Ch.2 My Soul Is Still Here (I)
She was in a bedroom.
Filled with numerous elaborate and delicate decorations, the room was graceful and enchanting. A gilded phoenix lantern hang on the wall, and both the screen and the tea table were dignified and elegant. Everything wore an antique style.
As to why she started to suspect that this wasn’t a joke was because after Chuyu came to her senses, she remembered that in any case she should be dead now.
Before waking up, the last thing that cogged in her memory was a plane accident. That wasn’t any good memory, but she had to face it.
Her plane crashed, then she found herself in this strange place, sleeping beside five naked youths, no injuries on her body, everything in the room were unrealistically antique and refined, and her hands……
Chuyu stared at her hands. These weren’t her hands at all! Dainty, pale, and delicate, the tender skin had no signs of scars or rough calluses. These hands were treated so well, that it definitely wasn’t Chuyu’s hands — her hands that were slender and strong, hands that accompanied her to the mountain peaks and into the primitive forests.
This was the greatest flaw, also the best evidence.
This wasn’t a joke. In all the people that she knew, no one could carry out such a big joke.
During her lifetime, Chuyu also used to read the popular light novels online during her spare time. Some of them did have plots involving time travel, the taking of other’s bodies, and resurrecting the dead, but although they were creative and interesting, Chuyu never considered them to be true. She just thought of them as wild imaginations. But when undeniable evidence was placed before her, Chuyu recalled this impossible possibility.
Unfamiliar environment, unfamiliar youths, and an unfamiliar body.
Besides time travel, Chuyu couldn’t think of any other plausible explanation.
Chuyu felt her vision go dark, almost fainting. Her heart contracted violently. She couldn’t deal with this huge change, but she forced herself to accept reality, and to start thinking.
The youth had a weird accent, and his p.r.o.nunciation was distinctively different from modern Chinese, as if it were some dialect, but not any that Chuyu knows of. But the strange thing is, Chuyu can still understand it perfectly, as if she were fluent with this p.r.o.nunciation all along.
Chuyu knew that after the the adaptation of thousands of years, the p.r.o.nunciation of ancient Chinese is different from modern Chinese. But this isn’t the important thing. What she wanted to know now was: Who is she? Where is she? And during what time period?
Bombarded by extreme panic and at a loss, but pressed to the line by reason, Chuyu suddenly felt as unperturbed as a computer, as if reason was extracted to form another soul, coldly observing and considering.
This youth addressed her as Princess. Judging by his clothing, he probably wasn’t from the Qing Dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty, so these two dynasties could be eliminated first. But was she really a Princess?
Thinking quickly, several thoughts flashed through Chuyu’s mind in a split second. She ordered in as steady a voice as she could maintain, “All of you, get up, and put your clothes on.” She regretted as soon as she said so, for what if they noticed that the p.r.o.nunciation was different? But right afterwards she also realized that her words, whether in tone or p.r.o.nunciation, had also changed along with this body.
The matter about the change in her p.r.o.nunciation could be put till later, because Chuyu saw clearly, that after she told the four youths to get up, a spark of surpris.e.m.e.nt flashed across the black irises of the youth that had been standing. Although it was gone in a split second, still it was caught by the sensitive Chuyu.
Did she say the wrong thing?
Her heart rate increasing, Chuyu guessed worriedly. But after the spark of surpris.e.m.e.nt flashed through the youth’s eyes, he put on a smiling face. “The Princess seems a little different today.” Then he tilted his head and commanded the four youths, “You all can leave now. We will summon you if needed.”
His words seemed to have much prestige. When Chuyu had told them to stop kneeling, the four youths stayed where they were, but once hearing his command, they stood up and clothed themselves. Chuyu even heard one of them give a sigh of relief. This made her feel even more suspicious and disturbed.
The four walked around the screen in front of the entrance and left, leaving only Chuyu and the haughty-looking youth in the room. Even though the youth appeared innocent and harmless, Chuyu still felt very uneasy. She spoke quietly, “You also go out.” What she needed was s.p.a.ce for her to calm down, and since the youth called her Princess, she believed she had at least some authority.
“Princess?” The youth was stunned, as if totally not expecting that he would also receive such treatment. His expression also changed, as if accusing Chuyu of doing something wrong. Chuyu began to feel diffident under his gaze, but now she couldn’t even settle herself, not to mention caring about how others felt.
After waiting for a while but not seeing Chuyu revoke her order, the youth’s expression became a little curious, and he nodded slightly: “Alright, Rong Zhi retires. But Princess, if there be any need, please feel free to summon Rong Zhi at any time.”
Finishing his sentence, the youth who called himself Rong Zhi unhurriedly followed the footsteps of the other four youths and left the bedroom. His steps were neither fast nor slow, and his back looked solitary and chilling in the dim light. So different from his gentle countenance.
Afterwards, Chuyu was left alone in the s.p.a.cious room. Engulfed by loneliness and helplessness, Chuyu tooks a couple of deep breaths to suppress the weakness breeding in her chest.
Even when she found herself lost in primitive forests, searching for a path out alone in the dark, she never felt that her future was so bleak.
Because this has already exceeded what she was able to control.
Still wrapped in the silk quilt, Chuyu subconsciously looked for clothing to conceal her body. On a square table not far from the bed, several pieces of clothing were folded neatly. The layer upon layer even made Chuyu a bit dizzy, not knowing which to put on first.
Not giving Chuyu time to think more, the timid voice of a girl sounded from outside the entrance, “Princess, Daisy is here to help you get dressed.”
At first Chuyu didn’t want to acknowledge it, but she changed her mind. She pressed her lips and called out in a bright voice, “Come in.”