TBTTSP - Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Xu Wanqing Tells a Story (3)
After she had gracefully departed, the language teacher adjusted his glasses. "Zhang Xu, do you know what kind of book The Golden Lotus is?"
What was that?
She shook her head lightly. "I do not know."
"Don't go reading it out of idle curiosity, and don't think of it as a dirty book, understand? The myriad states of human life are all stories. The Golden Lotus is an excellent work. I'm returning it to you today. You must read it with a proper perspective. A good book has no bad intentions; it's when the reader's mind is full of rubbish that they label the book as trash—"
This language teacher was quite old, with short, salt-and-pepper hair and a short, stout build. His voice wasn't loud, but his words struck a chord deep in Xu Wanqing's heart. With tears in her eyes, she accepted the book with its tattered cover.
Her classmates at school all knew she was reading a pornographic book.
The boys who gave her suggestive looks, wanting her to share, were dismissed by her with just a few words.
To say she dismissed them wasn't quite right; it was more like she scurried away in a panic.
Zhang Xu was tall and sturdy; a fifteen-year-old primary school student who was already 1.7 meters tall. Occupying Zhang Xu's body, she looked down on these 1.5-meter-tall little pipsqueaks. Yet, she was a timid sort, accustomed to avoiding men outside her family. Seeing these little pipsqueaks, she was convinced that in time, they would grow into men like her husband, which made her even more afraid and desperate to avoid them.
Her desk mate, who was supposed to get along with her peacefully, had fiercely drawn a white line on the desk.
Even though their two desks were already separated.
But as desk mates, elbows inevitably crossed the line. Every time her arm accidentally went over, her desk mate would jab the line fiercely and emphasize that she had crossed the border.
Mocked by the boys, given strange looks by the girls, and having her elbow jabbed by her desk mate, Xu Wanqing's morning was not going well.
The third period was physical education, but the teacher turned it into a labor class. Everyone in Grade 6, Class 1 went to the open ground by the school gate to pull weeds.
She was squatting by the gate when suddenly, the students in her class burst into a flurry of chirping and shouting.
Lifting her eyes, she saw an extremely beautiful car drive through the school gate.
The children all fixed their eyes on the car, holding their breath as they watched it enter.
Xu Wanqing knew nothing about cars, only that they could travel a thousand li a day and were exceptionally useful.
A moment later, the head teacher rushed out of the school gate. "Zhang Xu! To the principal's office!"
The situation was this: a company had offered to sponsor the school with a large sum of money.
At the same time, they wanted to establish a scholarship.
And the recipient of the very first scholarship was Zhang Xu of Grade 6, Class 1.
The principal was sweating profusely. Who knew what kind of background Zhang Xu had? The people in town were like hollow tubes, transparent from one end to the other. Their lives followed the same track from birth to death, and you could even count off what their ancestors had done for the past three generations. Then, suddenly, someone appeared, claiming to be Zhang Xu's godmother.
The woman before him was exceptionally imposing, flanked by a bodyguard and an assistant. She sat at his desk, tapping it intermittently.
When Xu Wanqing came in, the principal's cold sweat dried up a bit. He pulled her over. "President Shang, the student Zhang Xu is here."
It was the same young woman she had seen the other day, the one with the astonishing presence.
The reunion came suddenly, like an unexpected clap of thunder. She entered gracefully and met Shang Yi's gaze.
"It's you—" Just as she was about to acknowledge her, she was abruptly grabbed by the arm by the attendant girl. The words came out trembling, and she pressed her lips together.
If this person was an acquaintance of Zhang Xu's, had she acted appropriately that day? Had she given herself away? She felt a vague unease, recalling how she had acted like a stranger. A chill crept into her heart, and she lowered her gaze slightly.
The principal said, "Student Zhang Xu has excellent grades, and her usual conduct is plain for all to see. She helps her classmates, loves to work, and respects her teachers. I think there's definitely no problem with her receiving this award."
Was he talking about Zhang Xu? Even Xu Wanqing found it hard to believe.
Shang Yi nodded. "Good, then it's settled. I'd like to request a leave of absence for my goddaughter for this morning's classes. We have a—"
"Of course, of course."
Goddaughter.
Alarm bells rang loudly in Xu Wanqing's mind.
If they were truly that close, she was afraid she had likely given herself away long ago.
She obediently followed the woman out and got into that car that could travel a thousand li a day. In the back seat was the attendant girl, looking as fierce as a malevolent deity.
She thought her good days were coming to an end, and then she remembered that her real body was still kneeling in the ancestral hall, and sorrow welled up from her heart.
So she took the initiative to confess: "I have a secret."
The young woman was changing her shoes and starting the car. The vehicle shot forward, making her quickly shut her mouth to avoid biting her tongue.
They arrived at a place, and the young woman got out of the car. She followed, walking like an obedient maidservant into a residential building, entering a room, and locking the door from the inside.
She suspected something terrible was about to happen and confessed at top speed, "I am not Zhang Xu."
"Oh." The young woman's reaction was flat. "Then who are you?"
So she explained in detail how she had been idle at home, how she had fallen asleep, and how when she awoke, the sun and moon had changed in a new sky.
"Sit."
The two sat facing each other. The fierce girl poured some water into a disposable paper cup and stood to one side.
"What's your name?"
"Xu Wanqing… courtesy name—"
"Don't bother with the courtesy name… We modern people don't use them. How old are you?"
"Sixteen."
The young woman opposite her seemed relieved. Her body slumped, and she let out a long breath.
Her smile was as rare as a rich man's charity, let alone one so genuine.
"As for me, ahem, I'm Zhang Xu's godmother. You're about the same age as her, so why don't you also—"
"Impossible. I was born several hundred years before you, young lady. There is absolutely no reason for such a thing."
Xu Wanqing refused flatly.
"What in the world do you want?" The woman opposite her suddenly flared up, slamming the table as she stood. "What will it take for you to just obediently go and reincarnate? What grudges or grievances do you have? Huh? I'll fulfill them for you, alright?"
The words came out of nowhere. She didn't have any grievances. She was already married, she was educated, and she could even occasionally glimpse the magnificent scenery of this future world. What more was there to be dissatisfied about?
She thought long and hard, but contrary to her expectations, her mind was not a blank slate.
Her heart, it turned out, was full of dissatisfaction.
She wanted to change her husband, change her mother-in-law.
She wanted to change her pair of feet, and even… change her gender.
She was horrified, hating herself for being so greedy. It was truly a violation of wifely virtues.
In her moment of hesitation, she smelled the stench of blood.
An old Taoist in a yellow robe burst through the window, pointing his horsetail whisk at the tip of her nose. "What demon are you! Show your true form!"
Huh?
A bowl of chicken blood was splashed in her face, covering it completely.
The whisk pointed at the tip of her nose again. "Demon!"
"I am not a demon." She gently pulled the whisk aside and sized up this sudden enemy.
"Such profound cultivation! President Shang! This old Taoist is powerless! Farewell!"
The old Taoist leaped back out the way he came.
Wiping away the chicken blood covering her face, her hands were a sheet of scarlet.
She vaguely recalled the day her feet were bound. A basin of chicken blood had also been prepared then to ward off evil. She had sat on a stool, tied up securely.
Her pair of feet were weighed in her grandmother's palms, and then came the heart-piercing agony.
It was as if a red cloth covered her vision; everything was a shocking, bloody red.
She couldn't help but burst into tears.
"Hey, alright, alright. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The young woman opposite her took a damp cotton cloth and wiped her face.
"Did you think I was a monster, young lady? It is not so. I am just… an ordinary human, with not a shred of malicious intent. I have borrowed Miss Zhang Xu's body by chance and would never dare to damage it. In fact, I am careful in all things—"
"Alright, stop." The woman opposite her pinched her chin, lifting it to look from side to side. "Go wash up."
"Every word I have said is true. If there is half a false sentence, may I be unable to bear children in this life!" She swore the most vicious oath she could think of for herself.
The young woman opposite her chuckled. "What kind of curse is that? I can't have children either."
Ah.
To be so open-minded about being unable to bear children—she had underestimated this young woman's breadth of character.
Judging others by her own standards, she felt ashamed and admired her from the bottom of her heart.
The matter of the old Taoist splashing her with chicken blood was largely dispelled by the magnanimity of the young woman opposite her.
She followed the command to wash her face and returned. The bloodstains splattered on her clothes had already faded to the color of rust.
Estimating that the sun was rising higher, she knew she had to leave.
She summarized everything: "Though what I've said is absurd, every word is true. If you do not believe me, young lady, you can ask the next one. After noon, a young woman named Shang Yi will arrive, and Zhang Xu can return tomorrow. I have not met that Miss Shang Yi, but based on her handwriting and manner of speaking, I imagine her to be fierce and not easy to talk to. However, we are all living under another's roof, and Miss Shang Yi handles matters capably, so she must be exceptionally intelligent. I ask that you please pay close attention."
The young woman opposite her crossed her arms, watched her, and asked her to sit down.
"I am Shang Yi."
If she had been standing, she feared she would have stumbled. Numerous thoughts surfaced in her mind, but at this moment, they seemed to be frozen.
"My temperament is fierce?" Shang Yi asked her.
She weighed her words but couldn't think of anything to salvage the situation. Steeling herself, she tried to argue, "I also said Miss Shang was intelligent! Surely you didn't take it seriously?"
Her original intention was to say that the "fierce" part shouldn't be taken seriously, but by adding that sentence, it made it sound like the "intelligent" part couldn't be taken seriously either.
How could she be so foolish?
Flustered by her own clumsy tongue, her face turned red. Embarrassed and uneasy, for the first time, she wished she could return to her own time sooner.
Shang Yi's brow furrowed, but after a long moment, it smoothed out. "Fine."
She explained eagerly, "I am not a woman who gossips behind people's backs. It's just that I didn't know at the time and thought it concerned your life, Miss Shang. I figured that since you are so clever, you must have seen through it long ago, so it would be better to explain directly to avoid any misunderstanding. If you must blame someone, you should blame me for overstepping my bounds by judging another. Please, do not take it to heart."
As she spoke, she ended up praising Shang Yi's intelligence again.
She had flattered her without leaving a trace. She herself couldn't be considered a person of noble character; she simply admired Shang Yi and so said a few more pleasant things.
The person being praised chuckled lightly and steadied her by the shoulders. "I'm thirty-five. Don't speak to me in the tone of an elder."
She retorted subconsciously, "I am several hundred years older than you, young lady. It is not improper for me to call you that. Why don't you call me 'Old Ancestor'…"
The hand on her shoulder suddenly tightened. She met Shang Yi's furrowed brow.
At that critical moment.
She returned to her own body.
She slowly awoke on the cold floor of the ancestral hall, remembering the words she had said yesterday that had infuriated her mother-in-law.
Her mother-in-law had said, "You've been married for over half a year, and there's still no movement in your belly. You should be doing more to fulfill your duty!"
She had originally lowered her head submissively, but upon hearing this, she was inexplicably reminded of the times she used to debate with the men in the co-educational private school.
She had replied, "Continuing the family line is for the Wang family's line. I am doing my best, but the Wang family isn't putting in the effort. Who is to blame for that?"
Her mother-in-law had raged, "Bearing a son is your responsibility! How dare you criticize your husband! How dare you speak so brazenly about our Wang family!"
She had added, "It is my husband's Wang family, that is true. But how is it my mother-in-law's Wang family? The ancestral tablets placed in the hall are not yours, after all—"
Her mother-in-law was so angry she fainted.
She should have been more cautious in her words and actions, reining in her sharp edges.
One careless moment and she had become sharp-tongued and violated wifely virtues.
"Does it hurt?" The sound of the little maidservant running over was like raindrops on green bricks, the patter of her soles on the ground crisp and pleasant. Kneeling on the cold floor, she raised her eyes slightly. "Why have you come? Go back quickly."
"I can't bear to see people hitting the Young Mistress."
"It is only natural for a mother-in-law to discipline her daughter-in-law." Xu Wanqing looked up. One side of her face was shockingly red and swollen, bringing the little maidservant to tears.
A woman's three obediences.
Her husband said not to sleep until noon, but that was not something she could control. Thus, she disobeyed her husband's command—this was one crime.
Before she married, her father told her to serve her mother-in-law and be attentive in all matters. But since her arrival, she had angered her mother-in-law several times. Even after they began living separately, she still managed to infuriate her mother-in-law to the point of fainting day after day—this was another crime.
In the ten months since her marriage, she had rarely shared a bed with her husband, failing to fulfill her duties, let alone continue the family line—this was yet another crime.
Because she stubbornly woke up late, she angered her mother-in-law. When she said it was not of her own volition, her mother-in-law accused her of being rebellious and fainted from rage.
So, she was punished to kneel in the ancestral hall, which was some distance from her own courtyard. She was to kneel for a day and a night before her fate would be decided.
Guarding a secret alone, Xu Wanqing was exceptionally cautious. She sent the little maidservant away and silently calculated the time.
When she found herself back in the room, she was exceptionally clear-headed.
The drawing by the head of the bed was long gone. Perhaps that Miss Lei was nothing more than a fleeting, graceful illusion, and in the end, they would each have to return to their own places.
She was utterly exhausted. She fell asleep, and when she woke, she opened the notebook. Zhang Xu had written:
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