Humming a tune happily, she lathered conditioner on her hair.
Perhaps if Arlo Harrell heard her doing this, he would really believe that she's being possessed.
Cynthia Dorsey was aloof, cold and always isolated herself. If not for her guilt of not being able to save the children before, she wouldn't even think of working as a physician and being around patients in all walks of life. However, she barely smiled, not even towards kids. To have her sing a happy tune is impossible.
On the other hand, Song Jia was cheerful and always had her head in the clouds, imagining what went on with the characters in the novels she read. She loved to immerse herself in books and honestly would rather talk to the maidservants rather than the other girls from the other families. The maidservants loved to hear her thoughts on the books she read. For as long as the Young Mistress wished, General Song Qing, Song Xia and Song Huo wouldn't scold them for spending time with her instead of working. They didn't stop her from reading books, unlike in other families who only wanted their daughters to learn embroidery, music, dance and other things that would make them attractive towards their future husbands.
The aim of traditional women's education was limited to the teaching of social ethics and family traditions with an emphasis on how to become a virtuous wife and good mother. Great differences were apparent between men's education and women's education, apparently owing to such beliefs as 'Men never talk inside. Women never talk outside'. On reaching the age of 10, girls would be mostly confined to their boudoirs and brought up by their parents to be subservient to the menfolk. In fact, the whole of a girl's upbringing would be centred around becoming acquainted with the all-important virtue of being docile and obedient. Hence, what women learned in those days amounted to nothing more than cooking, sewing, knitting, cotton-spinning and housekeeping. Later on they were taught food and wine appreciation, lessons in deportment and makeup, reading and arithmetic. It has improved since then. But there were still families who stuck to what was the practice before.
If one would ask General Song Qing, Song Xia and Song Huo, they would only say that it is the man's great fortune to be chosen by Song Jia, not the other way around. To them, not any ordinary man could be a match for this beautiful, smart and talented child who also has a kind heart. They would hate to match her with a person who didn't know how to cherish her.
Cynthia Dorsey on the other hand, not only was a master of poison, martial arts, languages, medicine, mathematics and science, she was also skilled in other areas as well. Those above skills were only what she has constantly made use of. But she did learn plenty as she was able to grasp the knowledge and master the skill at a fast pace compared to the average human. These skills were very useful in infiltrating organizations. She could adapt to the situation well, making use of different identities to disguise herself as if she was the real deal. She may be the top assassin in their organization and have killed countless people, but compared to the others in the organization, she has killed less. If she could, she would accomplish her mission without too much bloodshed. If she could, she would avoid collateral damage.
Now that her two parts of soul have merged and her abilities were more than what the average person in this world has, she was not worried. Even if this world looked like Ancient China and even the people spoke in Chinese, the geography, and history, were not similar at all. This was like a different universe or a different dimension. There's even such a creature as Spirit beasts in this world, if this were to pop up in Cynthia's world, this would be called Magic. Hence, there was no need to be anxious about the possibility of doing something and changing history, unless one were to base it on this world's history.
Earlier, when she thought about the makeup kit in her dresser, it was only a thought but the things really appeared in front of her. Just moments ago, she only imagined taking out the hygiene products from her bathroom, then the same thing happened.
'Hmm.. I think this is worth exploring. What if I can get more of my stuff back at the apartment?'
Thinking back on her apartment, she wondered if Arlo survived and if those people died. She wondered if someone buried her. After all, she had no living relatives.
Shaking her head from negativity, she continued to bathe herself. Sniffing the fragrant aroma of her body wash.
'Tsk. This is probably my first real bath after waking up.'
From the time that she was heavily injured, Lu Ping may have wiped her body a few times. Then after that, she had to pretend to be dead for a few days, not being wiped clean and only ate fasting pills since she had to stay in the coffin the whole time. She really felt disgusting.
She rubbed her whole body with a sponge until it turned red.
Once she felt satisfied from her bath, she rose up from the bathtub and wrapped her hair with a towel and another towel for her body. A robe was hung on the side. She took it and put it on. She then saw what looked like a toothbrush and toothpaste. She cringed at the thought that she used these things before as Jia.
Leaning on the basin, she willed a glass of water to appear. She was pleased to know that it worked again.
'Hmm.. I think I'm getting the hang of this.'
She happily squeezed some toothpaste on her toothbrush and began to brush her teeth, pleased that she didn't need to forgo what seemed to be a luxury in this world. She even used her mouthwash, gargling like there's no tomorrow and did the rest of her routine in her hygiene practice.
'Finally! I feel human again!'
She willed the hygiene products back into her space.
She really was disgusted by the thought of not being able to bathe for almost half a month. And to think that even before then, this body didn't even take a shower everyday. Since it was said that bathing everyday invites sickness.
Once she got out of the bathroom, Lu Ping helped her in putting on her garments and assisted her in fixing her hair.
"Miss Jia, are you hungry yet? I will pick up the food from the kitchen if you are."
Song Jia pursed her lips. She just brushed her teeth. However, her stomach growled. 'Grrrrrr..' She blushed in embarrassment.
"Alright. I'll have to trouble you then. Thank you." She smiled faintly at the girl.
"It's no problem at all Miss Jia." The girl smiled widely. If Song Jia only knew, Lu Ping had cried since the ambush happened and Song Jia was left heavily injured. If not for the fact that she was told to stay in the Song Clan's residence and the other older maidservant was the one who was sent with Song Jia instead, then she would also be dead. Much as she felt blessed to still be able to serve her Miss Jia, she felt miserable during the days when Song Jia was unconscious on her bed. She didn't know if Miss Jia would wake up finally or not. She could only keep her comfortable while she was unconscious, wiping her body and keeping her warm with a blanket. When the doctor said that Miss Jia would die soon, her tears kept falling, wishing for time to go back and for her to have stayed next to Jia and be able to shield her from the attack. She thanked the heavens when Song Huo pulled her to the side and asked her if she was loyal to Song Jia. Without hesitation, she said that she promised she was loyal to her and is even willing to die if it's to protect her. She would never harm her, else, heaven would strike her dead.
Back then it was not Song Huo's intention to make her do an oath. He merely asked her so he can trust her to assist with Song Jia who would pretend to be Shi Jin. He didn't have any plans of letting her know just yet that Song Jia was actually alive.
But because of what Lu Ping said, the heavens heard her and a light shot into her forehead.
Song Huo's lips and eye twitched, not expecting for that to happen. He sighed and brought her to General Song Qing so they could discuss the plan with her.
The happiness Lu Ping had could not be explained in a few words. To know that Miss Jia was actually alive, she could only pinch her leg to suppress her excitement or else, their plan would fall apart if she would act too familiar with Shi Jin who was supposed to be a young boy.
At the moment, Lu Ping was about to leave for the kitchen when they heard knocks on the door. The two exchanged glances and Lu Ping brought an outer garment for Song Jia to wear. Song Jia then went to a chair and picked up a book, hiding her face from view.
Seeing that they would not be able to recognize Song Jia, Lu Ping opened the door.
Outside, another maidservant stood, carrying a tray of food.
"Ah! Cao Cai! I was about to head to the kitchen for the Young Master's meal!" She exclaimed in surprise.
"Hehe.. No worries. Master Song Huo already predicted that his Junior would get hungry so he told us to send this here." The maidservant tried to peek inside but was unable to see the person's face as it was covered by a book. She only saw that the Young Master had really long hair and milky white skin.
Leaning towards Lu Ping, the other maidservant named Cao Cai whispered to her. "As expected, Master Song Huo's junior is also handsome like him."
"Eh? When did you see him?" Lu Ping's heart thumped madly, thinking Cao Cai saw Song Jia's face already.
"Only from a distance earlier. His features were really handsome. And looking at his long black silky looking hair and milky white skin...ah.. I wonder if he came from a well-off family.. He even looks elegant just sitting there reading a book.. Tell me, is he really handsome up close? Darn.. You're so lucky to be assigned here.."
Lu Ping heaved a sigh. "Don't be silly. You know why I'm here instead."
What she said implied that because Song Jia was dead, she was assigned there instead.
"Ah.. right.. Sorry.." Cao Cai seemed to have realized her error so she stopped gossiping with Lu Ping. "Here's the tray. Take it while the food is still warm. Let me know if the Young Master needs anything else."
Lu Ping nodded and muttered a word of thanks.
Stealing another peek, Cao Cai finally left the courtyard.
Lu Ping closed the door behind her, heaving a sigh of relief, shaking her head.
"Miss, the food she brought looks delicious."
Song Jia set the book down once she heard the door closed. She stood up and went to a table to take her meal. Although the food was not as tasty as the ones she had back in the other world, she still ate it since she was feeling famished. After all, beggars can't be choosers.