Chapter 49 Return to 1865
"Ian, I'm here," Irene hurried out of the elevator, "What do you want from me? Why are you in such a hurry?"
"As soon as you left, I remembered that I had something to give you." Ian smiled and handed over a small square box that looked like jewelry. "This is something that has been passed down from generation to generation in our family. It's placed together with the diary. They are all things that I want to give to you."
The jewelry box had a very historical feel. It was a black velvet box with tiny words engraved on the surface that she couldn't understand. It looked like a winding poisonous snake or centipede crawling all over the velvet cloth, just like the old psychic objects in European and American movies.
She didn't know if it was her illusion, but when Ian handed the jewelry box to her, the temperature around her dropped several degrees in an instant, and a cold and damp feeling climbed up her calves.
Suddenly, a light and sharp whistling sound was heard in her ears. A chill quickly seeped down Irene's spine, and goose bumps appeared on the back of her neck.
She had seen a Southeast Asian supernatural movie before. It was about a heroine who fell in love with a necklace, but there was a ghost sealed inside. The moment the heroine picked up the necklace, a gust of wind suddenly blew, and all the metal objects in the store shook.
It's very similar to the current situation.
"How come the door to this emergency passage suddenly opened?" an angry voice came from behind Irene.
She looked in the direction of the sound and heard the cleaning lady passing by her cursing under her breath for not even remembering to close the door. Then she quickly ran up behind her and slammed the heavy door shut.
It turned out to be the air conditioner in the emergency staircase.
The source of the cold was blocked, and the room temperature returned to normal in a few seconds. Irene rubbed her cold arms, secretly laughing at herself for thinking about some outrageous ghost stories all day long.
It was all Alice's fault for taking her to watch some horror movie in the dormitory.
Irene silently criticized Alice, then turned around and met Ian's respectful eyes.
Ian's eyes didn't seem to be looking at a child of the same age as his daughter, but rather as if he was looking at a portrait of an ancestor.
"You don't have to be so respectful... uh... polite to me," Irene said with an uncomfortable tone. She took the box from Ian and smiled awkwardly. "I'm much younger than you, and it feels weird when you address me with honorifics."
"Oh, I'm really sorry. I've been listening to my grandfather nagging me since I was a child about taking good care of Ms. Irene's things and keeping them safe no matter what happens. So I treated you as someone of the same generation as my grandfather. My childhood habits have really done me a lot of harm," Ian joked to himself.
Fortunately, Ian finally stopped speaking honorifics to her, and Irene breathed a sigh of relief. Being addressed with honorifics by someone who was almost a generation older than her always made her feel like it would shorten her lifespan.
She clenched the jewelry box in her hand tightly. The soft black velvet felt hard, so hard that it was a little uncomfortable.
But this was Leo's gift to her.
When she thought of this, Irene couldn't help but feel an indescribable joy in her heart.
"Now that the things have been delivered, I'll leave first. Don't forget to meet me downstairs at the hotel at 7:30 tomorrow morning." Ian waved goodbye to her, hummed a little tune, and turned to leave the hotel.
Irene also returned to her room, and the first thing she did when she entered the room was to open her jewelry box.
A pure white jade ring was quietly embedded on the black velvet cloth, but if you looked closely under the sunlight, you could see a faint yellow tint on the pure white.
Irene's palms were slightly damp. She sat on a stool in the hotel and rubbed her palms hard on her knees, as if she could wipe off the sweat on her hands.
She picked up the ring, passed her ring finger through the ring, passed the second knuckle, and just caught it at the base of her ring finger.
Irene raised her wrist and looked closely at the ring on her hand in the pale, bright light of the incandescent lamp.
Her past artistic career clearly told her that this was a bone ring, but she just couldn't identify what kind of bone it was.
Even though it was just bone and not a precious gemstone ring or rare metal, it did not prevent Irene from thinking that the ring was extremely beautiful.
Everything about it is beautiful - the arc shape is soft, the ring body is thin and narrow and finely ground, and the overall color is uniform.
Most importantly, this was the gift Leo left for her - a ring.
Although Ian didn't say it, the thing that could be placed together with the diary must be the gift Leo left for her.
What the ring represents is self-evident.
Irene touched the ring with her cheek. Her face was hot, but her hands and feet were very cold. The dressing mirror on the table clearly reflected the red skin under her eyes, as if she had applied a lot of blush. There was a smile at the corner of her lips that she didn't even know when it appeared.
The desire to see Leo became stronger.
And she had a premonition that she would definitely see Leo again.
Ever since she knocked on Ian's door, everything started to move as if destined.
Irene lay on her back on the soft big bed. The sudden strong feeling of sleepiness was like a pair of big hands gripping her nerves, causing her eyelids to become heavier.
Just before she was about to fall into a dream, Irene suddenly woke up.
but……
Irene couldn't help but think of the ending of the Southeast Asian ghost movie - the woman possessed by the ghost killed her entire family, and then ended her own life in despair. Her soul was absorbed by the ghost, and the ring returned to the mall, waiting for its next owner.
But she was only awakened for a moment, and she didn't know why she thought of this follow-up. Before she had time to think about it carefully, her eyelids felt heavy as if a thousand-pound weight was falling down, and within two seconds, Irene fell into a deep sleep.
The mattress beneath me was swaying like a small boat on the sea.
…
"Miss? This lady?"
A woman's urging voice came to her ears, and she pushed her gently twice. Irene's body swayed a few times, but her mind became clearer than her body.
She opened her eyes dazedly, and the first thing she saw was the familiar yet unfamiliar dark wooden walls. She could also vaguely hear the noisy sounds outside the room, among which the sound of waves hitting the hull was particularly clear.
Irene was almost instantly awakened by the surprise.
Is she back?
"You finally woke up," the thin woman wrapped in a headscarf breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "The ship will soon dock. If you don't wake up, I will use a wet towel to cool you down."
With the experience of the last time she traveled, Irene tentatively said:
"Are we almost in New Orleans?"
"Yeah, the war is finally over. I haven't seen my child in almost three years."
When the woman mentioned her child, her eyes sparkled and she cursed in the local dialect with gritted teeth.
Irene didn't understand. The only thing in her mind was the words the woman had just spoken -
'The war is finally over.'
What do you mean, the Civil War is over!?
So now - what year is it?
Irene stood up suddenly, her expression anxious and confused. She put her hands on the table, stared into the woman's eyes, and spoke in a hurried tone.
"And it is 1865?"
"Yes, July 1965," the woman subconsciously continued, and even the tears that were about to flow were held back out of surprise.
"General Robert surrendered?"
"Yes, on April 9th this year."
Irene slumped back into her chair, completely dazed.
It was only 1860 when she traveled back in time. How come less than a month had passed in the 21st century and it was already 1865 in the 19th century? By this calculation, in Leo's mind she had been missing for four years.
Moreover, the time recorded in the diary only goes up to August 7, 1862, which is almost three years ago.
She had no idea what Leo had done in those three years.
Irene's breathing became heavy, and her fingers unconsciously touched the ring on her ring finger.
Luckily the ring is still there.
No, Irene lowered her head in horror. The clothes she was wearing were exactly the same as when she traveled back to the 21st century.
The only extra item on his body was this ring.
Why is the ring still there?
When she first came here, she didn't even bring the two earrings that were pierced into her ears.
But Elena soon stopped being confused by the ring. She encountered something more troublesome.
——Not only did she have no money, but this time she didn’t even have a place to live.
Last time she managed to travel to the manor, but this time she traveled directly to the ship. She had nothing on her except the clothes. The woman who had just woken her up just happened to be in the same cabin with her, and she didn't even know her name.
Irene was standing on a boat that had just docked at the coast of New Orleans. Before her was a bombarded city. Simple tents of various colors stretched all the way into the city, and even the divisions could not be distinguished.
This time the game started even more hellishly than the last time...
How can one save oneself when in trouble? Irene swallowed and the faces of Ian and Mrs. Soy appeared in her mind.
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