Crossing Over
The imitation competition had ended, and the orphan Gu Qingtong had won the championship as expected. The organizing committee specially arranged a final performance and award ceremony.
During the rehearsal, Gu Qingtong stood on a ten-meter-high platform, singing a self-composed song while slowly descending. Suddenly, the pressure behind her snapped with a crack. She clearly felt the steel cable wobble twice and knew it had broken. She had thought there would be a soft pad to catch her below, but when she looked down, the pad was gone.
The performer before her was Liang Luoxian, who must have tampered with things after her rehearsal. She screamed, and the last thing she saw was Liang Luoxian’s vicious glance before she crashed to the ground, losing consciousness.
The on-site staff heard an “ah” and saw the person on the high platform fall straight down: “Oh no, Gu Qingtong has fallen!” A group of people rushed forward.
The next day’s headline was that the imitation competition champion Gu Qingtong had accidentally fallen during rehearsal, fallen into a coma, and become a vegetable after being sent to the hospital. The second-place contestant Liang Luoxian was promoted to champion, enjoying her moment of glory.
When Gu Qingtong awoke again, her entire body ached indistinctly. She struggled to lift her head and saw a girl in a pink embroidered skirt rummaging through boxes.
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This figure was all too familiar – she wanted to slap her but couldn’t get up, so she could only curse angrily: “Liang Luoxian, you despicable person!”
Liang Luoxian, startled by the angry voice behind her, jumped: “Gu Qingtong, you’ve actually woken up?”
“Has Gu Qingniang awakened?” Suddenly, the wooden door creaked open, and a woman in red, around thirty years old, entered.
“Who are you?” Gu Qingtong struggled to get up, but her back was so painful that even the slightest movement felt like tearing. She wanted to say her name was Gu Qingtong, not Gu Qingniang, but the woman clearly meant her and was already sitting by her bed.
The little girl glanced at the meal and immediately stood up, her face full of panic: “Gu Qingniang, you were asleep earlier, and I called out several times without waking you, so I just sat here waiting. I didn’t expect the food to get cold. I know I was wrong, please don’t tell Master Han.”
“I’m not blaming you,” Gu Qingtong found it strange. Did she look like someone who would tattle? And what relationship did she have with Master Han? It seems he’s quite an important figure, at least judging from these three people’s behavior.
The little girl carefully studied her expression, and only when she saw that Gu Qingniang truly wasn’t angry did she breathe a sigh of relief: “Gu Qingniang, I, this servant, am new here. My original name is Lü’er. Master said to let you give me a new name, and from now on, I’ll be your person.”
Gu Qingtong heard her switching between “I” and “this servant,” and figured she was probably a newly purchased maid who hadn’t been properly trained yet. The little girl saw her eyes rolling around, thinking she was contemplating a name, and brought over the meal: “Gu Qingniang, I’ll go to the small kitchen to reheat the food. Please take your time thinking.”
Gu Qingtong casually responded with a sound, mumbling something under her breath.
The little girl closed the door as she left, suddenly hearing a loud shout from inside: “I’ve time-traveled!” She paused for a moment, then thought about it and realized she didn’t understand, but what did it have to do with her? She carefully looked around the courtyard, saw no one had noticed anything unusual, and scurried away.
Gu Qingtong was too excited earlier, which pulled at the wound on her back, causing her such pain that she almost wanted to die. Had she really time-traveled? But why was Liang Luoxi here too? Did she time-travel as well?
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They had originally signed up together, ended up imitating the same star, choosing the same outfit, and even selecting the same song. Fortunately, Liang Luoxi couldn’t match her physique, so the outfit didn’t look as impressive on her, and her aura wasn’t as strong. As a result, she fell short step by step and only won second place.
But now, she had been forced to time-travel, and why did she have to encounter her? Gu Qingtong pounded the soft pillow in front of her, feeling utterly frustrated. She remembered Liang Luoxi rummaging through her room and her previous behavior. Wait, Liang Luoxi’s eyes seemed even more sinister. Could it be just someone who looked similar?
The little girl had already reheated the meal and brought it to the bedside table: “Gu Qingniang, this servant will feed you.”
“Mm,” Gu Qingtong ate quickly, almost to the point of frightening the little girl.
“By the way, do you know Liang Luoxi?” Gu Qingtong decided to probe the little girl first.
“Gu Qingniang and Liang Qingniang are the two most famous courtesans of Huahao Yuequan Pavilion. Who doesn’t know about them?”
“You’re calling me Gu Qingniang too?”
The little girl heard this and immediately knelt down: “This servant knows her mistake. I should call you Miss.”
Gu Qingtong pressed her forehead, finding it somewhat challenging to communicate with this little girl: “Right, you wanted me to give you a name. I’ve thought of one – Lüguo. You look small, like an unripe fruit.”
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“Actually, Gu Qingtong was doing this deliberately. The name wasn’t particularly nice and seemed somewhat casual. She wanted to see how this little girl would react to such a significant matter.
The little girl heard the name and accepted it without hesitation, bowing to her: “Thank you, Miss, for bestowing a name. This servant likes it very much.”
Gu Qingtong had wanted to give her a better name, but since she said she liked it, they’d make do: “Mm, get up. I’m full. But my back hurts terribly. Help me think of something.”
“I’ll go call Hong Jie,” the little girl Lüguo quickly cleared the dishes and ran out.
Shortly after, the woman in red came back – her name was Hong Jie.
Simply put, when two families intend to marry, they hire a trial bride as an intermediary to imitate the bride’s temperament for three days at the woman’s side, and then replace the bride for three days at the man’s side.
The man uses the trial bride to probe the woman’s disposition, and the trial bride reports the man’s situation back to the woman.
If both parties are satisfied, they marry; if not, they refuse. This is similar to a matchmaker, but more progressive and sophisticated.”
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Gu Qingxin had no concept of all this, nothing about the Hua family’s young master or the Wen family’s daughter.
“Yes, the Hua young master is suave and talented, and remarkably devoted to you,” Sister Hong pinched her hand, seemingly wanting to comfort her, but actually trying to probe her attitude. If Gu Qingxin truly had feelings for the Hua young master, she would definitely tremble with anger.
But Gu Qingxin didn’t tremble. Realizing Sister Hong was waiting for her to show “sadness” or “anger”, she lowered her eyes, pretending to hide tears, buried her head in the pillow, and muffled: “Sister Hong, I’m tired.”
Gu Qingxin listened to her departure and exhaled: This woman isn’t easy to deal with. But the priority now is to understand her environment, the condition of this body, and whether Liang Luoxi came with her.
She used her limited vision to scan the room: “Lüguo, go fetch some books from the bookshelf for me to look at.”
