PFE Ch 3

The two heroines meet!

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Because it was so strange, Cheng Xingfei was slightly dazed the entire way from her house to the museum.

Inside the luxurious and comfortable nanny car, Sister P was on the phone; the trembling driver gripped the steering wheel with both hands, afraid that he would breathe too loudly and irritate this imposing woman.¹

The road was heavy with traffic. Cheng Xingfei rested her face on one hand, looking sideways outside the car window. The nanny car wove nimbly in between the morning rush hour traffic, passing by countless cars.

The early-morning sun hid between row after row of office buildings. The light and shadow fell onto the road, like a set of enlarged black and white piano keys. All sorts of pedestrians passed across the piano keys, their feet playing out different melodies as each of them rushed to their respective destinations.

Cheng Xingfei watched those lively people in a trance. Sister P was talking non-stop by her ear.

Cheng Xingfei suddenly spoke. “Sister, I think this isn’t as serious as you’re imagining.”

Sister P: “It isn’t serious enough? Right now, you’re in your most important rising period. Do you know many business invitations I’ve received during this time? ‘Princess Hua Zhao’ was so successful, a thousand eyes are staring at your next move. No matter who the person who broke into the museum last night is, we have to find her immediately, otherwise she’ll be a ticking time bomb. If you don’t explode now, you’ll explode in the future. As for the media, I’ve already discussed it with our PR team. In a bit, they’ll announce that an internet celebrity wanted to get popular and got plastic surgery to pretend to be you. Then she used Princess Hua Zhao’s image to make hype and attract attention.”

In all fairness, Sister P’s judgement was extremely reasonable. In this circle, there were too many people who wanted to make a splash. There was no limit to what those types of phantoms would do, and girls were extremely likely to fight it out to get internet-famous.

But for some reason, there was a voice in Cheng Xingfei’s heart telling her — the girl who had broken into the museum in the middle of the night was not that type of person.

It was strange. She’d never seen her before, but she felt an indescribable feeling of trust.

……

The road was blocked for a long time, but they finally arrived at the History Museum before it opened. As such a large thing had happened last night, moreover involving the most famous actress of the moment, the museum sent over a director to receive them.

A group of people met inside the reception room.

Cheng Xingfei was dressed in a very low-key manner, wearing a simple sling  dress today with her black hair loose against her shoulders like a waterfall. She took off her sunglasses to reveal eyes full of poise and dignity.

“Hello, director, I’m Cheng Xingfei.” As part of the younger generation, Cheng Xingfei didn’t throw around her name because of her popularity and introduced herself very humbly.

“Hello.” The museum director was a lady in her sixties with silver hair drawn up into a small bun behind her head. “You probably already know about what happened last night. The museum invited you over today because we want to understand and clarify the reasons behind it.”

Next to her, Sister P said, “I’m Xingfei’s agent. Yesterday… no, to be exact, it was only early this morning that Xingfei flew back from another city. During the time period shown in the videos, Xingfei was still on the airplane. It’s absolutely impossible for her to be the one who jumped over the wall and broke into the museum.”

The director nodded. “Of course. Personally, I also believe that Miss Cheng is someone who wouldn’t do something like this. But the issue is that a dozen security guards all saw Miss Cheng’s face. If it was only one or two people, then maybe they could have misidentified her, but—”

The director was in the middle of speaking when there came a knock on the door of the reception room.

A low voice came from outside the door: “Director, it’s me.”

The director called out, “Captain Zhuo, please come in.”

Cheng Xingfei subconsciously looked over towards the door. A tall figure pushed it open and came in from the outside.

It was a young man close to two meters tall. The security guard uniform was tailored to tightly wrap his body, highlighting his healthy and strong physique. His hair was cut rather short, and there was a long scar on his face extending from his forehead, across the edge of his brow bone, through his temple, and finally disappearing into his black hair.

He was that type of tall and big person. He blocked half of the sunlight that came through the door, the golden and feathery light spilling down onto his shoulders.

“Let me introduce him,” said the director kindly. “This is Zhuo Yi. Captain Zhuo is the person in charge of the security team, as well as the first person to find the ‘Cheng Xingfei’ from last night.”

Captain Zhuo was silent, not saying a word. His thin lips were pressed into a narrow line, his temperament as sharp as a sword edge.

Even without introduction, it was obvious that he came from the military.

Cheng Xingfei calmed down and stretched out her hand first. “Hello, Captain Zhuo, I’m Cheng Xingfei… ah!”

The words she hadn’t yet finished turned into a scream — without warning, Zhuo Yi grabbed her wrist and yanked her towards him. Just as she lost her balance, his other hand slammed against her shoulder!

She cried out in pain and subconsciously bent to dodge it, but how could her thin and slender self match up against a man? When she came back to her senses, both of her hands were twisted against her back and the man’s calloused hand was wrapped against her throat!

Cheng Xingfei didn’t even know what was going on. A prickling came up from her twisted arms. She had to use up all of her self-control to make sure that she didn’t fall into tears.

Zhuo Yi’s actions were fast, too fast for anyone there to stop him.

Sister P was the first to react. She raised her voice and roared, “What are you doing?! Let her go!”

The museum director was also frightened. “Xiao Zhuo, you…?”

Without waiting for the director to press him, Zhuo Yi let go of Cheng Xingfei first, freeing her. At the same time, he took two steps back, stood straight, and distanced himself from Cheng Xingfei.

“My apologies for offending Miss Cheng.” Zhuo Yi first bowed in apology to Cheng Xingfei, then turned to the director. “The person last night is not her.”

Director: “What?”

Zhuo Yi pointed to Cheng Xingfei, who was glowering at him. “Last night, the girl who broke into the museum had some fighting ability. Even with several people, we couldn’t catch her. Not only that, she injured two of my team members before running away. A person’s first reaction never lies. Just now, when I suddenly attacked Miss Cheng, she wasn’t able to resist at all. If she was the person from last night, she definitely would have subconsciously attacked me.”

When she heard this, Cheng Xingfei was left with only speechlessness.

Because of that logic, he didn’t say hello but attacked her?

Cheng Xingfei didn’t know whether the mystery girl was a human or ghost, but she knew that this Zhuo Yi was a true dog!

……

While Sister P and the museum director were discussing the follow-up in detail, Cheng Xingfei went out of the museum alone under the excuse of getting fresh air.

She walked past Zhuo Yi. He asked, “Where are you going?”

Cheng Xingfei said lightly, “Captain Zhuo, no need to worry, I’m not going to the Hua Dynasty exhibit to mourn.”

Zhuo Yi: “…”

Cheng Xingfei went around him and to the rear garden of the museum.

The Chinese History Museum spanned over a huge land area. Other than the main building, there was also a garden in the back, built in the early years of the Qing Dynasty with a history of over 400 years.

Right now, before it was open to the public, she was the only person strolling in the huge garden.

The garden was built in the style of the Suzhou Classical Gardens.² As she went step by step along the winding path, there were flowers and trees dotted amongst the pavilions and terraces, which were themselves carefully laid out. No matter which direction you looked toward, there were different arrangements of beautiful scenes to appreciate. The uniqueness of the Suzhou Classical Gardens lay in its clever arrangement of rock gardens. The rocks were built up layer by layer rising up, forming a self-contained barrier; there were even some rocks that were purposefully formed into a maze that you could walk through, which was its own type of pleasure.

Cheng Xingfei’s heart was heavy, so as she walked amidst the rock garden, she accidentally got lost.

But she wasn’t in a hurry, either, so she wandered slowly, as if in boredom.

She walked on and on, eventually coming to a cramped “dead end.” The passage was extremely cramped, with two rugged rocky towers above her, leaving only a narrow gap left. Likely, only small children or extremely skinny girls could squeeze themselves in.

Just as Cheng Xingfei was about to turn around and leave, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a brilliant red inside the gap!

Cheng Xingfei took a closer look, they were obviously a pair of embroidered shoes!

Even under the clear sky and bright sun, Cheng Xingfei was still startled, so she couldn’t hold back an “Ah!”

Her cry was light, but it frightened the person hiding in the gap. The small feet in the embroidered shoes quickly shrunk backwards.

Cheng Xingfei: “…”

Cheng Xingfei tested: “…Ah.”

The two feet shrunk back again.

Cheng Xingfei: “…Ah?”

The two feet couldn’t shrink back any more, so they could only struggle to stand on tiptoe, endeavoring to hide their figure.

But like that, it was difficult for the owner of the embroidered shoes to keep standing, and they shook. She seemed to be wearing a number of ornaments, as when she shook, the rings and head ornaments on her body clanged together, like a huge Christmas tree had been shoved into the gap.

The only difference was that a Christmas tree was green.

And she was red.

Cheng Xingfei: “…”

Cheng Xingfei was not afraid. Not even in the slightest.

Cheng Xingfei lightly spoke. “Come out, I can see you.”

“…”

“Don’t hide, I can really see you.”

“…”

“Are you coming out?” Cheng Xingfei bluffed, “If you won’t come out, then I’ll call everyone over! Secu—”

Before the “rity” that followed it came out of her mouth, a beautiful, red-clothed figure rushed out of the gap. The girl wildly covered Cheng Xingfei’s mouth with two hands. Her angry voice carried with it a hint of panic. “Trea, treasonous wretch! Bengong orders you to shut up, ben…”

Her next words disappeared into the air.

The two girls — the two identical, as if mirrored, girls — the two well-dressed, in very different ways, girls — froze at the same time.

Cheng Xingfei’s back hit a rock, which was extremely painful, but she didn’t care about the pain.

With wide-open eyes, she looked at the red-clothed girl in front of her. Even though she’d already watched the video, already prepared her heart, when the other person really appeared in front of her, it was still so shocking that her mind went blank.

They looked too similar.

No, more than similar.

The same facial features, the same profile, the same eyes that had widened from shock.

Cheng Xingfei was startled. She looked at the familiar face that was so close she could nearly touch it, and opened her mouth, at a loss. “You’re—”

She had not yet finished speaking when the red-clothed girl suddenly screamed, “Someone help me, there’s a ghost!!!!”

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Footnotes:

^{1 He calls her gu’nainai (great-aunt) lmaooo
2 A group of gardens in the Suzhou region that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage List. Seen as a standard for many of the key features of classical Chinese garden design, they are often imitated in different parts of China, including various Imperial Gardens.}