That night Qian Lan couldn't help but think about the story the sisters had told her. Tossing and turning all night, Qian Lan had hoped everything was just a dream and that she was going to wake up from it in the morning. After being unable to sleep, she finally forces her eyes closed and cleared her mind. Slowly dozing off, Qian Lan soon fell into a deep slumber. When the sun finally rose above the sky; Qian Lan slowly forces herself to sit up.
"Ugh…. guess it's not a dream."
"Qian Lannnnnnnnn!"
"Wha…what?!"
Pei had barged back into the room and hopped on top of Qian Lan; catching her off guard.
"Ugh! That hurts!"
"Good! Now get up! You're going to the garden with me and Mei!"
"What?!"
"Come on! You have to earn your keep, you know!"
"Alright…. alright, I'm up. Just please get off me."
"Here, change into this and come outside! We'll be waiting!"
Once Pei dashed out of the room, Qian Lan rubs her poor stomach that just got flatter from being squished. Quickly sitting up, Qian Lan grabs the clothing Pei had just brought in. Looking at the clothing, Qian Lan couldn't help but find it ugly.
"Aren't these men clothing?"
Thinking nothing much of it, Qian Lan quickly slipped into the clothing she was given. It was a dusty gray color with a blue outer lining on the neck and wrist area.
"Hmm…guess this will do."
Ignoring her rumbling stomach, Qian Lan heads outside to where the sisters were waiting.
"There you are! I was starting to think you ran away! Here!"
Pei hands Qian Lan a digging hoe for gardening and a straw basket for her to carry things on her back. The gardening hoes looked similar to the ones from her time, but these were much heavier. It explained a lot as to how these people stayed fit.
As they were about to leave, the sisters mother appeared from the kitchen house and handed each girl a bundled-up lunch.
"Here, you guys will be there for a while so you'll need this."
"Ah, thank you."
Qian Lan accepted her portion and silently followed the sisters to their family garden. After walking for an hour, the twins brough Qian Lan to a large garden fill with dying plants and vegetables.
"Wha…what's wrong with the garden? Everything looks like it's dying.'
"They are dying from the lack of rain."
"Rain?"
"Yes, it hasn't rained at all for two years now. Our water revisor is getting smaller and smaller every day. It's getting scary knowing by next year we won't have anymore water."
"What's causing the drought?"
"No one knows. The shaman from the capital hasn't been able to find anything."
"The capital? How far is it from here?"
"Hmm…our village is the closest, so on horse it'd be a two-day trip."
"Two days?! That's so long."
"Qian Lan, just where did you come from? Two days is not long at all."
"Ah, Ha Ha…. never mind. Uh…so what're we going to do today?"
"We'll pick some vegetables and clear up the vines and weeds from the garden. I swear, things we can't eat somehow always finds it's way to grow."
"Oh, like dandelions?"
"Dandelions? What's that? Is it edible?"
"Never mind…"
Qian Lan wanted to slap herself for continuing to spout out wrong words and terms. After coming to terms that she was now in the past, Qian Lan realized she couldn't let anyone find out that she was from the future. Not like any one would believe her either, but to not draw any unnecessary attention, Qian Lan decided she would keep everything to herself.
"Qian Lan, are you alright?"
"Eh? Yes…I think I'll be okay."
"Good, now follow Mei to that end of the garden. I'll be on this side and in two hours we'll have our lunch break."
"Alright."
Pei heads off in the opposite direction as Qian Lan continues to follow Mei down a steep slope that reaches the bottom of the garden. It was indeed a large piece of land; in Qian Lan's eye's it was a few acres itself. Not that she would know how many acres it was. After following Mei for ten minutes, they finally came to a stop at a small garden house made of straws.
"What's this?"
"Our garden home. It's where we come to rest and relax when we go on break. We can leave our food here and head this way."
"Are you sure it's okay to leave our food unattended?"
"It's fine, no one comes here other than us."
Qian Lan places her bundle of food next to Mei's and follows her for another ten minutes. This time they finally came to a stop. Mei pointed into a direction and asked for Qian Lan to start cleaning up the area; meaning remove any weeds that she saw.
With the sun beaming down on them, everyone was breaking into sweats at this point. After two hours of plucking weeds, Qian Lan was beyond tired and dehydrated. Unable to work anymore, she walks to Mei and asks where to get water.
"Mei."
"What is it, Qian Lan?"
"Do we have any water?"
"Oh, take this water jug with you. If you walk down this path past the small forest there should be a little stream there. We were just here last week and there wasn't much left, but there should still be some water."
"Alright, I'll be back then."
"Qian Lan follows Mei's direction and heads towards the stream. After walking through the small dying forest, Qian Lan quickly scanned the area for any sight of the stream.
"Where is the stream?"
Unable to find it, she places her right side of the face down to try and see If she could hear any sounds of water. With no luck, Qian Lan continues to walk down the forged path and comes to find what used to be the small stream. With it being nothing but an empy lot now; Qian Lan falls to her knees.
"You've got to be kidding me…...where's the water?"
Feeling frustrated Qian Lan breaks down and cries. Being stuck in an unknown time and being forced to do labor. Qian Lan didn't know if she could take it anymore. Thinking she had the worse lucky, Qian Lan walks closer to the empty stream and cries out.
"I just want some water…please! God why am I being punished?"
The moment Qian Lan whispered those words, she watched as her bracelet glow in a golden color. With a beaming light bright enough to blind her, Qian Lan had to look away from her bracelet.
"What? What's going on?!"
Unable to take her bracelet off, Qian Lan watched as gallons of water pour out from her bracelet and into the empty stream. After what seemed like forever, her bracelet finally returned to normal. Slowly opening her eyes, Qian Lan was surprised to see the empty stream filled to the top. Slowly crawling closer to the stream, Qian Lan looked into the beautiful and clean stream.
"How...how beautiful! I don't think I've seen such clean waters."
Qian Lan quickly scoops water from the streams into her hands and drinks it. Unlike any water she's ever had, Qian Lan couldn't tell if it was because she was tired and thirsty or if this water really was tasty. After getting her fill, Qian Lan quickly opened the water jug and filled it completely with water. Once the jug was filled, she happily runs out of the forest and heads back to where Mei was staying.
"Mei! I got some water!"
Mei quickly turns around and walks to Qian Lan.
"You got water? So, there were still some water left?"
"Uh…yeah. Luckily there were some left."
Qian Lan knew there was no way she was going to say her bracelet spat out water. Mei quickly opened the water jug and chugged down some water as she was also dehydrated.
"Are we leaving for lunch soon?"
"Yeah, we can start heading back to the garden house. Pei is probably heading now. This water you got sure taste different."
"Different? How so?"
"It's so clean and unlike anything I've had. You sure you got it from the stream?"
"I...I'm sure. There was no other stream so it had to be the same one, right?"
"I guess."
"Come on, let's go. I'm starving."
Qian Lan quickly grabs her gardening hoes and her basket and walks first towards the garden house. Mei thought nothing of it and continued to follow after Qian Lan to the garden house. After ten minutes of walking, they could see Pei already waiting in the garden house.
"What took you two so long?"
"Qian Lan wanted some water so I was waiting on her."
"Oh? You got water?"
"Yeah, here."
Mei hands the water jug to Pei who quickly chugged on the water. After a few gulps she closes the water jug and looks at Qian Lan.
"This water tastes different. It's too clean to be from the stream here."
"I…I really did get it from the stream though!"
Qian Lan wasn't exactly lying as she did get it from the stream, even if the water came out from her bracelet. Pei could see how Qian Lan didn't want to talk anymore and brushed it off.
"Alright, enough talking. Let's eat."
Everyone sat on the straw mat that was on the ground. Qian Lan quickly opened her food bundle to find rice and some fried vegetables. Everyone ate silently as they try to savor the food. Qian Lan couldn't take the silence anymore and decided to make some light conversations.
"Pei, do you guys not eat meat?"
"Hm? We do, but meat is for the rich. We have it every once in a while, if brother or father goes hunting."
"You guys have no chicken or cows?"
"Well, we used to but we had to sell them all for water from travelling merchants."
"Wow…...I had no idea."
"It's tough. We used to have eggs every morning too."
"Pei, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Didn't the Yang's use to be nobles? What happened?"
"Do you remember our story last night?"
"Yes."
"Well, after the king found out Chenguang ran from her duties he demoted the Yang household to commoner status and exiled us to guard this village. That's why we live like this now. If not for her, we would probably be living a life of luxury in the capital. Mei and I would probably have been married into nice households by now too."
"I see…everyone must've hated Chenguang for leaving and ruining their lives."
"Of course. Everyone cursed and hated her. On her funeral day the only one that attended from her family was her mother and father. Her own siblings didn't even attend."
Qian Lan had no idea how much her ancestors had been through. As much as Qian Lan wanted to tell them who she was, she knew she couldn't and shouldn't try to change the time line too much with unnecessary information.
Pei was the first one to finish eating, once she was done eating, she wasted no time and heads back out to the garden. Mei also quickly wrapped up eating and motioned for Qian Lan to hurry it up as the sun was going to set in a few hours.
"Finish eating quick and join me down the garden again. We need to pick some things to bring home."
"Alright."
Qian Lan quickly forces the food down her throat and chugs water to keep it down. Taking one last look at the slowly setting sun, Qian Lan forces herself to move and head down the garden. After another five hours of farming and picking vegetables, everyone was ready to leave. Once everyone met up at the main dirt road; one by one they all walked home.
After a long hour, Qian Lan and everyone was now back home. Quickly placing their filled baskets inside in the main cooking area, they all headed for the baths. Not wanting to wait, all the girls decided they were going to take a bath together.
"What? We're all taking a bath together?"
"It's fine, we're all women here."
The sisters drag Qian Lan into the bath room and stripes themselves as they poured water onto a cloth to clean themselves. Pei watches as Qian Lan removed her shirt; reveling her pale and beautiful skin,
"I envy you, Qian Lan."
"Huh? Why?"
"You have such nice skin. I'm jealous. There's not single scar on your skin."
"Well, that's a good thing, right?
"Of course, it is. I'm done soaking in the bath if you wanted to use it next."
Pei moves out of the bath and walks to where Mei was. Qian Lan empties the bath water and fills it with new water. Slowly making her way in as the water was cold; Qian Lan could feel goosebumps all over her body.
"What are we doing after this?"
"What else Qian Lan. It's dinner time and after dinner its bed time,"
"Do we have to go to the garden every day?"
"No, just once every five to six days is good enough. That's when weeds grow back."
"Oh, good. I don't think I can do this every day."
"Ha Ha! Qian Lan, are you sure you're not some daughter from a noble household?"
"I can promise you that I am not."
Qian Lan finally gets out of the wooden bath and dumps out the water as it was Mei's turn. Once everyone was finished cleaning up it was already time for dinner. Qian Lan quietly followed Pei and Mei back to the cooking room.
Everyone ate in silent, and like yesterday night. There was nothing but stir-fried vegetables. Even if Qian Lan wanted to cook, there was too little ingredients and condiments. Trying to not be rude, Qian Lan always made sure to try every dish. After dinner, Mei left to help clean up as Pei and Qian Lan headed back to their bedrooms. Qian Lan felt more exhausted than ever. Before Pei could even talk, Qian Lan had already fallen into a deep sleep on her bed.