Chapter Text
“What kind of garbage was that?!” Yang Qingqing blinked at her TV screen. She pushed the blanket off her legs and snatched her phone off the corner of the couch. Surely everyone on Weibo had the same opinions as her.
The plot absolutely collapsed in the last ten episodes! It made no sense. Of course it’s story-telling logic that she would get both tiger tallies at the same time!
Why would Qi Min suddenly have a change of heart in the last hour?!
These adaptations need to be more loyal to the original work!!!!
To think that she had spent the last week following Pursuit of Jade just to be ultimately disappointed in the ending. A what-if scenario for the last 10 minutes?! That job should be left for the fanfiction writers. Yang Qingqing flopped back down onto the couch. To think that she had stayed up until 2am to binge watch the show when she had work the next morning!
“I,” Yang Qingqing hauled herself up, heading towards the bathroom, “am never dedicating so much of my time to a TV show...” her hand slapped at the light switch, “ever again!” As if heaven itself agreed with her, a roll of thunder outside sent her walls creaking.
Tooth brush in hand, staring at her own disheveled appearance, Yang Qingqing pointed at herself, “You have work in the morning!” She was going to feel terrible in 6 hours, all for a disappointing TV show.
“And,” She said, through a mouthful of toothpaste foam, “What was the weird transmigration subplot in the end!? Not to mention, she was a horrible transmigrator!” Yang Qingqing spat into her sink. “I could do better!” Lightning flashed in the distance, causing the lights to momentarily flicker.
Yang Qingqing stomped over to her bed, scrolling the Weibo comments.
No wedding scene in the end!!! We were robbed!!!!!!! Also why Regent King? Isn’t Marquis good enough?
Qi Min is so romantic.... Please writers lets get some fix-it fics of them!!
Yu Qianqian should have just told Qi Min to stop, I bet it would have worked.
“I’ll fix the plot.” Yang Qingqing announced to herself, “I just need to figure out the politics behind the plot better.” She turned to her alarm clock. 2:30am. Tomorrow then. She will start on the fix-it fanfiction tomorrow.
—
“Get up! Get up!”
Yang Qingqing groaned, turning over in bed. She winced. Why did it feel like she was sleeping on a giant hay stack?
“Yu Qianqian, get up! It’s been half a shichen since you were supposed to eat breakfast.”
Shichen? What kind of person still used antiquated language like that?
Yang Qingqing blearily opened her eyes and the scene in front of her was like a splash of cold water. A young girl, likely the age of 16, stood in front of her wearing historical drama garb.
“Who are you?” Yang Qingqing asked, looking around the room. She was in a communal room with four cots, each of them in a separate corner. All of them seemed to be hay stacks covered with patched silk blankets.
“You have to be joking! Yu Qianqian, this is not the time to joke, you are late!” The girl was scowling at her.
“Late for what?” Yang Qingqing asked again, “Where am I?”
The girl frowned at her, “Are you okay?”
Was Yang Qingqing okay? She didn’t know how to answer that question. Why was she in a costume drama? Did she wake up in another world? Maybe someone had done this to her as a practical joke?
“No... I just... drank too much last night and I just need you to answer some questions.” Yang Qingqing said, giving the girl a small smile. Hopefully if Yang Qingqing was nice she would get some answers.
“Drink?!” The girl’s voice seemed to get even shriller before she crouched down with a hush, “You stole alcohol from the kitchens?!”
“Ah...-”
“Yu Qianqian I know you have only been here for a few days but that is forbidden! You can’t steal from the kitchens! We are not allowed to have alcohol whenever we’d like!”
“Well...-”
“Yu Qianqian, since you’re new I will not mention anything, but that is treason!”
Yang Qingqing didn’t even know where to begin to defend herself.
“This,” The girl continued, her face starting to turn a ghastly white color, “is not simply the rice wine you buy at a local food stall for a few coins! The Sui family are nobility! They drink wine that costs a few taels!”
And as if Yang Qingqing was not already feeling terrible about the situation, the girl continued on, “And a few taels is worth more than your useless existence right now!”
“I-” Yang Qingqing couldn’t even get a word in.
“I’ll just pretend that this didn’t happen. Get dressed and meet me outside!” The girl left without another word, slamming the doors to the room behind her.
The day was going terribly and Yang Qingqing hadn’t even left her bed yet. Which, speaking of the bed, was quite the uncomfortable situation. Surely someone had a mattress around here, preferably something with springs? Not to mention that the pillow felt like it was hard as rock. It might be more useful as a weapon than a pillow.
The whole room had a mild smell of dust and dirt, with antique wood furniture neatly placed around the edges of the room. The middle had a small rug with a wooden table and four stools. Everything seemed to have been picked straight out of a thrift store clearance section.
Yang Qingqing looked at herself and gingerly picked at the light cotton robe she was dressed in. It looked like it had experienced better days and to top it off, it was slightly itchy.
“Are you getting dressed?” The girl hollered from outside the double doors.
“Mmm!” Yang Qingqing said back, standing up in a rush. Get dressed?! Get dressed in what?! She turned around to see a dilapidated dresser next to her bed. Made out of untreated and unfinished wood, it was already splintering at the edges.
Yang Qingqing opened the drawers, looking at each article of clothing. She had worn hanfu once at one of those historical photoshoots that girls liked to do. Still, one of the photoshoot attendants had helped her in the clothing.
After a few minutes of fumbling, she put on her shoes (which also required a minute of investigating on Yang Qingqing’s part) and stumbled out of the doors. The look the girl gave her was practically filled with disgust.
“Did you forget how to put on clothes too?” She asked, pushing Yang Qingqing back into the room and closing the doors. “Clearly you cannot drink any sort of strong alcohol. I don’t know what sort of diluted garbage alcohol you were drinking back home, but you better not drink ever again!”
Yang Qingqing studied as the girl shoved her top into her skirts and neatly wrapped a silk tie around her waist. Her hands unfolded the edges of Yang Qingqing’s pao before pursing her lips and turning around without another look.
Yang Qingqing, with no excuses to defend herself with, only obediently trailed after her, looking curiously around the courtyard. It was modeled like a classic historical courtyard and by the looks of it, the family was truly some form of upper class nobility. A beautiful pond was situated in the middle with glassy clear water and koi fish. The pathways were made out of wood, stained to a black color to thematically match the buildings.
They stepped into a building filled with six or seven ladies, each of them on a wooden stool and mending clothes. All of them were dressed in the same uniform, including Yang Qingqing herself.
“Sit.” The girl said, gesturing to the stool, “you need to fix some bedsheets today.”
“Here,” The girl handed Yang Qingqing a piece of bread. She took a hesitant bite into it. Hard as rock.
“Don’t be picky now,” The girl frowned at Yang Qingqing, “You were late to breakfast. You’re lucky I even got something for you.” Yang Qingqing politely schooled her expression into something more neutral and set the bread down.
“Don’t be so harsh on Yu Qianqian, Li Ming, she’s new.” Another girl piped up.
“Yu QianQian?” Yang Qingqing asked, “Who’s Yu Qianqian?”
Li Ming’s scowl was back, “I don’t know what’s wrong with her this morning. Did she hit her head last night?”
“She’s fine, stop berating her. Maybe you scared her too much.” The other girl chimed in again.
“I scared her too much?” Li Ming scoffed, “She’s lucky it’s me and not the consort.”
Since Yang Qingqing had already dug her grave in this situation, she decided to ask, “The consort?”
Exasperated, Li Ming nodded, “Yes! The Sui family consort!”
“Sui... family... consort?” Yang Qingqing hollowly repeated, “I’m... Yu Qianqian?” Yang Qingqing was trying to keep it together.
Li Ming turned to the other girls, “She has gone insane.”
Yang Qingqing nodded. Maybe she had gone insane. All these girls thought she was Yu Qianqian and that she was currently stuck somewhere on the Sui family estate. Surely this was one giant joke. Maybe this was a heavenly retribution for thinking that Pursuit of Jade was not a good show.
Which, speaking of Pursuit of Jade...
“Am I in Pursuit of Jade?!” Yang Qingqing — or, Yu Qianqian asked.
Li Ming laughed, “Pursuit of jade? Pursuing what jade? The only jade you will ever get is if you catch the attention of Sui gongzi or Sui er gongzi! You better start by sewing!”
Yang Qingqing was starting to feel faint. Sui gongzi... you mean the obsessed freak that was raping and killing people for Yu Qianqian?! She was stuck in the Sui compound with that mentally ill Pursuit of Jade main villain? And Yang Qingqing had....
She couldn’t even bear to think of the word. She, Yang Qingqing had.... Transmigrated into Pursuit of Jade?! To play the role of Yu Qianqian!? On top of it all, transmigration was fake! They only happened in story books and never in real life! And even if they did happen in real life, all those books had some sort of ... system or something. Some sort of secret hint to keep you alive in the plot. So far, this story has let Yang Qingqing blurt out whatever she wanted to. At this rate, she might destroy the original plot of Pursuit of Jade by inciting Sui Yuanhai to behead her before Yu Qianqian’s critical plot point!
Unable to form a response, Yu Qianqian just stared at the floor.
“Aiya,” The other girl said, “I know you’re tired but at least start on the work.” Yu Qianqian nodded and picked up the blue bedsheet from the bucket in front of her. Laid out neatly on the table next to her was a sewing needle and a few strands of thread.
Yang Qingqing willed herself to remember the plot of Pursuit of Jade. She didn’t know what part of the plot she spawned in, she didn’t know what her current status was either. All she knew was that she somehow landed in the Sui family estate and was stuck doing some form of menial chores. And by the look of her living quarters or her dress, she did not hold a respected position.
What was the plot of the drama? Damn those producers! They had shoved so much plot in the last few episodes that Yang Qingqing could barely follow. She knew that Yu Qianqian was some form of concubine to Sui Yuanhai and gave birth to a child at some point. She saved Sui Yuanhai from drowning in the pond and gave him CPR. Something happened that led to that scene where Sui Yuanhai was chucking a jade pendant at her. And then...Yang Qingqing wracked her brain. Yu Qianqian ran away and started that pavilion?
But really, leave it up to Yang Qingqing to have the worst luck in the world. She really was not favored by the heavens! Every other fictional book outlined stories about transmigrating into the villain and then wooing the handsome main lead. Instead, she gets transmigrated into the sexual assault victim of a psychopath!!! Sui Yuanhai, although handsome, was doomed to die!! There would be no happy ending for her whatsoever!!
“Hey! Do you even know how to sew?”
Yu Qianqian blinked, “What?”
Li Ming tsk’d, grabbing the bed sheet out from Yu Qianqian’s grasp, “Your mending skills are so poor, did your mother even teach you how to sew?”
Yang Qingqing bit her tongue from responding that, in fact, her mother did not teach her how to sew.
Li Ming picked up a tunic that she was fixing up and showed it to Yu Qianqian, “Look at the stitching. It’s supposed to be even and uniform.” Once Li Ming put her work and Yu Qianqian’s work side by side, the difference was almost humiliating. Li Ming’s work was like a sewing machine had put it together. Yu Qianqian’s looked like a five year old had done it.
“They really need to make the concubine test stricter.” Li Ming sighed, “These girls are coming in not even knowing how to sew!”
“Li Ming,” The other girl piped up again, “Yu Qianqian obviously got accepted due to her pretty face. Don’t be too jealous.”
“I’m not jealous at all,” Li Ming responded, “I’m not ugly either. It’s not like ugly girls get accepted to be concubines. They become maids!”
Yu Qianqian almost fell off her stool, “Con-concubine?!”
“What now?” Li Ming asked, “Don’t be shocked by that too.”
“I’m a concubine?” Yu Qianqian repeated.
“Maybe something really is wrong...” The other girl said.
“Of course. You’re a Sui family concubine.” Li Ming continued, now unphased by Yu Qianqian’s nonsensical questions. “We might as well be maids because we don’t carry any rank. But we could all be chosen.”
“Don’t tell me I’m a concubine for Sui Yuanhai.” Yu Qianqian blinked at the girls in horror.
“Show respect,” Li Ming scowled, “It’s Sui gongzi.” Yu Qianqian would sooner curse Sui Yuanhai in his face than to call him a title.
“I’m a concubine for—?” Yu Qianqian couldn’t even bring herself to say Sui Yuanhai’s title.
“Pei! You wish. Sui gongzi needs to pick you for that to happen. You’ve only been here for a few days so keep dreaming. You won’t be getting your jade anytime soon. There’s 100 concubines lining up for Sui gongzi’s attention.” Li Ming said. She didn’t even look up from the tunic she was working on.
Yu Qianqian didn’t know whether she should feel soothed or horrified by the numbers, “100 concubines?!”
“Don’t be surprised Yu Qianqian, the emperor has 5,000!” One of the other girls piped up. “You have better chances to be chosen by someone in the Sui household than becoming a part of the emperor’s harem!” Although the words were spoken to be soothing, they did not soothe Yu Qianqian’s heart at all.
Well, with 100 concubines it certainly made Yu Qianqian’s job easier. What were the chances that Sui Yuanhai picked her out of 100 other women? If she slipped up, Sui Yuanhai might kill her! Rape her! Which was canonically going to happen in the script anyways!
“How.. um...” Yu Qianqian tried to word her question delicately, “How does one get picked?”
“I’m not telling you anything.” Li Ming said. Yu Qianqian quietly bristled inside. If Li Ming wanted Sui Yuanhai to herself, Yu Qianqian certainly wasn’t going to stand in the way!
“Oh come on Li Ming, be nice to the new concubines.” The other girl piped up.
“Then you tell her, Zhang Tai,” Li Ming said, “I’m focusing on my work.”
“Fine,” Zhang Tai responded, “The girls will take strolls and work that will get them in contact with Sui gongzi or Sui er gongzi. Hopefully over time the familiarity on our faces will gain favor. Maybe one night when they think about who to pick, they will ask for us.”
“And.. what are the... favored tasks?” Yu Qianqian asked.
“Serving tea or bringing items to the main pavilion. Serving them food or drinks in their private residences.” Zhang Tai responded, “Usually us beginner and lowly concubines do not have first choice for those tasks.” Yu Qianqian nodded, vowing to keep it that way.
“But!” Zhang Tai became chipper, “Since it seems like you want Sui gongzi, it should be easier!”
“Oh.” Yu Qianqian politely smiled, “Why is that?”
“Be careful of what you say,” Li Ming practically growled, “Lies and gossip could be treason.”
Zhang Tai slightly rolled her eyes, but nevertheless leaned closer to Yu Qianqian so that only she could hear, “Sui gongzi is famously harsh and cold. He wears a mask all the time and rumours say that it to hide his disfigured face. The concubines find him scary.”
“Once,” Zhang Tai continued, “I heard that he made a concubine bleed and cry while performing sexual acts with her. He also frequently calls for the death of multiple maids in the household.”
“I would...” Zhang Tai paused, “endeavor to avoid him if you’d like to keep your head.”
“Zhang Tai!” Li Ming’s voice was sharp.
Yu Qianqian gave Zhang Tai a tight smile in brief thanks. It wasn’t any new information to her regardless. She wasn’t planning on jumping into Sui Yuanhai’s view at any point of her transmigration journey.
Zhang Tai, reprimanded by Li Ming, sank back into her stool and focused back onto her own project. Yu Qianqian was doomed to get violated by Sui Yuanhai and no one around her was even allowed to say a single bad word about him. How was she even supposed to get out of this situation?
Maybe... Yu Qianqian looked at the needle in her hand. Maybe she should kill herself. Doesn’t that work? She closed her eyes and tried to imagine the best way to do so. Drown in the pond? Stick the needle into her own jugular? Flatten her body on the road so that a stray horse could trample her? Yu Qianqian tried to imagine floating in the cold water, the rays of sunlight disappearing from her vision like the way the TV dramas would depict. She shuddered. No. Maybe not drowning. Maybe she needs to.... Get hit by an arrow through the chest.
...
Maybe not that one either. Yu Qianqian pinched herself. She felt real. Her pain was real. Even though she clearly could tell that this was a transmigrated body, the concept of facing death was enough to shake her to her bones.
Zhang Tai’s warm hand was on her wrists, “Sometimes new concubines take a few days to realize that they have a new life. Your life will surely be improved here. You will never have to worry about food or clothing.”
Yu Qianqian gave Zhang Tai a wobbly smile. If only Zhai Tai was correct. She was now stuck living in communal quarters eating hard bread for however long this transmigration plot will take. Not to mention that these people don’t understand what a comfortable bed feels like, much less a couch and TV. They likely didn’t understand what it meant to have a microwave or a rice cooker!
Zhang Tai gave Yu Qianqian a gentle pat, “You’ll get used to it here.” Yu Qianqian could only grimace.