In the dim morning light, the woods in the distance and the grass nearby are shrouded in a layer of light white mist. The hazy light golden sunlight penetrates the white mist and sprinkles on the treetops, and the steaming mist disperses and swirls in the light.
Walking on the path full of wild flowers, all you can smell is the fresh and moist scent of grass and dew. Mei Li is carrying a basket, her long red skirt brushing against the grass beside the road, which is wet by the dew, leaving traces.
A gray-white brick building with a pointed roof stood at the edge of the forest in the morning mist. Mei Li walked along the path to the house, opened the gate, passed by the courtyard planted with broom and rhododendrons, stepped on the green moss, and walked to the door on the side of the house. The green vines on the wall over there looked like a giant tapestry.
Mei Li walked into the kitchen by the side door, raised her hand to take off her shawl that was wet with dew, and saw a black cat lazily walking in from the door and jumping onto the cabinet next to her. She put down the basket and said with a smile: "Fei Cui, I'm back. Look, I bought you a little fish."
As he spoke, he took out two small fish with green and fine patterns on their bellies from the basket. There weren't many kinds of food here, and bluefin trout was the most common type of fish. It was the only type of fish sold at the small market just now.
The black cat on the cupboard looked at the two small fishes and yawned. It was not as excited as other cats when seeing fishes, but seemed particularly reserved.
Mei Li raised her hand to touch it, but it turned its head and her hand was empty. Mei Li was used to it, so she put down her hand and went to do other things. It had been almost a week since she woke up from the body of this girl named Mei Li. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was this black cat, whose eyes were like green jade, so she called it Jade, after all, she didn't know what the cat was called before. She couldn't accept the memory of the original owner of this body, and she had to figure everything out by herself.
The cat at home is relatively easy to deal with. It is just a pet and cannot tell that a new soul has been replaced in its little owner's body. What really troubles Mei Li is the mother of this body.
She quickly prepared breakfast and carried it on a tray up to the second floor. The wooden stairs creaked and groaned. Mei Li held the tray in one hand and her overly long skirt in the other, walking steadily until she reached Mrs. Peg's bedroom door, then she slowed down and knocked on the door twice.
Mrs. Peg was in poor health and was bedridden. The curtains in the room were tightly drawn, and the room felt stuffy and damp, with an odor that came from someone unknown.
Mei Li placed breakfast in front of the window and quickly opened the curtains to let the morning sun in.
The woman, who was lying deep in bed with a haggard face and sunken cheeks, coughed twice and said hoarsely, "Pull the curtains."
"Humans are like plants. They need some sunlight." Mei Li didn't listen to her. He hung the curtains in his hands, pulled a chair over and sat in front of the bed. He cleaned her face and combed her hair.
Mrs. Peg has bright red hair and emerald green eyes. Even though she is now thin and out of shape due to illness, she still looks beautiful. As her daughter, Mary probably looks more like her father. She is only pretty, with amber eyes and brown hair. She has not inherited her mother's characteristics at all.
Mrs. Peg looked indifferent, just like her attitude towards her. This had been the same since Mei Li first met Mrs. Peg.
Logically speaking, she and her daughter Mary live here together and should be very close, but Mary discovered these days that Mrs. Peg doesn't care about her daughter at all. She didn't even ask her why she has changed so much in the past few days - she has become a different person inside, and her personality and behavior must be different from the previous Mary, but Mrs. Peg doesn't care and hasn't even asked.
She just stays in her room every day, and no one can figure out what she is thinking.
Someone else might find it strange and troublesome, but Mei Li didn't feel anything. She was very familiar with this state, and it was most likely depression. Isn't it a coincidence that her mother, who depended on her for life in her previous life, also suffered from depression and eventually died of the disease, which was quite similar to Mrs. Peg's condition.
Mei Li only touched a small amount of the food that was served. She took the rest of the food downstairs and made some food for herself.
Although she tried her best to cook food that suited the local tastes and followed the habits of the former Meli, she had no reference and could only cook it casually. Moreover, she preferred fried, stir-fried foods with stronger flavors to bread, milk and various cream stews. In order not to mistreat her stomach, she cooked dishes that suited her appetite.
There was also some for the pet black cat at home. However, today the black cat still did not eat the food she gave it, and lazily ran out for a walk.
Looking at the two untouched fish, Mei Li was puzzled. It was fine if Feicui didn't eat the fish before, but why didn't she eat the fish today? Didn't she eat at home before and go out for a snack? She doesn't add burden to the family and feeds herself. What a sensible cat.
After dinner, she cleaned up the house, moved a chair outside to bask in the sun, and slowly washed her clothes.
The days here were too leisurely compared to her previous busy study career. She was still in shock from the time travel and didn't know much about this world. She didn't know what to do for a moment.
How did he become another person
Mei Li hung up the clothes, looked at her unfamiliar hands, leaned back and lay down in the green grass, covering her eyes with the back of her hands.
When she was four years old, her father was murdered at home. Her mother was traumatized because she witnessed the murder scene. Later, she learned that her loving husband had actually raped many underage girls in private. She found it increasingly difficult to accept and suffered from severe depression.
In her impression, her mother was always boring, as if she was barely alive for her. It was difficult for her to feel happy. She often hid in her room and cried hysterically for no reason. In the later period, her illness became serious and she lived in the hospital. When she was twelve years old, her mother died, and she became an orphan. Her relatives were unwilling to adopt her. Fortunately, she was lucky enough to meet a kind sponsor.
She didn't know the full name of her sponsor, only that her surname was Qin. When they occasionally exchanged letters, she always addressed her as Mrs. Qin. Mrs. Qin sponsored her schooling, gave her gifts on holidays and birthdays, and wrote to her every month to encourage her or share her life. To Mei Li, Mrs. Qin was her parent in another sense.
It's a pity that she came here before she graduated from college, couldn't make money to repay Mrs. Qin, and didn't have the time to meet her.
In her world, people are used to convenient and fast communication, and few people write letters, but Mei Li and Mrs. Qin have been corresponding for several years, and it has become a habit now.
When Mei Li first arrived in this strange world, she felt very uneasy and relied on writing letters to calm herself down. Writing Chinese characters with a feather pen dipped in ink was a bit of a bad experience. Before going to bed at night, she sat by the window and wrote letters by the light of an oil lamp.
The sky outside the window was dark blue with thick clouds piled up in the sky. The outlines of the woods were pitch black and the wild grass in the distant wilderness was rustling in the strong wind.
Mei Li wrote on the paper with a feather pen with great effort:
"Madam, today is my eighth day in this world. I went to the town I visited two days ago and bought some things in the market. I roughly figured out the currency situation here. On the way back, I met a girl who knew Mary. She said that I was a little different from before. Fortunately, although I don't have Mary's memory, I can understand and speak the language here. I used illness to perfunctorily get away with it, otherwise the situation would be too bad. In the afternoon, I conducted another round of exploration in this house, but I didn't find any useful information. Mary seemed to be a taciturn girl in the past..."
Although the letter was not long, it took a long time to write. The completed letter could not be sent to another world, but could only be locked in a drawer with the previous letters.
In this way, she slowly adapted to her current identity and life.
She put away the paper and pen on the table, took the lamp and washed her hands, combed her hair and prepared to go to bed. Suddenly, she heard the door of the next room open, it seemed that Mrs. Peg went out. The footsteps continued downstairs, and then the door downstairs also opened.
Mei Li sat up from the bed, walked to the window, leaned on the table and looked downstairs. A slender figure walked through the garden, out of the yard and headed towards the wilderness.
Mrs. Peg? Mei Li felt something was wrong, so she relit the light and ran out with it.
Passing Mrs. Peg's room, her door was wide open and there was no one on the bed. Mei Li stepped on several steps at a time, went downstairs quickly, and rushed out of the yard.
"Mrs. Peg!" She stood on the hillside and shouted at the white figure in the distance, but she didn't know if she heard him or not, because he had no intention of stopping. Mei Li had no choice but to chase after him with the lantern in hand.
The night wind was very cold. She didn't have time to put on her shawl, and the cool breeze penetrated through her loose white nightgown. Her long brown hair spread out and danced wildly in the wind. As she ran, the lantern in her hand kept shaking, making a creaking sound. The shaking dim light was like a firefly, barely illuminating the small area in front of her.
The grass on the roadside kept scratching her nightgown and bare calves, causing some stinging. She ran and shouted, but Mrs. Peg in front of her turned a deaf ear to her and moved further and further away from her.
Where is she going
It was pitch black, and the road was not clear. Mei Li had a hard time following behind, and slowly strayed from the familiar road. After an unknown amount of time, she suddenly missed a step and stepped into a shallow puddle, her feet sinking into the mud.
She pulled one of her legs out and took a few steps back. When she looked up again, Mrs. Peg's white shadow had disappeared and the surrounding scenery was completely unfamiliar.
She stood there holding the lantern, folding her arms and looking around. Long grass stems swayed around her, and the moon in the sky peeked out from the clouds. Mei Li suddenly found herself standing in the wilderness, with the way back hidden in the grass. She didn't know how to get back.
She moved her muddy feet, grabbed a handful of her messy hair, and continued walking forward.
Could Mrs. Peg be going to commit suicide? When her mother was at her most depressed, she also wanted to commit suicide several times. When she saw this, she hugged her and cried bitterly.
Although she couldn't regard Mrs. Peg as her mother, she couldn't just watch the mother in this body disappear and die somewhere in the wilderness.
Mei Li walked with one foot deep and one foot shallow. The lantern had gone out because it was shaking too much, but she could barely see the road ahead with the help of the moonlight. As she walked, she felt the soil under her feet getting softer and softer, and the grass became sparser. With every step she took, her feet sank, and it had already submerged her calves.
Should we continue going forward? Is there a swamp ahead
As she was hesitating, she suddenly saw a figure not far away. Half of the figure was stuck in the mud, bent over, and his head was almost stuck in the mud.
"Mrs. Peg?!" Mei Li, holding on to a branch she had picked up on the road, moved with difficulty to the side of the figure, and pulled his arm, trying to pull him out of the mud.
However, when she grabbed the man's arm, she suddenly found something wrong. The arm in her hand was cold and slippery, with a thin layer of muscle. It did not belong to Mrs. Peg's thin female arm.
Mei Li paused, and before he could let go, the head buried in the mud slowly rose up.