Chapter 144 - First published on Jinjiang | Parallel Universe ①

Little Jiarou has been having a strange dream lately.

In my dream, there was a very beautiful older sister, about fifteen or sixteen years old. She was beautiful and charming, with fair and smooth skin, delicate and bright features, and a charming yet innocent look, like a fairy from heaven.

Little Jiarou bit her finger, blinked her eyes, and drooled as she looked at the fairy sister: "...Sister, you are so beautiful. I wish I could be as beautiful as you when I grow up... Hmm? Sister, why do you look so familiar? I feel like I've seen you somewhere before..."

The fairy sister frowned, her snowy cheeks puffed out, and even her anger was captivating: "Idiot, I am you grown up!" She gave a soft snort, her thin, reddish eyelids lifting slightly as she glanced at her with an expression that said, "What do you mean you look familiar, like you've seen me somewhere before? Idiot, don't you ever look in the mirror?"

Xiao Jiarou's bright eyes slowly widened, revealing a look of sudden realization: "Oh, really! That's great! If I grow up to look like this, Crown Prince Brother will definitely like me very much!"

She would have been better off not mentioning Xiao Jue, because the mere mention of him made Jia Rou even more irritated. She snorted and said irritably, "I really hate you."

Xiao Jiarou was so adorable that everyone loved her wherever she went. She had never heard anyone praise her before, and had never been so openly rejected. She felt wronged and heartbroken, and tears welled up in her eyes as she asked, "Sister... why do you hate me?"

When Yan Jiarou saw her cry, she became even more irritated: "Cry, cry, cry! All you know how to do is cry. You've been like this since you were little. It's so annoying!"

When Xiao Jiarou was scolded like that, although she wanted to hold back her tears, she was born with a tendency to cry uncontrollably. The more she tried to hold back, the more aggrieved she felt, and she cried even harder.

If this continues, I'm afraid we'll only end up hearing her cry before we've even exchanged two words.

Yan Jiarou sighed, realizing for the first time how much of a headache Xiao Che felt when he saw her cry.

But she's just a little girl, so you can't hit her. As for scolding her, if you raise your voice too high, she'll probably cry even harder. There's really no way to deal with her.

Besides, it was when I was a child, and Yan Jiarou, with her spoiled nature, always treated me very well. This little dumpling in front of me, to put it bluntly, isn't she just like herself?

Speaking of which, the reason for this strange encounter today was that a few days ago, when she and Xiao Che went out of the palace for a trip, they met a Taoist priest on the road. The priest was slender and wore a plain white Taoist robe with wide sleeves that hung down. The robe had a faint breeze blowing through it, and he had the air of an immortal.

Upon seeing the two, the Taoist priest bowed slightly, flicked the whisk in his hand, and let the snow-white whisk scatter in the wind. He said that he had a predestined connection with the two, and judging from their faces, he knew that their lives were quite fulfilling, having gone through many hardships and finally achieved enlightenment.

However, along the way, due to various circumstances, misunderstandings arose one after another, and their love life was full of ups and downs, which is truly a regrettable thing.

Fortunately, she met him today, which can be considered a fortunate encounter. He has a Dream Pillow, which he can give to this female benefactor. She can use this pillow to dream at night and return to the past to make up for regrets, so that their love in another parallel universe can be smooth and they can get married as soon as possible.

Yan Jiarou didn't quite understand what the Taoist priest was saying at the time, but even if she was slow-witted, she could tell that he meant well. Things like "may you achieve enlightenment soon" were always good words, so she gladly accepted them. That night, after making love with Xiao Che, she fell into a deep sleep with her head on the jade pillow.

This sleep led me into the dream I'm currently in.

Yan Jiarou looked at the little Jiarou in front of her, and finally sighed softly, her tone softening: "Alright, be a good girl and listen to me, and I won't hate you anymore."

Hearing the fairy sister say that, Xiao Jiarou immediately raised her hand to wipe away her tears, looked up at her steadily and said, "Yes! I'll listen to you! Fairy sister is so beautiful, I like you so much, I don't want you to hate me, I want you to like me!"

Yan Jiarou smiled and said, "That's good."

The Taoist priest gave her the Yellow Millet Dream Pillow. After using it, she dreamed of her childhood self, and her senses were very clear and realistic. It didn't seem like a dream, but rather like she had traveled back in time.

In this time and space, she is still young.

None of the harm ever happened.

It is now the day after she fell into the water at the age of five and was rescued by Xiao Che.

Xiao Jue took credit for her saving her life, and at that time she believed him without a doubt. Moreover, she was being sown apart by others and had just had a big argument with Xiao Che.

In retrospect, sending her back to the past, before everything began and before any harm was done, to turn the tide and personally ensure a smooth love story between her and Xiao Che, so that they could achieve their happy ending as soon as possible, was what he meant by "granting them a chance."

She had been inseparable from him since she was five years old.

As the saying goes, they were childhood sweethearts, innocent and carefree since they were little. As soon as she came of age, she immediately married him.

She wanted to erase all the hurt, misunderstandings, and pain, so that only sweetness and love remained in her and Xiao Che's world.

She had often imagined that if she and Xiao Che had been close since childhood and had never had any grudges, that would have been wonderful. But it never came to pass, so she inevitably had some regrets.

Now that she had been given this opportunity, she naturally wanted to make the most of it. With that in mind, she leaned down slightly, held Xiao Jiarou’s shoulders, and looked at her deeply, saying, “Listen to me, the person who saved you was Xiao Che, not Xiao Jue. The person you will marry when you grow up is also Xiao Che, and it can only be Xiao Che. From beginning to end, the only person you have ever loved is him.”

Xiao Jiarou blinked, a bewildered look in her dark eyes. After thinking for a moment, she whispered in protest, "But Fairy Sister, Prince Brother said he saved me. When I woke up by the pool, the first person I saw when I opened my eyes was him..."

“He lied to you,” Yan Jiarou stared at her intently, her eyes momentarily dazed as if lost in some memory, and slowly said, “Sometimes what you see isn’t necessarily the truth. I only understood this later. I paid an extremely heavy price to understand this.”

He gradually came to his senses and looked at her, saying, "I am you as an adult, so naturally I have experienced what you will experience in the future. In other words, in this time and space, in front of you, I have the ability to foresee the future. If that's the case, don't you believe me?"

"But……"

"But what but," Yan Jiarou flicked her forehead with her finger, "You've always been this stupid. Don't you ever think that since I'm you, why would I lie to you? You have a light pink birthmark an inch below your left breast, am I right?"

Meeting Xiao Jiarou's obviously surprised gaze, Yan Jiarou nonchalantly curled the corners of her lips: "I already told you that I am the grown-up you."

A wisp of white smoke escaped from the gilded Boshan incense burner, slowly climbing up the curtain like a gossamer thread.

The girl inside the curtain was exquisitely beautiful, but her eyes were moving rapidly beneath her thin eyelids, indicating that she was not sleeping soundly and was showing signs of waking up.

Sure enough, the next moment, she suddenly opened her eyes, as if she had just had a dream and was still not out of it, her eyes showing a kind of dazed and wandering feeling.

The air was thick with an almost overwhelming amount of incense; the sweet, cloying scent made my head feel a little throbbing.

Normally she wouldn't notice anything wrong with the smell, but she just had a particular fondness for such sweet scents. However, when she suddenly woke up from her dream and gasped for breath, the large amount of incense entering her nose made her feel quite dizzy.

If you don't believe me, take that jade pendant to the Hall of Fragrant Breeze and ask the beautiful and charming Imperial Concubine. Then you will understand everything.

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