Lei Yirui isn’t really the type to party. Listen - she isn’t one of those nerds who just sits around and rots in their dorm all day, but it’s just never been her kind of thing!

 

She’s found that she can get the most enjoyment out of messing around with her friends or just laying down to watch or read something. There’s no need for music and dancing and drinking for her to find her fun. 

 

But… listen, her friend Dai Rong’s boyfriend is on the basketball team, and they just had a major win!! She would have been a bad friend if she didn’t go to the celebration party!! And it’s not like she has anything against partying, going to one can be fun every now and then, just not all of the time.

 

So Lei Yirui follows Dai Rong to the apartment where the party is being held, and marvels as she realizes it’s being held on the roof. It’s in a nice area, too, and Lei Yirui wonders who’s throwing it and how rich they are. If they are rich, she doesn’t know why they’re going to this university, and not a nicer one… 

 

She finds Dai Rong’s boyfriend and congratulates him, and in return he slaps her on the back so hard that she nearly falls over. In apology, he hands her a drink, and Lei Yirui decides that she might as well, and downs it.

And then another...

And then another...

Lei Yirui doesn’t even know how many little plastic cups she’s had, but she’s leaning over the railing and throwing up right off of the roof. Sorry, people of Zhengzhou… hope nobody was walking down there… Someone comes up to her and pats her back, before handing her a cup of water. It’s a girl that Lei Yirui has never met before, but she’s really pretty so Lei Yirui refuses to look at her in embarrassment. She’s so lame…

 

Lei Yirui takes the water and drinks it slowly, but as soon as she wanders back over to the group Dai Rong spots her and makes a beeline for her, swapping out her water with another drink that she insists is really tasty. Lei Yirui, far beyond common sense, drinks it. She tells Dai Rong that she feels like she’s going to pass out a moment later, and Dai Rong pats her on the head before dragging her over to a couch. Lei Yirui flops over, feeling content to be abandoned in the plush cushions. 

 

When Dai Rong comes back she’s holding some mini buns for Lei Yirui to eat, but Lei Yirui can already feel herself woozily falling asleep. This is why she doesn’t drink… it’s really no fun. 

 

Dai Rong says that she’s going to take Lei Yirui home, and Lei Yirui ends up passing out in the elevator down the building. 

 

…

 

When Lei Yirui wakes up, she feels totally fine.

 

She blinks, staring up at the ceiling above her. She stares for a moment at the wood above her, and then thinks, Why the fuck is there wood above me? and sits up rapidly. She still feels totally fine, which is absurd, and she blinks absently as she looks around herself. She’s… in a little cubicle. 

 

A little cubicle with some really nice pillows and an elaborate wooden frame, and some thick white curtains falling by the entrance. 

 

Is… is this Dai Rong’s apartment?? When did she get such a cool ass bed?? She had a normal twin, last time Lei Yirui had visited!

 

She gets on her hands and knees and crawls over to the curtains, pulling them aside, and then continues to stare at the room she’s in like an idiot. 

 

It’s a relatively normal sized room, elaborate furniture and beautiful tapestries decorating the entire thing. There are no lights, but the sunlight is filtering through the windows and lighting up the entire room in a yellow, warm glow. She notices that there’s incense burning, and she can hear birds and cicadas buzzing with noise outside. It’s really cool, and it looks like a drama set, but…

 

“WHAT THE FUCK?” she yells, and immediately rolls off of the bed and crashes onto the floor unceremoniously. A white sleep dress pools around her body, and she stares at it in bafflement. This also looks like a costume from a drama - what the hell is going on? Lei Yirui pushes herself up to stand, looks around the room in confusion for a few seconds, walks over to the door and pulls it open, if not only to make sure it’s not locked and she hasn’t been kidnapped by a weird LARPer.

 

Lei Yirui freezes in the doorway, looking at the faces of two startled looking women, both also appearing to be costumed as they look at her in alarm. They exchange a glance, before one of them steps forward unsurely.

 

“My lady…? Is there a problem? We heard you yell, and were worried…” she says softly. Lei Yirui blinks at her, before leaning over and peering out of the room and into the hallway. 

It… really doesn't appear to be a set. It continues on, and there are people milling about at the end of the hallway, directing curious glances towards Lei Yirui in the doorway before looking away.

 

Lei Yirui stares blankly at the two women in front of her. 

 

Okay. She got black out drunk at a party, and woke up here. She’s apparently in some sort of elaborate traditional building, and these two women are calling her “my lady” like that's a title she is just inherently deserving of.

 

She watches dramas. A lot of them. And she also reads a lot of fanfiction about dramas, and this is slowly beginning to become very clear to her. Lei Yirui shuts her eyes, and releases a shuddering breath, before blinking them back open and shooting a reassuring smile at the two women. 

 

“Apologies. There was… a bug.” she says, and turns her head back to look into the room. The window is merely some decorative wood paneling, so it did make sense that one would have just flown in.

 

“Oh. Right,” says the other one, frowning for a moment. “Well, if you’re awake, would you like us to get you ready for the day?” she continues. Lei Yirui would like a moment to herself so that she can scream into a pillow, actually, but she doesn’t say that and just smiles at them with a short nod. 

 

Lei Yirui is basically manhandled back into the room, and settled onto a wooden chair in front of an ornate mirror. The two women bustle around, grabbing things from drawers and Lei Yirui doesn’t even pretend to know what they’re doing, instead staring at her face in the mirror and trying to process everything. 

 

Okay. Lei Yirui has transmigrated. And the face she’s looking at is familiar - she knows that she’s seen it before, but it oddly looks like both her own face, and… not. She tracks her eyes across the new features, and it’s only when she unconsciously pulls a bit of a pouty face that it clicks - that pouty face was synonymous with one particular character! 

 

This was the face of the character only known as Meimei, the annoying, snobby younger sister of the second lead of her favorite drama, Limitless!

 

Limitless told the story of Jia Zhenzhen, a badass protagonist who was sucked into a crossdressing plot as she attempted to assassinate the crown prince, Zheng Xiaosi! Only to slowly fall in love with him, while also dealing with a complicated relationship with one of the palace scholars, Lei Shunyuan. It was such a well written story that Lei Yirui had instantly fallen in love with it, and she had been a hardcore fan ever since!!

 

Early on in the series, this ‘Meimei’ character was introduced, being a whiny brat and treating Jia Zhenzhen like a servant. She was instantly unlikable, and then she was stuffed in the refrigerator!! She had a mysterious off-screen death that Jia Zhenzhen had to solve herself in order to bring closure to blossoming love interest Lei Shunyuan, even though he suffered from second lead curse and never had a chance with her… 

 

Lei Yirui only remembers who she is because the actress was an absolute cutie. She had a round, girlish face, and pouty lips that made her look annoying but endearing at the same time. And looking at herself in the mirror now, she can see a bit of those features! But it’s… odd, truly. 

 

Lei Yirui tilts her head this way and that, and it’s uncanny, like someone had pasted her face over the body of the original and forgot to turn the opacity back up all the way. If she looks for her own likeness, she can see it. But if she looks for the actresses’ likeness, then she sees that, too. Kind of like those optical illusions where one either sees a vase or two people kissing, and can switch between both.

 

Lei Yirui stares at her weird new face in the mirror, and frowns. 

 

Wait a minute, she's glossed over the important part - this character dies!!

 

Lei Yirui is going to die, unless she gets her ass up and works to change the plot!!

 

“Excuse me,” she says, and one of the servants, who is busy mixing together some sort of balm in a pot, looks up attentively. “What are my duties for today? It seems that I’ve forgotten.” she says, blinking at her with her big doe eyes. The servant returns to mixing the balm, but answers dutifully. 

 

“Master Lei is going to see you for morning tea in the courtyard, however, you do have some free time, as you’ve woken earlier than usual. After that, you must attend calligraphy and erhu lessons with your teachers. You do not have a very busy day today, my lady.” she says, and fails to notice Lei Yirui’s face turn ghost white. 

 

Morning tea?? Morning tea with her brother was bad news!! The death of the character was discovered when she had failed to appear for morning tea, and instead was found in the forest with a dagger in her heart!!

 

Lei Yirui resists the urge to scream. Instead, she steels herself and stares forward at her expression resolutely. She’s not going to die right away, okay?? She refuses to be another woman victim of the fridging trope!! She’ll set out and find Jia Zhenzhen before she gets killed, and cling to her thighs like nobody has ever before!! Thank you, Jia Zhenzhen, for having muscular thighs! Maybe you’ll be able to sustain the extra weight of Lei Yirui…

 

Lei Yirui sits through a grueling hour of the servants getting her ready, patting her face with the balms and rubbing them into her hands, before combing oil through her long hair, and styling it with decorative pins. She’s patted with an herbal smelling perfume, and they also press “potions” into her skin. Whatever that means. 

 

Lei Yirui is dressed in a soft white hanfu, and is alarmed to see that she recognizes it! She remembers being shocked to see the red blood seeping through the pure white fabric of the original character's clothing as she lay dead!! 

 

Lei Yirui only feels more resolutely sure that she’s going to find Jia Zhenzhen as soon as she can, and ushers the servants out once they’re done. She digs around the room for a while until her gaze narrows on the bronze censer hanging off to the side. Lei Yirui grabs it, swinging it over her shoulder like a purse. Watch it, murder! You won’t fare well with a swing of this against your skull!!

 

Lei Yirui slips out of the bedroom, keeping in mind to remember where it is so she doesn’t get lost later. Jia Zhenzhen probably isn’t even awake right now, because if her memory is serving correctly, this is around episode three. Episode two had Jia Zhenzhen sneaking around to try and learn the prince’s nightly schedule, before he caught her in the act, and miraculously just sent her back to her sleeping quarters instead of having her disciplined. 

 

Lei Yirui has no idea where the sleeping quarters for the guards would be, but she does remember what they look like. She slips around, nervously clutching her censer, ready to throw it if anyone shady enters her line of sight. After about half an hour of aimless wandering, she finally spots the building, and walks inside. She peers into nearly every room - God, isn’t this too much work?? - before she finally finds Jia Zhenzhen’s room. Lei Yirui steps inside, approaching the bedside. She’s about to try and shake the girl awake, when there’s a flash of movement and a dagger to her throat. 

 

“Eugh!? Fuck y- move!” Lei Yirui shouts without any grace, bounding away from Jia Zhenzhen, before she falls onto her ass on the ground and scrambles backwards until her back is pressed against the cold wall. Her chest is heaving a little because of how surprised she is, and she looks at the other girl with wide eyes. 

 

Jia Zhenzhen doesn’t look quite like her actress - it really feels as if Lei Yirui is looking at the original, though, and the actress she was cast as had been the best portrayal they could find. And that’s no insult to the actress!! She was incredible, but Lei Yirui is still trying to figure out where the line is drawn between the drama and this world… 

 

Regardless, she really is beautiful. Lei Yirui had always thought it, but Jia Zhenzhen really doesn’t look like a man at all… she had always thought that was on purpose because the producers wouldn’t want their male lead to look anything other than straight, but come on!! If this is real, this is ridiculous!! She even looks to be wearing lip tint!!

 

Jia Zhenzhen narrows her dark eyes, slowly rising out of her bed. Her sleeping robes are slipping off of her shoulder, and Lei Yirui pointedly does not look. She’s definitely seen more skin than that before, but it still feels scandalous in this new setting!

 

The other girl is still pointing the dagger at Lei Yirui, slowly creeping towards her with suspicion clear in her face and tense body language. 

 

“Lady Lei,” she says, her voice just low and raspy enough to be ambiguously masculine. “Why are you here?” she asks, and the question is obviously a threat. Lei Yirui gulps, but inwardly cheers. Jia Zhenzhen is really super cool to see in action!

 

“Someone is going to try to kill me. Help me, please.” Lei Yirui says, because she had thought this over while trying to find the building!

 

Though Jia Zhenzhen was a cold and seemingly heartless individual, as the show progressed the audience truly got to see how much she cared for others. Her warm heart thawed through her frozen exterior as she found herself unable to kill Zheng Xiaosi, and as she decided to take down the people who had hired her as an assassin in the first place! Of course such a moral girl would be weak to Lei Yirui’s pathetic whining. 

 

Er, she’s also posing as a guard, so it’s kind of her job.

 

Jia Zhenzhen falters, her mouth twisting into a frown. At this point, Lei Yirui’s screen time has passed. She had two very short scenes where she interacted with Jia Zhenzhen, both unpleasant as she complained about menial things like her dress being the wrong color, and as she ordered Jia Zhenzhen to fetch her fruits and brush her hair like she was a lowly servant. The audience felt sort of wickedly pleased once she was killed off, but it only served to elevate Jia Zhenzhen’s good heart when she still chose to try and find justice for the girl, even if she was a brat! 

 

It makes sense that Jia Zhenzhen is a little confused - Lei Yirui isn’t trying to behave like the original character, after all. She won’t be doing anything bratty, okay!?

 

After a moment, Jia Zhenzhen crouches down in front of Lei Yirui, her expression grim. 

 

“Who’s trying to kill you? Do you know why?” she asks, and Lei Yirui suddenly realizes that her useless memory of the plot of Limitless is really becoming useful right now! Of course she knows!!

 

“Yes,” she says, nodding seriously. “The man who wants to kill me is after me because I overheard something I shouldn’t have. He worries that I’ll tell someone and he’ll lose his position of power, so he wishes to get rid of me. The man is Tang Xiaodan, one of the most trusted royal advisors.” she says. 

Ahh, she felt so cool to be saying something so central! She doesn’t want to take the fire away from Jia Zhenzhen’s amazing detective work in solving the mystery, but she also doesn’t want to die, so…

 

Tang Xiaodan would only be a royal advisor for so long. In the original series, Tang Xiaodan would escape the palace before Jia Zhenzhen could do anything, as she had no proper evidence despite knowing it was him. He would soon gain a position of power elsewhere, and truly rise into his real role in the series… the main villain! 

 

Jia Zhenzhen is silent for a moment, before she nods.

 

“Right. What exactly did you overhear?” she asks. Lei Yirui freezes. 

 

Um, I can’t answer that! The fact is, Lei Yirui had overheard that Tang Xiaodan had hired an assassin! That assassin is Jia Zhenzhen, even if she doesn’t know it was him who hired her yet!! She’s still jaded at this point, she’d probably get suspicious of Lei Yirui approaching her specifically for this task, and she’d just die by someone else… 

 

“I can’t say.” she says instead, and weaponizes that particular lip pout that the original did all of the time. Jia Zhenzhen looks minorly annoyed, but not murderous, so that’s a good sign. She sighs, her jaw working tightly, before she stands up and tucks away her dagger. 

 

“Fine. I won’t leave your side, then. Though we should tell your brother. If he reported a threat, it would be taken more seriously.” she says, and Lei Yirui nods, scrambling to her own feet. Perhaps instinctively, she charges at Jia Zhenzhen and gives her a tight hug. Maybe she won’t die!

 

“Thank you!” she cheers, and Jia Zhenzhen is awkwardly rigid beneath her. Still, Lei Yirui pulls back and beams at her. Jia Zhenzhen stares at her with an odd look on her face, before scoffing. She moves to turn away, before pausing and glancing back at Lei Yirui. 

 

“Why are you carrying a censer?” she asks, and Lei Yirui blinks. She looks down at the censer that’s hanging off of her shoulder, and back at Jia Zhenzhen. 

 

“Self defense,” she says, and knocks her knuckles against the side of it. “It's sturdy.”

 

Jia Zhenzhen looks a little like she thinks Lei Yirui is the dumbest person she’s ever met, which, okay, fair. But then she turns to remove her guard uniform from a wooden chest, and Lei Yirui only has her senses return to her when the other starts taking off her clothes. With a strangled noise, Lei Yirui turns on her heel and stares determinedly at the wall.