I Have Also Drifted for a Long Time - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

On the Lantern Festival, the capital was a scene of overwhelming festivity.

The Marquis’s Mansion had hung up lanterns early that morning as well. Incense smoke curled through the air, and flower shadows scattered in a riot of color.

Yet beneath those dazzling lanterns, my face remained utterly bloodless, pale and wan.

Cuizhi, however, seemed delighted. Her grin had nearly stretched to her ears.

“The Marquis saw that you spend all day shut up inside the estate, Young Mistress, and that you’ve grown thinner from it. Before he went to court, he specially instructed me to make sure you were properly bathed and dressed. Tonight, for the lantern fair, he will personally take you out to relax.”

“Young Mistress, it seems the Marquis still keeps you in his heart.”

I had been leaning against the soft bed curtains, too languid to get up.

At that, I let out a cold laugh from the back of my throat.

“If you like it so much, you can be the favored concubine in this noble household.”

Cuizhi jolted in fright and immediately dropped to her knees.

“This servant spoke out of turn. Please punish me, Young Mistress.”

Seeing her kneel like that actually made me laugh.

After being transmigrated here for so long, I still wasn’t used to people kneeling and kowtowing in front of me at the drop of a hat.

Besides, a few days ago, Lady Su had rewarded me with a beating from the paddle. If Cuizhi hadn’t thrown herself forward and taken a few strikes for me, I might already have been sent straight to the afterlife.

Once I laughed, Cuizhi knew I wasn’t truly angry. Before long, she was cheerful again.

“I heard that His Majesty will attend the lantern fair tonight as well, to celebrate with the people.”

“Speaking of His Majesty, he truly is strange. He used to be hopeless, mud that couldn’t be plastered to a wall, but after he fell into the water, his temperament suddenly changed completely.”

“Not only did he drastically reform the imperial examinations, he also reopened the performance evaluations of officials from the past ten years. He executed so many of the late emperor’s important ministers. Whether in the mansions of the noble families or the prisons of the capital, blood flowed like rivers.”

“And the strangest thing of all is that a palace maid serving at night in Chengqian Hall actually saw His Majesty going night after night without sleep, bent over his desk writing and drawing something. When she went closer to look, it seemed to be some kind of weapon for war, with three heads and six arms, mighty beyond belief.”

I had been leaning against the soft curtains, listlessly listening to her chatter.

At those words, my heart gave a jolt, and I murmured, “Three heads and six arms… That sounds kind of like a tank.”

Cuizhi’s eyes lit up at once.

“Young Mistress, you are so learned and knowledgeable! I heard that when His Majesty saw the palace maid, he wasn’t displeased at all. He merely smiled and said the object was called a tank, the finest weapon there was. If it could be made, then taking back the lost territory at the border would only be a matter of time…”

A sudden shiver ran through me, and I sat upright.

Whatever Cuizhi said after that, I could no longer hear clearly. All I could hear was my own stunned whisper.

“Holy shit… Did someone from my world come here too?”