An elegant young lady dressed in a purple and white hanfu with golden lace strolled around the capital, others stared at her in awe, wondering which prestigious family the young lady was from.
Zi Hua actually prefers platinum and silver over gold but for the sake of her noble young miss cover she added the golden lace, she was a part time secret agent after all and has had to blend in under different identities many times.
From a private room in a luxurious tea house, a scholarly yet devilish male in an ultramarine outfit caught a glimpse of Zi Hua, he had the same amethyst eyes.
'It couldn't be'
'She couldn't possibly be here'
'It must be a coincidence'
He tried to reason with himself, although that 'stranger' looked strangely similar to how she would've looked if she was that age, but he had only managed to come here thanks to his mother.
During that incident she didn't die and was left in that world.
When he looked again the figure had already disappeared, the person gave him a feeling of connection, although she and the figure looked strangely familiar he wouldn't feel like this towards a stranger, he wouldn't mistake anyone as her.
Zi Hua toured around the city, looking at the food stalls and bustle.
"Master~ My beautiful and kind, totally not unreasonable and sadistic master~ Please let this poor baby out~" Xiao Hong whined from inside Heaven-defying artifact.
"No"
"This is against human rights!"
"You're not human"
"Spirit beast rights!" Although staying inside Heaven-defying artifact was better than the empty dimensions that other contracted spirit beasts have to stay in, there wasn't much to do, Xiao Hong was almost bored to death.
"Xiao Hong just read a book" Xiao Bai and Xiao Zi sat leisurely on the couch reading one of Zi Hua's novels, they actually found them quite interesting and addictive.
After Zi Hua arrived she realized that there was NO INTERNET! So she could only settle for the next best thing to keep herself alive, novels.
"Hmph, we're spirit beasts not some nerds, we're meant to be fighting and running around" She was a spirit beasts not some human, how do you expect her to be literate.
"No.1 just because I read a lot does not necessarily mean I'm a nerd, if you had to say I'm more of an otaku. No.2 chinese isn't that hard, it's just that you're too lazy and stupid"
"Isn't hard? That's the biggest lie I've ever heard" Xiao Hong couldn't comprehend how to understand chinese writing, all those strokes get confusing and then when writing, it needs to be written in a certain order, for an stupid ahem not literature blessed spirit beast like Xiao Hong, it was a massive hurdle.
"Master~ I want my freedom"
"Fine, tomorrow but no making trouble" Finally, fed up with the constant whining, Zi Hua gave a helpless sigh and reluctantly agreed, she wouldn't keep them away like this if they weren't always getting caught up in gossip and messing around, they almost trashed that inn during their 'little disagreement'.
She then disabled the connection with her three spirit beasts for some peace and quiet, when she was talking to them she couldn't notice anything else around her, it was better to stop talking with them before she trips over.
Zi Hua saw a tanghulu stall and rushed there, one of her favorite snacks were tanghulus, good memories...
Zi Hua bought a bunch and then sent some to those back in the Heaven-defying artifact.
Right after Zi Hua left the mysterious gentleman came to the same stall and bought a tanghulu too.
'She had really liked these'
After eating the tanghulu, Zi Hua wondered around for a bit and then returned back to the inn, she hasn't had such a leisurely day out in a while.
Zi Hua then had Xiao Shen cook up some dinner, the little bun's cooking was much better than hers.
(A/N: Million+ year old child labor! Wait, does that still count as child labor?)
Abandoning all her manners, Zi Hua wolfed down the food, don't misunderstand, she's usually very poised. Usually.
Xiao Shen and co then went away to play, being alone made Zi Hua reminisce about the good times from her previous life.
That dream made her memories resurface, a wave of nostalgia hit her, unwittingly, a tear slid out from her eyes.
'No use focusing on the past, the present is more important'
Zi Hua didn't want to be trapped in her past, she wanted to move on but it was hard to.