Qian Lan groans in pain as she wakes up drenched in water. Slowly lifting up her veil she quickly stands up and glances around her surroundings. Qian Lan quickly realizes she was no longer in the same place as everyone else. Just like in the drama she had seen as a kid; Qian Lan quickly understood she had to be in heaven.
"Oh my god, am I dead?"
Qian Lan pats herself down to make sure she was still intact. Unsure of what to do, she walks around the edges of what looked like a beach. While still drenched; her clothing were heavier than ever. After walking for hours, Qian Lan finally realized she was walking in a circle around a huge building that looked like a palace.
"Should I go an knock on the door?"
With nothing to lose, Qian Lan decides to make her way towards the large palace sitting in the center. After climbing large rocks for thirty minutes, Qian Lan was finally staring at the large door. Using her thin pale hands, she pounds on the large dark blue wooden doors.
"Hello?! Is anyone there?! Hello! I need help!"
After pounding the door numerous times with no answer, Qian Lan became impatient. Gritting her teeth and clenching her fish, Qian Lan pounds on the door again. After ten minutes of no luck, Qian Lan faces her back against the door and curls up to cry.
"Like being sacrificed wasn't enough. Now I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere probably by myself!"
Qian Lan couldn't do anything but cry as she holds onto the bracelet her grandmother gave her. After crying for fifteen minutes, Qian Lan knew she would get nowhere by crying and decides to find a way to climb over the large palace walls.
"Hmph! Just you wait! I'll find a way!"
Qian Lan walks around the palace and noticed a large tree to the left of the palace. Thinking she could use it; Qian Lan walks away and heads towards the small green forest she had noticed earlier.
"Maybe I can find some vines or something I can use."
Without thinking that there may be danger lurking nearby, Qian Lan walks into the small dense forest and was amazed at how clean the air was and how beautiful the forest looked, considering everything in her time were always contaminated one way or another. After exploring for hours, Qian Lan's dress was now dried but drenched in her own sweat from climbing numerous trees to get to the large vines dangling off them.
After exploring and climbing more than ten trees in her wedding dress, Qian Lan was exhausted and ready to call it a day.
With the sun slowly setting, Qian Lan wondered if she should call it a day or climb the large tree and sneak into the large palace.
"Ah! What should I do? I regret not working out more when I had the chance."
Just as a precaution, Qian twisted all the vines she gathered and was able to form a thick enough rope with it. Qian Lan decided she wasn't going to risk getting eaten by anything, so she decided she was better off inside the palace gate.
"Well, I got nothing to lose."
As her dress was too heavy with the vines, Qian Lan had to strip off the dress; leaving only her white thin robe left. Qian Lan removes her shoes and climbs up the tree; once she was high enough to reach the wall, she ties the vine onto the tree and swung from the tree branch onto the thick wooden wall. Lucky for her, her vine was long enough to drape down to the other side; allowing her to slide down close enough to the ground.
"Hah, that wasn't so bad."
Smiling in satisfaction, Qian Lan quickly scans her surroundings and to her surprise everything was just one large palace building. Qian Lan was surprised to find such a large place with no guards in sight.
"You'd think there would be guards hanging around here."
Qian Lan was amazed to see such a beautiful palace. It was much larger than the king's palace from what she remembered. With no sounds and no one in sight, Qian Lan makes her way towards a large garden.
"Hello? Anyone here?!"
Qian Lan screams from the top of her lungs and yet there was no reply. With no one in sight, Qian Lan decides to run towards the large halls and corridors. To Qian Lan surprise she spots a woman who was dressed like a maid heading out of a room.
"Excuse me!"
Qian Lan tries to wave down the maid only to watch her scream in terror.
"A human! It's a human!"
The maid quickly runs off as Qian Lan chases her.
"Wait! I just need to talk to someone!"
Once Qian Lan turned around the corner, she was surprised to see men dress in golden armor and spears staring at her.
"Uh…."
The maid who was screaming was now hiding behind the group of armor men.
"That's her! That's the human!"
All the men pointed their spears at Qian Lan who was freaking out.
"Woah! Hold on! I didn't come here to fight! I just want to know where I am!"
The woman peeks in from behind the men and could see Qian Lan in distress. Feeling that she's no longer a threat she asks for the men to put down their spears. Slowly walking in front of the men, the woman asks Qian Lan who she was.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Qian Lan. I was supposed to have been sacrificed to the water god, but this doesn't look like the right place."
"A human sacrifice to the water god? What for?"
"I don't know, something about a drought that's been going on for two years. If you guys don't want me here then send me back home."
The woman watches as Qian Lan scratch the back of her head, revealing her bracelet.
"Wait, where did you get that?"
"This? From my grandmother, why?"
"That's been missing for the past two hundred years after the death of the first bride. How do you have it?"
"I just told you, it was a gift. I can't seem to take it off so If that's what you want, it's not happening."
The woman could see the seriousness in Qian Lan's eyes and sighs before asking for the men to disperse.
"I am the head maid here. I tend to everyone and everything, If what you say is true then that means you were destined to become the bride of the water god, but let me warn you. The water god has not taken a wife for centuries as he was opposed to it after his first wife died. That bracelet was a promise bracelet he created for her. You must be a descendent from her family bloodline if you have it."
"So, I've been told."
"I will take you to meet the water god tomorrow. Until then, follow me. We need to get you cleaned up."
Qian Lan silently follows the young woman into another section of the palace. The maid slowly opens the door and lights the bedroom as she motions for Qian Lan to take a bath.
"Your wooden bathtub is right behind that screen, please clean yourself. I will check on you later and bring you something to eat."
"Wait, you're trusting me just like that?"
"Yes, that bracelet is all I needed as proof. If you're really the new bride, that means the water god already knows you're here. I have other things to tend to so please behave yourself."
Qian Lan watched as the young woman exit her room, leaving only her alone.
"Wait, how am I supposed to bath with no clothing?"
Qian Lan decides to explore the room and open up and closed closet or draw she could find. To her surprise Qian Lan found more than four hanfu's lying around inside the large drawer along with clean cloth. Although the hanfu were plain, Qian Lan was happy just knowing they were clean.
Qian Lan quickly removes her white robe and realizes there was no water in the wooden bin.
"What? That woman didn't even show me where to get water."
Just as Qian Lan was about to grab her dirtied rob, she spots a bowl full of blue like marble bubbles sitting at the small table near the bathtub. Without even realizing it, Qian Lan had already grabbed the soft blue bubble.
"Hmmm…no way."
To test her curiously, Qian Lan throws the blue marble into the wooden tub; shattering the bubble. In a matter of seconds, Qian Lan watched as gallons of water pour out from just that small bubble.
"Well, that was fascinating!"