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Chapter 2: 1990

Almost everyone in the room had gone outside. Her head felt dizzy. Li Wei looked around and failed to make heads or tails of her unusual surroundings.

She had only one thought in her mind. Find Zhao Qian and take revenge. But where could he be?

She sat down and wished for nothing more than to leave this horrible place. Just as she tried to stand up, pain shot through her legs. She lifted the blanket off herself, rolled up the legs of her trousers, and saw that bother her lower legs bore several rows of uneven, blood-stained welts.

She looked down at the scars, dumbfounded… where had these injuries come from? She was the Honourable Empress Dowager of the Qi dynasty, who would dare lay a hand on her? Not even the conniving Prince Regent had the gall to assault her like this. At most, he only dared only bribe Li’s maid, Wan Su, to poison her.

She stomached the pain and stood up, her shoes fitting just right. She saw something that looked like a mirror on a desk that was leaning against the wall.

She looked in the mirror and saw–a reflection that was not her own.

The mirror was light in her hands, and the reflection it gave off was exceptionally clear. In the mirror, she saw a young, dark-skinned girl — probably aged thirteen or fourteen¬– with hair reaching down to her ears just like the woman from a moment ago. The young girl had a small oval face and two bright eyes.

The thin bangs of her hair seemed to cover something up. She quickly brushed them aside and saw a red bruise on her smooth forehead. She pressed on it gently and felt a stinging pain.

Who had hit her?! In her mind, the image of a ball barrelling towards her flashed. The person who threw the ball seemed to be dressed in blue clothes; the person’s appearance was blurry and their face unclear.

She wanted to escape from the room. However, just as she set down the mirror, she heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

She couldn’t get out. Li Wei could only quickly hop back on the bed, close on her eyes, and pretend to be asleep. The door opened with a creak and brought in a gust of cold wind. Li Wei instinctively tucked herself deeper into the blanket.

A short time passed, the person that just came in approached the bed and started undressing. They were going to get into bed with her!

Li Wei half-opened her eyes and stole a small glance towards the side. The person beside the bed was actually the woman from a moment ago. Breathing a sigh of relief, Li Wei relaxed and closed her eyes, still pretending to be asleep. Liu Chun Zhi turned off the light and got into bed with Li Wei.

Li Wei’s body tensed up, what is this woman doing?

After Liu Chun Zhi had turned out the light and lied down, she reached out and felt Li Wei’s forehead, it didn’t feel that hot at all. She sighed in relief.

Li Wei was raised in the palace for many years, surrounded by many servants, but she was still unaccustomed to being touched like this by a stranger. Instinctively, she cringed and slightly moved further away.

Liu Chun Zhi noticed her daughter stirring and shifted towards her.

“Are you pretending to sleep?”

Frightened, Li Wei no longer dared to move. Liu Chun Zhi spoke again, “Tell me honestly, you weren’t actually going to go catch fish, where can you even find any fish during this season? You were going to kill yourself, right?”

Li Wei laid still and didn’t utter a sound; the air surrounding them seemed to go still. She found the question very odd, who would go and jump into the river? Life was precious, so why would she go commit suicide?

“Just because I hit and scolded you, you wanted to die? How could you be this idiotic? Even though you did those shameless things, I never would have wanted you to die! You’re my only daughter. When I hit you; I was angry. How could you have taken it so badly?”

Li Wei listened to the woman speak and remembered the scars on her own legs, were they the woman’s doing?

When she had finished speaking, Liu Chun Zhi started to cry, “If you were to die, how could I go on?”

Li Wei felt distraught and anxious; she couldn’t take it anymore. Even though she had yet to fully figure out what was going on, she turned over and consoled the pitiful mother, “I didn’t want to kill myself.”

“Then how did you end up in the water?”

“I… I accidentally fell in.”

As soon as Li Wei said this Liu Chun Zhi embraced her tightly and said tearfully, “I’ll never hit you again, and you absolutely mustn’t do something so foolish again.”

Li Wei answered her with a vague grunt. Now that Liu Chun Zhi saw her daughter act like this, she felt no need to worry anymore.

A short while later, Liu Chun Zhi sighed and said, “In this sort of situation, we’ve lost all face. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no need to keep going to school. Tomorrow I’ll go and sort out your resignation process.”

Li Wei didn’t understand what Liu Chun Zhi had just said; after all, she still hadn’t properly come to terms with her situation. Thus, she concluded that Liu Chun Zhi’s words may have nothing to do with her, so she didn’t question it and just kept quiet. As soon as she noticed that her daughter acquiesce her words silently, Liu Chun Zhi sighed, “There are so many chores to do at home. You should come and help us out a little bit. As you know, we aren’t wealthy; thus, providing education for two is not easy.”

After discussing with her daughter, and taking note of her improved emotional state, Liu Chun Zhi calmed down. Soon, she was fully relaxed, and fell asleep, right after.

Li Wei remained awake and kept her eyes trained on the dark canopy covering the bed. “Just where am I?” she pondered deeply.

The cold wind, outside, whistled without end. Li Wei planned to move out at dawn; she wanted to go back to the palace, find Zhao Quin, and have her revenge.

Li Wei woke up at dawn, from a dreamless sleep, and realized that she was still in the same strange room. The woman, who had slept beside her, was gone. If it wasn’t for the deep depression on the pillow beside her, no one would be able to tell that the part of the bed had been slept on.

As daylight slowly crept in through the small wooden window; Li Wei changed her clothes. She had no idea what time it was. Although she felt that her new garments were bizarre, she still got dressed in it because she craved the warmth. After changing her garments, she opened the door.

Li Wei gazed at the scenery in front of her; there were large numbers of cottages around her. They all had thin roofs which were covered with a thick layer of thatch, and the surrounding mud walls showed signs of cracking.

This was an ordinary farm village. Even after looking around, Li Wei still had no clue where she was. In the midst of her confusion, she suddenly heard a strange sound coming from one of the cottages.

“Beep, beep, beeeep.” A female voice soon followed: “The current time in the capital is 10 am.”

Li Wei was puzzled, “who is in that house?” After tracing the source of the sound, she headed out and walked towards a cottage. A brief period of broadcasting music followed, and then the female voice spoke again: “Good morning. Today is Thursday, 4th of January, the year 1990.”

Li Wei understood the date. Nevertheless, she was still confused… who was broadcasting these messages?

Finally, Li Wei arrived at the cottage and walked in. She looked around to locate the culprit, but found no one; she couldn’t locate the person who had been speaking. She was still looking around when the female voice spoke up again: “The following messages are brought to you by the Xinhua News Agency… ”

Li Wei finally understood, albeit, after a long time, the sounds seemed to originate out of a rectangular box on the table.

“What is this strange device? Such a small form, and yet it is able to mimic the voice of a human.” Li Wei thought as she approached it, slowly. She wanted to examine it thoroughly.

Suddenly, from behind, she heard footsteps quickly approaching. Li Wei quickly turned and saw a youth at the door; the same person who was by her side the previous night.

“Wei Wei, you are awake already?”

Li Wei curbed her curiosity and began to walk out. “Wei Wei, where are you going?” The youth asked.

Li Wei didn’t reply and just kept walking away ¬ without looking back.

Suddenly, she began to lose her bearings again. This strange place and these strange people… Where was she?

It was at this moment that Li Wei collapsed.

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