Chapter 2 – Escape

When Wei Ci woke up, she found herself in a place so dark she couldn’t see her fingers. Not only was she tied up tight, but her mouth was also stuffed with a wad of cloth.

What’s going on?

She tried moving, only to discover that aside from being able to turn her head, she couldn’t move at all.

Could it be that her half-sister had finally decided to make a move against her?

Wei Ci forced herself to calm down. With a twitch of her fingers tied behind her back, a sharp dagger suddenly appeared in her hand.

Thankfully, her aunt had given her a golden cheat for survival—otherwise, she really would have died with no corpse left behind.

She wondered if her disappearance had been noticed yet, how frantic her mother must be, and whether she had brought people to save her.

“Big Brother! Today I got us a top-grade catch!”

A hoarse voice came from above. Wei Ci froze, then quickly made the dagger vanish from her hand. Closing her eyes, she pretended to be unconscious.

“Just you? What kind of top-grade could you possibly find?”

The scornful voice came closer and closer, dragging sounds accompanying it—mixed with the muffled sobbing of children and the pained groans of women.

The hoarse voice grew more hurried, footsteps quickening. The next moment, a loud creak sounded above Wei Ci’s head. Bright light suddenly shone down into the pitch-black basement, illuminating the small space. In the corner, they saw a girl—even in her bedraggled state, her exquisite beauty was unmistakable.

Gulp—

The sound of someone swallowing echoed. The man in charge, wearing an eyepatch, snapped back to his senses. He clapped the shoulder of the scrawny man beside him, his expression pleased and relaxed.

“Not bad, Dongzi! Where’d you get her?”

This wasn’t just “top-grade.” This was practically divine!

The scrawny man called Dongzi was flattered, though a bit smug. After all, he’d put in a lot of effort to get her. Don’t be fooled into thinking she was just a fool—the woman was truly beautiful, with a figure to die for: ample in front, shapely in back, and a slender waist that could be spanned with one hand. That sort of commodity fetched the highest price in the pleasure houses.

“Heh, I bought her off her own brother for two Da Tuanjie bills…”

It wasn’t like he’d gone out of his way to abduct her. Who else would flaunt a daughter that pretty and that simple-minded instead of keeping her hidden at home? Wasn’t that just begging for disaster?

Brother?

This time, not only was the one-eyed man stunned, but Wei Ci herself was shocked. When did she ever have a brother? The entire Prime Minister’s estate had only three daughters. Her father, the Prime Minister himself, had never had the fate of having a son. And wasn’t she kidnapped from the estate? How did she suddenly end up with a “brother” who sold her? And what in the world was a Da Tuanjie?

What a mess!

Grinding her teeth, Wei Ci began desperately calling out in her heart for her omnipotent mother to come save her unlucky daughter.

But before she could even call a few times, wave after wave of unfamiliar memories surged into her mind, overturning her worldview and forcefully reshaping her understanding.

Wei Ci was dumbfounded. She wasn’t herself anymore—she had possessed the body of some unfortunate fool in an unknown world.

The original owner of this body had been born with an incomplete soul, a pitiful child who grew up as quiet as a porcelain doll. Every day she either sat in silence, or… sat in silence. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t laugh. Apart from swallowing food and water, she just sat there like a lifeless puppet.

But fortunately, the original owner of this body had parents who loved her as though she were their very life. They treated her like the apple of their eye, rarely letting her leave the house, taking care of everything personally, afraid she might ever be bullied.

Yet no one ever knows—accidents are always faster than plans.

Her parents had died suddenly. During a storm, a mudslide occurred on the mountain and crashed right into the group delivering grain tax. Over a dozen people hurried through the rain trying to return home, only to be caught head-on in the landslide.

It all happened too suddenly. No one had time to react. Half of them were injured, the other half were killed. The girl’s parents were among the unlucky dead.

From then on, her life fell into ruin. Her eldest cousin handed her over to their uncle in the county, and she was tossed back into a life of hunger—sometimes one meal a day, sometimes none at all. Not only was she often starving, even the belongings her parents had bought her were stripped away until nothing was left.

Other fragments of memory were hazy, many scenes shrouded in fog. No matter how hard she searched, she could only glimpse bits and pieces. But it was enough. At least she now understood her current predicament.

Wei Ci was puzzled. Why did this world feel so much like the “modern” place her mother used to talk about? And yet… not quite. There were no skyscrapers, no bustling traffic. If anything, it felt even more backward than Great Yong Dynasty.

Her chin was suddenly lifted. A stench of tobacco mixed with sweat drew close. Wei Ci almost couldn’t help opening her eyes to land a punch.

“So beautiful. What a pity.”

But the man valued money more than beauty. A face like hers would fetch a high price. Otherwise, he might have considered keeping her—pretty and simple-minded, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about her scheming or cuckolding him.

The one-eyed man cast a glance at the bound children and women, then stood and left the basement, throwing back a warning:

“Keep your cocks in your pants. Anyone who touches this one—I’ll cut it off.”

At that, the rest looked disappointed, though unwilling to protest.

After all, even the lowest-quality “merchandise” this time had proper looks—far better than the women they’d toyed with before.

When the men finally left, Wei Ci opened her eyes. Her vision had already adjusted to the darkness. She could see the unconscious children and girls who’d been tossed in earlier. Only once she confirmed they were still out cold did she relax.

A dagger appeared again in her hand. Quietly, carefully, she began sawing at the ropes binding her, trying her best to keep silent. She had to escape quickly. The longer she stayed, the greater the danger.

She should count herself lucky that her mother had left her a trump card.

Her mother was an extraordinary woman, one who had an “uncle” by her side—a man she had never met, but who could provide treasures no one had ever seen before. Her Spirit Spring space had been a gift from that uncle when she was born.

Thinking of her mother, Wei Ci’s eyes grew heavy with worry.

If something happened to her, would her mother go mad? She knew that if not for her, her mother would have left the Right Prime Minister’s estate long ago. She should have been his legitimate wife. But after Father’s success in the exams, he demoted her to a concubine, then married the daughter of another noble family. He had claimed his true love was still her mother, but that never stopped him from bringing in one woman after another.

Of course, her mother—a self-proclaimed transmigrant—was never truly meek. Outwardly she played the submissive, careful concubine. But behind the scenes, she had drugged Father to render him sterile, and rumor had it she’d taken up with several powerful men outside the household, putting green hats on Father’s head while living her life freely and comfortably. Even her daughter had benefited, growing up in luxury.

Her mother had always said that the only person she truly cared about in this life was her daughter.

Before the accident, she had even been arranging a reliable marriage for Wei Ci. Once Wei Ci was wed, her mother had planned to fake her own death and roam the world with a sword. Who could have foreseen such a sudden twist—her death, and Wei Ci’s soul rebirth into another body?

Snap.

The ropes around her loosened, sliding away without a sound. Wei Ci exhaled in relief, flexing her arms that had gone numb from lack of blood circulation. Finally free.

She spat out the gag in her mouth, then slipped a finger between her lips. A stream of sweet liquid flowed into her mouth, down her throat. The dryness vanished instantly. The spiritual energy from the spring water washed through her body, sweeping away all discomfort, leaving her refreshed and light.