Chapter 111 111 "You are afraid that your brother-in-law will mind your sweetheart...
The moment she opened the box, Su Xiaoyuan really thought she saw a cake, but when she looked closely, she found that although the shape was similar, the pastry was made of rice flour, sprinkled with dried cherries soaked in wine, and sifted with icing sugar. Strictly speaking, it should be considered a rice cake.
But it was such a coincidence to receive such a cake on my birthday.
Su Xiaoyuan couldn't help but feel suspicious. She had never told anyone about her birthday. Even her best friend and her puppet boyfriend didn't know that her real birthday was today.
No one knows that you have to eat cake on your birthday.
But why did she vaguely feel that she had told someone, and even some fragmentary sounds and images that seemed real and illusory flashed through her mind.
"...How soft? This soft?" The man pinched her belly, then her waist. "Still this soft?"
Continuing upwards, he kneaded it mischievously: "Still this soft? About the same as this? Let me try the texture first. After all, it's something I'm going to eat."
Su Xiaoyuan's face suddenly turned red. She had had too many messy dreams recently and her memory was too vague. She didn't know whether she had really dreamed about it or if it was her hippocampus that was playing tricks on her.
Forget it. It's a rare birthday. Why be suspicious? Give yourself a break and take a breath. Just consider it a gift from fate. No matter if it has a price tag or not, she will probably be dead by the time fate comes to collect the debt. Let it be a bad debt.
"What is cake?" Ruan Mianmian asked puzzledly.
"It's a kind of pastry from my hometown. Parents usually buy it for their children on their birthdays."
Ruan Mianmian suddenly realized that Xiao Yuanzi was homesick. "So it's a birthday cake, no wonder it's called 'birthday cake'. Don't worry, when we have a longer break, I'll go back with you."
Su Xiaoyuan said: "There's no need to go back specially, my parents are not there anyway."
Only then did Ruan Mianmian realize that she had brought up her sad story again.
Seeing her guilty look, Su Xiaoyuan quickly changed the subject: "Let's cut the cake together!"
Ruan Mianmian said, "It's a pity that your birthday has already passed this year, and my brother-in-law's 'Christmas cake' is a few months late."
It’s not too late at all, Su Xiaoyuan thought.
She was surprised to find that when her best friend mentioned Ling Yuexianzun, the feeling that suddenly surged in her heart for the first time was not resistance and palpitations, but warmth.
This is too weird.
Was it because he happened to give her a "Christmas cake" on his birthday? Or was it because after seeing him a few times, she vaguely felt that what the puppet said might be true?
Maybe he's not that bad after all.
"What are you daydreaming about, Xiaoyuanzi? Do you miss your brother-in-law?" Ruan Mianmian raised her hand and waved it in front of Su Xiaoyuan.
Su Xiaoyuan came back to her senses and pretended to twist her ears: "Xie Kaishan, have you forgotten what happened last time? If he hears it next time, I won't cover it up for you!"
Ruan Mianmian: "What are you afraid of? My brother-in-law can't hear me, so don't be shy." She laughed and ran away.
Su Xiaoyuan's expression suddenly changed, and she bent over, clutching her stomach: "Ah..."
Ruan Mianmian was startled and ran over: "Xiao Yuanzi, what's wrong with you?
Su Xiaoyuan couldn't help laughing and grabbed her best friend's arm: "Xie Kaishan, let's see where you can escape to!"
The two of them joked around for a while, and then Su Xiaoyuan said, "Let me show you the custom of eating cake to celebrate birthdays in our hometown."
Ruan Mianmian was very interested: "Okay, okay!"
Although it is a copycat version of the "Christmas cake", birthdays should still be celebrated with a sense of ritual.
Su Xiaoyuan went to find a beautiful plate and carefully placed the "Christmas cake" on it. She also found a small knife for cutting fruit and tied a bow on the handle with a silk ribbon.
In the world of cultivating immortals, there are spirit stone lamps, and candles are rarely used for lighting. The occasions where candles are lit are either the bridal chamber or the mourning hall.
However, Su Xiaoyuan likes to stock up on everything. After rummaging through the drawer, she found a thin red candle.
She performed a purification spell, wrapped it in wax paper, and stuck it into the middle of the cake as a birthday candle: "Usually, you put a number of candles in the cake according to your age, but now you have to make do with what you have."
Ruan Mianmian: "It's a big deal for powerful beings who are hundreds or thousands of years old to celebrate their birthdays."
Su Xiaoyuan imagined the scene and couldn't help laughing: "The older ones just put the number cards in directly."
Ruan Mianmian looked at her in surprise as she lowered all the curtains, lit the candles, crossed her fingers, closed her eyes, as if she was praying.
Then she blew out the candles and opened her eyes: "Okay, we can cut the cake."
Ruan Mianmian scratched her cheek, puzzled: "The custom in your hometown is really special. You light candles for yourself on your birthday and blow them out in one breath." It always feels unlucky.
Su Xiaoyuan: "That's making a wish."
"What wish did Mariko make?"
"You can't say it out loud. If you do, it won't work."
As she spoke, she picked up a knife and started cutting the "Christmas cake", cutting a piece for her best friend and herself.
This rice cake was softer and more moist than she had imagined, with a sweet taste. It seemed to have been added with refined milk, giving it a rich milky flavor. It really gave her the illusion of eating cake.
She cut the remaining cake in half and packed it up for Ruan Mianmian to take back and eat with Yu Yingchun, and put the rest back into the food box, ready to wait for the puppet to come back and eat together - Ling Yuexianzun was so rich and inhumane that even the food boxes for the cakes were high-end products with a long-term freshness preservation function.
This food box is much better than a refrigerator and can keep food from spoiling for at least one or two months.
Ruan Mianmian had already skipped the most important sword-fighting class, so Su Xiaoyuan certainly couldn't let her stay with her doing nothing all day, and even delay her other studies.
After they had lunch together, Su Xiaoyuan said she wanted to take a nap and urged her to go to class.
Seeing that she was not seriously injured and that she would feel uneasy if she stayed here, Ruan Mianmian no longer insisted: "I will come to accompany you after class."
Su Xiaoyuan: "Take good notes and copy them for me when you come back."
After her best friend left, she practiced drawing talismans and arranging formations for a while, then she felt a little sleepy and fell asleep at the table without realizing it.
After a while, she vaguely heard the sound of a door opening in the distance, followed by familiar footsteps approaching.
She subconsciously murmured "Fu Tingyun", and vaguely felt that something was wrong.
The man said "hmm", picked her up carefully, put her on the soft couch beside her, untied her belt, opened her clothes, and placed his warm and dry palm on her aching lower abdomen.
Then a familiar warmth seeped into her body like hot spring water.
The hand slowly made circles, and the warmth spread to every part of his body. The cold and heavy pain was quickly relieved.
Su Xiaoyuan really wanted to open her eyes and look at him, but her eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds and she couldn't open them no matter how hard she tried.
The pain and discomfort gradually melted away like ice, and the hands straightened her collar and tied her belt.
Su Xiaoyuan felt something soft fall on her eyelids and heard someone say in her ear, "Go to sleep."
Then the man lay down beside her, held her hand, and hummed a familiar melody in her ear.
He was actually humming Happy Birthday.
Su Xiaoyuan didn't know how many times the song was sung, she just felt that it was on a loop for a very long time. Every time she slept restlessly, she could still hear the voice humming in a half-asleep state.
The setting sun shone in through the window in front of the desk, shining on Su Xiaoyuan's profile, waking her up.
She opened her eyes and found that she had accidentally fallen asleep at the desk and slept until dusk.
My body felt a little sticky and I seemed to be sweating a little.
She vaguely remembered that she seemed to have had a dream. In the dream, the puppet man came back, carried her to the couch, rubbed her belly, and sang birthday song to her for a long time.
It turned out to be a dream, she couldn't help feeling a little lost.
But the heaviness in my lower abdomen had inexplicably vanished without a trace. Was it because of the warming soup I drank at noon? Or was it because I was warmed up by the sun?
I probably had that kind of dream because I felt comfortable.
While her mind was wandering, she got up and went into the bathroom, wiped the sweat off her body with a hot cloth, and changed into clean clothes from head to toe.
When she picked up the dirty clothes and put them into the wicker basket, she suddenly smelled a faint fragrance.
It's like the fumigant used by puppets, but more natural than fumigant.
More importantly, she hasn't used that kind of fumigant since the puppet left, and she has changed her bedding two or three times, so there shouldn't be any residual smell.
It's almost like...
She tried hard to suppress the thought, but it only made one thing pop up.
It was as if Immortal Master Ling Yue had come and hugged her.
Su Xiaoyuan picked up the clothes and put them to her nose and sniffed carefully, but she couldn't smell anything.
She was probably too suspicious and was particularly sensitive during her menstrual period, so she had hallucinations.
She put the dirty clothes into the wicker basket and went back to the study to continue reviewing her lessons.
After a while, Ruan Mianmian came back after finishing her two afternoon classes. When she saw Su Xiaoyuan, she exclaimed, "Xiaoyuanzi, you look much better!"
"Really?" Su Xiaoyuan touched her face suspiciously, "Is it that obvious?"
"What did you do this afternoon? Did you replenish your yin by taking yang?" Ruan Mianmian asked casually.
Su Xiaoyuan should have just laughed it off, but her best friend's words touched upon her worries.
The warm feeling in her lower abdomen was very similar to the feeling after the puppet helped her "inject yang".
"Maybe it's because I slept all afternoon..." she muttered.
"You've been too tired lately," Ruan Mianmian took out a notebook from the shoulder bag that Su Xiaoyuan had sewn for her best friend. "These are the notes from the two classes this afternoon. I almost broke my hands writing for you, Xiao Yuanzi."
Su Xiaoyuan flipped it open and wrinkled her nose. "Brother-in-law copied the notes, how come your hand was broken?"
Ruan Mianmian said angrily, "I asked him to copy my handwriting, but he can't even do such a small thing. He's really useless!"
Although it sounded like a complaint, the sour smell of love was overwhelming.
Su Xiaoyuan suddenly remembered something: "By the way, are you still using your Song...puppet?"
"You're talking about Song Wen? Oh, and I changed his name. It's no longer Song Jinshu," Ruan Mianmian said, as generous as ever. "Of course I can use it. I even had him open a terraced field on the small slope behind my house the other day. Taiyan is good in every way, except that the variety of vegetables isn't as rich as Yunyu Sect's..."
Su Xiaoyuan listened to her reciting the farming sutra for a while, then hesitated for a moment, wanting to speak: "Isn't Fellow Daoist Yu jealous?"
"So what if he's jealous? Will he reclaim land, plant crops, and fertilize the fields?"
Su Xiaoyuan: “…” That makes sense.
"Are you afraid that your brother-in-law will mind your sweet little puppet?"
"Of course not!" Su Xiaoyuan said quickly.
Why should she care whether Ling Yuexianzun minds or not? Besides, Ling Yuexianzun has no reason to mind, as she is not related to him.
Besides, when it comes to first come first served, it is the puppet who should care.
Wait…what was she thinking? Her train of thought seemed to be off track. Was she trying to enjoy the happiness of having two wives and still want Ling Yue Xianzun to be her mistress?
Su Xiaoyuan shuddered. This kind of thinking is very dangerous!
"By the way," Ruan Mianmian said, "I have classes at Buxiao Pavilion this afternoon. I heard from the students there that there will be a fireworks display on the lake below the mountain tonight. It's a pity you're not feeling well, otherwise we could go and join in the fun."
"It's not New Year's Day or a festival, so why is there a fireworks display?" Su Xiaoyuan wondered.
"He has too much money to burn, or maybe some poor rich guy is trying to please the girl. Who knows? Anyway, it's a good deal for us. We can feast our eyes on her without spending any money." Ruan Mianmian said sourly.
"Let's go and see it too." Su Xiaoyuan said.
Ruan Mianmian: "But your body..."
"There's nothing going on right now," Su Xiaoyuan said. "It's a rare opportunity to watch free fireworks, how can we miss it!"
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