Two weeks had gone by since the last time Qian Lan saw the water god. With nothing to do, Qian Lan would spend her days away exploring the palace. Like any other day, Qian Lan was exploring the garden when she hears the voice of a woman speaking to the water god.
"I'm holding a banquet in two days. Make sure to come with your wife."
"She's not my wife. Qin, I've told you before that I will only have one wife."
"Say whatever you want. The dead can't do anything for you. Rather than staying in the past, why not try to move forward? Imagine what your wife will say if she finds out you haven't given the humans rain yet."
"What?!"
Qian Lan jumps out from the bushes and forgot all about why she was hiding in the first place. Staring at her in shock was a beautiful goddess and the flawless water god.
"Uh...Opps."
Qian Lan makes a run for it. Without even know why; she continued running without looking back. Once she was far enough, she finally feels her knees go weak and falls to the ground.
"Holy crap. What did I just do?!"
Qian Lan slaps herself to snap out of it. Meanwhile, the goddess couldn't help but find Qian Lan amusing.
"Was that the new wife? I like her already. She's prettier than your last bride if you ask me."
"She's not my wife."
"Well, if you don't want her then send her back home. For someone of your status that's simple enough. Or is there something holding you back?"
"What do you mean by that? If you're here to start trouble then you can leave. I'm a busy person."
"Aw, don't be so heartless. You used to call me big sister all the time. I'm merely looking out for you."
"It's been over a thousand years since I called you that. If you have nothing else to say, I'm leaving."
The water god turns to leave as the goddess giggles behind him.
"Don't forget! In two days, I expect you and your wife at my banquet!"
With that, the goddess quickly disappeared with the wind.
Qian Lan finally returns to her bedroom and sees the head maid just about to exit her room after cleaning it.
"Head maid!"
"Qian Lan? What is it?"
"I need to talk to you!"
Qian Lan grabs the head maid and drags her back inside her bedroom. She quickly pours herself a cup of tea and tells the maid to take a seat.
"I saw the water god in the garden talking to some woman."
"What did the woman look like?"
"She wore a long white dress, she had long dark hair, dark eyes, red lips, rosy cheeks and a mark on her chest that looked like a lotus."
"Ah, that's the goddess of harvest. Out of everyone, I think she's the closest goddess to my lord."
"Is your lord emo or something?"
"Emo?"
"You know…like he hates everyone. Hides in his room, hurts himself on purpose. Those kinds of things."
The maid smacks Qian Lan lightly on the head and scoffs at such a suggestion.
"My lord is nothing like that. I told you before, he's still mourning for his first wife."
"Is her grave at the bottom of the lake where I emerged from?"
"How did you know?"
"Uh…. I don't know. Anyways, why is there a tomb down there if there's no body?"
"Of course, there's a body."
"That's not what I heard. I heard she was buried on earth where her ancestors laid."
"Ah, that's nothing but an empty tomb. After her burial….my lord went back to the human world and retrieved her body. He placed it inside a casket made from the thousand-year willow tree, in doing so she will never decay."
"Why leave her under water though?"
"You really are clueless. It's so nobody goes down there. Only the water god is capable of going into the depths of water. He wanted her to find a resting place that would not be easy to disturb."
"That's…...so sad."
"Just don't tell my lord about what I just told you. Now, I need to head back to work."
The head maid leaves Qian Lan by herself and heads out of the bedroom; closing the door behind her. Meanwhile, Qian Lan thinks about the new things she learned today.
"It's not like I'm fond of the water god. Hmph!"
Qian Lan closes her bedroom window and locks her bedroom door before crawling into her bed. As she laid in her bed; without realizing it, she was drifting off into a deep sleep. In a darken room, Qian Lan realized she was under water. Qian Lan was always good at swimming and knew that being under water made her feel calm whenever her heart was in turmoil. Unlike anything she had dreamt of before Qian Lan was being pulled towards the bottom of the lake by some unknown force. After what felt like forever, everything finally came to a stop when she was now standing in front of a beautiful white casket.
"Holy crap…."
Qian Lan was debating if she wanted to look into the casket or not. Clenching her fists, she lets her curiosity get the better of her. Opening only one of her eyes, she swims closer to the casket and peeks inside it. To her surprise there was no one in there.
"Hah…. what the heck. I got worried for no reason."
"What are you doing here?"
Qian Lan freezes on the spot when she heard the voice of a woman calling from behind her. Shivering in terror she turns her head and sees a woman clad in white with pale skin staring at her.
"Ahhhh! Who are you?!"
"How rude, that's my question. Why are you here and how are you even here?"
Qian Lan forms a cross with her two index fingers and tries to ward off the ghost floating behind her.
"Wait, I'm Buddhist."
Qian Lan face palms herself and curls up into a ball to hide in shame. She repeats sutras to herself to calm her nerves; slowly opening one eye through the gap of her fingers, Qian Lan could still see the woman floating in front of her.
"What are you doing?"
"Gah! Whatever! You know what ghost, just tell me what you want!"
"Pfff…ha ha! I haven't had any visitor other than the water god in centuries. It's refreshing talking to another girl."
Qian Lan quickly stands up and finally scans her surroundings.
"Wait…. what's your name?"
"When I was alive, I was called Chenguang."
"Chenguang? But you're…you're supposed to be dead!"
"I am dead."
"Then how come I can see you?!"
"This is your dream. You must be gifted since your soul was able to wander this deep into the lake. You could even see my spirit. Either that or we're connected in some ways."
"Holy crap…."
Just as Qian Lan was about to ask a question she begins to cough under water; almost like she was now drowning.
"Oh no, you need to leave! Return to your body! Otherwise you will drown at this rate!"
"Cough Cough!"
Qian Lan didn't even know how to return to her body. She falls to her knees and starts to gasp for air as if she was drowning. Meanwhile, the water god senses something unusual in the air. Moving to his window he stares out towards Qian Lan's room as he hears maids screaming throughout the hall. Quickly walking away from the window, the water god opens his doors to find his palace halls flooded with water.
"What's the meaning of this?!"
"My lord, water is pouring out from the new lady's bedroom!"
The maid screams and points towards Qian Lan's bedroom. Without a moment to lose, the water god disappears into thin air and arrives outside Qian Lan's bedroom. The head maid was at the door, trying to break the barrier on it.
"What's wrong?!"
"My lord, I can't seem to unlock Qian Lan's door! If there's this much water out here, her room must be flooded with it!"
The water god motions for the head maid to step aside as he breaks the barrier on her bedroom. Within seconds, the water god blows Qian Lan's bedroom door away and watched as gallons and gallons of water poured out of her bedroom. Being the water god, he had no issues stepping on the water and walking towards Qian Lan who was now lying unconscious on her bed.
"Hey, woman! Wake up!"
The water god lightly slaps Qian Lan's cheek and tries to wake her up. Her bracelet that was glowing was now back to normal. With Qian Lan showing no signs of waking up, the water god had to use his powers to remove water from Qian Lan's lungs; he also dries her clothing. Seconds later Qian Lan could be heard coughing and crying as she gasps for air.
"Cough Cough!"
"Gasp! Hah…Hah.."
The water god watched as Qian Lan cried and clung onto him for dear life. Unsure of what to do he motions for everyone to clean up the place as he takes Qian Lan to his sleeping quarters. After ten minutes, Qian Lan finally calms down and realizes she was crying on the water god's chest the whole time.
"Gasp! I…I'm so sorry!"
Qian Lan pushes the water god away as she tries to compose herself.
"You have some explaining to do. How do you have my bracelet? And what did you just do?"
Qian Lan pauses for a moment as she debates on whether to tell the water god the truth or not. The water god could see how indecisive Qian Lan was and moves in closer to where Qian Lan was sitting on his bed.
"Don't even think of lying to a god. You'll die a painful death if you do."
"Ah! Alright! I'll tell you everything!"
Qian Lan goes into details about how she was from the future and that the water god's first wife was her ancestor. She informed him of how she was tricked and forced into becoming the water gods wife.
"So…you're saying you got that bracelet from your grandma and that you're from a time period five hundred years from now?"
"Yes! That's right!"
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Gods exist during this period so why can't time travelling exist as well?"
"Hmph, I'll believe what I want. Now, give me my bracelet."
"I would if I could. I can't seem to take it off."
"What?"
"I've tried numerous methods already okay? And cutting off my hand is not an option."
The water god furrows his brows before walking to his large brown study desk, filled with scrolls located at the edge of the room, next to the window.
"What're you doing?"
The water ignores Qian Lan and pulls out his bracelet from the drawer and walks back to Qian Lan.
"That bracelet is a couple bracelet and pairs up with this one. I created it for Chenguang and only her."
Qian Lan was now annoyed that the water god was demanding for the bracelet when it was a heirloom from her deceased grandmother and not to mention she had already tried numerous ways to remove the bracelet.
"If you don't want me then send me back home! You're a god, right?! Send me back to my time then! If I could get rid of this bracelet I would've by now! This bracelet is the only reason I'm stuck in this situation anyways!"
"You!"
In the heat of the moment the water god slapped Qian Lan. Catching her off guard, Qian Lan covers her right cheek in shock as the water god was also left in shock that he had hit Qian Lan.
"Uh…I'm…"
"You…damn...bastard!"
Qian Lan steps on the water gods right foot with everything she had before bolting out of his bedroom. With her heart filled with rage Qian Lan heads out towards the palace garden and sleeps on the pavilion floor as she spews out curses at the water god.
Meanwhile, the water god looks at his right hand that he used to slap Qian Lan with.
"Sigh, Chenguang are you telling me it's time to move on? How can I after all these years?"
The water god sighs and places his bracelet onto his right arm and heads out to find Qian Lan. After asking around with no luck, the water god uses his bracelet to find the location of the other bracelet owner. To his surprise he finds Qian Lan sleeping on the cold concrete floor inside the pavilion.
"God, you really are a barbaric woman if you can fall asleep out here."
Seeing as Qian Lan was fast asleep, the water god lifts her up and carries her back to her now cleaned bedroom and lays her back on her bed.