Chapter 1: Soul Travels to Ancient Times

Chapter 1: Soul Travels to Ancient Times

The sky was gray, but there was a glimmer of light on the horizon. The old wooden door was pushed open with a creak. There were sounds coming from the yard one after another. Some people walked out of the room, some were getting dressed and combing their hair, and sometimes people were talking.

In the dim room, there was a large bunk bed with more than ten people sleeping. Some had already put on their clothes, got out of bed, put on their shoes and went to wash up; some had just half-heartedly lifted their quilts and were about to get up and dress, all busy with their own things. There was only one quilt in the entire bunk bed, which had never moved, and seemed out of place in the gradually busy house.

There was nothingness, no sound, and no object. Suddenly, consciousness returned, and all five senses returned. Noisy sounds flooded into my ears, like a firecracker suddenly thrown into a calm lake. The pain in my head was unbearable, and Li Ai struggled to wake up.

A hand reached out and touched Li Ai's forehead, then sighed, fortunately the fever had subsided. Turning his head to look at the sky outside, he patted the old quilt: "Chun Ni! Chun Ni!! Chun Ni?! Wake up!! Get up! It's too late, you will definitely be scolded by Aunt Zhang!"

Li Ai finally opened her eyes, and in the darkness, she tried hard to see the face in front of her. The light in the room was too dim, and the face in front of her was blurry. It should be... a girl? . . . Li Ai's mind was a mess at the moment. What was going on?

"Get up quickly, I'm going to work first." As soon as he finished speaking, he walked out of the room.

Li Ai struggled to get up, her hands and feet weak, and she sat on the bed to relax. She looked around, the unfamiliar room, the turbid air, and her head was dizzy.

The light in the room was dim. Li Ai opened her eyes wide and looked around. Where was this?

"Is anyone there?" A small, weak voice floated in the empty house.

Li Ai:? ?

"What's going on?!" Li Ai covered her mouth in surprise, scared! "My voice?!"

Li Ai slowly climbed out of bed and walked out the door. What came into view was a narrow and dilapidated courtyard and a wooden house with a strong sense of age.

Is this the countryside? Li Ai covered her head with her hands and recalled that she seemed to be driving a motorhome on the road, on a self-driving tour. The road was slippery on a rainy day, and at a bend, the motorhome broke through the roadside guardrail and fell down the mountain... Then her mind went blank.

In this situation, could it be that she survived the disaster and was rescued by someone?

The facts immediately slapped her in the face. She was overthinking and thought her luck was too good.

A woman in a brown linen dress rushed in from the gate of the yard: "You little bitch!!! How dare you be lazy in front of me!!" She walked over and glanced at Li Ai: "You little bitch, don't you have any shame? It's early in the morning, and you are standing barefoot at the door without any outer clothes. You look stupid and possessed!!" She slapped Li Ai's arm and pushed Li Ai into the house.

Only then did Li Ai realize that she, with her little arms and legs, hands and feet, was standing in the room in even greater confusion.

"What?! Are you waiting for me to put them on for you?!" As the slap was about to fall, Li Ai immediately came back to her senses and fumbled around on the bed. She put on the clothes and pants she found, and bent down to look for shoes. There was only a pair of small cloth shoes of unknown color on the ground, so she picked them up and put them on her feet.

Li Ai had a bad feeling as she was putting on the clothes. How could this be like the plot in novels where the soul was transported into someone else's body?

Following the woman, he stumbled out of the yard, walked through a long and narrow passage, passed through a small wooden door on a high wall, and entered another yard. Li Ai became more and more frightened as he walked, and all he saw was the ancient garden scenery.

After turning several corners, the woman entered a narrow courtyard and quickly went into the house.

Li Ai followed behind, walked in and looked at the smoky kitchen in front of her... Most of her fantasies along the way were instantly shattered.

The woman quickly tied up her sleeves with her sleeves and prepared to work. She looked up and saw Li Ai still standing stupidly at the door. She got angry and said, "Hurry up and light the fire! What are you doing? You feel itchy today, right?"

Li Ai quickly responded, "Oh, oh, here I come." She would deal with the people and things in front of her first.

The sun rose from the east and hung high in the sky. With it came the heat. Li Ai, who was sitting on a small wooden stool, watching the stove and burning the fire, was so hot that her face turned red and she was sweating profusely.

Li Ai looked at her own clothes, then at the clothes of the maids and women in the kitchen, and at the scorching sun and high temperature outside. She was sure that it was summer here.

The woman who took her to the kitchen in the morning was called Aunt Zhang, the cook. The original owner of Li Ai's current body was called Chunni, a fire-making maid who followed Aunt Zhang and did odd jobs in the kitchen and obeyed her orders.

Li Ai has no memories of the original owner and knows very little about the situation here, which is a serious problem.

On the first day of her soul traveling across time and space, Li Ai endured the days as if they were centuries, the hours as if they were years, the minutes as if they were months, and the seconds as if they were days. She finally made it to the kitchen to finish cooking dinner for her masters.

After a day of steam sauna in the kitchen, Li Ai finally sat in the yard to enjoy the natural breeze. Sitting on a small wooden stool, holding a small bowl of yellow rice porridge in one hand and a multi-grain pancake in the other, she swallowed her saliva. The porridge was more water than rice, and the pancake was fresh out of the pot. It was okay to take a bite, with its original flavor. Eat, eat, fill your stomach first. After a day of cooking and doing odd jobs in the kitchen, her fantasy was completely shattered.

Li Ai finished dinner with Aunt Zhang in the kitchen and sat in the yard to enjoy the breeze and cool off. Everyone else had left, and she was worried about when she could go back to rest. Her little body was running out of energy! There was another big problem: how could she get back to the yard where she was staying? She had followed them here in the morning, turning left and right, and couldn't remember the route at all.

A head popped in from the courtyard door and peered into the courtyard. Seeing the person sitting in the courtyard, he smiled widely and shouted, "Aunt Zhang, hello! Aunt Zhang, come and take a rest!"

"You rascal, have you finished your work? Why are you running around everywhere?" Aunt Zhang said, glaring at him.

"Hehehehe, I've finished my work and came to see my sister. Aunt Zhang, I want to talk to my sister." A teenager stepped into the yard and said to Aunt Zhang with a flattering smile.

"Go, go." Aunt Zhang said as she took off her apron, hung it on the rack, and prepared to go back.

The boy waved at Li Ai.

"Oh..." Li Ai stood up slowly and walked towards the gate. Damn, another brother suddenly appeared... She had no memory of her original self, what if she was exposed later? She gritted her teeth and walked out of the yard reluctantly.

"This girl is not happy to see her brother coming? She might have been possessed by evil spirits! She looks like a ghost the whole day! Come earlier tomorrow! If you still want me to call you, I will punish you!" Aunt Zhang said as she walked outside.

Boy: "Aunt Zhang, take care!"

After Aunt Zhang walked away, the boy grabbed Li Ai's hand and led her around to a secluded corner. He looked around and then leaned over to her ear and whispered, "Coke, Sprite, or milk tea, which one do you want?"

Li Ai: Huh???

Her eyes were as big as bells, her mouth opened wider and wider, and she turned her head stiffly to look at him.

The boy looked at her unusually shocked reaction. He couldn't hide his surprise and asked in a trembling voice, "You...you...which one do you want to drink?"

Li Ai looked at him in disbelief and said, "Milk tea, matcha flavor with more ingredients, 7% sweet, add ice, and sprinkle chopped pecans on the milk cap."

Boy: "Li Ai!!"

Li Ai: "Li Hao?!" She looked at Li Hao, who was as dark and thin as a bamboo stick. What kind of magical world is this? Today is so exciting!

Li Ai pinched her thigh hard, her face wrinkled in pain.

Li Hao: "Stop pinching! Accept the reality!"

Li Ai lowered her voice and said, "I was here when I opened my eyes this morning!"

Li Hao leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I've been here for 17 days! I was also confused when I first arrived. Do you remember anything?"

Li Ai: “?”

Li Hao pointed at the thin girl.

Li Ai: "The memory of the original body? No! Do you have it?"

Li Hao: "You don't have it either! Hey! When I first came here, I didn't dare to talk much. I could only listen and watch. After getting familiar with it for a while, I knew some things about my original body and this place. These two siblings are the housekeepers in the mansion. They were bought from human traffickers and have been in the mansion for more than a year. They don't have the memories of their original owners, and I don't know where they are from. Forget it! This is not important now! I thought, if I can travel through time, will you also travel through time? I often change my tricks to try you. Alas, my efforts are not in vain."

"What do you mean by unimportant? Without the memories of our original bodies, how can we survive here? I didn't expect you to tell me to come here!!! I woke up this morning and was so scared!" Li Ai couldn't help but raise her voice.

Li Hao quickly raised his finger: "Keep your voice down! It's better than being dead, even though the place of resurrection is a bit strange!"

Li Ai: “…”

"In the old world, you had an accident before me, okay! How could it be that I missed you! What's more, being able to have a chance to live again is also a big prize!"

Li Ai looked as if she had seen a ghost. "I am reborn in ancient times as a servant girl?! I won the lottery?!"

Li Hao: "Stop! We'll talk later! I said it's not important now that I don't have the memory of my original body, because two days ago, I overheard the steward and his wife saying that the city might be breached! He asked his wife to pack up the gold and silver and be prepared! The owner of this house had already packed up the valuables and quietly sent them out. The young masters and young ladies in the mansion had already secretly left! But I don't know which dynasty this was, and I didn't dare to ask for fear of suspicion."

"Ah?!" Is it so exciting! An unknown dynasty, or a chaotic world of war? !

There were footsteps not far away, and Li Hao hurriedly said, "If the city is really breached, it will happen suddenly, so don't run around. You are not familiar with the environment, and I will come to find you. Let's do this first, someone is coming, you go back to your residence first."

"I don't remember the way back." Li Ai said anxiously.

"What are you two whispering about here?" A girl dressed as a maid turned around the corner.

"Hello, Sister Qiuju, where are you going to work?" Li Hao shouted with a smile and winked at Li Ai.

"Hello, Sister Qiuju."

Qiu Ju took out a rough cloth handkerchief, wiped the sweat off her face and said, "Hey, I'm tired after a day of work. I'm finally done. Let's go back to where I live."

Li Hao quietly pulled the corner of Li Ai's clothes, and Li Ai forced a smile, "Sister Qiuju, let's go. Let's go back together."

"Have you two finished talking?" Qiuju glanced at the brother and sister.

"She is young and ignorant, so I came here to give her some advice. She needs to be more diligent, have a keen eye, and listen to the aunts and sisters in the yard."

"You're the only one with a chatterbox like that." Qiuju said with a giggle.

"Sister Qiuju, let's go. Brother, you should go back quickly too." Li Ai said with a sweet smile.