Ye Han had no way to repay the huge debt she owed, so she decided to jump off a building.
She hooked one leg over the railing and looked down. Damn, it’s high… if I fall, I’ll be smashed into a meat patty, won’t I? Better to live miserably than die… She pulled her leg back in again.
“Why am I so stupid? So easy to trust people, got cheated by a client and ended up owing the company so much money, and after all these years I haven’t improved at all! I’m such a failure!”
Just after she finished shouting, WeChat received a message saying her goddess was getting married, with the wedding set for three days later.
“Damn it”
Ye Han was so furious at seeing the message that she almost threw her phone off the building. She had thought she was about to move up from backup candidate to official girlfriend, only to end up back at square one. At this rate, she probably wouldn’t even get to be a backup candidate anymore.
“Why am I so miserable? I’ve just taken on a huge debt, and now even the person I like is getting married. What am I living for? I might as well die!”
Ye Han hooked one leg over the railing and looked down. Damn, it’s high… if I fall, I’ll be smashed into a meat patty, won’t I? Better to live miserably than die… She pulled her leg back in again.
“I think you should die too. What’s the point of a life like that?”
A cool voice sounded from behind her.
Ye Han turned and saw a woman with a slim figure and long legs, dressed all in black, wearing a hat and a mask, with a square, boxy bag slung across her body. The only thing Ye Han could see was those beautiful eyes blinking once after another.
“Who are you?”
Seeing that she was dressed like some kind of agent, Ye Han said, “What, trying to be City Hunter?”
The phone rang again. Looking at the caller ID, it said: Mom.
The voice on the other end was a little cautious. “Ye Zi, Mom only had no choice but to call you. Your dad’s sick again, and to treat him we’ve nearly spent all our retirement money. If it’s convenient for you…”
Before she could finish, Ye Han cut her off. “Mom, how many times have I told you? If the family runs into trouble again, just tell me directly. I have money, don’t keep dragging it out. Dad’s illness is what matters. I’ll transfer it to you right now.”
Ye Han hung up and immediately transferred fifty thousand yuan to her mother. That was almost all her savings for the past half year. She had scraped it together by living frugally and saving wherever she could.
After transferring the money, Ye Han realized the woman still hadn’t left, and was staring at her the whole time.
“Who exactly are you? You’re not from our company, are you? How did you get up here? And why are you dressed like that? Did you suddenly appear in front of me because you have ulterior motives?”
The woman gave a soft laugh. “You have so many questions, but none of that matters. What matters is that I can help you…”
Ye Han always felt that this person was just endlessly trying to act cool, and she said dismissively, “You make it sound so real… help me, huh…”
Her phone rang again. Ye Han was a little irritated, but when she looked at the screen, her jaw almost dropped.
“Your account has received 500000 yuan”
The woman behind her shook her phone at Ye Han.
“H-h-how… how did you know my account?”
The woman ignored her, walked up to her, took her right hand, and put the silver ring from her own index finger onto Ye Han’s hand.
Ye Han was even more confused by the gesture and pulled her hand back. “What are you trying to do? I don’t accept your feelings. I already like someone.”
She tried to take off the ring on her index finger, but no matter what she did, it wouldn’t come off. She struggled for quite a while, but it was useless.
The woman shook her head at her. “Don’t waste your effort. This isn’t an ordinary ring. It can’t be taken off, unless you…”
Ye Han glared at her. “Are you trying to tell me I have to cut off my finger?”
“It doesn’t have to be that bloody.”
The woman took her right hand again. Her tone was no longer as cold as when she first arrived, and instead carried a hint of pleading. “Do me a favor. Go back to Dongli Kingdom from hundreds of years ago and bring someone back for me. She’s my friend, and I have to make sure she comes back. Only you can help me with this.”
Wasn’t this pure fantasy? Were they acting out lines here or something? Anyone who didn’t know better would think she had just walked out of a mental hospital.
Ye Han’s mouth twitched. “Are you sick? You want to play time travel with me? And if it’s time travel, why don’t you go yourself? Why does it have to be me?”
The woman looked somewhat helpless. “I know you don’t believe me. I went once, but I can’t go a second time. Forcing my way there would only get me killed there, unable to do anything. As for why it’s you, the system chose randomly. It picked you, so I came to find you.”
Ye Han muttered under her breath, “You make it sound so real.”
The woman patiently said, “As long as you go, I’ll give you another 500000 yuan. I know you need money. Your father’s illness can only be managed by the hospital, and your parents are already retired, so their pension is just a drop in the bucket. You just took on a huge debt too. All of these places need money. The money I give you can solve all your problems.”
Ye Han thought about it for a while. What she said made sense too. One million yuan, how many orders would she have to fight for to earn that much? But asking her to travel through time? That was too ridiculous.
“I… I’ll think about it…”
The woman’s eyes curved, as if she were smiling, and she answered, “Good.”
Ye Han asked again, “But if I go, how do I go?”
The woman replied, “Three days from now, when the moon is full, the ring will send out a signal. By then, you’ll naturally know.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she left.
Watching her back, Ye Han grew even more curious. She didn’t have an employee pass, so how exactly had she gotten up here?
As soon as the woman walked downstairs, she quickly changed her clothes. Her top instantly became a white shirt, and she took off her hat and mask to reveal a pretty face. She then draped her suit jacket over the black bag to hide it, naturally took out her ID from her pocket and hung it around her neck, then walked calmly through the company. She even drew repeated glances from several men.
Three days later… it was exactly the goddess’s wedding day. Ye Han was startled. What a coincidence.
On the goddess’s wedding day, Ye Han arrived a little late because of traffic, and just happened to see the bride and groom exchanging rings and kissing.
At that moment, it felt as if she could hear the sound of her heart shattering. Ye Han wiped the tears from her eyes and said in anguish, “My seven years of youth… in the end, it was all wasted on the wrong person!”
That night, Ye Han sat alone in a corner drinking from a bottle of liquor. The hotel was huge, and she searched for a long time before finding such a quiet corner. Her face was flushed red, and in her drunken haze it seemed as though the goddess, wearing a wedding dress, was walking toward her, smiling as she said, “Actually, today is your wedding to me”
Ye Han was grinning foolishly when her body was suddenly tugged by some inexplicable force, and she was dragged straight out of the hotel. Looking down, she saw that the ring on her index finger was flashing continuously.
So what the woman said was true… she really was going to travel through time? But she still hadn’t made up her mind…
The ring kept flashing nonstop until Ye Han was pulled by that force to the side of a huge swimming pool, where it slowly stopped.
At the Time Research Institute in Y City, a man wearing glasses asked the woman beside him, “Professor Ji, should we activate the time travel button?”
“Activate it.”
Ye Han’s whole body moved against her will and jumped into the pool. She gradually felt the suffocating misery of drowning, and used all her strength to try to swim up, but there was nothing she could do. Her body kept sinking.
Ye Han was awakened by a bucket of water being splashed over her.
She blinked and saw several people who looked like the eunuchs and palace maids from a period drama surrounding her. The one in front pinched her face. “Hey, hey, Xiao Yezi, wake up. If the Chief Steward finds out you drank, he’ll definitely beat your ass.”
Chief Steward… ass…
As soon as Ye Han heard those words, she woke up instantly. Grabbing the lead eunuch by the clothes, she asked, “Where is this? When did I get here?”
The young eunuch shook off her hand. “You stole alcohol to drink and got drunk stupid, huh? Hurry up and get to work.”
The eunuchs and palace maids watching from the side slowly dispersed when they saw her wake up. Ye Han rubbed her head, stood up, and saw a bucket of water nearby. She hurried over to look at herself. Her face hadn’t changed, still as bright and lovely as ever, but… why was she wearing eunuch clothes?
Could that mysterious person have been telling the truth? She had inexplicably put a ring on her and given her a large reward, all just to bring back a woman who didn’t want to return to the modern world.
But even so, she shouldn’t have become a eunuch… Ye Han pulled open her collar to check. Her chest was still there, just bound up. Luckily, she still had a female body. She let out a breath of relief, truly afraid she might have become neither man nor woman.
“Xiao Yezi, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and scrub the chamber pots. You’re so slow and draggy.” The eunuch chief, with his dainty, flower-like fingers held high, kicked Ye Han on the butt.
“Scrub… what!”
Ye Han rubbed her butt and followed the direction the chief pointed. Piled up like a mountain were wooden chamber pots, with a few flies buzzing over them from time to time. What kind of world was this? Not only had she become a eunuch, she also had to come scrub chamber pots for other people.
She endured the urge to vomit and scrubbed until midnight, when the ring on her index finger suddenly flashed on and off, as if it had received some kind of signal.
“Time traveler: Ye Han. Travel destination: Dongli Kingdom. Mission: Bring back Dr. Bai.” A mechanical voice sounded in her ear. Ye Han turned back, but besides the faint moonlight in the sky, there was no one there.
“If you’re going to send me through time, why the hell turn me into a eunuch?” Ye Han threw down the wooden brush in her hand and frowned in extreme displeasure.
“System bug”
Holy shit!
Ye Han nearly choked. If it weren’t for paying off her debts sooner, she never would have accepted that one million yuan and come here to suffer. And where the hell was that damn Dr. Bai!