The maid Qiu Yue (Autumn Moon) snored lightly as she fanned the pot of Chinese herb medicine, the fan eventually dropping to the ground with a CLACK!
"I won't dare sleep, Mistress Li! Please don't hit me! I'll be good!" gasped Qiu Yue, startled by the falling fan.
Instead the room was empty because it was well past midnight and everybody in the house was asleep. She yawned and stretched her arms to loosen her muscles.
It's already been three months since she was assigned the arduous task of taking care of the patient in the other room.
Young Master Fang has been asleep and non-responsive for three months since he was suddenly thrown from his horse and nearly trampled to death.
Nobody dared spoke out loud who did it but everybody knew it was the other Young Master Fang Zi Ming who suddenly appeared with his mother Li Feng Hua claiming that he was the son of Master Fang Yuan three months ago.
It threw the Fang family into utter chaos to know the upright and loyal Master Fang Yuan who loved his wife Bai Xue would ever cheat.
After all, when she passed away after giving birth to Ling'er, he quickly fell sick and followed her to the beyond within three days.
Such a beautiful love was completely tarnished by the appearance of this crude and loud Li Fenghua who dressed as garish as a poor man's courtesan and had the manner of a lowly butcher's wife, which was to say she was the complete opposite of the beautiful mild-mannered Bai Xue.
Mistress Bai was as delicate as a peony blossom opening in the pure white snow. Her skin was translucent with tinges of soft rose pink whenever she was with Master Fang, her eyes as bright and soft as a fawn's, and hair as black and shiny as stars in the night.
Master Fang Yuan had both the manners of a scholar and yet the body of a powerful general, very tall with broad shoulders and kind eyes that melted every time they looked upon Bai Xue.
They looked and acted like a perfect couple, a match made in heaven. Of course, happiness is always short-lived and they passed away before Ling'er reached the one month celebration.
Li Fenghua suddenly appeared one day at the Fang's front door with an eighteen year old son in tow, claiming her son was a love child between her and Master Fang Yuan before he even married Bai Xue.
Apparently he had gotten drunk one night after he lost a chess game with his rival and Feng Hua had rescued him off the street when he was attacked by robbers.
One thing led to another and they spent the night together. He left before she woke up with an apologetic letter and a jade amulet to compensate her for his mistake.
The jade amulet was indeed his, given to him by his mother, the Matriarch Fang for his 13th birthday and the letter was indeed his handwriting.
However, it was too hard to believe that Master Fang, once a good obedient child and later an upright man, could make such an extreme error in judgment.
After all, Mistress Li was neither a heavenly beauty nor virtuous or talented in any way. She was as common as a weed on the side of the road, and she entered the Fang family the same way, like a weed they couldn't get rid of.
The son, Fang Zi Ming, was even worse. He was indeed as tall as Fang Yuan but that was the only thing similar to Master Fang.
Zi Ming was as fat as a pig, with tiny eyes that rolled around looking to see what he can take or eat for he was always hungry. His piggy hands already made all the young maids and even the female kitchen matrons wary of being alone with him because he did not discern between young and old, as long as they were female, he would try to molest them.
Already, Matriarch Fang caught him cornering her personal maids at night, even covering their mouths to prevent them from screaming for help.
That was why Qiu Yue begged the matriarch to let her go take care of young master Ling.
The last time Zi Ming almost tore her shirt and she was only saved because Butler Du went into the kitchen to pick up chicken ginseng soup for the matriarch.
Zi Ming was too much of a coward to be caught again so he slithered away in the night. Nobody knew what happened but Qiu Yue knew that she wouldn't be so lucky next time.
As long as nobody else knew, she still had her virtue and would be able to marry in the future.
Qiu Yue carefully picked up the bowl of medicine and slowly made her way into Master Ling's room. Leaving the bowl to cool a little, she squeezed water from the cloth and carefully wiped Master Ling's face.
Being so close up, she couldn't help but admire the fair face with the long eyelashes and delicate curve of his lips.
Master Ling was the complete opposite of Master Zi Ming, heaven versus hell.
Master Ling was kind and of little words yet always had a gentle smile for the maids. He was always busy in lessons: poetry, calligraphy, chess, war strategy, archery, horse back riding, martial arts, etc.
In fact, he shared the same teachers as the imperial princes, that was how important the Fang family was in the imperial capital.
The Fang family rose to fame as the finest silk traders in the capital and it was due to one of their specially designed outfits that the Imperial Consort Yue was able to become a favorite of the Emperor.
It was to the Fang's advantage to help Imperial Consort Yue since she was a maternal grandniece, it was family after all and it helped the Fang's gain sole selling and trading rights in the capital and in certain key points all over the country.
Young Master Ling was groomed from birth to be the sole heir to this silk empire until the horrible mother and son randomly showed up claiming legitimacy as the heir/the eldest Fang son.
Since it was a shameful affair, the mother and son were brought into the Fang household without much fuss while the family investigated the claim.
Apparently Young Master Ling had found some important evidence regarding the claim when suddenly his favorite horse rampaged down the street and nearly trampled Master Ling to death.
Later, they found a sharp hook under the saddle that dug into the poor horse once Young Master Ling sat in the saddle. Every time he tried to maintain control of the horse only dug the hook in deeper. It was attempted murder, pure and simple.
Matriarch Fang suspended all investigation and focused only on her beloved grandchild.
She was an unfortunate woman: her husband died early and so did her only son and now even her only grandchild might not live.
If only Ling'er would live, she would give up everything, even the Fang fortune and business if only it would save Ling'er.
What she didn't know was that Ling'er was gone forever, and replaced by Lynn from the future...
—-
"Noooooooooooo!"
Lynn fell out of the bed onto the floor, nearly knocking herself out again.
She looked up at a young girl dressed in an ancient Chinese maid outfit and was utterly confused.
Was she dreaming that she was in an ancient Chinese drama? Has she been watching too much "Story of Yanxi Palace?"
"Wei Yingluo? Where's the emperor?"
"Ahhhhh, master Ling is awake!!!" screamed the maid as she rushed out the door.
Lynn shrugged and stood up, nearly falling again when dizziness hit her. Slowly, she made her way to the table where an ancient mirror propped up revealed to her she was not in a dream.
Slapping herself, pinching herself and closing her eyes and opening them again. Yes, the person in the mirror was her but who is this person?
/You...who are you? Are you Master Ling'er?/
A pair of strong but nicely shaped eyebrows framed two beautiful large eyes as bright as stars, a delicate nose, and a pair of soft full lips that looked irresistibly kissable.
Skin as translucent as the finest china and softer than silk and long lustrous hair that would be the envy of any shampoo commercial.
She ran her long slender fingers through that hair and wished she knew what secret method they used to make it so soft and silky, she would make millions on the secret alone!
/How is even a man so beautiful! I would be the envy of all those pretty boys in kpop bands, the #1 pretty boy!/
Still, it was hard to believe she had reincarnated into a man's body! It quickly became too hard to breathe, was she having a panic attack??
/Or heart attack?! I've just been reincarnated and I'm going to die again so soon?!/
She clutched her chest, trying to calm herself down. But something was in the way...a cloth tightly bound around her chest.
/what the...?/
Lynn tore off her shirt and the cloth, breathing in big gulps of air, finally able to BREATHE!
/uhhhhhh...these are boobies/
In fact, these were boobies that were enough to make the late Hugh Hefner throw a Playboy party in her honor...this Ling'er was VERY blessed, the complete opposite of Lynn in her old body which was flatter than an ironing board.
/No wonder I couldn't breathe if I have to bind my chest to make them look flat/
Then she remembered to look below to confirm and....yes, she was not looking at a penis. A bit more "natural" than she'd like but definitely a familiar body part.
/What the heck is going on?? I thought this was MASTER Ling'er??/
"Ling'er! My Ling'er!" A voice rang out just outside the room.
Lynn quickly wrapped the shirt around herself and jumped under the covers in the bed.
An elderly woman quickly burst into the room with the previous maid and another matronly maid.
"Ling'er! You're awake!" The elderly woman clutched Lynn's head in her arms against her bosom. "Thank the heavens, thank you Venerable Sky emperor!"
"I can't breathe..."
Quickly the elderly woman backed off and gave her room to breathe. "How do you feel? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Uh...who are you?" whispered Lynn.
Gasps of horror came from all three women.
"You don't know who I am?" asked the elderly woman. "I am your grandmother, your paternal grandmother."
Once she said grandmother, Lynn burst into tears and collapsed into the woman's arms. "Grandmother! Grandmother!!"
/How could I forget grandmother?? What is she going to do now that I'm here and no longer by her side? My poor poor grandmother! I died and left her all alone! I am so unfilial!/
"My little treasure Ling'er, don't worry, grandmother is here!" She softly caressed Lynn's hair just like her own grandmother used to do which only made Lynn sob even louder.
"Qiu Yue, go get Doctor Gong on Pheasant Street immediately. Remember it must be Doctor Gong, not one of his pupils, and he must come alone. Go quickly. Milk nurse, prepare some proper clothes for Ling'er." Matriarch Fang and the nurse exchanged a knowing look.
"Right away Matriarch Fang!" Qiu Yue left the room in a flash and Milk nurse quickly locked the doors after her.
"There's nobody here," confirmed the nurse.
Matriarch Fang turned back to Lynn, frowning. "Why did you take off your chest cloth? You could've been caught by Qiu Yue and then everybody will know you're a female!"
"I couldn't breathe and what's wrong with them knowing I'm a female?"
"Young Master Fang! Did you forget?! In order to keep you alive and safe at home, Matriarch Fang had to present you as a son to the Fang family and to the imperial court! You've been living as a son for the past sixteen years and suddenly you forgot?!" cried out the milk nurse.
"I'm a woman and have to live as a man?! What kind of reasoning is this??" shouted Lynn.
/And I'm a beautiful woman too!/
Lynn only saw a glimpse of herself and knew she would've been a supermodel back in her old life and she would've been all-natural just like she claimed in her social media profiles.
In fact with skin this clear and beautiful, she wouldn't have needed a drop of makeup and she would probably make #1 on People's magazine 50 Most Beautiful People list. Plastic surgery wouldn't even have gotten her even close to the perfection of this body and yet they're asking her to hide it and not flaunt it?!
/what a huge waste!/
Looking down on her unbound chest...
/big mistake! Huge!/
Matriarch Fang slowly lifted Lynn's face to look her eye to eye. A few tears brimmed over into the soft frail face and Lynn immediately regretted causing such pain to this grandmother...
/I guess she's MY grandmother now too.../
"Ok Nai Nai, Ling'er will be obedient and listen to you..."
Milk Nurse rolled out a new piece of cotton cloth and tightly wound Lynn's chest again before sewing it tightly in the back.
/this is worse than a corset!/
Just in time because Qiu Yue banged on the door with Doctor Gong in tow. Covering up Lynn carefully, the doctor examined her pulse via wrist, muttering softly into his beard.
"How is he?"
"Strange...very strange!" replied Doctor Gong.
"Is something wrong?!" exclaimed Matriarch Fang.
"No! That is what is strange! Nothing's wrong with him at all! All his insides and pressure points are healthy and strong! He doesn't show any signs of internal injuries from being trampled by the horse. Strange...strange..."
"Doctor Gong...is it? I can't seem to remember anything though?"
Doctor Gong examined her eyes and head but found everything was fine. "It might be temporary shock from the incident that's causing a block in your brain leading to memory loss, I will write you a prescription to improve the brain and see if that helps. But you are very lucky! To survive that with just a little memory loss, very lucky!"
"Thank you Doctor Gong! I trust you will be discreet?"
"Always Matriarch Fang," agreed Doctor Gong.
"Show the doctor the way out, Qiu Yue."
"Nai Nai? Since I don't remember, can you tell me more about why I have to pretend to be a man?"
Matriarch Fang smiled sadly. "You haven't called me Nai Nai since you turned five and had that scare with the assassin...
/W T F? I've got assassins after me?!/
"The story began when a young miss Bai was saved from a bandit attack by a young Master Fang on the road to the capital..."