"Xiaojie...""Shh!" Sam shushed, quickly looking over her shoulder at the very distraught, very fidgety maid following on her footsteps.
"Bu-But XiaoJie..." Ah Mei tried again, her entire body glued to the Southern Hall"s outer wall "Is this really all right...?".
Sam crossed her arms, turning back just enough so that Ah Mei could see her crocked eyebrow and mischievous smile.
"Right or wrong, this was YOUR idea, hum?" she challenged in a whispered voice, trying to hide a grin "Anyway, it"ll be just for a few hours... We will be in and out before anyone notices", she added rea.s.suringly, seeing all the blood drain from the younger girl"s face.
"Xiaojie... This is not right!" she whined "Let"s go back and talk to Third Young Miss! She will definitely grant you permission to go out".
"Yeah, tailed by at least two thugs!" she mumbled at herself, her eyes focusing once more on the pair of guards on duty pa.s.sing by the always-deserted Southern Entrance. The best way to get out unnoticed.
The thing is... Sam was bored out of her mind!!
For the past five days, after running off from her room in the middle of the night, she had been having more and more trouble finding sleep. The nights were too dark, the hours too long, even the shadows that danced on the floor would suddenly shape-shift into those terrible images she seemed unable to forget.
The smell of blood and sweat hung in the air, just waiting for her eyes to close...
She didn"t know whether it was only her overstimulated imagination working an extra shift or Ying Yue"s old memories finding a way out, but truth be told, she was getting to a point where it didn"t matter anymore! Her body ached, her eyes stung and the dark shadows marring her face were becoming hard to pa.s.s as nothing of importance.
At first, as word got out that she had been waking up screaming and sweating, Qing Shan had wanted to call for the doctor, but Sam simply wouldn"t hear of it.
She didn"t need an old quack messing with her head! She just needed time to adjust – and maybe some cold medicine, as it always seemed to nock her right out.
Fei Hong hadn"t been all too keen either about her decision, but to her utter surprise, he just pursed his lips, sighed deeply... And took a strong stand by her side, letting everyone know she had his entire support.
It seemed that, whatever bond he and the real Ying Yue had in the past, it was indeed a strong one. Strong enough that Sam couldn"t help being curious... And maybe just a tiny bit jealous.
The thing is, even though she didn"t want doctors involved, to simply stay on her bed, turning over and over around the mattress, wasn"t all that charming an idea either.
If it were back on her own time, she would have tried reading a book, watching some old Grey"s Anatomy"s episodes... Even playing Candy Crush on her cellphone...!
But here?
She couldn"t read. She didn"t have electricity. And the only game available at the moment would just end up giving her a headache.
So, she did the only thing she could: redecorate.
It was a bad habit she had her mom to thank for. Whenever she felt restless, her mother would start moving the furniture, washing the silverware, organizing wardrobes... Even hitting the rugs!
So, on a particularly long night, Sam had taken out every single thing the last Fifth Young Miss owned and put it elsewhere. It was a dirty, dusty work, but kept her hands occupied.
Books, clothes, jewelry, scrolls, furniture, she had scattered everything on the floor all around her.
She had been in the middle of organizing a particularly stuffy shelf, with some embossed jade carvings, when she started missing a particularly beautiful engraved box she had been toying with just a moment ago.
Her head had told her it was only a stupid box.
But her obsessive heart made her nervous. It would fit perfectly there! And Sam knew, she simply KNEW if she didn"t find the blasted box, she"d be thinking about it for the rest of her days!
"Where is that thing...!" she mumbled, looking around "I"m sure I put them right here, somewhere..."
It was then that it happened. Sam had tried wobbling through the room, her eyes scanning the ground trying to look for a missing jewelry box.
"Where... Where... AHH!" she screamed, feeling her foot slip under her and trying desperately to grab at anything, really anything she could find.
For the briefest of seconds, her fingers grasped at the smooth surface of a particular jade emblem connected to the wall... Just before the thing gave way, making her hand slip and she land painfully on a hip on the ground.
"Outch!" Sam complained, looking resentfully at the wall "Stupid carv..." she stopped mid sentence, her eyes widening as she saw what looked like a secret compartment etched to the wall opening.
"What... The h.e.l.l" she mumbled, ignoring the pain on her hip and getting up once more, her eyes unmoving, etched to the hidden drawer. When she was close enough to touch, Sam finally understood what she was seeing.
Curious, she took everything out, her hands touching the blue covers only lightly.
"But... These are all... Books?" she whispered with a frown, flipping through the pages and studying the symbols, written with a slight inclination to the right "Why would anyone want to hide books in a safe?".
It didn"t make sense to her! Jewels, treasure maps, family secrets maybe... But books? Of course, she couldn"t read them for her life, but they didn"t look anything out of the ordinary. Those volumes were just like any other volume she had seen around that place.
Weighting the three tomes in her hands, Sam left her eyes to roam around, her thoughts scattering.
"Ying Yue, Ying Yue... What is it that you were truly hiding?" she whispered "What exactly happened to you on the day I came here?".
She didn"t have answers yet, and whenever she tried to breach the topic with her sister, Qing Shan looked so uncomfortable she couldn"t bring herself to keep probing.
Since she had started interacting with the Jiang family, Sam felt like she was trying to play a game without being told the rules. She was always just observing, just going with the flow. Stuck on her rooms, having breakfast, having half-answered questions... It was fine when she thought she could go back home at anytime.
But now it was almost a month. Twenty eight days since she had landed on that place, and there was no indication her current situation was going to change anytime soon.
Sam was tired of just waiting, of knowing nothing, of not doing anything! So, instead of keep sulking everyday on her stuffy quarters, she decided to take matters on her own hands!
And Ah Mei had given her just the way to start...
"Xiaojie, you are already up!" the maid had greeted her enthusiastically just that morning, instructing the other girls to put the hot water and hygiene items aside as per usual.
"Leave, leave, leave!" Sam singsonged, putting a single hand out of the covers and in the air, motioning for the two girls to get out. She didn"t feel particularly happy that morning, and having scared maids all around her would definitely not improve her mood. "Ah Mei, get rid of them!" she asked in a m.u.f.fled voice "I"m not getting up today!"
Trying to control the urge to roll her eyes in face of her mistress"s overly dramatic antics, Ah Mei simply gestured for the servants to leave before closing the door and start preparing Sam"s matinal routine.
"You can stop. I"m not going. Really" Sam insisted, listening her maid going over her stuff "You can have the day free. Like paid vacations. What do you think?" she tried sounding more persuasive.
"Xiaojie, Third Young Miss will be waiting for you in the gardens" she reminded her dutifully "It is a particularly beautiful day outside".
"Urgh! I know, I know!" she complained. Why couldn"t anyone respect her desire to feel grumpy and gloomy for once?
She didn"t want sunny skies! She wanted dark, heavy clouds and rain and thunders and a weather that matched her sour mood. Why didn"t anything go right for her recently?
"Ah! What is this?" she herd Ah Mai whisper to herself, over the sound of scratching paper.
Frowning slightly, Sam lowered a bit of the covers, just enough so she could peek at what the girl was doing.
"Oh, it"s nothing" she said, realizing Ah Mei was studying some of her very unfruitful tries at writing "I was just copying some lines, nothing much. You can just trow it out" she continued, looking resentfully at all the papers crowding her desk.
"Ah! it"s beautiful, isn"t it?" Ah Mei retorted, looking at her with sparkles in her eyes "Miss, have you finally remembered how to write?"
"Ah... Well, not exactly" she mumbled, turning her back to the younger girl "Just trow it out".
If it was possible, Sam"s mood had gone from cold to frizzing in a matter of seconds.
"Ah... I wish I could read like this..." she heard her maid sighing between the sound of crunching paper "It is just like those younger master"s works at school..." she mumbled to herself "So beautiful..."
"AHH!" Sam sat up straight, her movements so suddenly that poor Ah Mei jumped at least three meters high on the air, scattering paper all over the floor.
"That"s it!" She exclaimed, remembering one of the first conversations the two of them"d had "The School!".
And, just like that, a new plan had started forming on her mind.
Some time latter, when she met her siblings for their usual breakfast near the gardens, Sam decided to carefully taste the waters, just asking about wether she could go out and take a look at the city.
"Of course you can!" Qing Shan a.s.sured her with a warm, happy smile "We will just a.s.sign some of the guards to accompany you and...".
And Sam had stopped her right there. She was a grown woman. Gosh, she was older then the two of them (at least on her world she was)! But now she had to bow to being followed up and down by some creepy guards?!
No. Way. In. h.e.l.l.
Besides, if Ah Mei"s intel was correct, the school accepted male students only. Even if she could persuade the teacher to take her in (as a mare expectator at least), she was sure her family wouldn"t be particularly pleased about it.
If for anything else, even Fei Hong didn"t back down this time.
"If you are uncomfortable, I can ask Ye Qi to go with you" he had offered, his eyes hard as steel when meeting hers.
She had felt frustrated. She had felt wronged.
So she decided to act the most petulant she could.
And sneaking out did it in her dictionary! Even if she wouldn"t be able to flaunter it at her over-protective siblings. It was a victory she needed to feel a bit more like herself.
" Ah Mei!" she had called, just as her bedroom doors closed behind her.
"Miss?"
" Get ready. We are going out!".
"AH?!".
"Just make sure there"s no-one around, ok?" she continued, completely ignoring her servant"s desperate look as she put back on her outer boots "There is probably a back door or something in this place, right?"
"But... But Xiaojie...".
"Ah Mei, it is just a walk! You will be with me the whole time, right? What could possibly go wrong?"
And so, here they were. Hiding behind the most secluded building of their Manor, waiting for the path to clear so that they could get out of the house. The warm, intense morning sun beat down on their heads like a stuffy duvet, making Sam slightly uncomfortable under all those layers of clothes.
She wondered whether she would get used to it someday!
"They are gone" she whispered suddenly, noticing the small path between the trees and high gra.s.s was once again clear "Let"s go!".
She had just moved get out of the wall"s protection when a small stone landed in front of her feet, making her jump back in a fright.
"What the..."
But just as the words started leaving her mouth, she heard the distinct sound of steps coming from the building"s other side, seconds before a tall, impotent frame appeared on her line of sight.
Eyes wide as saucers, she backed away desperately, crouching low and gripping Ah Mei"s hand tightly in an indication that she should stay down and quite as well. Fear and antic.i.p.ation coiled on her stomach, making the hot day suddenly colder.
The man just a few matters from her was tall, with his jet black hair half tied in a high bun, with the rest cascading down his pristine whitish clothes, only tainted by the light yellow of his outerwear. At first sight, he seemed nothing out of the ordinary, just like so many other middle cla.s.sed people on that world... But then something caught his attention, and he turned his face towards her.
Sam gasped, putting a hand in front of her mouth to try and m.u.f.fle the sound.
She was stunned. She was completely still. She was completely, and utterly mesmerized.
His face was like a drawing, with willowy, soft lines that seemed to flow just like the ocean waves in a windless day. His skin as pearly white, contrasting with the small fringe of hair brushing one side of his forehead.
And then there was his eyes... Even from that distance, she could tell they were like a deep, bottomless abyss ready to devour anyone bold enough to try and uncover its secrets.
"Oh my, I think I have a crush!" she sighed dreamingly at herself.
Just then, she heard the sound of leaves brushing and twigs breaking. Probably what had caught the man"s attention in first place.
"You are here" he said, and his words, as soft as silk, contained a layer of affection he wasn"t able to hide, in spite of his stone-cold face.
Sam frowned. Just who was he talking t...
Her figure moved slowly out of the shadows, the strong, warm rays of light bathing her lithe body like a halo.
"Qing Shan... Greets your Highness, General He".
Sam gasped.
What exactly had she walked herself into?