Free Web NovelChapter 126: Chapter 126: Everyone’s Chat Messages
Aboard the spaceship, Shi Lan suddenly let out a series of sneezes.
The male attendant beside her thoughtfully handed her a blanket and a glass of warm water. "Miss, please be mindful of the air conditioning. You don’t want to catch a cold."
Shi Lan accepted the blanket. "Thank you, I will."
As she spoke, she turned the air conditioning up a bit.
Now that she had money, Shi Lan decided not to skimp. She bought a ticket for a private, female-only cabin. There were only four people inside, with a dedicated attendant waiting on them.
Inside the spaceship’s cabin, in addition to a central smart thermostat, each seat also had its own adjustable air conditioning unit.
Shi Lan had felt hot when she first boarded, so she’d turned the temperature way down. Now, after sneezing, she figured she’d probably been sitting in the cold air for too long.
She settled the blanket over her lap and leaned back comfortably in her seat. Gazing out the large window at the galactic scenery drifting by, she couldn’t help but marvel at the vast, spectacular, and magnificent universe.
After a while, she started to feel hungry and took out the meal she had brought with her.
The attendant immediately approached. "Miss, would you like us to serve you dinner now? Complimentary meals are available in the private cabin."
This was Shi Lan’s first time buying a ticket like this, so she hadn’t known. She put her own food away for the time being and nodded. "Alright then. I’ll have one, please."
"Of course. One moment. Please choose your desired meal set and beverage first."
The attendant handed her a menu. Shi Lan, surprised that there were options, immediately began to look it over. The food seemed quite good, so she chose the "Goo-goo Meat" combo, which she found appealing.
At that moment, the other women in the cabin also said they were ready to eat, so the attendant respectfully took everyone’s orders.
The spaceship meal was much better than Shi Lan had expected. It wasn’t like the pre-packaged meals of the past; you could still taste the "robot’s touch," but the flavor was decent.
Shi Lan finished every last bite. After a few sips of her drink, she felt a wave of drowsiness and lay back to rest.
By the time she woke up, they were only one stop away from Yaoxing.
Shi Lan wiped her face with a damp towel to wake herself up. Feeling much more clear-headed, she sat up and started fiddling with her chip.
She discovered that in the few hours she hadn’t checked, Jiang Xia had sent her a flood of stickers.
They were all stickers of a Pallas’s cat that looked just like his beast form. One had a big question mark over its head with the caption: [Lanlan, you there?]
Another showed a little Pallas’s cat wiping away tears, captioned: [Day one of missing Lanlan.]
There was also a GIF of an energetic Pallas’s cat jumping around, captioned: [Have a safe trip, Lanlan~]
...
Shi Lan scrolled through them, thoroughly amused. Every sticker was just as cute as Jiang Xia himself.
Thinking about how Jiang Xia usually spent his days eating, drinking, and playing in the prison, she couldn’t help but smile. She replied: [I miss Jiang Xia too~]
Jiang Xia immediately replied with a new barrage of happy stickers.
After looking through them, Shi Lan sent a flower-tossing sticker in return before exiting their chat. Noticing a bunch of red notification dots, she saw that it wasn’t just Jiang Xia who had messaged her—the others had, too.
Mu Tangfeng, ever the narcissist, had sent a selfie in his beast form, along with a sticker of a pitiful-looking Bird of Paradise. He’d written: [Now there’s no Lanlan to appreciate my peerless beauty. Looking at those foolish males will only sully my eyes!]
Shi Lan zoomed in to admire the photo of his beautiful beast form and had to agree. It truly was stunning, like a Divine Beast from myths and legends. His tail feathers, in particular, were incomparable—they flowed like liquid fire when he flew.
She played along, praising him: [Beautiful, beautiful.]
She added: [You can keep sending me your selfies in the future. I’d love to see them.]
「In the prison」Mu Tangfeng’s face flushed. ’Honestly,’ he thought, ’Lanlan is such a sweet-talker.’
He replied, trying to sound aloof: [Depends on my mood.]
Shi Lan feigned disappointment: [Oh, heavens! In that case, I hope Lord Mu is in a wonderful mood every single day, so I can be blessed with the sight of such peerless beauty.]
Mu Tangfeng’s face turned an even deeper shade of red. ’So Lanlan really likes my beast form that much.’
’Alright, then. He’d just have to send her a photo every day.’
Seeing that Mu Tangfeng hadn’t replied, Shi Lan moved on to He Hanshi’s message.
He was far more reserved, only sending a few pictures of a White Lion rolling around. But at the very end, he’d added: [I can’t wait to get out of prison so Lanlan can be my wife.]
Perhaps once you’ve said it the first time, the second time isn’t so hard to say. Especially when chatting over the chip, He Hanshi felt much bolder.
Shi Lan’s heart gave an odd little jump. Her face flushed as she remembered what he’d said just before she left—that she should wait for them.
’I don’t even know why I actually replied with a simple "Mhm" back then.’
’That was basically a direct invitation for them to pursue her.’
The more Shi Lan thought about it, the redder her face grew. The attendant, thinking she had a fever, looked at her with concern. "Miss, are you alright? Do you need your temperature checked?"
Shi Lan snapped back to reality and quickly shook her head. "I’m fine, I’m fine."
"Oh."
The attendant nodded, but he kept a watchful eye on her.
Not daring to dwell on such things any longer, Shi Lan just sent He Hanshi a reply: [You all take care of yourselves in prison.]
Then she switched over to Ye Ming’s chat.
To her surprise, the usually taciturn Ye Ming had written quite a lot. He told her to be careful on her journey, to stay aware of her surroundings, and to let them know immediately if she ran into any trouble. He also added: [I forgot to give Lanlan my parting gift. But that’s alright. Our parting is only temporary. You have to accept it next time we meet, Lanlan.]
「In the prison」Ye Ming quietly put away the dress he had made. ’The fabric is a bit too plain,’ he thought. ’Lanlan deserves something more exquisite and magnificent. I’ll make her a new one next time.’
In fact, the gifts the men in prison had asked Shi Lan to buy for them were originally intended for her, but the matter had been forgotten and delayed by their treatment.
But now that they knew they would be released, they felt those gifts weren’t good enough and decided to remake them.
This was especially true for Jiang Xia. He’d only just started the DIY bracelet he’d bought, since it was difficult to work on in his beast form. But when he first regained his human form, he was too excited. Unable to sleep one night, he got up to work on it, only to accidentally scatter the beads everywhere. They ended up all over the snowdrifts, and Robot No. 4 swept some of them up in the ensuing chaos, making the gift even less presentable.
In short, with the exception of the locator from Yan Huoshui, the others had all unanimously decided to properly make new gifts.
Shi Lan’s heart warmed. She replied with a simple: [Okay.]
She wasn’t against seeing them again. Just like with her reply to He Hanshi, she had never disliked being with them.
’Perhaps the marriage she was so afraid of would be different with them.’
Shi Lan blinked and turned to the last message, the one from Yan Huoshui. He had already said everything he needed to before, but he’d added one more line: [Does Lanlan like a Nine-tailed Fox? You can touch my tails whenever you want in the future.]
Yan Huoshui, ever mindful of the need to leave a deep impression of his beast form on Shi Lan’s heart, had also sent along a few high-definition photos of himself.
When Shi Lan zoomed in, she could see every single strand of hair standing on end on his tails.
Under the bright light, individual strands of fur looked almost white. free𝑤ebnovel.com
In any case, just looking at the picture was enough for the memory of how comfortable Yan Huoshui’s tails felt to surface in her mind.
She swallowed, almost imperceptibly, and, trying to sound restrained, replied to his message: [That’s fine.]
A hint of a smile appeared in Yan Huoshui’s eyes. [Alright then. Then I’d love for Lanlan to touch them.]
’This kind of life seems rather wonderful,’ Shi Lan thought to herself.
And as she chatted with everyone, the boredom of the voyage faded away without her even noticing.
Soon, the spaceship landed on Yaoxing.
