A gentle summer wind carried a beautiful but nostalgic melody of a guqin. Wild morning birds accompanied it with their pleasant singing and rustling of trees caused by the passing breeze together created an enchanting tune.
Under a willow tree sat a young girl in her early teens. Her jade like fingers gently pulled the strings of the instrument. She was the one who blessed the nature with her music and nature reciprocated in kind.
Her dark as night and long like a waterfall hair were swaying gently. She had a delicate smile on her petal like reddish lips. But to a discerning person her eyes told a different story. There was a hidden sadness hidden deep inside.
The melody finished abruptly as the teenage girl heard closing steps of someone running.
"Young - young miss..! Haaa ~ haaaahh ~" a girl close in age to the one resting under the tree appeared in sight. She was panting as apparently running wasn't her forte. Or maybe she was running around too much..?
"Young miss, I got so scared! When I entered your room, you weren't in your bed! Not even in your room! Haaaa ~ I thought someone must have kidnapped you, young miss!" The distressed girl started complaining but it was coming from the place of worry and care. After catching her breath she continued. "Please young miss… don't do that again… just notice me first thing next time…"
The said young miss looked up at the girl who had worry written all over her face. "Meihua…"
For a short moment there was silence as one was waiting for her mistress to continue and the other started wandering with her mind to the past. Or as of now, the future…
"Miss..?" The servant girl called Meihua called to the girl lost in her thoughts. It helped her get back to the present and focus again.
"It's fine, Meihua. I was thinking about something. Don't worry, I won't do that again. I just woke up early since I had a bad dream. It's good to see you, Meihua" the young miss continued, smiling genuinely at her small servant girl.
"Heavens! If my miss had a bad dream, why didn't she call for me?!" Meihua started but there was a tinge of sadness in her voice.
"Meihua, I didn't want to wake you up as I wanted to be alone for some time. You see, I had a lot on my mind because of that dream and had to digest it all on my own" the mistress explained and got hold of the servant girl's hand. "I really appreciate you wanting to always be here for me but everyone needs some space sometimes. Nonetheless, thank you so much, Meihua. For everything."
Those words came from the bottom of Fang AnXue's heart. Yes, it was Fang AnXue who returned back in time after her death to her twelve years old self in the second life.
After she suddenly woke up at midnight, she really thought she must have had a dreadful dream, but then it all came crushing on her. It all were the memories of the future she lived through. The grim future that she had no desire on repeating.
She knew it wasn't a dream as she was already reborn before in this world. Similar but different to Ancient China. She lived her life here until dying tragically.
When she got reborn in this place, she started as a newborn baby. She was really excited as this world reminded her of many novels she read in her previous life. She wasn't sure if this world was out of one of the books she's read because her story count was so great, some plots started overlapping.
Nevertheless, she believed that if as she suspected it is the world of one of the novels then she must be the heroine. Of course even if the main character is reborn as a villain or a side character, they are still the heroine or hero of the book, right..? That was the logic she came up with.
As it turned out, it couldn't have been further from the truth and she couldn't have been more wrong.
Fang AnXue, previously known as Nellie Klein was a normal girl in her previous life. One could say she was like an npc of the modern world. Her days were mainly spent on working as a shop assistant, reading books and spending her free time with her mother as they lived together.
Her younger sister moved out since she married, but Nellie didn't want to leave her mother alone. Mrs Klein and her daughters lost their husband and father accordingly, because of a genetic illness that took him away.
Moreover Nellie never had any suitors. She was introverted and a homebody. Maybe she dreamed about marrying someone she falls in love with one day but it was just a distant future and she never really thought about it too seriously.
She couldn't remember how she died or how she got here. She missed her mother but with time she accepted her new reality. Actually, the longer she stayed here, the more exciting the whole experience seemed to be.
"-iss..? Miss..? MISS?!" A shout brought her back from her reverie again.
Fang AnXue blushed a bit and apologized.
"No, young miss" Meihua smiled gently and put her own hand on her miss' one as she kneeled beside her. "You don't have to apologize to me. I'm just worried about you. And I should be the one thankful for being by your side" the girl had a silly smile on her face.
Suddenly tears started streaming down both faces. ""Miss/Meihua, why are you crying..?" Girls opened their eyes wider and then started laughing heartily.
"Young miss, but really maybe you should see a physician? You daydream a lot today. Are you sure the dream didn't damage your mind..?" The servant but also the friend of AnXue asked her.
"Everything is fine now, Mei. It's a new day and such a wonderful one at that. Let's do something special together, what do you say?" Fang AnXue looked at the other with sparkly eyes which only proved to Meihua that her miss was really back to her normal self.
"Umu, what are we going to do miss..?"
"Come, I'll teach you some yoga" AnXue got ahold of her servant's hand again and dragged her to a small pavilion in the middle of the lake which happens to be placed on the Fang family's estate.
"Ummm.. yo.. ga..?" Meihua got confused.
"Yes, it's good for the mind and the body. You'll see" added AnXue as they were walking on a wooden bridge which connected the pavilion with the shore of the lake.
All kinds of fish were swimming around in clear waters looking up curious about two passing figures. Lake's surface was full of water plants and flowers such as lotuses and water lilies. In places where water was shallow cranes and other similar birds were wading looking for pray.
AnXue looked up and took a deep breath. 'It's good to be back. This chance I won't waste.' She made a decision basking her face in the sun.
The pavilion was exquisite. Full of elaborate ornaments engraved in the wooden structure as well as a roof. Only the floor was made out of marble. There were no walls but short railings and muslin cloths were present. They were disrupting looking inside the pavilion from the outside. Muslin would gently move every now and then with every wind gust.
Both girls entered the building and as per AnXue nagging, they started exercising in their inner clothes.
"Young miss, what if someone sees us?" Asked anxious and blushing Meihua.
"No worries, it's alright, Mei. Nobody comes here. Let's start the first session, shall we..? Don't be shy ~" said miss Fang teasingly.
Meihua never saw such moves before and many times thought her miss' body would break in half or become crippled. She tried to stop her multiple times until AnXue threatened that the servant girl pulling on her body suddenly while in the middle of performing all those poses would cause the real damage.
Meihua calmed down a bit and tried following her mistress' lead. In the future, yoga would become one of servant girl's favorite pass times.
•••
When the sun got to the highest point in the sky both girls got dressed in their overdresses and decided to head back to had a meal. Neither of them had any breakfast as AnXue wasn't in the mood and a servant would follow his or her master's habits. Also Meihua simply forgot.
As they walked back to the residence, heading in the direction of AnXue chambers, they chatted and enjoyed each other's company. Suddenly Meihua recalled something.
"Young miss, you can play guqin..?" The girl looked suspiciously at her miss.
Fang AnXue over the years as an Empress became good at hiding her emotions but this one caught her a bit of guard. She forgot that after being reborn other than playing around and enjoying being a miss of a rich family, she didn't really study or learn much of arts and skills praised in ancient times. She believed that modern knowledge is enough. She only took all those up when she became the Empress.
'I have to ask grandpa to hire me teachers so my new skills and abilities as well as knowledge aren't iffy'.
"Oh well I was just plucking the strings of my mother's guqin… I missed my parents after tonight and wanted to try playing one of the melodies my mother played for my father and me when I was small… was it bad..?" AnXue tried distracting Mei from the suspicion which she accomplished.
"No! No, it's not that, miss! It was incredible. At first I thought it was some celestial playing the melody from the heavens!" The small servant tried explaining herself to which her young miss started laughing.
"Meihua, you're the cutest hahaha ~" which caused the flustered girl to blush and look down as she followed cheerful Fang AnXue back to the general's residence.