Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Traveling Through Time
The fourth year of Ruixing, Mid-Autumn Festival.
Under the scorching sun, a jasmine plant transplanted from Sichuan to the corner of the east courtyard of the Gu family in Huazhi Lane was wilted by the fireball-like sun.
"Oh my dear, my dear lady, I beg you, please go under the eaves for a while. If you get sunburned, the master and the mistress will scold me to death."
Gu Youan refused to leave, so she squatted in front of the flower tree and watched. She vaguely remembered someone saying that when the weather gets cold, the jasmine flowers will wither and will no longer be visible.
"Miss~"
The maid Xiaoju was so anxious that she was sweating profusely and kept trying to persuade him, but Gu Youan was dazed and seemed not to understand what she was saying.
Gu Youan was born with a poor brain and a weak body. He could not speak until he was three years old, which made his parents very anxious.
That year, a Taoist priest in tattered clothes and a dirty hat came to the house. No one invited him. The Taoist priest walked into the gate of the Gu family by himself, without begging for food or water. He made a fortune-telling statement: Your daughter's soul is incomplete, but it doesn't matter. Just take good care of her until she reaches the age of 15, and then her soul will be complete, and she will wake up. Who knows, she might have a great fortune.
After saying this, the old Taoist left. His words made the Gu couple remember them for many years.
The Gu family couple truly dotes on their daughter and has raised her carefully until now. Now she is fourteen years old, but Gu Youan is still not awake and looks dazed, thin and lonely. She is really pitiful.
"Miss, you are weak, not like others. Please listen to my advice." Xiaoju pulled the young master's thin wrist with heartache.
Gu Youan turned his head to look at the little girl. She slowly stood up, smiled, and was pulled away by the maid who was serving her.
"Hey, girl, you're so good today."
Xiaoju smiled happily and pulled her away: "Miss, let's go find the Madam. The Madam said early this morning that today is Mid-Autumn Festival and she has prepared many snacks for you. If you are hungry, you can go to the main courtyard to ask for food."
The master and the servant went to the main courtyard and walked happily to the corridor, only to see a group of officers and soldiers in black clothes, long swords on their waists and official boots on their feet suddenly rushing in like a tiger descending from the mountain.
"Gu Wen, a doctor in the Ministry of Works, neglected his duties and acted carelessly, leading to the Taihu Lake bursting its banks twice. The Emperor has issued an order to dismiss him from office, confiscate his property, and exile him, to be carried out immediately!"
"We are under the Emperor's order to seal off the Gu family home. No one is allowed to leave without permission!"
The leading guard shouted coldly, "Officials are here to do their work. All outsiders, get out!"
Exile? Gu Youan didn't understand, what does exile mean?
She looked confused and took a step forward unconsciously, and was suddenly bumped by the guards who rushed over. Gu Youan fell forward uncontrollably and hit her head on the corridor pillar!
The collision was very heavy, with a dull thud that scared the girl next to him.
"Miss!"
When Gu Youan fell to the ground, he saw Xiaoju's frightened face as she tried to pull her up but failed.
Her head ached. Gu Youan closed her eyes for a moment. She seemed to see her mother rushing out of the house with a cold face, her lips tightened as she called her anxiously, but she could no longer hear it.
——
"Hmm~"
Rubbing her forehead with a headache, Gu Youan opened her eyes. She was still in her bedroom, dreaming again.
Ever since her mother died in a car accident many years ago, Gu Youan has been having the same dream.
In the dream, she was Gu Youan, the mentally retarded eldest daughter of the Gu family in Huazhi Lane. Her father was Gu Wen, a doctor in the Ministry of Works. Her mother was Du Ruoniang. She also had a brother named Gu Wenqing. Four years ago, her mother gave birth to a lovely sister named Gu Youxuan.
Over the years, Gu Youan often felt that she and the eldest daughter of the Gu family in Huazhi Lane were the same person. The daily life of the Gu family in Huazhi Lane was her daily life. Her parents loved her, her brother took care of her, and her sister played with her.
The world in her dreams was so real that sometimes Gu Youan couldn't even tell the difference between reality and dreams. When her grandmother was still alive, she would often comfort her, saying that it must be her mother who had passed away and was accompanying her in her dreams.
Gu Youan has been calm and rational since she was a child. She doesn't believe these stories. She hides it from her grandmother and asks her grandfather to take her to see a psychiatrist several times.
The doctor confirmed again and again that she was not mentally ill.
Since I am not sick, why do I still dream about the Gu family?
It’s hard to explain.
Gu Youan stood up and opened the window. Although it didn't snow in Bashu in winter, the damp and cold air through the window woke her up completely, and she unconsciously touched her cold arm.
"Beep, beep, beep~"
The call was from Youzi, my good friend, good sister and good neighbor who I grew up with.
Gu Youan went back to bed, pulled the quilt over his cold shoulders, and picked up the phone: "Hello."
Hearing her sober voice, the person on the other end of the phone seemed stunned for a moment, and then naturally said: "An An, are you awake from your dream again?"
"Yeah, just woke up."
"Hey, you know you often have dreams when you sleep in the old house, why didn't you go back to the city last night?"
After graduating from university this summer, Gu Youan returned to her hometown, a small city, to take the civil service exam. If there is nothing going on in the old house, she usually lives in the city for convenient commuting.
"Haha, you and your mom are out playing. Your ten hens and eight ducks are still in my backyard. I have to come back every two or three days to feed them. Also, how many express deliveries have you bought and sent to my house these days? Don't you know?"
Their area is located at the junction of urban and rural areas. Before it was designated as an economic development zone, Taoyuan Street was originally called Taoyuan Town. Every household in the town built their own house. Both the Youzi and Gu families built two-story houses, renting out the first floor for business and living on the second. They have a 200-square-meter backyard where they grow vegetables and fruit for their own consumption.
Youzi divorced earlier this year and returned to her parents' home with her children. Looking for work, she decided to take advantage of the local environment and tap into the tourist business from the peach orchard on the hill behind the village. So last month, she converted the first-floor storefront of her home into a farmhouse, planning to open a shop specializing in firewood-cooked chicken.
Last month, Youzi finished renovating the first floor of her self-built house and planned to open it after the Chinese New Year. Taking advantage of the free time before the New Year, Youzi took her mother and her children out for a trip.
Youzi couldn't sit still, and she didn't forget to open a shop even when she went out traveling. She took advantage of the online shopping promotions in recent days to buy hundreds of kilograms of rice, smoked bamboo shoots, paper towels and various seasonings, and had them all delivered to Gu's house.
Gu Youan came back from get off work yesterday evening. The courier had made several deliveries on his electric bike, and now all the goods were piled up on the first floor of Gu's house.
"It's my fault, hahaha, I forgot. Oh, by the way, did you receive the two frozen Tan sheep cut into pieces and 30 kilograms of beef I sent from Ningxia? Oh, the Tan sheep from Ningxia are so delicious. You see how much I miss you, even when I eat delicious food, I think of sending you a portion."
Gu Youan raised the corners of his mouth and looked at the sky which was slightly illuminated by the morning light, feeling very happy.
"Two sheep, one for you and one for your cousin's family. Please help me deliver them. Thank your uncle for the bacon and fruit he sent. I will go to your cousin's family to pay New Year's greetings and thank him in person during the Chinese New Year."
Gu Youan and Youzi grew up together. They are neighbors and best friends. Gu Youan's relatives are also Youzi's relatives.
Ten years ago, Gu Youan's cousin rented a hill and dozens of acres of land in his hometown to grow fruits and vegetables for sale, doing farm business. This way of making money was originally pointed out by Gu Youan's grandfather. The cousin was grateful for this friendship, so when the vegetables and fruits in the mountains and fields were ripe, he would send some to Gu Youan, and also send some to Youzi's family to try.
"From what you said, you won't be back these few days?"
"Don't worry, I want to take my son to the Northeast to play in the snow and come back at the end of the month."
Gu Youan frowned: "You've been out for so long and still haven't come back? There was some virus going on last month, and the kid is only three years old, you should be careful."
"It's okay. I usually wear a mask for my son when we go to crowded places. Besides, my mom is here too. It won't be a problem for the two of us adults to take care of him."
Hearing her say this, Gu Youan didn't say much. She just said lightly: "Come back when you've had enough fun. Don't worry about your ex-husband disgusting you. Zhang Jun's complacency won't last long. He and his mistress will be in jail before spring at the latest."
On the other end of the phone, Youzi felt her breathing tighten: "An An, Zhang Jun is a scoundrel. You, a little girl, shouldn't go against him. What should I do if something happens to you?"
Gu Youan smiled faintly and said, "I've told you before, when he married you, he was looking for a way for our two families to become one, and he wanted to use my family connections to do business. Now that my grandparents are gone, he's turned his back on me after getting enough of my benefits. How could such a good thing happen?"
"You don't have to worry about me. Although my grandfather is gone, the network of contacts he left behind is still there. It's not Zhang Jun's turn to show off." Gu Youan's tone was cold and sharp.
Her father was such a Phoenix man back then, and so was Zhang Jun. Gu Youan hated such villains. Since her grandfather could deal with her father who was worth hundreds of millions, she could now deal with Zhang Jun.
"But you just passed the exam and have only been working in the company for half a year. What if it affects your work?" Youzi was still worried.
"I know how to arrange my affairs, you can have your fun."
Gu Youan's grandfather is a shrewd man, and her grandmother is a well-known old Chinese medicine doctor. Growing up in their care, Gu Youan has seen a lot of interpersonal interactions and understands many things that cannot be told to outsiders. These are enough for her to live a comfortable life in the unit.
Besides, she took the civil service exam to work for her grandfather's unit. For the sake of her grandfather, her uncles and aunts would protect her to some extent as long as it was not a serious matter.
The two chatted for a while and then hung up the phone. The rooster in the chicken coop crowed at the top of its lungs, and it was dawn here at Gu Youan's place.
A light morning mist drifted in the wind outside the window. A small vegetable patch on the left side of the backyard was not clearly visible, but a few fruit trees on the right side were vaguely visible. The bright red tangerines and oranges hanging on the branches were the most conspicuous.
Standing by the window and taking a deep breath, the cold winter air awakened her from body to mind.
After putting on his down jacket, Gu Youan planned to go downstairs to the vegetable garden in the backyard to pick a handful of pea tips to cook wontons in the morning.
As he went downstairs, Gu Youan thought of his grandparents. When they were alive, they were the ones who took care of the vegetable patch in the backyard. His grandfather passed away last year, and his grandmother also passed away at the beginning of this year. She was busy at work, so this autumn they planted winter vegetables. The vegetable patch in the backyard was all planted by Youzi's family. They planted a small area of pea sprouts, cabbage, lettuce, cabbage, garlic sprouts and other common vegetables.
I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't pay attention to my feet and accidentally missed a step when going down the stairs.
It’s over!
Before Gu Youan fell to the ground, the scene of his head hitting the pillar in his dream immediately came to his mind.
"Bang!"
Gu Youan was awakened.
"Wake up, wake up, my darling, you really scared me to death."
Mrs. Du was once a government official's wife, but now her hair was disheveled and her makeup was spotty. She was crying and laughing while holding her daughter who had just woken up.
"mother?"
Gu Youan saw this familiar and real face, which had been there for more than ten years, and now she suspected that she was dreaming again.
Gu Youan's eyes moved around, and the sharp and cold eyes inherited from her father were now clear and bright, completely different from her previous dull look.
Mrs. Du was stunned. Suddenly, she hugged her daughter tightly in her arms. Gu Youan felt pain and subconsciously tried to struggle. Strings of hot tears dripped onto her face, and Gu Youan suddenly stopped moving.
This is not a dream, it is real.
Gu Youan's light sigh was like a spark that ignited Mrs. Du's emotions. Mrs. Du burst into tears without any image, shouting "Oh God" and stroking her daughter's face again and again.
The guards at the second gate looked inside curiously and exchanged glances.
There was such a loud noise in there. That silly girl must have hit her head. Could she be dead?
It's better to be dead. It's better to be exiled stupidly. I probably won't live to see Songjiang City. It's better to die early and be reborn.
Mrs. Du couldn't control her tears. Gu Youan patted her arm soothingly, thinking of her home.
In a flash, Gu Youan disappeared from Du's arms. She stood on the stairs, and her down jacket and clothes were all piled on the ground.
Gu Youan looked down at herself. She was wearing a set of clothes suitable for an ancient lady: a goose yellow Confucian skirt embroidered with hundreds of butterflies and flowers. On her wrists were a pair of silk bracelets with blessings and longevity. Her neat collarbone-length hair had grown to waist length.
She touched her head lightly and found a bump where she had hit the pillar. She frowned in pain when she accidentally touched it.
Gu Youan hurried downstairs and pushed the door open. The backyard was still the same backyard, the fruits were still on the branches, and the chickens and ducks were still clucking.
Gu Youan stood there and turned around. Her house and yard were the same as before, but it was all shrouded in white fog, and she could not see any of the scenery outside the yard.
Gu Youan wanted to walk out of the yard, but was blocked by the fog.
She thought of her mother, turned around, and returned to Mrs. Du's arms.
Mrs. Du watched her daughter disappear and then reappear with a thick black mattress in her hand. What was going on?
When her daughter was found, Mrs. Du burst into tears and hugged her daughter and cried again.
Gu Youan disappeared again, and when he came back he was holding an orange that he had just picked from the orange tree in the backyard. Mrs. Du was startled and her voice trembled.
"Oh my God!"
It's only Mid-Autumn Festival, where did the tangerines come from? And they're so small?
Gu Youan looked at the tangerine in his hand and finally confirmed that she had traveled through time!
The dream I had for more than ten years finally came true!
"An An, damn it, don't scare me, I can't stand it!"
Gu Youan hugged her mother and said, "I won't scare you. My daughter is back."
Du's eyes, washed by tears, were bright as stars. She cried and laughed and said, "How capable is that old Taoist? He said that it would be great if your soul was complete. I didn't expect it to be true."
"An An, you scared your mother just now. Where have you been?"
Gu Youan had just tried to bring her mother into the house, but couldn't get in, so she had to go in by herself. Thinking of the difficult situation at home, she couldn't delay any longer, so she immediately said, "Mom, please listen to me."
Picking out the important things, Gu Youan told her mother about her childhood dreams and her time travel. Mrs. Du nodded repeatedly.
"An An is right. The things in your dream are about our family. It shows that you have been my and your father's daughter in this life and the past. God has called us to meet."
“Then what I heard about exile…” is also true?
Wiping away her tears, Madam Du said, "The current emperor is the late emperor's second-born grandson. Four years ago, when the late emperor was selecting a crown prince, your father co-signed and recommended the late emperor's youngest son, His Royal Highness Prince Qi. The current emperor is a narrow-minded person. Since he ascended the throne, he has purged many ministers. Your father had long anticipated the misfortune that would befall our family today."
"Dad, have you made any preparations?"
In Gu Youan’s dream, her father was a very smart man.
"We've made preparations. We've handed over our properties and shops to trusted people to manage. I originally wanted to wait until after the Chinese New Year, when you celebrate your birthday in the first month of the lunar year, and then take you and your sister back to our hometown in Yizhou to hide out. Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes."
Gu Youan was silent. Her parents wanted to wait until she turned fifteen before leaving. It was probably for her sake, hoping that she might be conscious.
Her parents took such a big risk because they had the faint hope that she might wake up.
"Your father, a lowly official, can't possibly fight the emperor. Don't be afraid. You have your parents here. It's just exile. As long as our family is well, a little hardship won't be a big deal. It's okay to leave the capital. As long as we can hold on to Songjiang City, we won't have to worry about losing our lives at any time in the future."
But...that's exile!
They were exiled from Luoyang to Songjiang City. Not only did they suffer oppression from the officials along the way, but they also had to walk the 3,000-mile journey through mountains and rivers, facing the harsh wind, frost, rain and snow, and the bandits and robbers who were watching them covetously.
How could her mother not know what she knew? Many words turned over in Gu Youan's mind several times, but he didn't say them out loud to upset his mother.
"mother."
Gu Youan turned around and saw her little sister Gu Youxuan, whom she had seen countless times in her dreams, standing at the door helplessly.
"Axuan, come here quickly, this is your sister."
Mrs. Du waved with red eyes, and Axuan hurried over and threw herself into Gu Youan's arms. Mrs. Du hugged her eldest daughter, and the eldest daughter hugged her youngest daughter, and the three of them hugged each other tightly.
A Xuan blinked and looked at her sister. Gu Youan smiled at her. A Xuan held her sister's hand and grinned.
Children don’t know the feeling of sorrow.
"Mom, A-Xuan is hungry."
A Xuan rubbed her belly. Her house was surrounded at noon today. It was almost midnight now. The three of them, mother and daughter, were locked in the house and had not eaten yet.
"Weird mother, weird mother didn't expect it."
Too many things happened this afternoon. First, the exile incident stunned Mrs. Du, and then An An hit her head and fell unconscious. She asked the guards to call a doctor, but they were sent back. She was so anxious holding her eldest daughter that she didn't even care about her youngest daughter who was crying and fell asleep.
Gu Youan held his sister tightly and refused to let her move: "Mom, we can't rely on the guards outside right now."
Mrs. Du sneered. Those people outside were just waiting to exile their family so that they could take advantage of the situation to ransack their property and rob them. There were no kind-hearted people there.
"The cook brought a box of mooncakes this morning. They're still in the house. Eating one with water is enough to fill you up."
Eat it quickly if you have any to eat. After today, you may not be able to eat it again.
The tea was cold, and the mooncakes were hard. Gu Youan was worried that Ah Xuan’s stomach wouldn’t be able to handle it, so he quickly pulled her mother and said, “Let’s not eat this. Let’s eat something softer.”
"Where is that..."
Mrs. Du was halfway through her words when she thought of what her daughter had just said and quickly asked, "Can you take it out?"
Gu Youan nodded. She was still holding the tangerines she had taken out of the space in her hand, and she was sure she could get them out.
"Mom, you and your sister wait for me."
Gu Youan gave the tangerine in her hand to her mother, ran behind the screen, hiding from her sister, and entered the space.
"Mom, where is my sister?"
"Sister is busy."
Mrs. Du peeled the tangerines and gave some to her little daughter. She also tasted two slices herself and found them quite sweet.
Mrs. Du looked around the room, picked up her little daughter and placed her on the low couch: "Sit here and don't move. Mother will pack her things."
"Okay, Xuan, don't move."
This afternoon, the guards who delivered the imperial edict said that they would exile their family, but they did not send them to jail. Instead, they only locked the three of them, mother and daughter, in the house.
Because the two daughters couldn't live without someone, Mrs. Du gave them two side rooms next to the main house in the main courtyard. In order to take care of her daughters more conveniently, she connected the two side rooms with the main house, which is very convenient for her now.
Mrs. Du took off her gorgeous clothes, removed her jewelry, and changed into a white cotton dress.
Afterwards, Mrs. Du carefully rummaged through the boxes and drawers, and found out all the clothes of the couple, as well as the clothes, shoes and socks of her two daughters, the cloth in the suitcase, the gold and silver jewelry in the dressing box, and the valuable antique ornaments in the house.
After a while, Gu Youan came out with a pot of egg and vegetable noodles. As soon as he came out, he saw that the empty space on the table in the room was full of things.
Mrs. Du: "Put it away quickly. Don't let those officials and bandits get away with it."
Once they leave tomorrow, we won’t be able to keep anything at home, so we’ll take as much as we can now.
The mother and daughter looked at each other, and Gu Youan put the frying pan on the low table behind the screen: "Mom, you take Axuan to eat first."
Mrs. Du took her little daughter to eat noodles behind the screen. Gu Youan took this opportunity to collect all the things her mother had found and put them all on the first floor of the space, together with the rice bought by Youzi.
The set of rosewood tables and chairs in the main house was very valuable, and the low couch and low table in the bedroom were both made of good wood, and they were all put away.
Tables, chairs and benches can be moved, but the bunk beds that are too conspicuous cannot be moved.
Mrs. Du came over after a while and saw that the room was much emptier. She patted her shoulder and said, "Go eat."
A mother is strong. Mrs. Du has lived a life of luxury for decades. Now that her family's future is uncertain, no matter how worried she is, she will not let her two daughters see it.
After filling her stomach, Mrs. Du slept with her two daughters.
"Sinful woman Du, it's time for you to get going!"
The door was kicked open roughly, and Mrs. Du was frightened. Axuan was young and was so scared that she burst into tears.
Gu Youan hurriedly hugged his sister to comfort her, and looked outside. It was already dawn. A thought naturally flashed through Gu Youan's mind. It was probably just the beginning of the morning hour.
She remembered the time in her mind, and then she remembered what time it was. Gu Youan then realized that she was Gu Youan of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and Gu Youan of the Great Zhou Dynasty was her!
The past is gone, and the fate of Zhou Youan, the daughter of the treacherous minister Gu Wen, is the fate she will have to bear for the rest of her life.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
