Chapter 68: Good Dream

“Ah… huh?”

Jiang Ran had never expected Gu Ge to help her comb her hair, especially not now.

So, Jiang Ran asked curiously, “Why now? Sister Gu Ge, your body hasn’t recovered yet. You should rest a bit more. It wouldn’t be good if you caught a chill.”

Gu Ge shook her head.

“It’s fine. Didn’t you give me the hand warmers? With these things, I’m okay now.”

“Alright then.”

Jiang Ran sat down beside Gu Ge.

Gu Ge picked up the comb and began carefully tidying up Jiang Ran’s hair.

Her movements were exceptionally gentle, not daring to use too much force, afraid of breaking any more strands.

“Your hair is so brittle. You need to pay attention to nutrition. I should still have some nutritional paste in my room. I’ll bring you some later.”

“There’s stuff like that?”

Jiang Ran had only ever heard of hair nutritional supplements, never something called ‘nutritional paste.’

She simply nodded.

“Okay, I’ll try using some then.”

Gu Ge continued to gather Jiang Ran’s hair.

Her movements were light, avoiding Jiang Ran’s scalp as much as possible.

The pulling was also very gentle, like a feather brushing against Jiang Ran’s head.

Jiang Ran took a deep breath, as if the tension from just moments ago had completely dissipated, making her feel like she was about to float into the sky.

Jiang Ran bit her lip and looked at Gu Ge beside her, feeling that she really seemed different from before.

The old Gu Ge was indeed stricter with her, but definitely not like this.

“Sister Gu Ge, you just got caught in the rain. Are you sure you’re okay like this?”

Gu Ge smiled.

“It’s nothing. Xiao Ran, your heart isn’t feeling uncomfortable anywhere today, is it? On days like this, the heart is actually most prone to discomfort. If it hurts, remember to tell me promptly, okay? Don’t tough it out.”

“I know. I don’t feel uncomfortable anywhere. The medicine I took before is still somewhat effective.”

“Aren’t you taking medicine too? Wait… you didn’t drink today, did you?”

Jiang Ran looked at Gu Ge and found the other smiling at her.

She was always like this, fearless.

Didn’t she know she was really sick?

And she was still smiling.

“I don’t know. Jiang Ran, why don’t you come and smell?”

“What kind of request is that?”

Jiang Ran was a bit confused.

She found Gu Ge’s requests lately to be very strange.

Couldn’t she have some normal needs?

Or was she only capable of this now?

Jiang Ran was more inclined to believe the latter.

Because she didn’t think Gu Ge was doing this unintentionally.

It was completely deliberate.

“I won’t smell.”

“Why not? What is Xiao Ran afraid of?”

“I’m not afraid of anything. It’s just that if you get too close to me, I feel a bit uncomfortable. And how can you not even know if you drank or not? Aren’t you just teasing me on purpose?”

Jiang Ran seemed to have discovered a little secret as she looked into Gu Ge’s eyes.

The latter, however, looked back at Jiang Ran fearlessly and spoke with a smile.

‘What could I be up to? It’s just that if I really did drink, my memory gets very bad. So, come and smell.’

“But I remember people who’ve been drinking smell of it from a mile away.”

Jiang Ran wasn’t very willing, but she still did it.

She leaned close to Gu Ge’s body and sniffed lightly, as if she really could smell something magical on her.

“It really does smell a bit like alcohol… but not quite. It’s perfume. You’re wearing perfume.”

“Xiao Ran can even tell that. Yes, it’s perfume. A fermented type of perfume, so it has a little of that mellow, fermented feeling. I really didn’t expect Xiao Ran to know so much.”

Gu Ge placed one hand on Jiang Ran’s forehead, bringing their faces close for a moment of eye contact.

Jiang Ran only felt her cheeks burning, as if ants were crawling on them.

The next second, she noticed a pink shoe by Gu Ge’s feet.

“What’s that?”

Jiang Ran pointed at the shoe by Gu Ge’s feet.

It looked quite strange, and she didn’t know its origin.

“That’s a dance shoe. There are also some dance bandages from back when I was learning. It’s all from a long time ago. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I’d have forgotten I even had these things.”

“You can even forget that? Your memory is really bad.”

“Yeah, my memory is terrible. I’ve already forgotten a lot of things. Xiao Ran, do you have any talents? You’re in university now, you should have started cultivating some interests, right?”

Gu Ge’s gaze fell on Jiang Ran, soft like a gentle hand lightly stroking Jiang Ran’s head.

The latter found it magical.

“I don’t really have any hobbies. I’m so poor, what hobbies could I have? If I had to say, would eating and sleeping count?”

“They count. A lot of people suffer from insomnia these days. I bet there are people staying up late reading novels right now, isn’t that right?”

Gu Ge gently pinched Jiang Ran’s cheek and said, “I didn’t have many hobbies before either. But slowly, I noticed everyone around me had hobbies, so I slowly developed some too. Humans are ultimately social animals. Some things aren’t something you alone can decide; it’s the collective subtly influencing you. Understand?”

“I think I get it a little.”

Jiang Ran nodded.

She felt what Gu Ge said made sense.

She couldn’t come up with any supporting arguments, but she couldn’t really oppose it either.

Jiang Ran leaned against Gu Ge, feeling the warmth emanating from her body, and a sense of peace settled within her.

“Actually… I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with making me call you ‘Mom,’ but you are really good to me. That’s an undeniable fact. But you also… keep controlling me, which makes me very afraid. It’s like I don’t even dare to say what I really want to say to you.”

Jiang Ran seemed to have opened the floodgates, bringing up other topics.

Gu Ge’s comb continued to move through Jiang Ran’s hair in an orderly manner as she hummed softly.

“Yeah. Because I’m not a good person. I never have been. You better be careful of me~”

Gu Ge took out a hair tie and tied up Jiang Ran’s hair.

“It’s almost time to sleep, so I won’t tie it too tight. You can adjust it yourself if it’s uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine. I actually think you’re really good at combing hair. When I do it myself, my hair always breaks. I don’t even use much force, and it just snaps. It’s a good thing you helped me tidy it up. Thank you.”

Jiang Ran rambled on, making Gu Ge laugh.

“Alright, I won’t keep you tonight. Go back and rest.”

“Okay. Goodbye, Sister Gu Ge.”

“Xiao Ran… can you call me ‘Mom’ one more time? I know this is a bit of an unreasonable request.”

“Ah, why are you still so fixated on that title? It’s really weird. You’re not that much older than me. Calling you ‘sister’ is more fitting.”

“It’s not about age. Remember the ‘Playing House’ I mentioned before?”

“Oh.”

Jiang Ran lightly bit her lip, forcing a smile.

“Then… good night, Gu Ge… Mom.”