He Yuan opened his eyes in a cute bedroom decorated in pink and purple hues. He looked around and, as usual, threw up the contents of his stomach into a chamberpot.
It was only after he took a moment to ease his dizziness that he realized the room itself and the furniture seemed quite large.
He outstretched his hands in front of him. Two tiny arms presented themselves before him. He rushed over to the floor length bronze mirror and froze in shock.
"888! What is the meaning of this?!" He Yuan shouted in anger. Not only was he little but he was also counterattacking for a little... Girl?!
888 burst out laughing and He Yuan's anger increased. "You think this is funny?!"
"Second miss, it's time to prepare for the day." He Yuan froze at the soft voice and slowly turned around. A young teenage girl stood with two girls behind her.
He Yuan remained quiet so the three walked closer and tried to undress him. He quickly moved away from their grasp, causing the head servant to frown.
"Second young miss, is there a problem?"
'How could there not be a problem?' He Yuan thought but he shook his head stiffly. He was in an ancient task realm so he was aware that this was the normal procedure. It was just quite embarrassing.
'It's the leaser's body, not yours.' He Yuan chanted throughout the time it took for the servants to bathe and dress him. Once they were done, the head servant came forward again.
"Second miss, it's about time to have breakfast with master and madam. We're already a little late."
He Yuan raised a little palm to his well styled head and swayed a bit. "I feel a little tired, can I rest for some time?" He had no choice. He just got here and had no idea of what was going on. How could he face others?
The maid looked at He Yuan in concern. "Second miss, do I need to call the physician?" When He Yuan shook his head, she continued hesitantly,
"Second miss, don't you think it's better to just endure and eat breakfast with master and madam? The prime minister is already angry at you for your earlier words how about you try not to anger him further?"
He Yuan groaned inwardly. "I'm just resting for a little bit. It's not like I won't go over to join them." The servant wanted to continue but seeing He Yuan's resolute expression, she gave up with a sigh and led the other servants out.
He Yuan walked over to the bed and hopped on. "What's the information?" He asked 888 calmly.
The name of the leaser was Cao Yuemei and she was the second daughter of the Cao family, the household of the left prime minister.
There was only one special one in this world and that was Cao Luomei, the daughter of the first wife of the left prime minister that went missing three days after she was born.
The left prime minister had been saddened by the sudden disappearance of his sweetheart after their child was born. He tried looking for her but she'd left a note stating that she never wanted to be found.
And indeed, she was never found. The matriarch of the Cao household took in her only son's devastated state and decided to marry him another wife.
Wan Ruo was one of the noble ladies in the capital who had been eyeing the young left prime minister, so she was very happy when the Cao matriarch came to propose marriage and she quickly accepted. One year later, Cao Yuemei was born. Everything seemed great in the Cao household, until the girls began to grow.
Cao Long, the left prime minister, showered more love on Cao Luomei and Cao Feng -Cao Luomei's elder brother by one year and a half- with the excuse that they had no mother whilst he neglected Cao Yuemei.
Time and time again, the little Cao Yuemei tried to get her father's attention only to be turned down time and time again in favour of what Cao Luomei wanted.
When Cao Luomei turned five and Cao Yuemei, four, Wan Ruo finally snapped. She could accept that Cao Long was still in love with his first Di wife but how could he blatantly play favouritism amongst his Di children?
And so in her anger, she arranged for Cao Luomei to be sold off to a bunch of traffickers. The innocent Cao Luomei was taken to become a slave in a courtesan house faraway from the capital and when she turned ten, they started forcing her to receive patrons.
At sixteen, the despairing Cao Luomei managed to escape the courtesan house but not without consequences. In her struggle, someone had spilled a weird medicine on her face which caused it to rot.
She ran into a wandering doctor, who was kind enough to treat the rot but her face remained forever damaged. Cao Luomei bore with it. As long as she was able to get back to her family, all would be fine.
And so, she journeyed back to the capital. When she arrived at the prime minister's mansion, all her hopes were crushed. The guards refused to give her entrance.
How could they? She was a girl with a deformed face wearing rags and covered in grime. How could she be the beloved first miss that had been proclaimed dead a decade ago?
Cao Luomei felt a new wave of devastation and started wandering around the capital. She was walking along the streets when a carriage passed by her and drenched her in muddy water.
The driver offhandedly threw her a few coppers and kept on driving. She was about to turn away when the carriage stopped in front of a tea house in the street and someone came down.
It was Cao Yuemei. Cao Luomei watched as her half sister gracefully walked into the tea house with a bunch of noble ladies fawning over her and she burst into tears, clenching the copper coins in her palm tightly.
What exactly did she do wrong to deserve the life she got whilst Cao Yuemei could live so comfortably? Why did Wan Ruo sell her off when she did absolutely nothing to her?
She was too absorbed in her grief that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings so she slipped on a banana peel and cracked her head on a pavement. She died.
And then,
She was reborn.