The deity Xiao Liu Mei was still holding Xin Ling's cheeks.
"You poor thing... You really had it tough in your previous life." Xiao Liu Mei continued. "Fortunately for you, you've been favoured with a second chance at life by the deities."
'Second chance at life?' Xin Ling thought.
"No! I don't want it." Xin finally spoke as she gently removed the deity's hands off her cheeks.
"I never want to walk that filthy, cruel and unfair world ever again." Xin Ling added.
Xiao Liu Mei let out a chuckle that echoed across the still dark space that was only illuminated now by the light she exuded.
"That's not for you to decide." Xiao Liu Mei told, and she started walking away.
Xin Ling was devastated, she'd rather seize to exist than to walk that earth again.
"But don't worry..." Xiao Liu Mei trailed off, just as Xin Ling was about to plead her case.
"You might just have the upper hand in this second life." Xiao Liu Mei ended.
And just like that Xiao Liu Mei disappeared, so did the passage and the light she exuded. The space was pitch black again, and so was Xin Ling as she blacked out.
When her eyes opened again, she found herself in a room with much better light sources, as the room was lit up by the rays of the sunlight piercing sharply into the room, and also by the light from the melting candles on the chandeliers and candle stands.
She sat up immediately. She was on a very comfortable king size bed with an awfully ancient China aesthetics.
Where exactly was she now?
She stood up from the bed. She felt so alive right now, more than she has ever felt all her life. Her once weak body seems to have so much vigor. Her gaze went to her hands and she discovered that she was no longer translucent looking, her body had form now.
When her eyes shifted from her hands upwards, she finally came face to face with a large mirror in the room.
She still looked the same, but more healthy and with longer hair.
'Wait... What am I wearing?' She noticed the ancient pattern or design of the night attire she was putting. Xin Ling looked all over the place and was in awe. Everything in the room looked so luxurious but ancient... It was as if she was in some eastern historical movie or novel right now.
"Don't tell me..." Xin Ling trailed off as her hands went to her mouth. "Did that woman send me to the past?" She continued to soliloquized.
Then a young lady about her age or a little younger, walked into the room, and offered her a respectful bow. A flustered Xin Ling returned the bow which shocked the lady who seems to be a maidservant.
The shock was evident in the maidservant's face but she chose to ignore what had just happened.
"Good morning my lady. Your morning warm scented bath has already been prepared just the way you like it," the maidservant announced with a smile on her face.
'My lady?' Xin Ling thought.
She moved closer to the maidservant. "Uhm... What year is this?"
"Uh... Year of the rooster, Ning dynasty." The maidservant responded so puzzled by the question. It didn't sound like any historical timeline she knows. Or wait... Did that woman send her to another world entirely? If that exists actually, but at this point, anything is possible- She vividly remembered dying, but here she was, alive and healthy.
'What do I do?' Xin Ling thought as she started pacing, around while biting on her thumbnail.
"Uhm... My lady, is there a problem?" The maidservant asked worriedly.
"You..." Xin Ling moved towards her again.
"What's your name? Who exactly are you and what and where is this place?" She questioned the maidservant.
The maidservant was so taken aback by all these questions. What's going on with her lady?
"Uhm..." She went ahead to answer the questions anyways. "I'm Lu Mei, your personal maidservant. This is your room in your private quarters of your father's mansion-"
"My father?" Xin Ling interrupted.
"Yes, your father, General Ping'an Qiye, one of the greatest dàjiàng ever lived, of the Ping'an clan- But of course you're the second greatest, next to your father, soon to be the greatest after your father." The maidservant Lu Mei seemed to be so nervous as she hurrily added those glorifications of her.
What kind of life does she live in this world?
'Don't tell me I'm some sort of rich brat?'
"You're Ping'an XinLing, the only daughter and child of your parents, and as your father is the head of the Ping'an clan, you're the successor next in line to be the new leader of the Ping'an clan-"
"Wait, wait, wait..." Xin Ling interrupted Lu Mei again. This was too much information to process.
Parents?
Ping'an clan?
Successor?
Dàjiàng?
What's all these?!
Xin Ling ran out of the room immediately. "MY LADY?!!!" Lu Mei ran after her immediately. Though it was her quarters, a man could be passing by and then there was the guards; it was inappropriate for a noble woman to be seen in her undergarments by a man that's not her husband, unless otherwise.
The guards hid their gazes immediately they saw Xin Ling approaching them with just her undergarments. Some other maidservants that had initially been waiting at the doors to her room, joined Lu Mei in chasing after her. Xin Ling totally ignored them. "This place is huge," she affirmed as she continued running in search of the entrance or exit, which she eventually found. Fortunately for the maidservants, Xin Ling didn't run any further from the entrance of her quarters. She was too stunned to, by what she was seeing. The whole setting of the place was ancient... But... Beautiful and she got to admit, magical. She really was in another world.
"My lady, you'd be late for breakfast with your parents and other morning activities at this rate." Lu Mei pleaded.
'What's happening? Is it something she ate last night?' Lu Mei thought.
Xin Ling took in a deep breath. Then she turned around to Lu Mei. "Alright. Let's go get ready." She finally agreed with a smile.
This was her second life. Her second chance at life. Though a chance she never wanted- But it has already been given, so she might as well see what it has to offer.
***