Chapter 2 - Incompetent Glee (1/2)

In a pavilion situated in a beautifully arranged garden with various beautiful flowers arranged in the Lei manor, a young girl stood dressed in simple white robes with her hair tied loosely behind her. She was facing the little pond, dropping some bits of a bun into the pond and absently watching the fish inside scrambling for the food. After the bun was finished and fish vanished from the surface of the pond, she sighed and looked at the clear blue sky.

....It's been about a week since I died and came here...I'm not even sure where ”here” is, it seems to be ancient China, as to where exactly I have no clue...I suck at history, my knowledge base is limited to dramas and novels and little bits and pieces I researched on when something from those piqued my interest...but I definitely didn't bother to retain the knowledge so....

...I apparently transmigrated into the body of the defense minister's 17-year-old daughter, that's not too bad I guess...at least I didn't end up in some beggar on the street, I wouldn't be able to fend for myself at all if that happened...There's a mother, a brother name Lei Yong, who I think is 22 who is a general in the army and a 14-year-old little sister called Lei XiaoTing, she is quite adorable and honestly a little annoying, she's a crybaby...I never had a little sister or a sister at all, can't say I wanted one but I guess it is a new experience...They seem to be a very loving family and I feel somewhat awkward with it all, I guess that's to be expected as I'm not great with overly familiar strangers...

..weirdly enough she also had the same name as me, well I guess the name isn't exactly unique, but what are the odds though...maybe this is some sort of an alternate reality or parallel world...no can't be, as she doesn't look like me, and the family members are different people as well so it's not...

...Other than the time when I woke up I didn't mention anything about my past life or give away anything that could hint I wasn't their daughter...there's no point of causing them misery and me trouble so I explained that I was muddled-headed when I woke up and so could not differentiate dream from reality and that it seems I hit my head so I have forgotten some things...they easily bought that explanation, and conveniently attributed any changes in behavior to the ”near-death” experience and memory loss, making my life easier...

...for most of the time, I silently observed the people around me to get an idea of the relationsh.i.p.s they had to me to get an idea of how I should respond so to them, I didn't try to mimic the former miss, not that I could anyway, never knew her, I just responded appropriately to them, I've always been especially good at conversing with people and have always known the right words to say to continue conversations when I was in the mood to anyway...for the most part, I always tend to keep to myself and was never one to seek the company or friendsh.i.p.s of others as I often get tired of dealing with people... and I'm bad at keeping up pretenses, more like I hate it actually...

”jiejie!” XiaoTing screamed as she tapped Lei Xing's shoulder.

”What are you screaming for? my ears are highly functional, you know.” Lei Xing said a bit irritated as she massaged her ear.

”I have been calling you for a while, but you weren't responding...I thought something was wrong...sorry, I didn't...” Lei Ting murmured under her breath apologetically with tears starting to gather in her eyes

”It's okay, it's okay. I'm still alive.” Hearing this XiaoTing immediately brightened up and smiled and hugged Lei Ting's arm.

...Don't you think you recovered too fast? She reminds me of my younger brother's deviousness when he was a child...I wonder how he is? do they know I'm dead? they probably will not find my body...the crew might notice my stuff when they reach my destination, there were about 2 months left...so they won't know for two months...

”Jiejie, so what do you think?”

”Huh? About what?”

”About becoming empress?”

”Why would I care about that?”

”You don't? But didn't you like the emperor? The emperor is handsome, brave, loyal and brilliant and there is no one better than him.” XiaoTing's eyes gleamed as she praised the emperor.

....haah, a classic idiot wanting to jump into troubled waters...

”It seems that you are the one who likes him...” Lei Xing said with a smirk, watching the array of emotions flick across XiaoTing's face was an entertaining sight. She went from starry-eyed to shock then embarrassment and finally an aggrieved expression with tears ready to spill.

...Tears again? -_-)...

”Jiejie, don't make fun of me, how can you and I share the same husband?” XiaoTing said with a pout.

”It's okay, the emperor is to be shared with many.” Lei Xing said with a delighted smile on her face. Teasing this younger sister was one of the only things she enjoyed lately.

”...even then...it's not right...I...I...I” XiaoTing confused, stuttered trying to think of what to say.

”It's okay, I'm just playing with you...You can have him, I'm not interested.”

”Ah? but you already on the selected list of candidates for concubines...Jiejie will definitely get selected, how can you say you are not interested?”

Lei Xing's eyes widened in shock.

....What? Since when? No, No...the palace is the worst place to be in ancient stories, I am not interested in dealing with scheming women or vying for some asshole's attention...I'M NOT GOING!!....

”What do you mean?!”

”Ah, jiejie you must have forgotten, the competition begins in a few days.”

”Competition?”

”Yes for the concubine selection.”

”I've never heard of it being a competition before...”

....I don't think I've seen that anywhere before...wasn't the main point of concubines political connections... if it's competition based how can they ensure the intended targets win...it's probably rigged anyway and is just a show...