When Lu Jia came out of the bathroom and couldn't find Yan Ning, she started calling her cell phone, but no one answered after several attempts. She then searched for her in the surrounding scenic areas, but couldn't find her there either. Lu Jia knew Yan Ning; she wasn't the type to wander off, but this was the first time she'd encountered such a situation in over a decade of knowing her. Having already made over a dozen calls, Lu Jia dared not call again, afraid of running out of battery and leaving Yan Ning without help in case of an emergency.
Afraid that Yan Ning wouldn't be able to find her, Lu Jia returned to the vicinity of the bathroom, trying to reassure herself that Yan Ning liked to keep her phone on silent, so she probably hadn't heard anything. Besides, she liked ancient architecture, so maybe she was engrossed in looking at some old house right now. But her heart was still filled with anxiety.
A sudden ringtone interrupted Lu Jia's reverie. Seeing the name displayed, Lu Jia jumped up, swiped the screen, and yelled at the phone, "You brat, where have you been? You weren't answering your phone..."
Before Lu Jia could finish venting her emotions, a cold voice on the other end of the receiver instantly petrified her.
"Hello, I'm the caretaker of the Prince Gong's Mansion Site. Do you know the owner of this phone? There are also two bags here; could you please come and claim them?"
Lu Jia knew better than anyone that Yan Ning, who had been accustomed to being frugal since childhood thanks to her mother, would never lose anything unless something happened.
Although Lu Jia reported the case to the police that very day, two weeks have passed, and Yan Ning seems to have vanished into thin air. Lu Jia's father has used all his connections in the police station, but still has no leads. Lu Jia doesn't know how to tell Yan Ning's mother, who is her only family.
Yan Ning felt as if she had slept for a very long time in a halo of light. When she woke up, judging from the surrounding scenery, she was in the middle of nowhere. She immediately checked her clothes in alarm; they were intact. But why was she here? Had she been kidnapped?
She shook her head and gave a self-deprecating laugh. She didn't look like a rich person either; if anyone was going to be kidnapped, it would be Lu Jia. Perhaps the kidnappers realized they had the wrong person, and then discovered they weren't heavily made up and had big eyes, so they abandoned her in this desolate place.
Yan Ning looked around. The mountains stretched endlessly, and she wondered if such a place existed in Beijing, a city known for its fog. The air was filled with the scent of earth and grass, a soothing aroma. Trees grew thickly, and wildflowers of various colors peeked through the grass. In the distance, a river meandered forward, flowing deep into the mountains.
Looking at all this, Yan Ning began to doubt whether she was still in Beijing. It seemed she really wasn't suited for traveling. She shook her head helplessly. If Lu Jia hadn't insisted she come to Beijing, she wouldn't have come. After arriving in Beijing, she felt a deep longing for this unfamiliar place, the Prince Gong's Mansion, a longing she herself didn't understand why.
As the sun set, the scenery around her resembled an ancient ink painting, captivating Yan Ning. She rose, admiring the surrounding landscape while searching for a way out of the woods.
Suddenly, a group of people dressed in Qing Dynasty official and soldier uniforms walked towards Yan Ning. She wondered to herself, "Am I in some kind of film and television base?"
The group of soldiers who approached her raised their swords and surrounded her. One of the soldiers shouted behind him, "General, we've found the glowing thing. It really is a spy."
Although Yan Ning rarely cared what others said about her, being called both "thing" and "spy" in a single sentence within a day made her somewhat angry. She unconsciously raised her voice, saying, "You're all taking this a bit too far!" With that, she prepared to leave their encirclement.
The men dressed in Qing soldiers' uniforms showed no sign of backing down; instead, they closed the distance between themselves and Yan Ning. Seeing the cold glint of their weapons, Yan Ning realized they weren't acting.
What happened?
Just then, the general the Qing soldiers had mentioned rode over on horseback. He was dressed in blue armor, carrying a sword, and appeared to be in his early twenties. Yet, he possessed an air of heroic spirit that seemed to transcend heaven and earth, and his fair skin made even Yan Ning, who was proud of her own complexion, a little jealous.
Seeing him, Yan Ning began to wonder if she had traveled through time, because modern times couldn't produce someone so handsome, and she had never seen him on television. Whenever Yan Ning described her criteria for a partner to Lu Jia, Lu Jia would roll his eyes at her, saying, "You can only have your ideal partner custom-made in ancient times."
And who is this person who seems to have been custom-made for her?
The Qing soldiers surrounding Yan Ning opened a gap, and the young man in blue armor rode forward, looking at the woman surrounded by his men with slight surprise.
She wore a white dress that reached the ground, her hair fluttering like snowflakes scattered by the wind, her eyebrows were delicate and her teeth were white, her bright eyes were captivating, and her posture was gentle and graceful, like a lotus emerging from the water.
Lu Jia often said that she had classical beauty, and Yan Ning found confirmation in the other person's eyes. Although she had encountered this kind of gaze many times since she was a child, this was the first time she wanted to respond.
"General, we've been lying in ambush for quite a while, and we saw with our own eyes that the glowing thing was this spy. But as soon as she woke up, the light disappeared." It was the same Qing soldier who had spoken earlier. Yan Ning withdrew her gaze from the young man in front of her and coldly looked at the Qing soldier who had spoken.
Upon hearing this, the man called General immediately became alert. He leaped off his horse and walked up to Yan Ning. His eyes shot at Yan Ning like sharp arrows. "Who are you? Why are you here?" The close eye contact made Yan Ning's breathing quicken with tension. Seeing his furrowed brows, Yan Ning knew his patience was running out.
At this moment, Yan Ning felt that her doubts were no less than his. How did I end up here? And who are you?
Yan Ning noticed that their gazes towards her were filled with hostility, which didn't seem feigned at all. The surroundings also felt unfamiliar, unlike Beijing. Where was she now? Could they be a tribe of Qing Dynasty remnants? But there hadn't been any news reports about that recently.
Yan Ning glanced at the sky; it was dusk, meaning only a few hours had passed since she lost consciousness. Even with today's advanced transportation, security checks were so strict that it was impossible to get her, a living person, out of Beijing so quickly.
"General?" They were wearing military uniforms, which meant they were fighting, and their expressions didn't seem like they were acting.
That······
Yan Ning's mind raced, reasoning through the events that had happened to her. An impossible idea, yet one that could explain everything, surfaced in her mind.
She traveled through time.
But how could she explain this fact, which she herself couldn't believe, to them, saying, "I've traveled through time! From a world hundreds of years in the future"? She'd probably just die right there.
The wind blowing against her was cool, but large beads of sweat covered Yan Ning's forehead.
What to do? Looking at the soldiers getting closer and closer, Yan Ning knew she had to find a reason to live.
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