chapter 2: a sudden realizion

Tik tik~

Spring rain poured down heavily, striking the bamboo rooftops.

The streets were empty, there was no sign of life in sight as the heavy rain continued to fall. In the lifeless streets the only sound that filled the air was the constant rhythm of the raindrops.

Tap~tap~tap~

However, soon the steady sound of the rain was suddenly interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

Two figures were running through the streets, heading in a specific direction.

Leading the way was an elderly woman, moving at a surprisingly fast pace.

Behind her, was a boy of around fifteen years old, following her. The young man had an average appearance and worn out clothes.

But the strange thing was that the boy wasn't exactly willingly following the old lady, but he was being pulled along by the her.

The reason that the young man was following the old woman, wasn't of his own will but because the old lady has grabbed his hand and dragged him along with her.

Though It wasn't that the boy couldn't pull his hand free—after all he was a young and strong man, while she was just an elderly woman.

But he still hesitated to do so, afraid of accidentally hurting the old lady, especially given the speed they were running with. Besides, the boy wasn't familiar with this ″village″ place, and hurting the old lady might lead to consequences that he wasn't ready to face.

After running for a while, the old woman began to slow down, eventually coming to a halt.

Seeing this, the young man stopped as well.

He exhaled deeply, catching his breath and still in disbelief that an elderly woman like her could actually run so fast and be fine afterward. After steadying himself, he lifted his head to see where this old lady had brought him to.

Before him stood a bamboo building, pretty much like the other ones in the village, though larger than all those that the boy has seen until now.

But the main difference between this bamboo house and the others he'd seen was that this one had a courtyard—something none of the other buildings seemed to have.

The old lady tugged his hand again, pulling him toward the bamboo house.

After a moment's of hesitation, the young man decided to follow after the old lady. He figured this might be his best chance of understanding what was going on here.

The courtyard of the bamboo house was simple and old-fashioned. Stone tiles paved the ground, and stone walls enclosed the space. In the middle of the courtyard was a pond, at this moment, because of the intense rain, it was overflowing with water, causing the fishes within it to swim chaotically. To them, this rainstorm was nothing short of a disaster—a true heavenly calamity.

After walking through the courtyard, the old woman opened the door to the house and entered, at the same time pulling the young man along with her.

Once they were inside, the young man immediately began to take in his surroundings. The house was simple, almost bare, with wooden-bamboo walls and very few decorations.

"Young master, please wait here. This servant of yours will fetch some towels for you," The old lady said as she let go of his hand. She bowed slightly and then disappeared into another room to get the towels she mentioned.

"...WHAT IS GOING ON HERE??? Young master ? Servant ? What kind of misunderstanding exactly this is ?" The young man stood there, his mind racing in confusion. He tried to piece together the strange situation, still unsure of how he had ended up in this place or why he was being treated like someone important.

Before he could make sense of it all, the old lady returned, carrying several towels. She handed them to him with care.

"Young master, after you've dried yourself, please come to the main hall. The old master and lady are waiting for you there," she said, before disappearing again, presumably toward the ″main hall″.

"Hmmm, this is weird, really weird... Maybe this old lady mistook me for this ″young master″ guy that have a similar face to me ?" he muttered to himself, and then shook his head. "Anyway, Maybe this ″old master″ can help me. Since the old lady called him that, he must be someone important. I wish they have at least a phone I can use to call my friends… or maybe even give me a ride to home." He began drying himself with the towels, trying to think about what he must do next.

Once he was dry, he set off in the direction the old lady had gone, assuming it was the way to the main hall.

As he arrived, he was greeted by a more decorated space than the rest of the house. A fireplace was set into the right side of the room, connecting to the roof, likely the only source of heat in the house. Seeing this, the young man's optimism and hope plummeted down by ninety percent. After seeing such a old house he doubted that these people even had a phone, let alone a car.

His gaze shifted to the center of the large hall.

There, in the middle of the room, stood a large table, and around it were several people. They were standing silently, like servants, and among them was the old lady who had brought him here. She stood quietly like the others, blending into the background.

His gaze then shifted to the head of the table, where two people were seated. On the left sat a middle-aged woman who, though wasn't particularly attractive or beautiful, but was well-dressed and appeared to take good care of her appearance.

And on the right was a middle-aged man, equally well-dressed, though unlike the lady beside him, he had a powerful and intimating aura surrounding him.

The man was staring at the boy, a frown creasing his face.

"Do you want to explain exactly what you were doing ?" After a few moments of tense silence, Gu Yue Dong Tu finally spoke, his voice tinged with barely concealed anger.

"Haha, I think this is just a misunderstanding–" The boy quickly began to speak, attempting to clear up the situation and explain himself.

But before he could finish his sentence, a loud sound rang out.

Bang!

"Hahaha! Fang Zheng, you little rascal! You dare to laugh and call this a misunderstanding ? How bold of you! Do you really think we don't know that you've been sneaking off to taverns to drink until you were drunk and caused many trouble because of this behind our backs ?" This time, it wasn't the man, Gu Yue Dong Tu speaking, but it was his wife beside him. She slammed her hand down on the table and began shouting at the boy furiously.

before she could continue, however, her husband raised his hand, signaling her to stop.

"Sigh, little Fang Zheng... I hope you don't hold a grudge because of this. Your aunt and I are just worried about you. Now go to your room and reflect on what you've done." At that, Gu Yue Dong Tu gave a signal to the servants to "help" Fang Zheng and guide him to his room.

...….

"What exactly happened ??" The boy, now addressed as ″Fang Zheng″, stood in what they called "his room", pondering what had just happened to him.

From the moment he entered the main hall until now, aside from his half-finished sentence, he hadn't been able to say or do anything. Everything had just… happened. And now here he was, standing alone in this room.

"Sigh, There must be some huge misunderstanding. They've mistaken me for someone else. This Fang Zheng... Wait, Fang Zheng !?" suddenly the boy began to think about these names, repeating the names in his mind: Fang Zheng, Gu Yue, Gu Yue Village... Why did these names sounded so familiar to him ?

At the same time, his head throbbed, the aftereffects of being drunk clouding his thoughts. He couldn't quite focus and couldn't recall why those names struck a chord with him.

But soon, his attention was drawn to an old bookshelf with a small collection of books.

He walked over to the shelf and examined the titles. One book, in particular, caught his eye. Its title was simple: <History of the Gu Yue Clan>

It wasn't an impressive or elaborate title, but it was exactly what he needed at this moment—something that could provide him with some information about this strange place, about this peculiar and old looking village.

He reached out and touched the book. Unlike the other books in the bookshelf, it wasn't covered in dust, suggesting that its previous owner had read it recently.

Sitting on what was supposed to be "his bed", he opened the book and began to read it.

As the young man read more, his expression gradually changed—first to curiosity, then confusion and many other. But after about 30 minutes, his face turned pale, his eyes wide with unsettling emotions. His gaze fixed on two words that sent a chill down his spine: ″Gu Master″

Now, the pieces began to fall into place.

Fang Zheng, Gu Yue Village, The strange bamboo buildings, now he could remember where he has heard those things.

It was either a terrible joke or a nightmare, but if it wasn't either of those two...Then the results would be that...this world wasn't the world he knew and live in anymore.

This world wasn't his world at all.