The Story of Li Meixiu

Rumor had it that the Second Miss Li was dead.

She had suddenly collapsed during the New Year Festivities in the

Marquis’ Manor three days ago. Ever since then nobody had heard a single word.

Passersby were lingering in front of the manor, looking for anything that would inform them of the Young Miss' fate. But alas - there was nothing to be seen or heard.

On the third day however, they overheard two maidservants, who were too busy gossiping and sweeping the entrance to notice the small crowd that had formed less than one li in front of them.

“It's such a shame…our poor Second Miss!”

“With that fragile body of hers it's a miracle she even survived for so long.”

Could this mean…the Second Miss Li was…dead?

News in the capital of the prosperous Lian Empire traveled fast and before the sun had reached its peak, the whole capital knew about the tragedy that had befallen the Marquis’ family.

While the people in the capital mourned her death or continued their daily lives without shedding a single tear, a girl who was lying in the Second Miss Li’s bed opened her eyes.

Her vision was still blurry and her hearing was dampened, as if someone had shoved cotton pads in her ears.

Where was she?

The girl tried to sit up but her whole body was paralyzed. She couldn't feel her limbs.

Panic gripped her.

What was going on?

She tried to search her memories for answers. The last thing she remembered was the white ceiling of the surgery room and the feeling of slowly drifting into slumber.

Could she be in the recovery room of the hospital?

She had to.

Where else could she be?

But where was the hospital staff?

The girl tried to speak but her voice was barely more than a whisper.

“H…ello? S…someone the..re?”

Nobody answered and nobody came.

Something wasn’t right at all.

Slowly but surely her vision began to clear and she began to feel her limbs again. The girl sat up and looked around. She frowned.

This was definitely not the hospital.

The room she was in looked like the set of one of the historical dramas her aunt used to watch.

It was a spacious room with big, round windows without glass. The only furniture in the room was the bed she sat in, a side table, a bigger table with various bottles and boxes and a bronze mirror on top of it, a lower table with scrolls on top of it and a wooden room divider with beautiful flower carvings.

Everything looked so expensive, even the soft silk fabric of the quilt that covered her body.

Where was she and how did she end up here?

Before she could think any more about it the door opened and a young maidservant entered with a steaming bowl in her hands. When she realized that her Mistress was awake, she stopped and stared at her, the bowl slipping out of her hand and bursting on the floor.

“S…second M…miss!” she stuttered.

Second Miss?

She was no “Second Miss”.

She was an only child, so why did that maidservant address her like that?

Why was there a maidservant in the first place?

Questions upon questions were roaming in the girl`s head and the more she tried to find answers, the more she got confused.

She was supposed to be in the hospital, waking up from her vital heart surgery. The surgeon, Dr. Shen Jingsheng, was one of the best heart surgeons of the twenty-first century. He had assured her that there was no reason to be afraid. He'd done this surgery around a hundred times.

None of his patients had ever died.

But…but what if something did happen?

What if she died and this was the afterlife?

Never in a hundred years would she have imagined the afterlife to look like this.

She had no idea what to do now but maybe that maidservant could answer some of her questions.

The girl cleared her throat, just realizing how dry it was.

“H…Hi”

She barely got the word out, as if she somehow forgot how to speak.

Her voice…why was it so different?

It sounded much younger and higher.

The maidservant hadn't moved. She still stared at her Mistress as if she just grew two heads.

“How…”

Before the maidservant could finish the sentence the door opened and two other maidservants entered.

“I heard a loud noise coming from this chamber. What happened?”

The older of the two maidservants looked around the room until her eyes settled on the young maidservant standing in the middle of the room and the broken bowl at her feet.

“Lu Dongmei, you clumsy girl!” she scolded. “Look at the mess you created! Now stop idling around and make sure to clean up the mess before Madam gets word of it or she'll beat you to death.”

Lu Dongmei finally averted her eyes from her Mistress and turned around to look at the older maidservant apologetically.

“I'm sorry, Nanny Han. This servant will get to work immediately.”

She then went on her knees and started to collect the shards.

It was then that Nanny Han saw the girl who was still sitting in the bed and had silently watched the scenario.

Her eyes grew wide.

“Second Miss! You're awake! Bless the heavens!”

Nanny Han turned to Lu Dongmei who was about to leave the chamber.

“Lu Dongmei! How come you didn't tell us right away that our Second Miss has awakened?”

Lu Dongmei stopped and turned around, her wide, dark brown eyes wandering between Nanny Han and her Mistress. Her small and thin body was shaking ever so slightly.

Nanny Han didn’t seem to notice the maidservant's strange behavior since she dismissed her after ordering her to send for the physician. She then turned to the other maidservant, who was still standing at the door.

“Why are you still idling around? Tell Lady Wei, no, tell Madam that the Second Miss awakened.”

The maidservant nodded and left the room.

Nanny Han went to the bed and tried to touch the girl’s forehead but the girl flinched at the older woman's movement.

“My apologies, Miss”, Nanny Han said. “I didn't mean to startle you. I just want to see if the fever went down.”

Fever?

“I…I h…had f…fever?”, the girl stuttered.

Nanny Han nodded.

“Yes, very high fever. The physician told us you wouldn't survive.”

She stopped and frowned.

“Don't you remember what happened? You collapsed three days ago during the New Year Festivities. Everyone in the manor was sick with worry, especially your poor mother. Lady Wei hasn’t left her bed since then and has been starving herself.”

Her mother?

She hadn't spoken with her mother ever since she abandoned her and her father to travel the world with her lover. Her mother didn't care about her and she was not the type of woman who would neglect her own health, no matter how worried she was.

Whoever this Lady Wei was, it couldn't be her mother.

These people must be mistaking her for someone else.

No matter if this was the afterlife or a strange dream, she wanted to get out of here.

She pushed the quilt back and climbed out of the bed. However, her legs were too weak. She would have collapsed, if Nanny Han hadn't rushed to her side to support her.

“Careful, Miss. You shouldn't strain your body too much. Please lie down again.”

But the girl didn't want to lie down. She needed to find out what happened to her.

With Nanny Han supporting her she managed to reach the table with the bronze mirror, that probably served as a vanity, as she suddenly stopped.

The face that was staring at her through the mirror wasn't hers.

It was the face of a young girl, barely a woman. She couldn’t be older than sixteen. Her big, almost round, eyes had the color of smoky quartz - a deep, muddy brown, almost black. She had a small, delicate and elegantly shaped nose and thin lips, the color of peach blossoms. Long, dark brown hair surrounded her face. This and her pearl-like complexion made her the most stunning beauty she had ever seen. She couldn't take her eyes off the mirror.

This had to be a dream.

She pinched her arm as hard as she could, hoping this would be enough to wake her up.

But she didn't.

A cold shiver went down her spine and her face drained off color as she continued

staring at the stranger in the mirror.

How could she have ended up in a different body in a different place and – considering the furniture, clothing and the way the maidservants spoke - a different time?

How could a - according to Dr. Shen - simple heart surgery end up in her waking up here?

What happened to the original owner of the body?

Just then a memory suddenly appeared in her mind, a memory that wasn't hers. It was just an name, a name she would carry from this day on.

Li Meixiu.