Life in a Dream

Xue Linglong herself seemed deeply absorbed in the dream and never once considered interrupting Bai Lan’s beautiful fantasy.

From this unfamiliar yet strangely familiar man, she felt something she had never experienced before.

Love.

Originally, she did not understand such emotions. She had matured quickly since childhood, yet her emotional world had never truly developed.

But Bai Lan’s dream vividly portrayed every stage of a couple’s life—from their first meeting, to falling in love, and finally to marriage.

Xue Linglong experienced all of it.

Perhaps it was simply a fortunate coincidence, but Xue Linglong was someone who matured extremely quickly.

Anything she experienced once, she could quickly comprehend.

For Bai Lan, this dream would merely be a pleasant fantasy that she would soon forget after waking.

But for Xue Linglong, it would become an unforgettable experience.

Dreams often appear vague and fragmented to the dreamer, but many dreams actually possess a complete narrative.

Because dreams sometimes skip rapidly from one scene to another, the dreamer usually cannot remember every detail and only retains a vague impression.

For example, when Bai Lan woke up later, she would probably only remember that she had dreamed about marrying Xue Linglong.

She would not remember the details of everything that had happened in the dream.

But Xue Linglong was different.

She experienced the entire dream clearly.

As time slowly passed, the dream finally came to an end.

Xue Linglong woke up before Bai Lan.

Her eyes suddenly opened, completely clear, with none of the usual haziness of someone who had just awakened.

The first thing she did was glance at Bai Lan, who was still sleeping beside her.

To be honest, Xue Linglong’s expression was now far more complicated than before.

Before entering the dream, she had understood nothing about such feelings.

In her mind, her relationship with Bai Lan had simply been that of sisters.

But after experiencing the dream, things were no longer the same.

Because in that dream, she had spent an entire lifetime as Bai Lan’s wife.

And those memories were extremely vivid to her.

“What a scoundrel… to have such a dream.”

“And my own curiosity dragged me into it.”

“Now I’ve fallen straight into the trap.”

“You really are shameless, taking advantage like that.”

Xue Linglong muttered quietly while looking at Bai Lan.

This single dream had transformed an innocent young girl into a woman who now understood far more about emotions and relationships.

If Bai Lan knew about this, no one could guess what her reaction might be.

At that moment, Bai Lan finally woke up.

She remained in a daze for quite a while before noticing a familiar, beautiful face hovering close in front of her.

“What’s wrong? Still half asleep?”

“Still dreaming?” Xue Linglong asked with a playful smile.

Hearing her voice, Bai Lan finally came fully to her senses.

“Eh? Linglong… did I fall asleep?” Bai Lan asked as she sat up.

A slight headache lingered as Xue Linglong gently helped her up.

“Yes,” Xue Linglong replied.

“You suddenly fell asleep while I was playing.”

Her tone carried a faint hint of dissatisfaction.

“That’s very impolite. I was planning to ask for your opinion on my new song.”

Hearing this, Bai Lan felt extremely embarrassed.

“Ahem… sorry about that.”

“Maybe your music was so relaxing that I fell asleep without realizing it.”

“How long did I sleep?”

She stretched slightly and sighed comfortably.

“I feel incredibly rested… better than I’ve felt in a long time.”

“And I think I had a very long dream.”

“A dream?” Xue Linglong said, her lips curling into a mischievous smile.

“It wasn’t a spring dream, was it?”

“Eh?” Bai Lan froze.

For some reason, seeing Xue Linglong’s playful expression made her entire body stiffen.

Her memory suddenly became unusually clear.

And once it did, she remembered exactly what she had dreamed about.

Now she was truly mortified.

She had actually dreamed something so embarrassing—and the person in the dream was currently staring at her with that teasing smile.

“I… no! Of course not!”

“It was just a normal dream,” Bai Lan said quickly, trying to deny it.

But her denial only made Xue Linglong slightly dissatisfied.

‘Men really are all the same…’ Xue Linglong thought to herself.

‘They’re happy when dreaming, but too embarrassed to admit it afterward.’

‘If I didn’t understand these things before, that would be one thing.’

‘But now that I do… there’s no way I’ll let you escape so easily.’

She had even unconsciously learned several modern expressions from Bai Lan’s memories.

If Bai Lan had carefully observed Xue Linglong’s behavior, she would have noticed that her personality had subtly changed since yesterday.

“Really?” Xue Linglong said slowly.

“But, Sister, while you were dreaming, you kept calling my name.”

“That made me feel a little embarrassed.”

“I also remember you telling me before that you used to be a man.”

“So… was your dream about a man and a woman?”

As she spoke, Xue Linglong leaned closer.

Their faces were now extremely close.

Bai Lan could clearly smell the faint fragrance coming from Xue Linglong.

Combined with her intense gaze, Bai Lan suddenly felt completely overwhelmed.

The icy jade earrings on her ears flickered with light, indicating they were suppressing her emotions.

“Eh… um… it’s getting late.”

“I should go back now.”

“If I stay too long, my senior sisters might come looking for me.”

Bai Lan panicked.

She immediately stood up and ran out of Xue Linglong’s courtyard at top speed, completely ignoring her usual calm demeanor.

Xue Linglong watched her suddenly flee and stood there in confusion for a moment.

She quickly ran to the balcony and called out.

“Sister, wait!”

“I was just teasing you! Why are you so scared?”

But Bai Lan was already running away in panic.

Because she was rushing so quickly, she accidentally stepped on the hem of her skirt.

She stumbled and fell to the ground.

The sight shocked Xue Linglong.

But Bai Lan immediately jumped back up, grabbed her skirt, and ran away again at incredible speed, disappearing in an instant.

“Was that really necessary…?” Xue Linglong murmured with amusement.

After saying this, she smiled softly and sat down on the balcony.

What Bai Lan did not know was that her dream had completely transformed an innocent girl.

And what about Bai Lan herself?

She was in full panic mode.

Why?

Because the more Xue Linglong spoke, the clearer the dream became in her memory.

And then she remembered something extremely important.

The Linglong Body had the ability to see into a person’s heart.

While she had been sleeping, she had no mental defenses at all.

Which meant there was a very high chance that Xue Linglong had seen everything in her dream.

It was like doing something embarrassing—and then having the other person find out.

“I’m finished… she definitely saw my dream.”

“Yun Yao, does the Linglong Body have the ability to see other people’s dreams?” Bai Lan asked nervously after leaving Tianyin Pavilion.

“Yes,” Yun Yao replied calmly.

“The Linglong Body can see into a person’s inner thoughts.”

“And dreams are naturally included.”

“You didn’t… have some strange dream that she discovered, did you?”

Yun Yao clearly had no idea what Bai Lan had dreamed.

“Eh? I’m not telling you!”

“In the future, I’ll have to be much more careful around that little girl.”

Bai Lan cursed herself for being careless enough to fall asleep in Xue Linglong’s residence.

Simply put, she had lowered her guard too much around her.

But this was actually normal.

When people were around someone they liked, their intelligence and vigilance often dropped significantly.

By the time Bai Lan returned to the Immortal’s Abode, dusk had already fallen.

She looked at the glowing sunset in the western sky and let out a quiet sigh.