1 A Yabsolute Man-God

Ruoyin had a look of awe when she opened her eyes and saw the mahogany carved moire bed and the colorful checkered ceiling.

Questions were swimming in her head. Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing here?

"You're finally awake, Fujin1!" A middle-aged lady came to her side of the bed and passed instructions to the servants inside the room. "Quick, go and report to Lord Fourth. Tell him that the Fujin has woken up, and to summon the resident physician at the same time."

The woman turned toward the direction of the voice to see a middle-aged lady standing in front of her, with her hair combed high and held in place by a classic antique hairpin.

Oh, right. What else did she say? Lord Fourth…?

Just as she was mulling over the current state of affairs, her head was assaulted with a bout of excruciating pain.

Memories had run haywire in her brain.

At last, she knew—she had time-traveled to the Qing dynasty.

She was now the wife of Aisin Gioro Yinzhen—Ula Nara Hala Ruoyin.

Now, wait a minute… this did not sound right. Why did the ancient namesake look like her, and even share the same name as her?

In her memory, the wife of Lord Fourth was indeed from the house of Ula Nara Hala, but her name was not Ruoyin.

What?! Have I transmigrated to an alternate Qing dynasty?

OMG! Why did the heavens do this to me?!

My dream of sleeping through the whole world has not come to pass yet!

In her former life, Ruoyin was a hotel evaluator. By chance, she had sleep-tested one retro five-star hotel for a night, only to be transported to here.

She had not even submitted her evaluation yet!

"Fujin…? Why are you rolling about on the bed? Where are you feeling unwell, your stomach?" the middle-aged lady inquired anxiously.

By then, her head had ceased to hurt. She stopped her action, tilted her head, and looked at the older lady.

From what she could remember, this servant was a long-serving nanny in the Ula Nara Hala household. The lady servant went by the surname of Liu and had served the missy from a young age.

The protagonist sucked in a deep breath and replied, "No worries, I had a severe tummy ache just now. It might be due to hunger."

"Then let your maid here serve you some porridge that's easy to digest." Nanny Liu quickly scooped a bowl of bird's nest porridge from the semi-round, rosewood table inside the room, sat next to the bed, and started to feed her mistress with care.

By the time she finished the meal, they could hear the eunuch standing outside calling out, "Announcing the arrival of Lord Fourth!"

Perhaps due to too many barons within the imperial household, and to avoid confusion, the lord himself preferred to be addressed as Lord Fourth.

Soon after, the man entered. Following closely behind him was an elderly man with an all-white beard and a medical kit on his back.

The servants inside the room immediately knelt on the floor while the lady on the bed could hardly catch a good glimpse before she had to follow suit.

Luckily for her, the man reached her side in a few big strides. Holding her by her shoulders, he said, "Don't bother with ceremony, your body is still weak."

"Thank you, Master." She lay against the headrest and looked up to find a face with highly striking features, gazing at her.

His bushy eyebrows were slightly raised at the edge, with a pair of eyes peeping under that looked bright and alert.

The face had a sharp nose and thin lips that complimented his angular profile.

Though he was lanky, his frame was willowy rather than brawny. He was aloof, proud, and commanding.

The charisma he effused was deep and complex, leaving him unfathomable.

She was dumbstruck for a while. And then, trying to cover up her earlier misdemeanor, she pretended to cough and then shielded her mouth with her hand.

The Lord Fourth is indeed good-looking! What a yabsolute2 man-god!

Seeing her coughing, the man gave a fast glimpse at the senior behind him and instructed, "Resident Physician, quickly take a look at the Fujin."

After taking a seat on the round stool beside the bed, he played with the bulky jade thumb ring on his slender finger.

One could tell that this status piece was a rare item with its dark blue shade that still retained its pristine jade-green hue.

"Yes, sire." The physician brought out a white piece of silk to cover over the lady's wrist before taking her pulse.

At the same time, the woman caught a whiff of a strange aroma.

She had not paid attention earlier when she was still trying to catch up with her surreal encounter.

Now that she was smelling the air around her, she turned toward the lotus-shaped incense burner next to the bed only to discover that it contained poison!

She had not started out as a hotel evaluator in her former life. Back in university when she was taking a nursing course, her original intention was to be a nurse.

But as a lady who did not want to be bound and tied down, she yearned for freedom and desired wanderlust.

During her practicum, she lost sight of her original ambition and dreamed of sleep testing through the world instead.

But of all things, the heavens had to dispatch her to the Qing dynasty now.

And of all places, why does it have to be the Qing dynasty?!

Everyone knows that it was a tough life in that era with a total lack of freedom, right?

Cough cough. It's time to return to the crux of the problem. Since Lord Fourth is here, shouldn't I try to solve the issue now?

Within the imperial household of the Songs and the Lis, who else would want to harm me?

To expose the truth, the woman made a show of covering her nose and commented to the resident physician, who was taking her pulse with furrowed brows, "Doctor, the smell from the incense burner is revolting. I feel like throwing up."

"You need not worry, Lady. You're probably feeling nauseous because your body is weak from passing out for some time." As he spoke, he avoided eye contact with her.

His hand trembled as he held her wrist to take her pulse.

She could tell that this resident physician had a guilty conscience. This man was up to no good.

The aromatherapy contained unsafe ingredients, she was sure of that.

If someone like her, with limited expertise, could smell the danger, then why would it slip the attention of the resident physician engaged by the Lord himself?

If this is the game he wants to play, then don't blame me for being the devil's advocate here!

She started to have bouts of severe coughing. "This won't do. The smell is too repulsive, I'm about to suffocate. Nanny Liu, take the incense burner to the physician for a better look."

"Yes, understood." The nanny did not understand the real intention of her mistress, but nevertheless, she followed her order.

She picked up the lotus-shaped incense burner and placed it before the physician.

By then, the doctor's hands were shaking so badly that even Lord Fourth, who had been keeping quiet all this while, had noticed.

The doctor made a pretense of stirring the ashes and aromatic remnants inside the burner and even took a sniff.

In the end, he forced a smile and said, "Your Lord and Lady, I've humbly checked through and confirmed that this incense burner is safe."

"Oh, really? Then why can I smell musk and oleander too?" she commented nonchalantly. These two had to be handled with care! With that, she looked to Lord Fourth and said, "Master, I don't think this physician is dependable. Not only did he fail to heal me, but he almost put me into a death coma!"

"Nonsense, you aren't allowed to say the word 'death' ever again!" the man reprimanded severely.

She softly whispered an affirmative reply. Having just crossed over into another dimension, she hadn't had a chance to learn the rules of the times yet. It looked like the word "death" was taboo in the palace.

After giving her a glance from his periphery, he turned to look at the physician.

Before the man could open his mouth, the doctor had broken into a cold sweat as his eyes stared straight into his sharp and probing glare. Perspiration gathered on the elderly man's forehead as his body visibly stiffened there and then.

Without warning, the burner fell to the ground with a loud clang, and the senior dropped on his knees with a plod.