Su Xiao's POV
Perhaps it was because I had a silly look on my face.
The girl actually scoffed. "Oh, don't play dumb. It's pathetic. The Qi-Testing ritual, sister. The one you failed so spectacularly."
Qi-testing? Spiritual root?
They were familiar words, but I couldn't understand them.
Oh, god. This wasn't just a historical drama. This was a Xianxia world.
My wish... had pulled me into a cultivation world.
It actually happened. And judging by the look on this girl's face, I was the character with the trash stats.
Su Mei seemed to enjoy my confused silence. "While you've been rotting in that bed, I've already stabilized my core. I'll be in Core Condensation before the New Year celebration."
I had no idea what that meant, but it sounded like a classic genius humble brag. She was the star, and I was... the embarrassing stain on he family's reputation. This was a C-drama script, page one.
My head was spinning. I needed information. I was a writer; I knew the tropes. And the best trope for a situation like this?
I let my eyes go unfocused and brought a trembling hand to my temple.
"I... I don't..." I let my voice waver. "I don't remember. My head... it hurts. Who... who are you? Where am I?"
I opened one eye to observe her expression while I staggered, playing the dizzy victim.
Amnesia. Classic. Let's see if she buys it.
Su Mei's perfectly arched eyebrow twitched. She stared at me for a long, hard second. I just stared back through my half-closed eyes, trying to look as weak and confused as possible.
Because I was definitely confused, just trying to adapt.
She clicked her tongue. "Faking it won't change your root, sister."
So, she didn't buy it. Or maybe she didn't care. I smacked my lips in disappointment. Dropping my hands.
"You're in the Su Clan estate. And I," She said, tapping her chest with that long, lacquered nail, "am Su Mei, the true genius of our generation. You would do well to remember that, Su Xiao!"
She actually believed my pretense. And my name was Su Xiao?
She looked over at the terrified, kneeling maid. "Liling! Clean up this mess. And try not to let her idiocy rub off on you."
So her name was Liling? My eyes snapped to the maid.
Su Mei gave me one last look of utter disgust, then turned and swayed out of the room, her pink robe fluttering, leaving the scent of plums and her ego in her wake.
I shivered from the cringe, who knew living a C-drama could be this terrifying.
The room was silent, save for the maid's terrified sniffles.
The villain had left the scene. Now, for the NPC info dump. I looked at Liling. She was still on her knees, trembling, picking up the broken pieces of the basin.
"Hey," I said. My voice rough. "You can... You can get up."
She flinched, her head snapping up, her eyes wide with shock. Apparently, the me before this wasn't the nice type, judging from her reaction. Good to know.
"My... my lady?"
"Just... get up. And clean that later. I need... I need you to tell me what's going on." I staggered back to the bed and sat down hard, my head throbbing. I felt weak. This body was not in good shape. "She said I've been asleep for three months. Is that true?"
Liling slowly got to her feet, wringing her wet hands on her apron. "Yes, my lady! T-three whole months! Ever since the... the Qi-testing ritual."
"Tell me," I said, trying to sound as soft and defenseless as possible. "Tell me everything. I mean it. I... I can't remember anything."
Liling looked at me, her fear slowly being replaced by pity. The amnesia trope always worked on the loyal sidekick, at least.
"Oh, my lady..." she said, her voice dropping. "It... it was terrible."
She started talking, and I just listened, piecing together the tutorial level of my new life.
This was, in fact, the Su Clan, a respectable family in Zhou Yan City. I was Su Xiao, the 19-year-old eldest daughter. Su Mei was my 18-year-old stepsister.
And I was officially trash.
"Everyone is born with a spiritual root, my lady," Liling explained, her voice barely a whisper. "It's what lets us absorb Vital Spirit from the Essence of the land. Most are like Lady Su Mei's, a fire spirit root. Bright, powerful. Or the Master's Earth spirit root. Strong, stable."
Strangely enough, I was excited. It awoke my worldbuilding spirit, and I was burning with curiosity.
I edged off the bed, "And you? What spiritual root do you have?" My eyes were twinkling with curiosity.
Liling dropped her head, then shook it. "I was born with no spiritual root, my lady..."
My smile dropped. I see... so they paired me with trash because I was trashed.
Liling looked at her hands and continued. "At the ritual... they tested you with the spirit testing stone... and your root... was just murky. A gray wisp. No color. No element."
Ah, I see... I knew what this was. I'd read enough of this.
"A Neutral/Mixed Spirit Root?" I finished for her. "Za Ling Gen."
Liling gasped. "You do remember!"
"No," I said, a headache building. "I'm a writer."
I flinched and looked at Liling's confused expression, and sighed. "I mean... I just... guessed. It's the trash root, isn't it?"
Liling nodded miserably. "They called you feicai! The master... he was so angry. He said you were a disgrace to the family, and then Lady Su Mei said she would help you..."
"Help me?" I repeated, a scoff slipping past my lips.
Anyone could understand that she was trying to do the opposite at such dire times. Even in the golden age, the family was always the enemy.
"She said even a mixed root could be forced open! She's already at Meridian Harmonization, my lady. Her vital spirit is so strong. She placed her hands on your back to guide your spirit."
Liling's eyes turned ferocious and scary, and for a second, I doubted whether she was the same person.
"But your body couldn't take it! Her fire energy was too much! You screamed and then just fell, my lady. You didn't wake up, and the physicians said your meridians were all burned!"
I closed my eyes.
So, Su Mei attacked me, pretending to help me. She must have killed the original Su Xiao, but I ended up in her body.
Which meant this was indeed a script, but who wrote it? Why am I in Su Xiao's body, and why does she look a lot like me when I was still in high school?
Three months, Su Xiao had been lying here, a ghost in a broken body, until 3 Am, while I was playing and crying for my beloved snowflake, I was handpicked for this role.
Does that mean....
"And... my father?" I asked.
Liling flinched. "The master was very disappointed. He stopped paying for the expensive healing medicines last week. He said it was a waste of his wealth and resources."
Meaning he was leaving Su Xiao for dead.
My step-sister tried to murder me, and my father was ready to pull the plug. How laughable.
"Okay," I said, standing up. My legs were wobbly. "Okay."
This wasn't a dream. This wasn't a hallucination.
I was in a new body, in a world that ran on magic I didn't understand. I was labeled trash, my own family hated me, and the genius had it out for me.
It was a classic, cliche-ridden, Xianxia D-plot.
I thought of Zayne. I thought of his stup, tragic, fated loop. I thought of my wish. "I wish I could write the happy ending he deserves."
Which meant it must be Astra who pulled me into this world, and maybe, just maybe, Zayne is out there somewhere.
I looked at my new, delicate, trash root hands.
"Well," I muttered to myself, a weird, hysterical laugh bubbling in my throat. "Looks like I have to survive the tutorial level first!"