Sitting in a dimly lit room, Qian Lan quietly sat across from Duke Xia Long as they waited for their dinners. Moments later, three maids came walking in with plates of food for the two. Glancing at the table; there laid a whole roasted duke with braised pork and stir fried vegetables and a bowl of fresh rice. Qian Lan could feel herself drooling as she waited for the Duke to motion for her to dig in.
"Gulp."
Qian Lan was salivating at the moment and could barely contain herself. Duke Xia Long notices and cracks a smile as he motions for Qian Lan to not stand on ceremony and eat.
"Help yourself Ms. Qian Lan."
Clasping her hands together, Qian Lan thanks the duke and inhales her food.
"Thanks for the food!"
As they continued to enjoy their dinner the Duke couldn't help but question Qian Lan on what had happened to her.
"Ms. Qian Lan, if you don't mind. Would you tell me what happened to you?"
Qian Lan places her chopsticks down beside her half eaten bowl of rice and gulps down a cup of tea.
"Ah! That hit the spot."
Smiling in satisfaction, Qian Lan places her cup down and stares back at the Duke. After a moment of silence, Qian Lan finally spoke.
"I honestly don't know how I ended back here."
"Well, was there really another world? I mean.....I heard you vanished after jumping off the waterfall."
"Duke Xia Long, to answer your curiosity there really was another place beyond what we see here. I saw many gods....even a Kirin! It was like a dream.....I lived on a floating palace with the water god."
The Duke and Qian Lan went on for hours, discussing what happened to her and what happened to the world after she was sacrificed.
"Duke, has it been raining like this since I've been gone?"
"Not at all, this just started two days ago. We don't know why, but at this rate its going to flood the remaining crops and flood our lakes."
"Hmmm....I see..."
Qian Lan goes quiet as she ponders over why she was back on earth. The Duke calls out to the maids outside the door to come and clean up as they had finished their meals. Just as Qian Lan was about to stand up and leave to her room the Duke stops her.
"Ms. Qian Lan, just so you are aware I do have to let his majesty know about what's happened and the fact that you're back in my residence."
"Really?...Do you have to? I want to avoid seeing his majesty if possible...."
"I understand Ms. Qian Lan, in the meantime make yourself at home here."
"Oh! Wait Duke! Before you go, I would like some help in finding work!"
"You want to work? Why? I just told you that you're more than welcome to stay here."
"I don't want to freeload off of you, so please help me find some work. I'll die of boredom bottled up in a room all day."
"Hmm....very well. Speak with the head maid. She will help you find something to do in the meantime."
"Thank you!"
Qian Lan thanks the Duke and bows as she watches him leave. Quickly walking out of the dinning room, she heads back to her bedroom where she is greeted by the head maid.
"Oh! Head maid. It's you."
"Ahem, Ms. Qian Lan you may call me Xing Wei. The Duke had mentioned you had something to tell me."
"Oh! Yes! Please help me find work!"
With a smile on her face, Qian Lan looked like an excited child waiting for treats.
"Why would you want to look for work? The Duke has already granted you permission to live here."
"I know that, but I'm going to be so bored.....I'm good at math so maybe I can help balance accounting books?! I can cook rather well too!"
"I don't know about that.....I'd have to ask the head accountant and speak to the Duke first."
"Great! Just let me know what they say!"
Qian Lan shoos Xing Wei away and tells her to hurry and get their response. Once the head maid was out of the room Qian Lan sighs and opens half her window open and stares at the moon. Rather than finding work to repay the Duke, Qian Lan wanted to do anything that would help her forget about Jiang. It had only been a day and yet Qian Lan had never wanted to see Jiang and Julong so badly. Silently holding her tears back, Qian Lan could only stare at the full moon and listen to the pouring rain to drown out her silent cries.
"Sniff...Hah...just when I thought we were finally getting closer....I hate you Jiang. If you were going to throw me away you should've sent me back to my world."