Pei Lin carried the person in his arms and walked to the east end of the market, there he found the person he was looking for.
"Third Great-Uncle, have you finished delivering firewood to Canglui Restaurant?" Pei Lin politely greeted the old man with graying hair.
Hearing the voice, the old man turned around. Upon seeing him, a smile spread across his wrinkled face. "Oh, it's Lin. Yes, I've finished delivering and was just about to head back to the village. Hey, who is the young lady you are carrying, and what happened to her?"
Pei Lin smiled sheepishly, "That's actually why I came to find you. I was hoping you could give us a ride back to the village in your ox cart."
Qinghe Village was forty li (about 12.5 miles) from the Town, a two-hour walk. While it wouldn't have been a problem for him alone, carrying someone made traveling by legs cumbersome and so using the ox cart was best option.
Third Great-Uncle let out a hearty laugh, said "Let's go," and beckoned Pei Lin onto the cart.
The ox cart, used for transporting firewood, had only two wheels and a wooden plank. After boarding, Pei Lin sat down, letting the unconscious young woman lean against him.
"Where did you get this girl from?" Third Great-Uncle asked curiously as he drove the cart.
Knowing the old man's penchant for gossip, Pei Lin didn't try to hide anything and recounted the events at the market.
The old man nodded after listening, "Oh, so you bought a wife. Those three taels of silver must have taken you a long time to save up. Spending it all at once like this doesn't seem worth it."
The old man had clearly noticed the girl's disfigured face and the injuries covering her body. Who knew what other problems she might have? Buying such a person for three taels of silver seemed like a bad deal to him.
Pei Lin just smiled without saying anything, then changed the subject and chatted with Third Great-Uncle about other matters for the rest of the journey back to the village.
It wasn't that he could not talk about it, but he really had no idea why he was so drawn to spend his silver on her.
Third Great-Uncle drove the ox cart upto to Pei Lin's doorstep taking into consideration the heavily injured woman he had to carry. After Pei Lin got off, he took out the few copper coins he had left and tried to give them to the old man.
"Hey, what are you doing? I don't want it, how could this old man take money from you!" The old man waved his hand in refusal.
Pei Lin stuffed the copper coins into the old man's arms, then bent down to pick up the young woman. "Third Great-Uncle, it's just a small token of my appreciation. Please take it."
"This child!" The old man watched as Pei Lin carried the girl into the house, then turned his ox cart around and headed home.
Pei Lin carried her into the house and laid her on the only shabby bed in the room, covering her with an old worn out blanket. Then he sat at the table, quietly watching the figure on the bed.
Buying her had indeed been an impulsive decision. He had just sold his calligraphy and paintings,adding it with the silver he had saved for so long, originally intending to buy a set of a scholar's four treasures. Then he heard the commotion and went to take a look out of curiosity, just in time to see the magistrates Instructor prodding her wounds with a stick.
He had wanted to leave, but then he saw the look in her eyes. They were calm, sharp, and wary. Despite being in a helpless situation and at the mercy of others, she gave off the aura of a lone, proud wolf that was not afraid of anything and might pounce and tear someone apart at any moment.
This was a really proud and strong woman, he thought to himself. With the injuries on her body she ought to look pitiful but instead she looked around in an aloof manner, like all the spectators were nothing but mere dust.
Perhaps it was that sense of tragic heroism about her that made Pei Lin unable to stand by and watch her die and get thrown on a straw mat and left to be a feast for the carnivorous in the wilderness.
Never mind, there was no need to think too much about it. The money was already spent and there was no getting it back. Pei Lin stood up and walked to the bedside to check on her condition.
The young woman was still unconscious, her brows tightly furrowed as if in pain, clearly unable to sleep peacefully.
Noticing her dry, cracked lips with many small cuts, Pei Lin went to the kitchen and brought back a bowl of water. As he held the wooden spoon in his hand, he realized he had no idea of how to make an unconscious person drink water.
After some thought, Pei Lin figured that even if she couldn't drink, moistening her lips would be better than nothing.
To his surprise, as soon as the spoon touched the young woman's lips, her eyes moved slightly beneath her eyelids, and she slowly regained consciousness.
"You're awake?" Pei Lin was somewhat delighted. Waking up so quickly meant her injuries weren't too severe or that atleast she wasn't on the brink of death and could be nursed back to health.
Hearing the sound, the woman turned her head to look at him. Her eyes were full of coldness and lifelessness, without a hint of warmth, as if she were looking at a dead person. The gaze no doubt sent chills down Pei Lin's spine.
"Would you like some water?" Pei Lin asked now that she awake,bringing the spoon back to her lips.
The woman remained motionless, her eyes fixed intently on him, as if trying to see through him completely.
Pei Lin waited patiently for a moment. Finally, the woman opened her mouth slightly, swallowing the spoonful of water. Pei Lin hurriedly scooped up another spoonful and offered it to her. This time, she didn't hesitate and swallowed it immediately. One spoonful after another, until the entire bowl of water was gone.
"Are you hungry?" Realising what a foolish question he had asked Pei Lin got up, "I'll go make some food for you." Of course she was hungry, from her condition it didn't seem like she had anything to eat or drink.
'Pei Lin, you fool asking the obvious '
Pei Lin finished speaking to himself , only to find her staring intently at him as if trying to read right through his soul.
What strong wariness! Pei Lin couldn't help but marvel inwardly as he took the bowl to the kitchen.
The kitchen was just on the other side of the wall. As she listened to the sounds of him preparing food, laying there she began to carefully observe her surroundings.
She was lying on a bed with a coarse cloth sheet, covered by a blanket made of well-worn linen. Above her was a thatched roof, wooden pillars, and earthen brick walls. Beside the bed were a wooden table and a wardrobe. She saw no electrical appliances, tiles, or cement, this was a room completely without any modern gadgets or furnishings.
Combining this with the clothing of the people she had seen when she first woke up, and the long hair of the man who had just left, she realized that she had indeed come to another world, and this world was sure to be an ancient one or an era before technology.
She had died in the most painful quickest way, the electricity went through her in a mere matter of seconds she was dead, her body likely obliterated. So this injured body she was occupying was certainly not her's, she had become someone else.
When Pei Lin came out carrying a bowl of porridge, he saw that the person on the bed had closed her eyes, as if asleep. He softly asked, "Miss, are you sleeping?"
The woman's eyes snapped open, and she turned her head to look at him unblinkingly.
"Try to eat something." Pei Lin sat down by the bed and, just as he had done with the water earlier, brought a spoonful of porridge to her lips.
She must not have eaten for a long time, as her stomach felt completely empty. The feeling of hunger overpowered the pain.
She opened her mouth and swallowed the porridge. As soon as it entered her mouth, she knew this man wasn't much of a cook. It was vegetable porridge, probably made with some kind of bitter and astringent greens. The rice wasn't fully cooked either, with some grains still hard in the center.
'It tasted awful', she thought, but still proceeded to eat the entire bowl of vegetable porridge spoonful by spoonful.There was no choice, she was so hungry that she could not afford to find fault with the food or the cook lest he gets angry and take it way. As her hunger subsided, she felt some strength returning to her body.
After feeding her, Pei Lin went to the kitchen to finish the leftovers, since that was the only food he had in the house. Once he had cleaned everything up, he returned to her bedside.
"Miss, what's your name?"
Name? She didn't have a name. She only had a number- 2. Every Shadow Bodyguard would not get a name only fake identities until the time they would make it up the Elie bodyguard rank. Since she died being the second best sought after Elite Bodyguard and had held onto her position for years, that was what she went by her name.
She had many names and identities, but they were all fake, invented for the purpose of offering protection and some times killing more effectively. Those who live in darkness have no names; as an Elite shadow bodyguard she was no different from an assassin, not being remembered allows one to live longer. They were always hidden in the shadows only ever appearing when needed by the contractors.
Seeing her silent, Pei Lin tentatively asked, "Can you speak?"
The woman moved her lips, but responded with a question: "Who are you?"
Her voice was as cold as ice, and slightly hoarse from long-term silence.
Pei Lin was taken aback for a moment, noticing the coldness in her eyes, then smiled and answered, "My name is Pei Lin."
"Where is this place?"
"Qinghe Village, below Yun'an Town."
"What time is it now?"
Pei Lin glanced out the window: "Late afternoon, almost evening."
"That's not what I meant," the woman rephrased, "I'm asking which dynasty and era it is now? What year?"
Pei Lin found her question strange but answered honestly, "It's currently the 7th year of Xiande under the Yun'an Dynasty."
As soon as he finished speaking, Pei Lin noticed a flicker in the woman's eyes, clearly pondering about something.
The Yun'an Dynasty and the 7th Year of the Xiande Era were terms she had never heard before, falling outside the scope of history she knew. It seemed this world was unlike any other dynasty she was familiar with.
Did she just transmigrate to a whole new universe!!