Transmigration & Reverse Transmigration

No. 11: Uke

Sometime later.

Who? Who was this? This self-important, willful, rascal of a brat, who was he?

I remember clearly that I rescued a slim and frail, docile young man! I really was blind! My hands and toes trembled as I stared at the "little beauty" smiling at me while dressed in one of his 12-layer robes. Time to go back to one month ago. First, the bishounen"s name.

"My name"s Minmin, what about yours?"

Bishounen: "Xiao Shou1"

I was shocked. "You"re called xiaoshou (uke)?!"2

Bishounen: "Mm."

No wonder, I thought as I started at this beautiful boy. See, that"s why he was a bottom! Who told you to be called Xiao Shou/xiaoshou (uke)? So you have to bear the weight of your name no matter what you are! 

A cold chill crept up the back of a certain youth as he was being started at. As for what happened afterwards…

I furiously shook off somebody"s octopus arms. "Let go!"

Xiao Shou: "I won"t."

I grew angry. "I"ve already saved your life, so what else do you want me to do?!"

Xiao Shou: "Since you saved me, you have to look after me!"

I grew even angrier. "What kind of twisted logic is this?!"

Xiao Shou: "When you were dealing with my injuries just then, you already saw my entire body. You have to take responsibility!"

I raised my head to shout at the skies. "Is there any reason left in this world?!"

Regarding problems related to the bishounen after the accident:

Xiao Shou: "Why do you want to shave my eyebrows?!"

I gave a lewd giggle. "Only through suffering can you become a man amongst men! Young Master Xiao, can"t you sacrifice a pair of eyebrows for the sake of your grand revenge?"

Xiao Shou (turning stern): "Shave them!"

I laughed sinisterly in my heart. I"d long wanted to showcase j.a.pan"s "moth eyebrows" makeup, and here was a perfect test subject to try it out on!

Xiao Shou: "Why did I need to wear rouge and lipstick?!"

I adopted a stern countenance.  "Only through suffering can you become a man amongst men! Young Master Xiao, if you can"t bear this for the sake of your grand revenge…"

Xiao Shou (listless): "Put them on."

I laughed sinisterly in my heart. Ahaha~a spot of vermillion on the lips. I really want to see what happens when he gets close to a man!

Xiao Shou: "I don"t want to wear so many layers! What kind of clothes are these?! I"m already wearing eight layers! There"s still this many?!"

I adopted a stern countenance.  "Only through suffering…"

Xiao Shou (more dead than alive): "…add it on…"

The 12-layer robes were enough cover up the differences between male and female figures while being difficult to remove. It prevented him from running amok while making it easy to overwhelm him…

"Starting from today, you"ll be my servant girl. We"ll just call you Shou"er~"

Xiao Shou (curling his lip in contempt)： "No! What Shou"er?! So girly!"

I gave a brilliant smile as I shook out a long list of names. "All right, then what about Little Shou? Frail Shou? Lunar New Year? Number 0…"

Xiao Shou (face drenched in cold sweat): "Just call me Shou"er!"

Time will now return to the present…

—

That "little beauty" dressed in one of the 12 robes lay on the ground.

Xiao Shou: "I don"t care. I"m too tired to walk, who told you to dress me up in such stupid, heavy clothing? Give me a piggyback ride!"

I was furious. "I won"t!"

Xiao Shou: "Then…you carry me."

I roared with rage. "That"s not the problem here!"

The two of us were in the middle of an argument when the trees around us stirred noisily. Suddenly, a strong and good-natured young man emerged, face full of smiles as he saw me. "I"ve finally found you, Miss Minmin!" On closer inspection, I found that it was the props master for the stage, Xiao Hu3.

"What is it?" I shifted my body to shield Xiao Shou as I handed over his fan.

"Something big"s happened!" Xiao Hu rushed over and grabbed my hand before running out. I"d mixed and mingled with those art designers all day so that I was used to acting casually around them. I allowed him to pull me along as we ran, speeding up my steps so we hurried along.

"The props we prepared last night were all burnt this morning for no reason. The performance is tonight! Everyone"s anxious…"

We were just talking when a dark shadow suddenly ran forward and inserted himself between us before s.n.a.t.c.hing back my wrist. Xiao Shou"s face looked displeased as he glared at Xiao Hu. "If it"s that serious, why aren"t you hurrying up? How much time will we waste by pulling and hauling people along?!" And then he tugged me away as he ran like mad.

Who was the one who said his clothes were too heavy for walking? This tiny brat ran even faster than me!

Because the props had been unexpectedly ruined, the entire Hidden Spring Brothel had pitched in to buy materials and make them anew. Of course, a certain person stubbornly stuck himself to my side as I went out shopping. Autumn Leaf City may have been located on the western borders, but it was a flourishing trade center for all sorts of goods. During this time of day, it was more bustling than ever before. Why? Because it was almost time for a certain person"s once-in-month performance. Every month around this time, various distinguished personages all gathered in Autumn Leaf City for a glimpse of Later Ming"s most graceful lady! For example, just this time we had Later Ming"s third imperial prince, Princess Canglei4, the emperor"s current favorite person, Duke Luo5…basically, I"d stirred up the entire economy of Autumn Leaf City. Even a silk ribbon used in one of my performances could sell for thousands of taels!

Currently, this very same ribbon was adorning a certain dejected, dust-covered servant as she carried a big pile of materials on her shoulders while leading a veiled beauty with effort through the crowds…

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d…you darned child! It"s not like you"ll die from helping me carry a few things! How could you bear to see a frail girl suffer?" I huffed and puffed, venting my anger at a certain "beauty."

"I don"t want to~" the "beauty" lightly waved his fan. "Right now, you"re dressed up as my servant. How can a servant let her lady carry things in the streets? …ah! There"s so many people over there, let"s go! See what"s going on!"

I exerted great effort to maintain the balance of materials in my arms as Xiao Shou dragged me to the source of the lively crowd. In my heart, I shouted, O Heavens…strike him dead with lightning!

When we got closer, we found that it was an illegal peddler stand selling precious stones. The seller had a faint beard on his face, and was currently hawking a jade pendant that  he held up in the air.

"First-cla.s.s Lantian jade6, only 500 taels! You"ll regret it if you miss it!"

I"ve never been able to tell high quality jade pendants from green-colored gla.s.s, much less the mindsets of people who wear strings of random rocks around their necks. My interest was already waning when Xiao Shou suddenly s.n.a.t.c.hed up a jade pendant and turned it around in his hands for close scrutiny. Soon afterwards, his hands began to tremble, and I hastily placed my hands below his in case he dropped and broke it. It was worth 500 taels of silver!

"Shou"er…Miss Shou"er! What"s wrong? Is this a fake?" I couldn"t recognize jade…but even so, there shouldn"t be such an exaggerated reaction if it was a fake, right?

"….grandma…" Xiao Shou"s eyes stared fixedly at the jade pendant, his entire body shaking.

"Grandma?" I hastily moved to prop him up.

"…this jade pendant belongs to my family," he said under his breath.

"Ah?!"

"To celebrate my grandmother"s 72nd birthday…I spent 100 gold taels to buy her this congratulatory gift."

100 taels of gold?! So this darned brat used to be that rich?!

"I never thought it"d end up in this marketplace…" he expelled a breath before putting the jade back where he found it and leaving the crowd behind.

"My grandma doted on me the most. When I gave her this jade, she adored it to bits, because I was the one who carved Shou7 on its surface. She fussed over the place where I cut my finger for it for a long time…later on, when my entire family was decapitated, grandma bribed the executioner to make sure that she"d be buried together with that pendant…" Xiao Shou"s voice grew softer and softer until he reached the corner of the street, where he hugged his shoulders and leaned against the wall to slide down into a sitting position. His head drooped, but I couldn"t see his expression clearly because of his veil.

Behind us, the bearded merchant was still raising up a clamor. "If you"re not buying, why stare at it for so long? Don"t look if you don"t have the money…"

I stood in the street corner, feeling the cold wind blow by us as I experienced for the first time how desolate the fall of a great family could be… 

Things remain the same, but the people change. Everything"s gone to rest except for the flow of tears…

"Buried together." Did that mean… that someone had dug up their ancestral graves…?

I couldn"t fathom the kind of pain this must have brought to the heart of a person from the past. But I know that Xiao Shou"s heart must be a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand times more miserable than mine…heavy enough that he couldn"t even stand up…

I offered him the jade pendant. "You have to keep something this important safe. Don"t let the bad guys steal it away again."

He didn"t accept it, but raised his head in shock, traces of anger in his eyes. "You…"

"I"m not giving it to you as a gift! It"s a total 500 taels of silver. In the future when you make a name for yourself, you have to pay it back double! There"s no brush and ink here, but when we go back to Hidden Spring Brothel, you have to write me a receipt…" Before I could finish speaking, he tightly embraced me in his arms!

"Minmin…" his voice trembled, his breath by my ear making me shake as well. "….thank you…"

"Mm…no need to be polite," I leaned into his embrace and replied docilely.

After we vented off our feelings (take note, it"s feelings and not anything else, don"t think crooked thoughts), it was already dusk. Xiao Hu was probably spitting blood by now just waiting for our materials to arrive. Carrying a stack of items (that a certain person took the initiative to claim a bunch of), we were just preparing to go back when an impossible figure appeared out of the corner of my eyes. 

The things in my arms clattered to the ground!

"Minmin?!" Xiao Shou"s shocked cry never reached my ears.

I turned around in an instant and rushed towards a man in the distance. Impossible! This was impossible!

But that face, that face truly was…he truly was…

"Zhi Yuan!" I cried out, grabbing the man by the arm!