The first thing Lady Lian Rou felt was pain.
A sharp, throbbing pain in her ankles that pulsed like a drum, followed by the unmistakable ache of something wrapped too tightly around her leg. The second thing she noticed was that the ceiling above her was not the cracked plaster of her rented apartment in modern Beijing.
It was painted with clouds. Real clouds.
She blinked once, twice then bolted upright with a startled gasp.
"What in the dramatical hell...?"
A loud cracking followed. Her leg gave out instantly, and she collapsed back onto the silken mattress with a shriek that could have terrified a ghost. Pain shot up her leg again, sharp enough to make her see stars.
For a long, stunned moment, Lian Rou just lay there, eyes darting around the ornate bedchamber.
Her heart thudded wildly.
She remembered... scrolling through palace-drama clips on her phone before her nap.
"Oh no. Oh no no no.." She clapped both hands over her face. "Don't tell me I actually transmigrated!"
A voice squeaked from the door. "Your Highness? Thank the heavens you are awake!"
Lian Rou nearly jumped out of bed again. A maid, barely sixteen, was standing at the doorway with wide, teary eyes. Another maid hovered near by the door, wringing her hands.
"Awake? Ofcouse I'm awake!" Lian rou muttered, then stopped as her own voice registered, soft and unfamiliar. "Why do I sound like a flute?"
Her gaze then dropped lower from the door, she saw the bandaged leg and nearly laughed out loud.
"Oh, come on! Don't tell me this body's owner tried to kill herself before I transmigrated?"
The maids exchanged panicked glances.
"Your Highness, one of you husband's demands to see you."
"My what now? Wait..how many husbands do I have?"
"Five Husbands!" The younger maid squeaked.
Lian Rou froze.
There was a moment where her twenty-first century brain simply refused to process those words. Then it hit her.
"Five husbands?" She repeated slowly, "As in ..one, two, three, four, five?"
"Yes, your Highness!"
Lian Rou blinked , then grinned, then laughed out loud in an unrestrained manner, almost manic laughter that sent the maids into a full blown-panic.
The maids looked horrified.
She waved then off and tried to up sit straighter, only to wince as her bandaged leg protested. The pain reminded her that the previous Lian Rou an unfavoured princess of the Huayin Empire, had actually attempted to hang herself the night before, after being forced to marry five princes from viral nations in place of her fairy like favoured princess sister. While she ended up with five good for nothings and an even more bad reputation she ended up with the most eligible bachelor in their nation.
Apparently the heavens had a sense of humour. The rope snapped halfway through her failed attempt at a suicide, leaving her with a twisted ankle, a fever and one perfectly convenient vacancy for a modern soul.
"Well," she said brightly, "at least I'm alive. And married! to five princes!"
A knock echoed at the door before either maid could respond.
"Enter," called the elder maid nervously.
The door slid open and a man walked in huffing and puffing like he would swallow her in the next second.
....
"Lian Rou, you've gone too far! If you have anything to say, come at me! You're threatening me with my people, who the hell do you think you are!" The fierce roar brought Lian Rou back to her senses.
Countless images emerged in her mind, all of which were the memories of the original owner.
Lian Rou calmed herself down and really wanted to curse at the original owner, calling her stupid and inhuman.
She got five handsome husbands for nothing, but instead of enjoying them, she decided to court death instead.
Just because the man she liked got engaged to her sister she fell prey on the palace tricks and ended up getting married to five husbands, which she looked down upon thinking of them to be inferior to the man she had hidden deep within her heart, who was no no longer hers but her favoured sisters.
The original owner had never understood why her sister always got what she wanted and she always ended up getting the shorter hand of the stick.
Lian Rou felt like face-palming.
"Of course they will be a different dummy you are concubine born whereas she is the Empress born daughter."
Her anger the day before only ended up with suicide but before that she had already crossed swords with her newly acquired husbands.
Looking at the man standing before her she really felt like kicking the original owner in the head. Like she was just happy to having five husbands and now she gets to know that they do not have a good relationship at all.
"You," she called on the older maid. "Tell them to let his people go, let them all go!" Lian Rou came to her senses and quickly asked the guards to let go of the maids, guards, personal attendants and eunuchs belonging to General Rui.
Looking at General Rui's handsome and heartbreaking face, Lian Ruo wanted to slap herself on the spot and angrily scolded the original owner for making such a beautiful guy angry. Why didn't she enjoy herself with such a stunningly beautiful guy instead of torturing herself and doing stupid things.
"Go release them all! What are you all standing there for?" Who knew why the guards would stand there like posts, with shocked expressions on their faces, not moving a muscle.
Lian Rou grabbed the keys at the headed and anxiously handing it over to General Rui without caring for her injured leg.
"There you can go release them now." After getting the keys, Genereal Rui did not express his gratitude. Instead, he pushed Lian Rou down.
Looking at the angry man on top of her looking at her from high up, Lian Rou almost drooled. She loved handsome men with a character like him.
Lian Rou who was originally a woman who loved good looks and messing around, had little attachment left for her original world when she saw such a fine man.
Lian Rou quickly accepted her current identity and immediately got into the role.
[She had accepted if since she knew she could have five husbands all to herself, legally!]
"Please listen to my explanation. My brain wasn't working very well before. I've figured it out now. I was wrong to do that before."
"I apologise." Lian Rou expressed her apologies. Of course she had to bend and stretch according to circumstances. If she wanted to enjoy life to the fullest in her new found character, then she had to be able to give in.
There was absolutely no way was she letting herself loose even one of her husbands.
She couldn't even care about the pain her after her falling and immediately started begging for forgiveness.
"Divorce!!!"
"Your sweet talk has no effect on me. I must Divorce you today!" General Rui could not tolerate her behaviour and her arrogance. Threatening to torture his people was his last straw. Those were people he had fought alongside before their army had been sold to Huayin Empire.
They had been together when they were still whole troupe of thousands of people, the war only living the few of them alive. At the end of it all theempire they had fought for desperately not caring about their lives and sold them off like cheap goods. Just because he was not the favoured son of the man sitting on the throne he had abandoned him just like that.
He was once a general and once a general always a general. An army is to be together no matter what. He had promised to take care of them and let them live the rest of their lives peacefully. Being together united has always been important to them.
Especially since he was the general and as the leader of the troupe, he has a natural duty to protect his army of people left.
"But after Divorce, you will be punished and your people killed." Lian Rou was a bit confused. Even divorced sold heirs could no longer return to their nations and had absolutely no way to survive, why then ask for divorce.
"Oh, isn't living with you already torture?" General Rui scoffed, his eyes filled with sadness. As the youngest General in history, he should have had a bright future. But such a bright future was ultimately destroyed by the hands of his father and the woman before him.
No other nations army would be willing to recruits a divorced sold Heir slave male. They would think that a man who is not loyal to his wife would be even less loyal to the country.
He scoffed and walked outside.
Lian Rou followed after him with her limping leg.
"I will change!" Lian Rou's eyes were full of sincerity. She will indeed change. She was not the same person as before. She even felt the original owner did not know what was good for her. How could she refuse such a blessing.
The system that transmigrated her sighed to heaven. [Such a complicated one heavens gave him this time, of course not everyone is as capricious as you are]
Following behind him, Lian Rou noticed the general was also limping.
"Tsk! We are even matching in injury, we are simply made for each other "
Before they could get to the door, the general looked back and said, "Don't think that I have forgiven you, am only going with you because you accepted to give them their freedom."
"What..what is this about going somewhere." Lian Rou thought aloud leading to the elder maids wails.
"Young Miss, my poor Young Miss, always having the shorter end of the stick."
The maids wails not only confused her more but also gave her a headache.
"Okay you can stop crying!" She really felt like knocking her head on one of the pillars.
What in the world....
"You!" The little maid pointed at herself as if to confirm she was she one in question being addressed.
"Yes, you tell me what is this about going somewhere." It seemed like the memories she had gotten were not whole or she was too excited too care to take a look.
"The Star seer said that for the starts to align, her Highness will not only have to get married to five husbands but she will also need to move to the village without any wirdly possessions. Moving to the mountains is for accumulating good karma for the Emperor. "
"What the Fuck!!!"
"Emperor my foot!"
"Am I his only child? What has it got to do with me whether he lives or dies?"
"Taking advantage of the fact that my concubine mother passed away and I have no one for backing to bully me, I'll fight it out with that stupid Emperor."
'How dare he!' Lian Rou was furious. She had just been happy to know she had transmigrated into a land where she can be her natural self, enjoying luxury while enjoying her budding marriage life only for cold water to come washing down her face.
How was she to enjoy life, if she was to be in the mountains with no attendants, no money a princess should have and just her disabled husbands.
Wuwuwu! Take me back....