The garden pavilion looked exactly like the restoration sketches Wei-Ling had once sold to the National Museum – right down to the dragon-scale tiles that some "construction crew" would loot three centuries from now. She'd gotten thirty grand for those drawings. Now she was sitting on the original, watching Liu Jingyi try to pour wine into a cup and miss completely.
[SOUL READING INTENSIFIED]
Target: Liu Jingyi
Emotional Damage Patterns:
- Primary Fracture: Family Expectations
- Secondary Cracks: Self-Worth, Identity
- Recent Trauma Detected: Unknown Source
Warning: Timeline interference possible
"So," Wei-Ling said, carefully adjusting her sitting position to match her status. "Want to tell me why you're day-drinking with fake antiquities?"
"It's not—" he started, then slumped. "How did you know it was fake? Father's best authenticators couldn't tell."
Wei-Ling's Authentication Expert skill hummed to life, highlighting the vessel's flaws like a museum security system showing blind spots. "The glaze pattern's wrong for Han Dynasty. Plus, the aging marks look like someone took sandpaper to perfectly good Ming pottery. Amateur hour."
Liu Jingyi stared at her, his aura flickering with surprise and... something else. Interest? "You know about authentication?"
[QUEST HINT UNLOCKED]
Connection Point Detected: Shared Interest in Artifacts
Suggestion: Build rapport through expertise
"Let's just say I have a... natural talent for spotting real from fake." Wei-Ling picked up the vessel, letting her fingers trace the telltale marks of modern tools. "Someone sold this to you as Han Dynasty, right? Probably some 'mysterious dealer' with an 'exclusive collection'?"
His aura pulsed with shame. "Father's going to kill me."
"How much?"
"Five thousand taels."
Wei-Ling barely stopped herself from converting that to yuan. "Okay, first? You got robbed. Second? This is decent Ming work under all that fake aging. Strip off the artificial patina, and you've got a perfectly good wine vessel. Not Han Dynasty prices, but not worthless."
[SOUL READING UPDATE]
New Pattern Detected: Relief
Hidden Memory Surfacing: Connection to family library confirmed
Timeline Significance: High
"You really know your artifacts," Liu Jingyi said, watching her hands move across the pottery. His aura shifted, the cracks realigning like a tomb wall revealing its secrets. "Most noble daughters just learn enough to arrange their dowry pieces."
Wei-Ling snorted before she could stop herself. "Because heaven forbid women think about anything except looking pretty and making babies." She froze. Shit. Two minutes into her first soul-saving quest and she was already talking like a time traveler with authority issues.
But instead of offense, Liu Jingyi's aura sparked with recognition. "You sound like the books," he whispered, then immediately looked horrified at having said it.
"Books?"
[TIMELINE VIEWING ACTIVATED]
Fragment Accessed: Library, Ancient Texts, Hidden Knowledge
Warning: Full Timeline Still Locked
"Nothing. I shouldn't—" He stood too quickly, stumbled, and Wei-Ling's hands shot out to steady him. The moment their skin touched, her Soul Reading ability exploded with information:
[CRITICAL SOUL DATA UNLOCKED]
Core Memory Located: Family Library
- Ancient texts questioning social order
- Secret collection of banned writings
- Father's impending discovery
Timeline Alert: Connection to future earthquake detected
Holy shit. Wei-Ling's mind raced. If she was reading this right, Liu Jingyi had found some kind of forbidden knowledge in his family library. Something that challenged the Ming Dynasty's rigid social structure. Something that would get him in serious trouble with his father, and somehow – her Timeline Viewing ability flickered tantalizingly – this connected to the earthquake that would devastate the region.
"The books in your family library," she said carefully, watching his aura pulse with panic. "They're not all... officially approved, are they?"
His face went white. "How did you—"
"Because I can read things too." She tapped the wine vessel. "Not just pottery. And I'm guessing you bought this fake trying to replace something you sold from your family collection. Something you needed gone before your father found out what else you've been reading."
Liu Jingyi's legs gave out and he sank back onto the bench. His aura was a mess of terror and relief – the look of someone who'd been carrying a secret so long, even a guess at the truth felt like salvation.
[QUEST UPDATE]
Progress: 15%
Current Objective: Prevent Liu Jingyi's secret from causing timeline disaster
New Skill Unlocked: Trust Building (Novice)
Warning: Timeline stability at risk
"If my father finds out..." His voice shook.
"He won't." Wei-Ling surprised herself with the fierceness in her voice. "Look, I don't know what's in those books, but I know about keeping secrets. About finding truth in things other people overlook." She held up the wine vessel. "This isn't worthless just because it's not what someone claimed it was. Maybe what you found in that library isn't wrong just because it's not what everyone claims is right."
His aura shifted, the cracks beginning to stabilize. "You're not like other noble daughters."
Wei-Ling thought about her previous life, about breaking into tombs and decoding secrets left by the dead. About her new mission, reading souls instead of pottery, healing spirits instead of robbing graves. "Yeah, well, maybe that's not such a bad thing."
As the sun set behind the pavilion's curved roof, Wei-Ling felt her new abilities humming with possibility. She had eighty-nine days to save Liu Jingyi's soul and maybe prevent whatever connected his forbidden books to an earthquake that would swallow cities. All while navigating Ming Dynasty society with the mind of a modern tomb raider and the social status of decorative furniture.
[SYSTEM UPDATE]
New Quest Branch Unlocked: The Forbidden Library
Objective: Discover connection between banned texts and future disaster
Warning: High-risk timeline manipulation ahead
"So," she said, setting down the wine vessel, "want to tell me about these books?"