her look like a wolf poised to strike from a distance.

A smile tugged at Lu Yuanchen’s lips. She crossed her legs, sat beside her, and very deliberately fed the other half of the fruit into Jian Lingxuan’s mouth.

It was done with a hint of domineering force, yet gentler than true coercion.

After eating one slice, it seemed not to be enough. She continued to peel the fruit’s skin with her delicate fingers.

But Jian Lingxuan shrank back a little.

When she had liked her senior before, the closest they had ever gotten was studying together. She had never been fed fruit.

Let alone one that Lu Yuanchen had just eaten from.

“Little sister.” Lu Yuanchen was quite mischievous. She peeled another one, held it in her fingers, and beckoned for Jian Lingxuan to look up.

Jian Lingxuan went from a wolf to a puppy, staring obediently at the liuli fruit in her hand and swallowing.

A crush is a desire born from instinct. She wasn’t old enough to control herself, so naturally, she couldn’t refuse the fruit being fed to her by the senior she liked.

Even when teased and called “little sister,” she sat there obediently with red ears.

Back then, Jian Lingxuan wasn’t so disagreeable. Unlike her thirty-year-old self, who was a thorny bramble—not even a rose—pricking everyone around her equally, including Lu Yuanchen.

The Jian Lingxuan of this time was still a child who often lost arguments and fights with Jian Heng. When she lost, she would go complain to her mothers that the younger one had started it, which would only result in her mothers buying things for Jian Heng.

But the good thing was, if she lost an argument, she would come find Lu Yuanchen.

It was actually quite obvious, Lu Yuanchen thought.

Jian Lingxuan was the type who couldn’t hide things. She should have realized earlier that her heart had changed.

Lu Yuanchen tapped the liuli fruit against Jian Lingxuan’s lips.

Jian Lingxuan, trained into an obedient dog waiting to be fed, opened her mouth.

And then watched, wide-eyed, as Lu Yuanchen took that liuli fruit away and ate it herself.

After a second of stunned silence, Jian Lingxuan’s face flushed crimson.

She threw caution to the wind and pounced on her.

What were the two of them trying to express? Affection? Teasing?

Could they meet each other halfway?

Jian Lingxuan rolled over, pressing against Lu Yuanchen’s side. Her eyes were red, with a hint of pitiful tears.

Lu Yuanchen wanted to laugh just looking at her, and pulled her into an embrace.

Jian Lingxuan lowered her head and fell silent, the resentment from a moment ago vanishing into thin air.

“You want me to feed you?” Lu Yuanchen thought that she could probably keep a little follower who liked her.

Jian Lingxuan nodded frantically.

She decided to just go with it. Anyway, her feelings had already been exposed by her big-mouthed sister, so if Lu Yuanchen knew, she knew.

There was nothing to hide anyway. She also felt she had been quite obvious.

“Then, help me with today’s homework,” Lu Yuanchen said playfully, savoring the liuli fruit.

She was half-joking, but when those eyes looked over, Jian Lingxuan couldn’t be sure. She felt that Lu Yuanchen was serious and focused.

One could even call it devoted. Her eyes were veiled in a layer of light, so bright that Jian Lingxuan couldn’t bear it.

“Me? Do your homework?” Jian Lingxuan still had a shred of reason left.

Lu Yuanchen could ask her to do anything else, so why did it have to be homework?

She was only a freshman. Lu Yuanchen was a junior. Would that even work?

“That’s right. You do it.” Lu Yuanchen compared the effort required for homework with the effort required for peeling fruit.

She chose the latter.

Ah, having a follower must feel pretty good. She could order Jian Lingxuan around as she pleased from now on.

“But I don’t know how,” Jian Lingxuan said, her eyes fixed on Lu Yuanchen’s fingers. It was impossible to know what she was thinking, but her words sounded less like a refusal and more like she was whining.

This was how she spoke to her mothers, too. But only after losing a fight with Jian Heng.

An adult like her couldn’t even win against a ten-year-old child like Jian Heng. Of course Jian Lingxuan would cry.

“Are you looking down on me, Jian?” Lu Yuanchen’s tone was half-praise, half-coaxing.

“Your sister can do it, so you definitely can too.”

Jian Lingxuan pouted and picked up a liuli fruit herself. “What kind of person is my sister? She’s a member of the royal family, comes with a built-in knowledge pack. How can I compare to her?”

“You’re just telling me this now?” Lu Yuanchen was rather surprised by this.

They had known each other for almost three years, and this was the first time Jian Lingxuan had mentioned it.

But then again, Lu Yuanchen had been closer and more genuine with Jian Heng before. It was only after she started university that it reversed.

“You should know, my sister is all mysterious. She definitely wasn’t hanging around you because she liked you.”

As she spoke, Jian Lingxuan relaxed, her posture and tone becoming casual.

When she relaxed, she was a complex combination of a hundred different people, anything but simple.

And Lu Yuanchen happened to like this kind of person. It was fun to provoke her, and fun to make her cry, too.

“What about you, then?” Lu Yuanchen’s words made Jian Lingxuan’s hand freeze.

Lu Yuanchen propped her chin on her hand, watching her reaction with amusement.

This was real affection.

The way Jian Lingxuan’s expression changed was adorable. From pink to red to a speechless bluish-purple, it took only three seconds.

In those three seconds, she went through a whole nebula. Lu Yuanchen opened her mouth and snatched the liuli fruit she had just peeled.

“Lu Yuanchen!” Jian Lingxuan finally realized this person was bullying her.

“Just returning the favor,” Lu Yuanchen said, laughing out loud as she was pounded a few times. She had already swallowed the liuli fruit in her mouth.

That’s not what I meant! “Why are you trying to figure out what I’m thinking! I’m not ready to confess yet.”

“So, you don’t want me to peel fruit for you, sit next to you guiding you while feeding you?” Lu Yuanchen’s probing was very obvious.

And just like that, her train of thought was derailed by her own blushing.

Jian Lingxuan flopped onto her arm, using it as a pillow and adjusting her position to get comfortable, staring at the ceiling as she thought.

“That does sound pretty good.” Even after being bullied, she didn’t find Lu Yuanchen annoying.

Instead, there was a subtle feeling—her affection deepening, and a dependence she couldn’t shake.

“Then let’s go. My homework is due tomorrow.” Lu Yuanchen pulled Jian Lingxuan up.

It was just that Jian Lingxuan hadn’t yet realized she was being used as free labor.

But looking back, the liuli fruit that day was actually of poor quality. Fruit grown in the Yinyao Star System had to be picked early, or it would rot to the point of being inedible.

It was only sour and astringent, greenish and unripe, and not very juicy. Lu Yuanchen’s hands were still clean after peeling it.

Yet Jian Lingxuan was fed, and ate, a lot of it.

It was actually very sweet.