Ch1 - Gong Zhuoliang

So uncomfortable… I can’t breathe… help…

“cough…cough…cough…” 

Gong Zhuoliang knew that he was coughing so much to the point where his facial features distorted that he must be looking very ugly right now, but he only chose to ignore his image problem for now and kept coughing until his chest ached so much while he breathed heavily in order to absorb enough oxygen as much as possible so he could live.

Gong Zhuoliang cursed in his heart. What kind of lifeguard was that guy from the luxury cruise ship who really resembled a model and looked extremely useful! He fell into the sea for a long time and no one even came to save him! He just easily sunk after such a long flop!

He wants to complain! He must really complain!

“I lived!” 

“Miss, what’s wrong ah!”

“Oh my god…”

Mi… Miss?

Gong Zhuoliang, who had finally regained his breath slowly returned to his consciousness. As his vision became clearer, he finally saw the women who exclaimed behind him. At this moment, Gong Zhuoliang was horrified—he didn’t fall into the sea? What about the cruise ships? Could anybody tell him who these burly old aunts are?

“Just what is going on here? What are you all doing here, why don’t you carry the eldest mistress back to the room?!”

Suddenly, a sharp and high-pitched female voice came up that made all the maids surrounding Gong Zhuoliang and carrying him move in a hurry. Gong Zhuoliang almost couldn’t help but groan in pain, but he didn’t want to bother about the pain anymore. He just stared blankly at what was happening in front of him.

There’s a courtyard, a pond, maids in their ancient costumes and a middle-aged beautiful woman with a voice comparable to He Dong Shi….. also the ‘eldest young lady’…. 

Gong Zhuoliang only felt the darkness swarming before his eyes before he fell unconscious again.

When he regained consciousness once again, Gong Zhuoliang was already lying on a warm bed. He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the wooden bed posts and bed curtains in his sight. 

As a novelist in late 80’s, YY genre is one of his commonly used themes in his novels. But unfortunately, the genre he’s only good at is ‘Fantasy Magic’, while he sucked at ‘Martial Historical’. Don’t even talk about the historical harem style, he really sucked at that. But now, in front of Gong Zhuoliang, everything caused an adrenaline in his whole being, especially when he heard the names of the servants who echoed in his mind…

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Qtfc tf wbnfv tlr rbgf jgw, Xbcu Itebiljcu’r ktbif ybvs kjr rboa jr lo la kjr cba tlr bkc. Lf kjr ralii cba mbcnlcmfv bo tlr rajaf rb tf kjcafv ab mbwqifafis mbcolgw atf rlaejalbc yfibk tlw, yea atfc tf rbbc vlrmbnfgfv atja tf mbeivc’a wbnf yfmjerf tf lr jmaejiis alfv ilxf j yegglab klat j klvf mibat yfia! 

Gong Zhuoliang twisted and tried to get out of the quilt, but the sounds of grunts he made only alarmed the people who were guarding him. Gong Zhuoliang heard heavy footsteps who quickly approached the bed then the pink bed curtain in front of him was raised. As he got up, a big round face comparable to a pancake came over to him.

“Hey my eldest mistress. It’s impossible, don’t bother anymore and I’d rather you save your energy. You did not pity us servants and shamed us, not even considering the situation of your mother. If you caused trouble to the old Lord and the Madam, it would only create a big trouble, then how could Concubine Wu live in this house in the future?” 

The fat maid looked down at Gong Zhuoliang, her voice was acerbic and her expression was full of disdain. This appearance completely made Gong Zhuoliang feel angry, but he cannot offend the behemoth in front of him so Gong Zhuoliang simply closed his eyes and ignored her rambling, only wondering in his mind how this all happened. 

After the initial panic passed, Gong Zhuoliang’s brain recovered. He remembered that he went to S City to do an autograph promotion for the publication of his new book. A sponsor gave him a ticket for a luxury cruise so he didn’t have to take the plane and experience being alone. But he didn’t expected to be swayed into the sea as he was watching a scenery on the deck, and then only when he woke up, he was now a ‘young miss’ who jumped into a pond to commit suicide… Could it be that he really drowned in that way??? 

“Miss Li-er, is the eldest mistress awake?”

A soft and somewhat immature female voice came. Gong Zhuoliang’s heart trembled violently, but he also felt that the voice was quite familiar, however he’s sure that there could be no such a little loli among the people he knew so Gong Zhuoliang couldn’t help but be curious as he opened his eyes again to look at the person approaching his bed.

“Ruo Lan…” 

The slightly soft and weak voice of a child sounded in his ears and Gong Zhuoliang was once again terrified. Was this baby voice that sounded like Jiangnan water actually came from his voice box? He  honestly hadn’t had a chance to see his own body and appearance right after falling unconscious then waking up twice, and he was only fully awake now. Could it be that he has actually become a child? 

Wait, more importantly, why did he just suddenly call out the name of this beautiful young lady? He remembered that she was not only an experienced maid who always follows after the Madam, but was only fourteen this year. This young lady was also one of the few people in this mansion who was kind to him.

“It’s Miss Ruolan, ah! Wake up, wake up!”

As soon as the fat woman looked at the person who came, she immediately stepped back a few steps to make way for her by the bed with a sudden warm smile on her face that was completely different from recently.

“The Madam has something to convey to the eldest lady. My sister-in-law must’ve been tired after being busy for a long time. Go back first. I will be watching over the eldest mistress.” 

Ruo Lan did not greet the servant girl, but only gave a light expression. After talking and the maid left the room, she carefully closed the door again and then walked to Gong Zhuoliang’s bedside with a somewhat forlorn expression on her face.

“Second Young Master… Eldest Mistress, what is bothering you? Even if you had to neglect your own self, just please think about Concubine Wu. Right after knowing that something happened to you, Concubine Wu cried.”

After solving the cloth straps tied on Gong Zhuoliang, Ruo Lan helped him sit against the pillow then sat on the edge of the bed and held Gong Zhuoliang’s numb arm, kneading it gently for him. 

“How is my mother?”

Another word that he uttered out of nowhere. Gong Zhuoliang instantly pinched the center of his forehead with his other hand as both unfamiliar and familiar images gradually showed up in his mind. Although some memories are vague, it is enough for Gong Zhuoliang to sort out the life experience of this poor child that he’s currently possessing… and it was really an old-fashioned, dog blood plot. 

This child’s name is magically exactly the same as his own. In view of what happened to him today, Gong Zhuoliang temporarily classified himself as someone who possesses this fate to be in this bizarre world.

According to this child’s memory, Gong Zhuoliang had been completely aware that the current dynasty was called the Celestial Empire and the reigning Emperor was named Hongzheng who is now around 39 years old. Gong Zhuoliang could ascertain that he definitely did not belong to any historical period he knew, but as a result, since he’s not quite knowledgeable about the known historical records, he could only vaguely determine for now that he must be currently living in ancient times! 

Then there is the life experience of this child. Thank God this child is an actual boy. His father is the richest man in this city. It is also said that his family is a Beijing official and his mother is a Qinyi who's from Jiangnan, but ended up marrying into a businessman. And there was also a jealous first wife in their family, anybody could already imagine how the life of this mother and son goes. 

And if that’s the case, Gong Zhuoliang who’s the son of a concubine is one of the young masters of the Gong family, and he could live a relaxed life until he grows up. However in this era, the situation could exactly remind you of the Ming Dynasty. It had also become common for a man to marry another man to fill the house, and so Madam Gong publicly asked Gong Zhuoliang to be her “daughter”. Her intentions are clearly obvious, and in this era where the direct wife has one of the most tyranny in the household, the whole family members could also treat her as one of the heads of the family besides the Old Master. No one dared to oppose her decision. And about Gong Zhuoliang’s meek father…don’t count on him at all. 

“Concubine Wu cried so sadly that she instantly fell asleep after knowing that you were fine. I went to see her before I came and I think she’s fine by now”

Ruo Lan squeezed Gong Zhuoliang’s arm up, her eyes fell on the young man’s pale and thin face, her nose couldn’t help but reddened. The poor second young master who’s been suffering for so many years is now driven to a dead end.

“Ruo Lan…”

Gong Zhuoliang looked down at his own fair little hands that completely resembled chicken claws. He didn’t know what to say to the little girl in front of him. The memory of this child was vague without any comprehendible details at all. It is not coherent. 

Gong Zhuoliang remembered that this child had an elder sister from the direct wife who’s in extremely good terms with the Prefect’s wife and is betrothed with their eldest son. It is said that the other party is a sickly child who had been inseparable from medicine bottles since childhood. A few days ago, the eldest son’s betrothed fiancee died young, and after that, he fell gravely ill that his life is almost in the verge of peril. As a result, the Prefect's whole family decided to be married with a successful merchant family like the Gong Family for good luck, but then just before the wedding could happen, the bride eloped with her servants.

So in order to escape the punishment, the Gong family decided to pick someone to be the substitute for the bride, and this child just happened to resemble his Eldest sister so he was naturally chosen.  

After that, they’ll only have to wait for the Eldest son to die of illness, so even if the child had become a widower, everything had been within their plan. In short, this child’s life had been thoroughly ruined, but his family could still use the prefect’s name for any connections as their ‘relatives’ and as their ‘in-law’s and build up their own reputation…. They had really come up with such a good scheme, ah.

Gong Zhuoliang lowered his head to hide the coldness in his eyes. How could he let these bastards get their wish? The child in his memory was kind and filial, but he was forced to death by these relatives. Now he is somehow alive again and if he didn’t teach them a lesson for the sake of this child, Gong Zhuoliang would despise himself.

“Eldest Miss… Second Master! My good Second Young Master, Madam has already permitted Ruo Lan’s dowry. Ruo Lan will always be by your side and no one will dare to bully you anymore. , even if you really wanted the green lamp of the ancient Buddha in the future….. it won’t be any worse than the current situation. Please think more openly”

Ruo Lan said and clenched Gong Zhuoliang’s little hand, her eyes were red while she was speaking, but she kept her back straight, and her beautiful little face was full of stubbornness as if to support Gong Zhuoliang with her own strength.

“Sister Ruo Lan…”

Gong Zhuoliang’s eyes turned all red as he bit his lips while looking pitifully at Ruo Lan, trying hard to restrain his instinct of letting go of her hand. God knows where did the strength of this little girl come from, his hands hurt so much when she’s squeezing it like that! 

“Second Young Master… Well, this title can no longer be called the future… ‘Mistress’, in short, Ruo Lan will accompany you in the future and no matter where we go, the two of us will live our lives well so please don’t be afraid. Furthermore, don’t call me ‘slave sister’ anymore or else people will only keep laughing at you.”

Seeing Gong Zhuoliang’s tears, Ruo Lan released his hand and took out her handkerchief as she gently wiped the corners of Gong Zhuoliang’s eyes, and then she wiped his eye sockets, put away the handkerchief and sat down again, holding Gong Zhuoliang’s other arm as she she slowly massaged it again.

“I see, Ruo Lan… I will try not to do anything dangerous again, don’t worry.”

It would be embarrassing for a 26-year-old Gong Zhuoliang to call a 14-year-old girl a ‘big sister’. His affection for this little girl soared again. However when he thought that the actual age of this child was only around 12 years old at the moment, Gong Zhuoliang was distressed and realized that he really had to continue pretending to be ‘tender’ from now on. 

In this era of feudalism, Gong Zhuoliang won’t dare to show a trace of abnormality. Once he was regarded as a madman, he surely wouldn’t be able to escape in this small body of his and he might be beaten and killed by those 'family members' with a stick and be buried behind the mountain.

“Thank goodness… it’s good if you thought about it.”

With Gong Zhuoliang’s assurance, Ruo Lan finally felt relieved. Although her second young master has a soft temper, he has always kept his promises. Now, everything should be really fine. 

“Well…”

Infected by Ruo Lan’s sincere smile, Gong Zhuoliang finally showed a smile on his face, but was interrupted by a rumbling sound. Gong Zhuoliang felt a little embarrassed as he touched his stomach. He’s actually been feeling hungry and now it makes him uncomfortable. He surely hadn’t eaten for a day.

“Madam told me not to deliver meals to you today… so I can only secretly bring this in. Let’s put a pad on it first.” 

Ruo Lan took out a small oiled paper bag from her pocket as she carefully opened it and grabbed a piece of scallion oil pancake inside. Wiped it. After breaking the cake into small pieces, she feeds them to Gong Zhuoliang. When he finally finished eating all of it, she carefully wrapped the oiled paper and hid them in her arms, making sure that nothing was exposed and supported Gong Zhuoliang to lie down again before she switched her expression with indifference and left the room. 

Such a good child, ah.

Gong Zhuoliang sighed in his heart as he watched Ruo Lan leave. He then took a deep breath and felt with his hand between his legs. He then let out a long sigh… It’s okay, even though he’s only a little boy with no leg hair, he’s still a genuine man!
(TL/N: to clarify what he’s been doing here, he actually touched his crotch and checked if he had a pillar or not XD )