Li Hui Ying doesn’t understand what had just happened to her. Just a minute ago, she was on her bed trying on her weekly routine face mask, and the next moment she opened her eyes, she is sitting upright in a stiff sort of clothing in what appeared to be a traditional Chinese wedding dress?! What has just happened to her?! Why is she all dressed up like that?!
Stunned, she started rubbing her eyes unconsciously and was surprised to see that her eyes were wet with tears. Strange, was she crying? Why? Wait, hold on. She paused her thoughts and gasped at the very palms that just rubbed her eyes a moment ago. How was it possible that her hands looked like this?!! She turned her palms front and back. Impossible! Her hands are now looking small and dainty, and her fingers are delicate and slim, quite a contrast from her familiar bigger-sized ones that have become a little rough at the edges due to the daily amount of house chores and busy corporate life. Dumbfounded, Hui Ying immediately began looking down at her body, observing further any differences she can see in herself. This is not her thirty-year-old body!! Whose body is this?!
She confusedly looked back up at where she was sitting and noticed a bronze piece of metal mirror placed on the dressing table. Reflected in it was an image of a young girl caked with pale powdered makeup. She blinked her eyes and the young girl in it blinked back. She pass her hands over just to make sure it was really a mirror and rubbed the surface too but her reflection didn’t change. Still a teenage-looking girl.
She sighed to herself. She went through her memory, taking note of everything she encountered so far, and put the bits and pieces together. In her mind, she deduced she must have been transmigrated like those web novels she used to read in her teens. She wondered what had happened to the original girl. Is she dead? Hui Ying had no clue whatsoever.
Also how or most importantly why did she get transmigrated? Unlike the protagonist, she certainly didn’t die from any strange illness. In her last checkup, the doctor said she is physically fit and healthy. There have been no signs of any impending health risks at all in her life. Dying from an accident? Not likely either, for she has just been in her bedroom, a very safe place before all this happened. Dying of old age? Pei! Touch wood. She is still in her late twenties, even though she just turned thirty a week ago. Thirty isn't old yet, alright!
After a few minutes of internal ranting, Hui Ying began recollecting her thoughts. What can she do next? Hoping to find out more about her new self, she look around her for more clues about her current identity but there was no time for it. A voice suddenly called out to her before she could even finish processing her surroundings.
Hui Ying immediately turned her head toward the sound of the voice and saw it come from a group of teenage girls standing outside the door. Hui Ying nodded her head at them. At her nod, the group bowed and began walking over to where she was seated. From their body size and height, Hui Ying estimated these girls’ ages must have ranged from around twelve to sixteen which is roughly the same age as her new body. After finishing analyzing this in her mind, Hui Ying determinedly put aside all other thoughts and silently focused on what the girls are going to do to her. The girl who called out earlier should be the most senior of these girls because when she saw Hui Ying’s smudged makeup face, she started fussing and instructed the others to bring out the tools. She watched as they proceed to wipe her hands dry and expertly re-touched the smudged makeup on her face.
'Oh wow, these girls are just as good as our modern professional make-up artists.' She mused to herself, admiring their expertise. The way they did her makeup was so precise and quick that the touch-up was over in just mere minutes. While she was thinking over this, the group of maids had already done covering her head with a piece of red cloth. Then, they had her stand up, and just like that, she found herself being led away from her dressing table, and out of the room. Because everything happens so fast, Hui Ying continued with the flow and followed obediently wherever she was being led to.
She was brought over to the entrance door with a luxurious wooden cravings design, pairing up nicely with the ancient-looking wooden house she was in earlier. Through the gap in the red cloth that covered her face, Hui Ying sneaked a peek at her surroundings, capturing all the details of her new environment. The bustling of people busying about their chores in traditional Chinese costumes all around the courtyard reminds her of the scene in a Taiwanese television costume drama My Fair Princess that she once saw on TV.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw a gentle-looking mid-aged woman coming toward her. Hui Ying watch curiously on as the unknown lady began shedding tears the moment Hui Ying arrived at the doorway. 'Why is this lady crying? Hmm, perhaps she is the mother of her current body?' Hui Ying mused to herself.
Turns out she was right. As she got closer to her, Hui Ying caught the lady muttering under her breath, phrases like "Can't believe my precious daughter is getting married today" etc etc. Once Hui Ying arrived in front of her, the lady gently take Hui Ying’s hand into her aging palm and patted it, all while telling her to treat her husband well, giving her tips on how to act as an excellent daughter-in-law to the Wang Family and if there’s anything that makes her unhappy, she should come back to her maiden house. Realizing that this is turning out to be the typical long nagging of a mother, Hui Ying blankly nodded her head to every word the woman said, not daring to dispute a single thing for fear of lengthening, even more, the lecture.
Meanwhile, a stern-looking middle-aged man walked over to her mother's side during the conversation. The stern man, most presumably this body's father, started nodding his head to the words that the mother said as a show of support. When her mother finally finished speaking, he quietly put his hand over their combined hands and cup their hands together for a while before slowly taking her mother’s hand away. The warmth of his calloused hands touched her heart. Although no words were spoken between them, Hui Ying could feel from his actions, that this man must have been a good husband to his wife and was probably also a good father to this girl’s body she was now in.
Soon all the greetings were done and this time a younger-looking man walked up to her. He gently picked her up and carried her into the red sedan parked outside. He looks about twenty-plus or so with a slim body that felt muscular. He have been waiting patiently at the side while she and her parents were talking. He eased her inside the sedan, and whispered in her ear a wedding greeting "May you have a harmonious union that lasts a hundred years, younger sister". Stunned, she stared at the youth as he pulled down the red curtain cover on the sedan. Turned out, that's her body's elder brother.
When the red curtain went down, the traditional band stationed outside began playing festive songs. She felt her sedan lifted off the ground and knew that the wedding progression have began. Her sedan was to be carried out first from the house, and then followed by a trail of dowry sedans behind her. The whole group quickly moved onto the road, journeying to the Wang family's Estate in the next city for the marriage ceremony.
Finally alone inside the sedan, Hui Ying was able to relax for the first time since her transmigration. Her maids were riding the sedan behind hers so there was no one else with her inside the sedan. Hui Ying closed her eyes and slowly took a few deep breaths, releasing the tension in her body. After she had done so, she searched through her body carefully and found a red packet from inside her pouch hidden in her clothes. She took it out and unfold its contents. Inside were a baizi, or more accurately her new body's birth characters. Not one to be superstitious, she pays no heed to the feng shui meaning in her birth characters. She was more focused on her body's name and date of birth. The birth date listed in the baizi says she is now age sixteen and her new name is still Hui Ying. Although the name is pronounced the same, the 'Hui' character was different. Hers was 慧 (wisdom) but the original body's character is 惠 (kindness). The 'Ying' character 颖 (clever) remains the same as hers though.
So, what is she to do? Should she allow herself to be married off just like that? She could hear the gossiping maids in the sedan behind hers talking loudly that the surnamed Wang man she was to marry is a very good husband material. So far, he only has one concubine in his Harem. There were no other side mistresses nor any tong fang. It certainly doesn't seem like a bad thing to marry this Wang guy. His family sounds rich and managing a household doesn't feel much different from managing a company. So yeah, why not? Once she had made her decision, she sit back and let things go. After all, she's now living with this body's life, might as well go with the flow.
But fate just wants to screw her over. With a sudden dead cat on the road, the procession had to take a detour that bypasses a shady mountain to reach its destination. After journeying for roughly an hour on the mountain road, out came a group of robbers. They ransacked the wedding sedans, took her dowry, and even kidnapped her away for the bandit chief. Looks like she won't be marrying that Wang guy. What a shame. Really.
