Transmigrating Behind the Mirror to Become Her Guardian Lady - Chapter 24

Jiang Weilu’s school was not far from the Jiang residence; it was only about a ten-minute drive.

Thus, the two arrived very quickly.

Because of various prior events, Shu Mengli had heard Jiang Weilu mention her school before.

It was the best private primary school in Kyoto, and it wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to call it an elite academy for the nobility.

Every single student inside was either extremely wealthy or from an influential family. If you threw a stick into a crowd of five, at least three of them would be future corporate heirs.

Of course, no matter how rich or influential someone was in the Kyoto area, no one could compare to the Jiang family and the Li family.

In the past, Jiang Weilu had been suppressed by Liu Yi. Her personality was gloomy, and she would occasionally be bullied by Jiang Yuxi at school.

Most people didn’t dare meddle in the Jiang family’s affairs, let alone get too close to Jiang Weilu. Consequently, the child had always walked alone at school, without a single friend.

However, ever since New Year’s Eve, the news that Jiang Weilu was the lifesaver of the Li family’s old patriarch spread like wildfire, causing countless jaws to drop across the city. People began to re-evaluate her worth.

Gradually, quite a few people at school started trying to curry favor with Jiang Weilu.

Without exception, however, they were all turned away by the eldest young lady of the Jiang family’s cold face.

Because of this, everyone found it highly bizarre: why was the eldest young lady of the Jiang family who was usually extremely difficult to approach—so radiant and joyful today? She even had a smile on her face while walking!

Yet, how could Jiang Weilu be the type of person to care about other people’s gazes? Completely ignoring everyone’s views and thoughts, she walked straight into her classroom.

Having finally arrived at the child’s small domain of schooling, Shu Mengli looked over the classroom layout and raised her eyebrows slightly.

The environment of a famous elite private primary school was naturally excellent. It featured comfortable individual desks and chairs, and the decor was minimalist and elegant.

It was completely unlike when Shu Mengli was a child, where they practically crammed ten people into a single row crowded, noisy, and narrow.

Therefore…

Therefore, there was no designated spot for her to settle down here. Where on earth was she supposed to sit?

Was she supposed to stand on the podium shoulder-to-shoulder with the teacher?

Shu Mengli lightly pressed a hand to her forehead, subsequently thinking about whether she should just go outside for a stroll first.

But the exact moment she opened her mouth, she halted abruptly, terrified that Luolu would feel scared and panic if she couldn’t find her.

In the end, after thinking it over, she dropped the idea. Standing for a day was just standing for a day; being able to accompany Luolu was wonderful too.

This was Shu Mengli.

She was always so gentle, understanding, thoughtful, and unobtrusively caring for others.

Except today, it was someone else’s turn to be thoughtful toward her.

How could Jiang Weilu be so negligent as to forget the classroom layout?

Thus, while Shu Mengli was pondering over where she could stand more comfortably, the child had already scurried to the back row and carried over a small stool.

With a light thud, she placed it right next to her own seat.

Then, she looked up at her sister with a sweet smile, her large eyes blinking as if waiting to be praised.

Shu Mengli was amused by her obedient yet proud little gaze, unable to resist reaching out to pat the child’s head.

And then..

She sat beside Jiang Weilu and listened to a full day of primary school courses.

The fact that she didn’t fall asleep several times in the middle was already giving them immense face!

But compared to Shu Mengli’s utter boredom, Jiang Weilu appeared exceptionally excited.

Whether it was sneaking up to the rooftop together with her sister to eat lunch at noon, or playing tennis under her sister’s watchful gaze during physical education class in the afternoon, everything made her incredibly happy.

Because the person she cared about most was right by her side.

This good mood maintained all the way until evening, when the driver uncle came to pick them up to head home.

At that time, Shu Mengli happened to be walking in front of Jiang Weilu. When the twilight glow washed over her body, it accentuated her sister to look exactly like a gentle angel.

While Jiang Weilu was gazing at her sister’s back with absolute delight, it was an accident, an oversight.

She spotted the back of Shu Mengli’s heel, which had been rubbed until it was slightly bleeding. The bright crimson color had even soaked through her shoe, causing the eyes of anyone who witnessed it to ache with pain.

The smile on Jiang Weilu’s face gradually vanished, and slowly, she couldn’t even curve the corners of her lips upward.

The clothes and shoes her sister changed into when she first transmigrated over were purchased by servants under her orders. To display her own thoughtfulness, Jiang Weilu had played a small, clever trick by not asking her sister for her measurements, choosing instead to estimate them herself using her clever brain.

The effect had indeed been very good.

When her sister received the clothes and shoes, she was highly surprised, praising her continuously for being clever and thoughtful. This had caused Jiang Weilu to feel secretly happy inside for a long time.

Naturally, given the Jiang family’s status, the items provided were bound to be extremely expensive.

But looking at it now, unsuited was simply unsuited.

No matter how expensive a shoe was, if it didn’t fit the foot properly, it would cause blisters.

And what had she been doing throughout this entire day?

She had only cared about her own happiness, completely failing to notice that her sister was actually quite uncomfortable.

And her Miss Guardian Angel was always so gentle. Seeing how happy she was, she couldn’t bear to say she was uncomfortable and ruin her mood.

Then how difficult must it have been for her sister when she was being dragged along to run around?

Her good mood evaporated into nothingness in an instant.

The corners of Jiang Weilu’s mouth curved downward, her eyes filled with a complex sorrow.

It was all her fault; she hadn’t done well enough.

She wanted to understand her sister a bit more, to get a bit closer to her, so she wouldn’t make such a low-level mistake again.

Very soon, after concluding a day of studies and returning to Jiang Weilu’s bedroom, Shu Mengli could finally open her mouth to speak.

She had always possessed a sharp mind, so she had long since noticed that Jiang Weilu’s emotions weren’t quite right on the way back.

But due to the driver uncle being inside the car, it wasn’t convenient for her to open her mouth to ask.

Now that they had arrived in a space belonging only to the two of them, she finally couldn’t resist asking with concern.

“Luolu, what’s wrong? You looked a bit unhappy on the way back.”

Hearing this, Jiang Weilu pursed her lips, then lifted her eyes to look toward Shu Mengli, her gaze serious and devoid of her usual playfulness.

“Sister, sit on the bed.”

“Huh?”

The sentence without head or tail left Shu Mengli briefly stunned, failing to react.

Seeing that she didn’t grasp her meaning, Jiang Weilu simply took off her small backpack, threw it directly onto the floor, took hold of her sister’s hand, and pressed her down to sit on the edge of the bed.

Then, she knelt down naturally in front of Shu Mengli, gently holding her sister’s ankle, exposing her wound.

The bright crimson blood instantly entered her sight, causing Shu Mengli herself to freeze for a moment.

Indeed.

The shoes the child had prepared for her were a bit too large and didn’t fit her feet very well. When walking, they wobbled back and forth, making it inevitable that they would rub against the back of her heel.

But in reality, it only looked a bit frightening; it didn’t actually hurt very much.

If Jiang Weilu hadn’t made her look, she didn’t know when she would have noticed it.

But right now, the bright crimson color pierced into her eyes, causing a sudden realization to rise within Shu Mengli’s heart: she wasn’t some genuine little fairy, but merely an ordinary human being.

When she sustained injuries in Luolu’s world, she would genuinely bleed.

But it was ultimately nothing more than a minor injury just a bit of scraped skin. Shu Mengli didn’t care very much. Knowing the child was simply overly anxious out of care for her, she comforted her with a light laugh.

“It’s just a bit of scraped skin, Luolu, don’t worry. I’m fine.”

However, Jiang Weilu wasn’t comforted by these words at all.

The child—who usually loved to smile so much now sat with a solemn face, staring intently at the wound on the back of the heel. Then, without uttering a single word, she stood up and walked out of the room.

After a long while, she returned lugging a massive medical box, kneeling down once more in front of Shu Mengli, looking exactly as if she intended to help her treat the wound.

Shu Mengli felt it was merely a minor injury that didn’t require making such a mountain out of a molehill, hurriedly trying to stop her.

“I’ll do it myself, Luolu!”

However, Jiang Weilu didn’t let go of her hand, stubbornly remaining knelt there to treat her sister’s wound. The tiny child began to lecture the adult with a solemn expression.

“Sister must not do this in the future. If you feel uncomfortable anywhere, tell me immediately. Don’t accommodate me.”

The response was an expected gentleness.

“It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt very much either.”

“No, it’s my fault,” Jiang Weilu said. “It’s because I failed to notice Sister was uncomfortable, yet still dragged you along to run around for so long.”

“But you were genuinely so happy at that time…”

“But if Sister gets hurt, I will be heartbroken,” Jiang Weilu lifted her head, looking seriously at Shu Mengli. “The prerequisite for my happiness is that Sister is happy too.”

Then she lowered her head again, carefully applying medicine to Shu Mengli’s wound.

“Sister must stop being so gentle in the future. Don’t be this good to everyone, and don’t accommodate others so much. If you feel bad, just say it out loud. Because the person you treat gently despite enduring discomfort yourself isn’t that precisely the person Sister cares about?”

“If the person you care about doesn’t care about you back, then they aren’t worthy of Sister’s concern. Because a person who truly cares about Sister can never bear to see you get hurt.”

The long paragraph sounded like a tongue twister, yet Shu Mengli understood it completely.

She sat on the bed briefly stunned, unable to speak, and slowly, a tearful glimmer actually flashed within her eyes.

Yes.

A truth so simple that even a child around ten years old understood how had she failed to grasp it back then?

If someone had told her this back then, perhaps she wouldn’t have been hurt like that by people who didn’t care about her at all.

Shu Mengli curved the corners of her lips, looking at Jiang Weilu with a light laugh, forcing back the tearful glimmer in her eyes so it wouldn’t fall.

She had already passed the age of reminiscing about youth, so moving forward, she mustn’t shed tears for her youth either. She should instead walk forward without looking back, grasping the person right before her eyes.

She stretched out her hand, gently patting the small head knelt in front of her that was meticulously treating her wound, saying softly.

“Alright, I’ll listen to everything Luolu says.”

Following her strict lecture from Jiang Weilu last time, Shu Mengli conversely grew to like this child more and more, and the relationship between the two grew deeper and deeper.

Another thing that brought a pleasant surprise to Shu Mengli was that this time, not only could she transmigrate to the world where Luolu resided, but she had also stayed here for a very long time.

Up until now, about a week had passed, yet she showed no signs of suddenly vanishing.

However, her pleasant surprise caused anxiety for another person.

On one hand, Jiang Weilu was happy about her sister’s long-term stay, but on the other hand, she was anxious about this prolonged duration.

She was deeply terrified that her sister who was still smiling at her in the previous second would suddenly vanish right before her eyes in the very next second.

Therefore, over this weekend, Jiang Weilu practically followed Shu Mengli step-by-step, completely unwilling to even blink her eyes away.

Shu Mengli naturally knew what was going on in her mind. Slowly, she also began to harbor worries, so she decided to take advantage of the fact that she hadn’t left yet to teach Jiang Weilu a few more things, cultivating the child a bit.

It was just that Luolu herself was already incredibly intelligent; she didn’t need to worry about her academic courses at all.

Then, the things she could teach were left with only skills—such as the drawing and calligraphy she had taught her back in Pear Town last time.

Jiang Weilu was truly incredibly intelligent.

Shu Mengli had marveled at this more than once, but seeing it with her own eyes again this time, she still couldn’t resist wanting to praise her.

She remembered that it was only three or four months ago when she had taught Luolu calligraphy and drawing for barely a month. Yet her progress now was incredibly rapid, matching what an ordinary person would take a year to learn.

Although this was related to the child’s diligent practice, the talent involved was something that could not be overlooked.

However, given her young age after all, there was still room for improvement.

For instance, today, for some unknown reason, there was a single character the child simply couldn’t write well.

Shu Mengli leaned over to look, offering gentle instruction.

“Luolu, this character isn’t written this way. Practice it one more time for me to see.”

Except practicing it one more time didn’t yield much result. Jiang Weilu shifted her wrist slightly and wrote several more, all failing to turn out well in the exact same manner.

Shu Mengli didn’t scold her, walking over gently to instruct her personally.

She leaned down, gently wrapping her arms around Jiang Weilu from behind, her warm palm covering the child’s hand, leading Jiang Weilu to write stroke by stroke.

The pleasant fragrance unique to Miss Guardian Angel enveloped the tip of her nose at this exact moment. Jiang Weilu snuggled obediently within her sister’s embrace, curling the corners of her lips into a light laugh.

She looked exactly like a crafty little fox.

In reality, she had already learned how to write this character perfectly three months ago!

Thus, under Shu Mengli’s meticulous instruction for a few rounds, a beautiful character “露” (Lu) produced by the hands of both individuals leapt onto the paper.

Shu Mengli stood up, lowering her eyes to gaze at the character on the writing desk as she nodded with satisfaction, unable to resist sighing with emotion.

“Luolu, you are working so hard. In the future, even if I leave, I can set my mind at ease.”

The smile hanging on Jiang Weilu’s face vanished instantly, her heart dropping with a thud. She instantly panicked to the extreme, no longer retaining a single shred of the joy from having just taken a small advantage.

She turned her head violently to look toward Shu Mengli, suppressing her own heartbeat as she forced a calm exterior to ask.

“Sister, aren’t you my exclusive guardian angel? How could you leave?”

But Jiang Weilu didn’t notice that when she asked this question in her panic, her voice was trembling.

However, there was no one in this world who would accompany another person forever; the only one who could walk from the very start to the absolute end was yourself.

Life, after all, was just a continuous cycle of people entering your life and then leaving.

But such words were realistic to the point of being a bit cruel. Looking at the child’s panicked and lost gaze, Shu Mengli couldn’t bear to tell her.

In the end, she merely replied with a smile.

“Look, my side is always unstable. I don’t know when I will come and when I will leave, so how can I accompany you all the time? Therefore, Luolu, you must learn to take care of yourself, otherwise I will worry.”

Hearing that her sister didn’t genuinely want to leave her, Jiang Weilu’s heart settled violently, letting out a long sigh of relief.

Subsequently, she looked toward Shu Mengli, her gaze earnest as she spoke the sentence she had already repeated many times.

“It doesn’t matter, Sister. I’ll wait for you. I’ll always wait for you.”

Shu Mengli lowered her eyes and collided right into her earnest gaze, unable to help but freeze.

Perhaps without her knowing when it started, she had already become this child’s one and only.

But it shouldn’t be like this…

Clearly, however, Jiang Weilu didn’t want to talk further on this topic, stiffly pulling away to a different subject.

“Ah, Sister, actually my drawing skills have also made progress. How about I paint a portrait for you?”

This topic transition was far too stiff; how could someone as intelligent as Shu Mengli fail to perceive it?

But she couldn’t bear to continue speaking and hurt the child’s heart, so she responded with a very good temper.

“Alright, I’ll listen to everything Luolu says. Then where is it better for me to stand?”

“Sister looks beautiful no matter where you stand.”

Deeply terrified that her sister would say something else about leaving, Jiang Weilu hurriedly ran off to fetch her small drawing tools, calling out as she ran.

Watching her departing back, Shu Mengli shook her head with a helpless smile, simply leaning against the writing desk in a casual manner.

Within a short while, Jiang Weilu ran back carrying her things, quickly setting up the easel.

Then, gazing at her sister, she began to sketch with absolute earnestness.

Although Jiang Weilu was still young and her style was still somewhat nascent, she truly was an absolute genius.

Furthermore, she was painting with extreme seriousness; one didn’t even need to think to know that the finished product of this painting would be exceptionally beautiful.

Shu Mengli leaned gently against the writing desk, her gaze trained on the little painter opposite her whose expression was solemn and entirely focused. She couldn’t resist letting out a proud, light laugh.

It wasn’t until a long time had passed and her waist felt a bit tired from leaning against the table that she couldn’t help but ask softly toward the person who was buried in drawing with absolute seriousness over there.

“When will it be finished, Luolu?”

Jiang Weilu was also afraid her sister would get tired, gradually beginning to speed up her pace. By this moment, only the final part of coloring the red lips was left.

But with her sister asking like this, she couldn’t help but feel a bit rushed, her fingertips trembling slightly under the tension.

Click-clack.

The paintbrush stained with bright crimson paint dropped onto the floor, painting a patch of red onto the floorboards.

Jiang Weilu hurriedly bent down to pick it up, her mouth comforting Shu Mengli along the way.

“It’s almost ready, Sister.”

Only this time, there would no longer be anyone responding to her with a good temper.

Jiang Weilu picked up the paintbrush and lifted her head, looking toward her sister’s direction.

Click-clack.

The crimson paintbrush dropped onto the floor once again, but this time, no one went to pick it up.

A light breeze passed through, blowing up the sheer curtains, and also blowing up the portrait on the drawing board that was on the verge of completion.

Jiang Weilu stood in the wind, looking at the completely empty writing desk, her eyes filled with absolute desolation.

“Vanish… vanished again.”

And at this exact moment…

In the spot she couldn’t see right now where Shu Mengli’s clothes were stored, those items belonging to her appeared as if they had been coated with a dissolving agent, slowly disappearing along with Shu Mengli’s departure.

It was exactly as if such a person had never appeared in this world.