CH 1

Is Reality a Prolonged Dream?

The spring in Xijing is beautiful, the willow leaves are green and tender, the peach blossoms are pink, and the mountains, lakes, and rivers have become a praiseworthy environment filled with prosperity and stability.

The thrush, with its magnificent plumage, perches atop the tree branches, while pure white clouds drift across the clear blue sky. The natural beauty is breathtaking, as grandeur and splendor appear at every turn.

In the early morning, when the first bell of the city tower rings, the scene changes, flowing like water and unfolding slowly like a scroll.

High walls and low-slung tile-roofed houses stand in contrast to the bustling common folk who are struggling for their livelihoods. While young men in clean and primitive clothing ride on their breathless horses.

To the tiniest of detail including the newlyweds to the musicians, all manner of people simply exist in such a beautiful environment, eachleading a unique yet similar life.But alas, on this beautiful summer day, Cui Ti is unable to see its splendor.Harsh as it is, Cui Ti is blind.

Her reputation built solely on the fact that she was the daughter of a wealthy man, yet in reality, she is widely disliked by those around her.

She lived in a small rundown side courtyard, as the sound of orioles singing in the lush willows and tendrils of white smoke rising from the chimney, Cui Ti fell into a deep, prolonged sleep.

In her dream, she was only known as the blind daughter of a rich father. Her father disliked her mother, and she was mocked and humiliated by others, with even the household servants refusing to take her seriously.

What was even more tragic is how joyful they all felt while bullying her. Almost every day, they loved to set up obstacles on the road as she passed by, watching her fall, then watching her get up, and then hiding and secretly giggling. 

Of course, listening to the mockery and laughter of those around her naturally made her angry and caused her to cry at times. But while wiping away her tears and telling herself not to cry, she realized once more the harsh reality she lives in.

But then, someone did notice.

The glorious son of the Pei family—Pei Xuan.

At her lowest point, Pei Xuan gave her the greatest gift of all: treating her as normal.

In fact, he prepared eight large sedan chairs to welcome her, made her his first wife, and promised her a lifetime of devotion. He was willing to hold her, protect her, support her, remove small obstacles for her, hold the servants accountable, fill her with love, hug her, kiss her occasionally, and never rebuked or belittled her. 

Everyone else treated her like a broken piece of rubble, but he cherished her like a beautiful jade and saw her as a bright and beautiful moon in his eyes.

Cui Ti was content with this marriage, to the point where she didn't want to wake up even though she knew it was a dream.

She wanted to repay him, even if everything ended up being false, she still felt immense gratitude.

Still, it’s quite ridiculous that she is blind even in her dreams.

Being blind, she could do very little, so after marrying him, she considered having children for Pei Xuan as a way to repay his kindness. 

But he refused.

Continuing the dream, Cui Ti was worried she had upset Pei Xuan and couldn't eat because of stress, and she became thinner day by day.

…

Inside the dilapidated and crumbling tile courtyard, Cui Ti's maid, Bai Ge, was scurrying around in a frenzy. 

She used a damp cloth to repeatedly wipe Cui Ti's forehead and face, worried that if her fever didn't go away, Cui Ti would not only have the reputation of being blind but also that of being mentally impaired.

Bai Ge implored her grandparents in heaven, longing for the gods to take care of her poor mistress. It broke her heart to see how this blind girl struggled to live despite her kind heart and the suffering she had endured all these years, swallowing her grievances and enduring the jealous stares of others.

It was said that good people receive fruitful rewards, and this girl certainly deserved them! 

So, why did such bad luck continue to cling to her and never let her go? Why did she have to suffer like this?

Bai Ge gritted her teeth, tears streaming down her face as she implored, "Mistress, you must endure this. I am still waiting for the day when you can smile and laugh without always being mistreated.”

Despite her tireless efforts to assist Cui Ti throughout the entire night and day, Bai Ge was exhausted and collapsed onto a makeshift straw bed, her eyes closing as she drifted off into a fitful sleep.

But as soon as there was sound made on the bed of the sick-ridden girl, Bai Ge immediately woke up, and saw Cui Ti lying there with a pale face and sweating profusely, she was surprised and happy: "Mistress! You made it through? Great, great, woo woo woo..."

She covered her face and cried out: "You've made it through, I thought, I thought...you scared me to death!.”

The dream was short, and despite her marriage, Cui Ti's fate was sealed as she was pushed into a lotus pond and drowned. 

As she lay dying, she realized with a crushing clarity that Pei Xuan's feelings towards her were nothing more than pity, and never love. 

Though the sensation of water closing over her head and the feeling of her body sinking in the pond were vivid in her mind.

Forget it.

The dream was peculiar, yet what stood out was the way it displayed a person who claimed to love her, protect her, and respect her, yet pitied her and ultimately married her, but also imagined a fairy riding a crane.

The details of the fairy and the crane were vivid in her mind, with the fairy's ethereal beauty and the crane's majestic presence, making an unforgettable impression on her subconscious.

“Hah, I must be going crazy.”

"Mistress, how can you still laugh? You fell into the pond yesterday and came back with a serious fever. The servants in the North Courtyard are too brazen, we can't let it go this time!.”

"This time, it was a servant of the North Courtyard?.”

"Yes!"

Bai Ge spoke softly, her voice filled with concern as she noticed that Cui Ti was still not fully lucid, "The servants  in the North Courtyard deducted our rations, and we were only protesting. In the end, they were so bold that they dared to attack the mistress, but then the mistress fell into the water and caught a cold.”

Seeing that Cui Ti's expression was still blank, she panicked, "Mistress, Bai Ge is timid, don't scare me!.”

So, it also happened in reality?

In Cui Ti’s dream, she was bullied by the people from the north courtyard. As she ‘accidentally’ stumbled and fell into a beautiful lotus pond in the backyard, becoming completely drenched. Luckily, Bai Ge came to her rescue. 

When Cui Ti returned to her residence, she developed a high fever and almost died.

Afterwards, her younger sister Cui Dai pretended to visit, claiming she wanted to apologize for her servant's impolite behavior, but in reality she had come to give Bai Ge a slap before leaving. 

However, when Cui Ti stood up for Bai Ge, her father, who had rushed over, scolded and disciplined her for several days.

It was similar to a dream but not completely. If it was a dream, why didn’t the gods let her see the world? If it wasn't, how could it explain all the things that appeared in them?

"Mistress? Mistress???.”

"I am here."

Bai Ge's voice trembled with emotion as she spoke: "Mistress, I will save every penny I can to hire the best doctor for you, so please don't lose hope. Even if you've sustained an injury to your brain, you will recover."

Cui Ti tentatively reached out her hand to touch Bai Ge's face, but her hand missed its mark and instead pressed against Bai Ge's shoulder. 

"Wait a moment," Cui Ti said, her voice unsure. "I need to confirm something."

"What is it?.”

"Tomorrow, you will know."

Cui Ti always wondered how it would feel to sleep, as she only needed to trick her brain.

Seeing her speak mysteriously and looking dazed after waking up, Bai Ge felt that the mistress fever became worse.

Anxiety and worry washed over her as she counted the copper coins in the bamboo tube three times while brewing a cup of tea. She was determined to find a skilled physician that could examine her mistress's mind, but the money she had saved would barely be enough to purchase a single loaf of bread.

She secretly pitied Cui Ti.

Cui Ti clearly is her uncle's daughter, but everyone in the household knows that the real blood daughter is not her, but her younger sister—Cui Dai.

Cui Dai is the youngest daughter of his second wife. She is fourteen years old and has a delicate and savage personality, and lives in the magnificent North Courtyard.

"She’s coming."

"Coming?."

Cui Ti sat up straight: "Help me see if the third sister is here.”

The mistress is anticipating Cui Dai!?.

Bai Ge was startled, and hurriedly looked outside the door.

…

Not long after breakfast, Cui Dai led a group of servants, who were eager to gawk and mock, over to her older blind sister's home. 

As they arrived at the door of the room, Cui Dai wrinkled her nose in disgust, "What is this smell? It's unbearable."

A sharp-eyed servant stepped into the small courtyard without any sense of decorum, and spoke in a harsh tone, "Mistress, it's rabbit dung."

Hearing it was rabbit dung, Cui Dai felt nauseous and said reluctantly, "Who would use rabbit dung to cover their yard? But because a mistake was made by my servants, I will come in reluctantly."

It's worth noting that occasionally, rabbit manure is used to fertilize the land and grow vegetables. Although Cui Ti is blind, she has exceptional hearing and a perfect memory.

In Cui Ti’s dream, Cui Dai said exactly what she said just now, but instead a few moments later. However, because she still couldn't stand the smell of rabbit dung, Cui Dai sent someone to kill her litter of rabbits.

Remembering this, Cui Ti thought blankly: ‘So my dream was not a dream, but an experience from a past life.’

Then why did she come back?

Is it because she died in the lotus pond?

If she died, would Pei Xuan shed tears for her? Or, will there even be a Pei Xuan in this life?.

Trapped in this small courtyard for her entire life, Cui Ti knew very little about the happenings of her city. In fact, she was unsure if there was even a prominent family named Pei in Xijing. 

The thought that there may not be a Pei Xuan, a lover who gave her the affection and respect she longed for in her dreams, caused Cui Ti immense heartache.

"What are you thinking about, big sister, with such a gloomy expression?" Cui Dai has always looked down on her blind older sister. Her father didn't like Cui Ti and her mother avoided her. As long as Cui Dai can remember, there were always people around her reminding her to stay away from the blind woman, so as not to bring bad luck. 

Before the age of ten, she took these words seriously. But after her 11th birthday, she discovered the thrill of tormenting others and it quickly spiraled out of control.

Anyone below her status who dared to cross her would be killed, her parents didn't even bother to intervene.

"For your rations, I just took two bags of rice. Why is my sister so worried? See because of my generosity, I brought you a bag of rice today.”

She untied the bag, grabbed a handful of white rice casually, and the rice leaked out from between her fingers like quicksand and fell to the ground.

The girl clicked her tongue twice, naively and viciously said, "Sister, look around you, it’s pathetic the kind of life you are living.”

She then made a gesture of oops: "How could I forget? My sister is blind and can't see."

"You-!.”

"Bai Ge, shut up!.”

Bai Ge wanted to protect her mistress' dignity but was instead ordered to be quiet by her. 

When suddenly, Cui Dai flicked her sleeves and snorted coldly, almost ordering her servants to protect her, instead, she composed herself as she didn’t want to argue with a lowly servant girl.

"Third sister, I won't send you off,” Cui Ti spoke with no emotion.

"Who wants you to do that? You're a blind woman, take care of yourself first!. Or else, someday, you could fall into a pond and die.”

Cui Dai deliberately waited for a while, but she didn’t see any anger in the other party's face, and even though Bai Ge had a sullen face, she was calm. Seeing no emotion, Cui Dai was bored and spoke to her servants, "Let's go!.”

As the servants of the north courtyard walked away, Bai Ge couldn't help but complain: "Mistress! Why are you stopping me? She spoke so excessively..."

"It's too much."

Cui Ti replied weakly, "What can I do?.”

In her dream, Bai Ge was furious and took action against Cui Dai but was struck across the face. Cui Dai then reported the incident to her father, resulting in both of them being left to starve for two days.

The hunger was unbearable and both Bai Ge and Cui Ti's bodies felt weak and limp as they dragged themselves back home in humiliation.

The teasing behind them was relentless, many people laughed at Cui Ti for being blind and foolish, mocking her for pretending to be a noble member of the family.

This time, she didn't want to repeat the same mistakes.

Cui Ti sat on a long, dilapidated bench. The bench was clean, but it was not strong enough to sit on, and it wobbled.

She also knew that Bai Ge would come over later and complain to her about the bench.

"Bai Ge, sit on the square wooden stool."

Bai Ge stopped in her tracks, wondering how the mistress knew she was going to sit on the bench but instead directed her to sit somewhere else.

Sitting obediently across from her, her shoulders slumped: "Mistress, we can't be bullied all the time. If we continue to be bullied, how can we survive?.”

"I know, I'm thinking of a way, don't make noise."

Bai Ge looked at her helplessly, not believing that she could do anything.

The morning is bright and the years are dim.

When did she meet Pei Xuan?

It was after the spring rain that a kite flew over the wall, and he fell from the top trying to reach his kite.