Chapter 1: Meeting with Husband Gu
On the day of the Beginning of Spring, the east wind thawed the frost, and vegetation began to sprout. A faint fragrance drifted through Zhu Silver Pavilion.
In her sleep, Zhu Wansheng rolled over, and the distinctive stimulating scent of dissolved chemical reagents in the air disappeared.
Disappeared?
She woke up startled, but the environment she saw left her confused: jade-carved phoenix-patterned candle lamps were scattered about, an ink painting of plum blossoms heralding spring hung on the wall, and a plum blossom-shaped sandalwood curio shelf stood against the wall.
Where was this?
Looking down, she found herself wearing a silk nightgown with finely rolled edges on the sleeves. The hand that emerged from the garment was fair, delicate, and light, with all ten fingertips dyed with red henna.
No way? Wasn’t she wearing a slightly corroded white lab coat, synthesizing quantum dots in the laboratory?
Then what? Did the lab explode? Had she restarted?
Could it be… she had transmigrated?
Ha, impossible! She didn’t believe it. Zhu Wansheng raised her hand to pinch herself awake, but memories that didn’t belong to her rushed into her brain like a flood, heedless of her disbelief.
It seemed she had really transmigrated. The original owner had the same name as her, was eighteen years old, the daughter of a wealthy rouge merchant in the capital, and already married?!
Moreover, this place was different – it was a matriarchal society, women married men, and men had to learn the arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as well as how to serve…
Zhu Wansheng collapsed back onto the bed. She couldn’t accept it: Heavens, how did she get here? She wanted to go back; her reaction was about to burn…
Before she could catch her breath, the wooden door creaked open, followed by a loud female voice: “My lady, the midnight snack is ready.”
The newcomer was a young woman, tall and sturdy with a square face. Her right hand habitually rested on the whip at her waist, giving her a fierce appearance.
Zhu Wansheng searched for this person’s identity in her memories: it was Lanfan, the original owner’s most trusted maid.
Zhu Wansheng opened her mouth but couldn’t utter a single line.
Lanfan was also somewhat perplexed by her behavior. “My lady? What’s wrong? You haven’t eaten today. Would you like to have something now?”
The address of “my lady” startled her, and she reflexively said “Okay.”
“Lanfan will help my lady change.”
“No need…” Her words of refusal were cut off halfway. Lanfan was efficient; she had already taken out a pink front-buttoned, waist-cinching, multi-pleated long dress and was skillfully putting it on her…
She was like a malfunctioning robot, her arms rising and falling stiffly, allowing the tall and powerful Lanfan to manipulate her. She didn’t need a mirror to guess how ugly her expression must be right now.
After dressing and washing her face, she followed Lanfan out of the room.
Outside it was pitch black, and the wind whistled through the gaps in her clothes, invading her skin. Zhu Wansheng tightened her cloak, blew on her hands, and walked along the bluestone path.
With each step her heart trembled, as if she wasn’t going to eat but to the execution ground.
Lanfan, of course, didn’t understand her various emotions. She hummed a tune while holding a lantern to light the way beside her. They passed through the rustling bamboo grove and arrived at the dining hall.
She sat down awkwardly, following the position in her memories. Lanfan first cleaned her hands with a damp cloth, then placed silver chopsticks in her hand.
With chopsticks in hand, she didn’t know where to start. There was lotus pork loin, cherry meat, osmanthus shark fin soup, and sugar-steamed eggplant. Not to mention the mix of meat and vegetable dishes, just the main courses alone included dumplings, noodles, and buns, accompanied by unidentified wines and teas. Wasn’t this midnight snack a bit too lavish?
She picked up a piece of glistening meat nearest to her and took a small bite, then went numb.
Sweet, sickeningly sweet, like biting into a highly concentrated syrup…
She tried several other dishes, but they were all the same – either sweet or sweet and salty.
Zhu Wansheng wanted to cry but had no tears. With Lanfan still standing behind her, she could only take a bite here and there, eating blindly.
The cool breeze flowed in continuously through the wide-open doors, and the chill rose from her feet all the way to her heart. She looked at the fish, their eyes met, and the fish seemed to roll its eyes at her. As she kept looking, her vision blurred.
Her last work paper was already in revision, the feasibility of the final project had just come out, and in four months she could smoothly graduate and stay with the research group. A female doctoral student who had studied hard for over twenty years, pouring her heart and soul into it, giving up love and reducing enjoyment, had persevered to this point, only to be given a transmigration…
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. To hell with eating. She put down her chopsticks, picked up the glass of wine, and drank it all in one go, deciding to go all out.
After three or five cups, her brain felt hot and muddled, and it started to play a movie automatically. The scenes were unfamiliar and bubbling with pink: the original owner sitting opposite a handsome man, the man playing the zither, the original owner drinking tea, smiling broadly, acting coquettishly…
The scene changed, and the man in the picture became a different one, still handsome, nestled in the original owner’s arms, feeding her fruit. Though he could have used his hands, he insisted on using his mouth…
How carefree! Unlike her, who was either taking entrance exams or doing experiments and writing papers, the fate of a research dog…
A “tick” sound in her brain, and a mechanical female voice came through:
[System has detected the host’s strong desire for scientific research. Successfully activated the scientific research and chemical engineering system to serve you.]Strong desire? Research system? What the hell?
The system seemed to be able to read minds, spewing out words in her brain to answer her doubts.
[Esteemed researcher, hello, I am your research assistant, Little Chem. I can help you realize your research dreams. No matter where you are, you only need to call me mentally, and Little Chem will help you complete chemical experiments.] [The research system currently contains two functions. One, chemical management system, including: organic, inorganic, high-purity analytical chemical reagents; enzymes, antigens, antibodies, bacteria, cells, and other biological reagents. Two, consumables system, including instrument consumables, cold chain storage…]What research system? She had transmigrated, how could she still do research? Give her a break…
Though she said this, her body didn’t agree. Her hand reached out and grabbed the farthest dumpling, then responded to that nonsense: Well then, give me some acetic acid, six percent concentration, ten milliliters.
[Received. One bottle of six percent acetic acid has been prepared for you. Please sign for it.]Zhu Wansheng fumbled around her head randomly, but there was nothing. Where was the reagent bottle? The effects of alcohol had lowered her intelligence, making her believe in this so-called research system.
[Small amounts of reagents will be delivered to your collar. For large amounts, please actively specify the delivery address.]Zhu Wansheng was skeptical. She raised her hand to feel her collar again and found that there really was a hard object. She took it out and laughed.
This bottle was no different from the chemicals she bought in the laboratory, just much smaller, with a rubber dropper cap. The label on the bottle read:
From top to bottom, the brand was written as Little Chem, followed by Acetic Acid, HPLC ≤ 6%, CAS 64-19-7, CH3COOH, 60.05 (MW), with labels for flammable and corrosive substances.
It looked quite realistic. She tremblingly dropped the acetic acid onto the dumpling, but before she could put it in her mouth, a complaint came from beside her: “My lady had an appointment with Husband Gu to wait here at the time of the midnight snack, but even though you’ve arrived, he hasn’t come. He’s always so unpunctual, it’s too disrespectful.”
Zhu Wansheng looked alarmed, not quite understanding for a moment. “Ap… ap… appointment with Husband Gu?” The phrase “appointment with Husband Gu” circled in her mind before she understood its meaning. In this world, married women were called “my lady,” while men were addressed by their surname followed by “fu” (husband).
So, the original owner had an appointment with her… her husband? The dumpling in her hand fell with a plop, and her temple twitched slightly.
Lanfan, unaware of her unease, was extremely excited. “My lady, have you forgotten? At the hour of the Snake today, you asked this servant to notify Husband Gu to come here at the time of the midnight snack to discuss important matters.”
Zhu Wansheng gave an awkward smile, looking more like she was about to cry…
“What matters did you want to discuss with me?” A low, magnetic voice came from the doorway. Zhu Wansheng looked up, her gaze falling on his waist, where an auspicious cloud brocade belt was tied, adorned with a white jade pendant that swayed slightly with his steps, creating several afterimages in her eyes.
Looking up, she saw him slowly approaching against the light. His deep, dark eyes glanced at her indifferently before quickly looking away.
