Hua Zhao went to the History Museum to mourn
Half an hour later, the taxi driver parked the car and turned back to look at the girl in the red dress in the backseat. “Here, we’ve arrived.”
The girl casually took off a gilded and jeweled earring and threw it into the drivers hands, saying haughtily, “Very well, your reward.”
Driver: “…”
The girl adjusted her skirt and gracefully got off the car — then rushed straight to the trees next to the road and vomited in a mess.
She’d already reached the end of her line since long before, and it truly wasn’t easy to hold back her vomit up until now. Had she ever sat in such a frightening square box? Its name was “car,” but there were no livestock pulling it from the front! The one who was called “driver” held the ring-shaped handle in both hands, which let him control the box and fly on the road.
Strange! Strange!
At first, she’d suspected that she’d arrived at the boundary of the immortal realm and the galloping square boxes were immortal inventions.
But listening to the driver talking, he was most definitely not an aloof immortal, but seemed more like an ordinary commoner. It was simply that she’d never before heard of anything that he spoke of.
She cautiously proposed to go see her Father Emperor. The other party readily agreed, and her heart finally settled back in place.
It seemed like she was still on the imperial soil of the Hua Dynasty.
She was a noble princess who had been cradled in her Father Emperor’s hands since birth. She believed she owned all under the heavens, just as the heavens owned her.
She was pampered, arrogant, and indulged. She only payed attention to that which was extravagant, but did not pay attention to the sound of the troops outside her window.
… Until the day the country was invaded.
The army was steadily retreating as the Hun troops besieged the city. The imperial family had made plans ahead of time; it was called “going to the Southern Palace for refuge,” but in reality… it was abandoning the city and fleeing.
The royal family could flee, but what would the tens and tens of thousands of people within the capital do? They were all living beings, but did they have a country palace?1 Did they have money to make a journey? Did they have time to escape?
No. No. No.
That day, the people of the imperial capital scattered like birds and beasts.
That day, the Princess Hua Zhao who had been arrogant and domineering for her entire life put on her splendid clothing and scaled the city wall.
That day, Hua Zhao with her long and fluttering sleeves danced one song on top of the city wall.
The Hun troops were bewitched by her graceful dance, thinking she was a “trophy” the imperial city’s people had given them.
None of them knew that behind her, tens of thousands of people were running for their lives. She successfully stretched out the time with graceful movements. She could not save all of the common people of the world, but she saved all the people of the capital.
When the dance ended, the Hun general rode his horse to the bottom of the city.
He was called Huyan Lu, the most valued son of the Hun king and the fiercest and cruelest wolf in the world. He had a pair of blue eyes, like those of a human-eating ghost.
Huyan Lu wore a military uniform and raised his head to her who was dancing at the top of the city wall.
Their eyes met each other.
The next moment — Hua Zhao willfully smiled and jumped off the city wall. Her red dancing clothes suspended midair, cutting out a striking and yet thrilling figure, until finally — she was left solitary before Huyan Lu’s iron heel.
… Her memory came to an abrupt end here.
Hua Zhao closed her eyes, barely repressing the fear in her heart.
Long before she had danced, she had resolved herself to die for her country.
The moment she hit the ground, she thought that it would hurt. But the strange thing was that her entire body felt feather-light.
After she gathered up the courage to open her eyes, she somehow found herself standing in a strange place.
A strange steel forest, a wide road she’d never before seen, weird four-wheel vehicles…
Hua Zhao had always been bold, taking one step at a time.
But this time, she didn’t know that with her one step, she had actually crossed a thousand years.
……
Hua Zhao finally felt a bit more comfortable after vomiting.
The driver should have sent her to Father Emperor’s palace, no? She had to report this matter quickly to Father Emperor — huh?????
Hua Zhao froze in place.
Where was this?
She only saw a magnificent and large structure standing in wide plaza. Eight pillars at the front of the palace supported a dome.
But… but… this was not Father Emperor’s palace at all!
Hua Zhao frowned while looking at the inscription board of the “palace.”
Then read out its contents syllable by syllable.
“Chi… nese… His… to… ry… Mu… se… um…”
Chinese History Museum?
What sort of haunted place was this?
She could clearly recognize each word of the gilded script on the board, but when they were put together, she couldn’t figure out how exactly they went with each other.
Full of curiosity, she went closer to the towering building. There was nobody around, not even a single soldier to guard the gate.
… This certainly was not Father Emperor’s palace.
Hua Zhao hesitated for a moment, but her curiosity finally won over. She would go in and find out what was going on! She was a noble imperial princess, so which place couldn’t she enter?
Seeing no one was around, Hua Zhao drew up her long skirt into a knot. Both of her feet kicked off the wall and she jumped off the ground — her body rose up into the sky, light as a butterfly, high above the courtyard wall like she was “flying”!
……
Didididididi—
A piercing security alarm echoed through the monitoring room of the Chinese History Museum, immediately startling awake the dozing security guard. He got up to look at the monitoring screens in front of him.
The Chinese History Museum had a strict security system. Hundreds of cameras were installed throughout the entire museum, with a far-infrared sensor every ten meters on the courtyard wall. Even a stray cat jumping in would be immediately captured.
“What happened?” The security team captain immediately walked into the monitoring room.
“Reporting to Captain!” The guard stood up, saluted, and nervously said, “One minute ago, someone went over the wall and broke into the museum!”
The team captain asked, “How many thieves? Did they bring any tools?”
“That…” the guard hesitated. “There’s only one person, no tools, and… and…”
“Forget it, bring the video out!”
The guard hurriedly turned on the surveillance camera. On the monitor wall, a dozen cameras simultaneously tracked the figure — they could only see a girl in a red ancient costume stepping into the museum. From the look of her movements, she not only lacked the slightest “guilty conscience,” she was even openly, naturally, and leisurely looking around the inside of the museum.
The guard whispered, “Cap, Captain, is she a human or a ghost?” A woman in a red ancient costume was drifting into the museum in the middle of the night. It was basically a ghost story!
The captain was experienced and calmly said, “Of course she’s a human. But since she’s dressed like that, she’s probably not a thief. Maybe she’s a history fanatic, or she’s doing performance art, or she’s even an online streamer… Once you work long enough, you’ll know that there are so many types of crazy people running into the history museum in the middle of the night every year.”
Through the surveillance camera, after the red-clothed woman wandered around, she noticed a promotional poster standing in the corner. She stopped in front of the poster, studied it for a while, then suddenly turned around and rushed in the direction the arrow was pointing to.
She ran so hurriedly, she accidentally stepped on the hem of her skirt and fell down. She landed on the ground in embarrassment. The pearls hairpins in her bun came loose and her jade beads scattered all over the floor, making a jangling sound. But she didn’t stop for a second, immediately getting back up and continuing, stumbling in her rush, forward.
Inside the monitoring room, the security team captain picked up the telephone and pressed the intercom button.
“Attention, all departments. Attention, all departments. An intruder is moving towards Exhibition Hall A3. An intruder is moving towards Exhibition Hall A3. Except for the staff on duty, everyone go to Hall A3 to make the arrest.”
“Special reminder, Exhibition Hall A3 is currently housing the special exhibition ‘The Rise and Fall of the Hua Dynasty.’ The exhibit is extremely precious. Be extra cautious when making the arrest.”
……
At 7 in the morning, Cheng Xingfei was woken up from her sleep by a phone call from her agent, Sister P.
Because of “Princess Hua Zhao” ’s outstanding success, Cheng Xingfei’s recent schedule had been extremely full. These past few days she’d worked day and night, flying to different cities almost every day.
Cheng Xingfei had only slept for three hours, so she yawned and asked sleepily, “Sister, why are you calling me so early?”
“Xingfei, where are you right now?!” Sister P’s anxious voice came through.
Cheng Xingfei froze. “Me?” She blinked and subconsciously looked around. “I’m at home, in my room.”
“You’re really at home?”
“Of course.” Cheng Xingfei was somewhat confused. “Sister, what’s wrong? I landed in the middle of the night and you sent me home from the airport yourself. If I wasn’t at home, where would I be?”
The other end of the phone was silent for a full ten seconds, then Sister P finally spoke. “I’ll send you something to look at. Don’t get scared.”
Cheng Xingfei: “?”
Half a minute later, she received two videos from Sister P on WeChat.
The first video was from a taxi dashboard camera. Based on the time shown in the surveillance footage, it was from early morning today.
In the footage, the driver discovered a girl wearing a red ancient costume standing next to the road under the rain, so he gave her a ride out of goodwill.
But the girl was speaking nonsense, insisting she had to go see “Father Emperor.” The helpless driver could only drop her off at the doors of the History Museum. When she got off the car, the girl also threw him an earring, saying it was to “reward him.”
As for the second video, the timeframe was immediately after the first one.
The picture was extremely shaky. It seemed to be a body camera worn by a law enforcement officer.
The recording showed that a woman dressed in red ancient clothes jumped over the wall and broke into the History Museum in the middle of the night, running to the Hua Dynasty hall. The security team dispatched its entire forces to surround the suspicious woman.
When they found her, the woman was kneeling in front of the last Hua emperor’s portrait, weeping…
Was this the strangest thing?
No… not in the least.
The strangest thing was — the girl in the two videos and Cheng Xingfei! Looked! Exactly! Alike!
Moreover, “Cheng Xingfei” was wearing a red ancient costume that looked just like the one she had wore when she jumped off the city wall in the TV drama.
Cheng Xingfei: “…”
Cheng Xingfei: “……”
Cheng Xingfei: “………”
Cheng Xingfei: “Did I get up on the wrong side of the bed?”
These two videos had exploded on a certain short video app. Right now, its popularity was soaring like a rocket to the top of trending.
When she opened the comments section, every netizen had their own opinion.
Netizen 1: I was so unsteady on the subway during morning rush hour, I wanted to browse the app to wake myself up and what did I see??? I’m really f*cking awake, I can’t get any more awake!!
Netizen 2: Isn’t this Cheng Xingfei??? I’m not seeing it wrong???
Netizen 3: Isn’t “Princess Huao Zhao” already done broadcasting? Isn’t this hype a little late?
Netizen 4: Even if it’s hype, you still have to pay attention to basic laws. What’s she acting out at the History Museum for?
Netizen 5: So the museum is such a scam, joining with this traffic actress to make hype. Do they want face?
Netizen 6: Leave Xingfei alone, our Xingfei only got back to the capital from City N early this morning. Don’t force the blame on her head.
Netizen 7: The upstairs fan shouldn’t lie so boldly. The video is so clear, who would it be if it wasn’t Cheng Xingfei?
Netizen 8: Did Cheng Xingfei get too deep into the role? Is this a mental disorder?
Netizen 9: Too deep into the role mental disorder +1
Netizen 10: My next-door neighbor’s son’s classmate’s third uncle’s daughter-in-law broke the news, Cheng Xingfei previously went to the Second Hospital to see the Psychiatric Department…
Cheng Xingfei’s finger flew across the screen, scrolling. Countless comments slid past her eyes like a waterfall.
Behind every comment, there was a melon-eater who loved to join in on the fun, laughing at “Cheng Xingfei’s” mistake with relish.
Sister P used all of her connections to suppress the gossip and temporarily stop the media from hyping this information. But although the big accounts were suppressed, small reporting accounts could not be.
The Weibo hot search quickly exploded with “Cheng Xingfei’s too deep into the role mental disorder” and related searches.
During the morning rush hour right now, no matter if it was going to work or school, everyone would take out their phones to browse. Who thought that they’d be choked by such a big melon so early in the morning?
Cheng Xingfei opened up the two videos to watch them a second time, then a third time, a fourth…
No matter how many times she watched it, she was forced to admit that the strange girl in the red ancient costume in the video looked exactly the same as her!
… Even a horror movie wouldn’t dare to be like this.
But for some reason, Cheng Xingfei didn’t feel a single ounce of fear or dread in her heart.
Over the phone, Sister P asked her solemnly, “Xingfei, give me an honest answer. Have you ever sleepwalked? Or, are you sure that you’re your parents’ biological daughter? Could you have a long-lost twin sister? Have you seen your baby pictures? Maybe you were adopted by your parents and you never knew it?”
Cheng Xingfei was shocked: “Of course I’m born from my parents — wait, sister, we’re already at this point and you’re still so practical?”
“If I’m not being practical, then what should we do?” Sister P was in terrible shape. “I always need to find a logical reason for these things. Or do you want me to go to the media and explain that Princess Hua Zhao herself has transmigrated over? Do you think anyone will believe that?”
“…” Cheng Xingfei asked, “Then what should we do now?”
“Seeing is believing whether she’s a human or a ghost,” Sister P said. “I’ll pick you up from your house in a bit. We’ll go to the museum and see what’s going on once and for all.”
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Footnotes:
1 行宫, an imperial palace used for short stays outside the city
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early release because I was trying to convince myself I was being productive by translating instead of working on my bio lab~ (￣▽￣*)ゞ I might get another chapter up on Thursday as well but we’ll see
lilypad translations 