Yun Yue and Chun Jian were slightly surprised when they felt that their Young Master was more amiable and friendlier as they bowed before exiting the room.
Sima You Yue sat eagerly awaiting in the room, her mind filled with a fantasy of all sorts of delicacies. However when Yun Yue brought the food in, her mind reeled. Afterwhich she blanked out momentarily as she went into a state of shock.
"This..This is the food you prepared for me?" She asked cautiously, as a trembling finger pointed to the food on the table with dishes that looked as though they had only been cooked and blanched in water.
Yesterday, she only had the simple meat porridge and did not really know what the food here was like. When she saw the plain dishes spread out before her, she was shocked to the core.
"Please forgive us!" Both maids quickly dropped their knees onto the round as they started knocking their heads onto the ground while begging for mercy.
"What are you doing?! I'm not blaming you, quickly get up!" Sima You Yue cried out when she saw the huge reaction of the two maids.
Only then did she see from the memory that the previous Sima You Yue was very strict and this has caused fear to be deeply etched into the hearts of these two maids and their reflex actions kicked in when they saw their Young Master's unhappy expression.
"Thank you, Young Master." Two girls got up from the ground, with fear still lingering in their hearts.
Sima You Yue no longer bothered about the two of them as her left hand clutched her stomach, while her right hand held up a pair of chopsticks as she tried to pick a dish that looked palatable as she scoured the food placed before her. However after ten minutes, she gave up as she helplessly put the pair of chopsticks back down as she called out: "Give me two fruits instead."
After eating the two fruits,Sima You Yue rolled on the bed and started to mutter grudgingly as she felt her empty stomach: "I still need proper food…"
"Tsk tsk…You have always been so picky about food, you're already in the divine ranks and can survive even without food." A gentle doting voice suddenly rang out in her mind, as if transcending time and space, a familiar memory flashed by.
"Whose voice is this? Is this another memory of this body's?" Sima You Yue thought to herself, however she could not shake of a nagging feeling that it was not, this body was that of a trash, how could it be divine ranked? Who did this voice belong to? And who was it talking to?
When dinner was still challenging to swallow, Sima You Yue could not take it any longer as she went into the kitchen herself and stirfried two simple dishes.
This was the first time since she has eaten so full since arriving in this new world.
As she drifted off to sleep at night, she had the same dream as the night before, with a shrill voice screaming out the same words: "Sima You Yue… DIE!!!"
She could recognize that this voice belonged to her past life.
"Ximen You Yue. Please die for me. Only when you are dead then I will be the one and only acclaimed genius in this whole world! Hahahahahahahaha"
Who was this? Why did she not have any impression at all?
"Go to hell!"
The two voices resounded in her mind, overlapping each other as the voices grew louder and louder as the cackling and screams echoed and she jolted awake from her nightmare. Her whole body was drenched with sweat as her clothes clung on to her. Her confused eyes darted around as a trace of sadness and loss was reflected in them.
"Why is it these two names again…?" She whispered.
This night, as the moon hung high in the sky, she could no longer sleep a wink. As long as she closed her eyes, the two names resounded in her mind.
Sima You Yue, Ximen You Yue.
She tried to scour through all her memories but there were only traces of Sima You Yue however it was a complete blank for Ximen You Yue. Whether it was the past life of her own or this body's there was not even a hint of such a name in either of them.
As she tossed throughout the night, when she looked into the mirror the very next morning, she found a pair of puffy eyes resembling a panda staring back at her. While waiting for breakfast with her Grandfather and Brothers, she chatted a bit and cheered them up.
"Third Brother, Fourth Brother, why haven't you guys gone to the Academy? Big Brother, Second Brother, don't you need to head out today?" Sima You Yue asked but before she could look at them properly, she got distracted as her eyes rested on the dishes on the table that the maids placed before her. They looked pretty much the same as yesterday's unpalatable breakfast. Her brows furrowed deeply as she grudgingly picked up her chopsticks and stared intently at the dishes before her.
"We were waiting for you, we had to make sure that you were alright first. We still have some time, it's still not too late to leave." Big Brother Sima You Qi replied.
"What happened to your eyes?" Second Brother Sima You Ming stared intently at her dark undereye circles.
"Two huge mosquitoes in my room made my whole night restless." She replied bitterly.
It was now summer, hence the appearance of mosquitoes were not a rare occurrence.
She picked and nibbled on breakfast and put her chopsticks down midway.
"Why have you stopped eating?" Sima Lie asked with deep concern.
"The food is horrible, and I have lost all my appetite." Sima You Yue replied very matter-of-factly.
"Haven't you been eating like this all these while?" Sima Lie asked in a befuddled tone as he looked at the breakfast before him and couldn't find any difference from what they usually had.
"Since You Yue doesn't want to eat anymore, clear the table." Sima Lie said aloud.
The maids scurried over and cleared the table up quickly. The other brothers did not voice out any opinions as they didn't really need to rely much on food anymore. The only reason they were eating together was to spend time with Sima You Yue.
"Well then, we'll head over to the Academy now." Sima You Ran stood up as he prepared to leave.
"We'll also head out now." Sima You Qi chimed in.
"Go on, go ahead." Sima Lie waved his hands casually and after all the brothers left, it was just the two of them alone. Sima Lie asked: "You Yue, what are your plans for today? What are you going to do?"
Her initial plan was to study more about this new world and she had wanted to go to the library to read and gather more information, however the quality of food here haunted her so much that she blurted out: "I want to go to the kitchen and have a look. At the same time, I want to teach the chefs a thing or two about cooking!"
"Teach… teach the chefs how to cook?!" Sima Lie choked out, as he stared at her with wide eyes as he stood stunned in place.
"Yes. Oh, weren't you invited by the Emperor to the palace to discuss some things? Don't worry, I won't go out, I'll be good and stay home the whole day." She reassured him. She knew her Grandfather was afraid that if she went out on her own, she might get bullied again. Now that she had given him her word, he should be more assured.
However, Sima Lie did not believe her entirely as she had done this countless times in the past, once he stepped out, she followed suit and went out on her own. But when he saw her head straight to the kitchen, he could only throw in more faith in her words and hope she would stay home as promised.
Sima You Yue stayed in the kitchen the whole day and when Sima Lie returned from the palace, she called out excitedly: "Grandfather, come quickly! Try out these new dishes they've prepared!" She grabbed a pair of chopsticks and picked up the closest dish and fed it straight into Sima Lie's mouth.
"Mmmmmm!" Sima Lie was surprised as he closed his eyes and slowly savoured the delicious food she just fed him. "What dish is this? How is it so delicious?!"
"This was what I've taught them today! How is it? Isn't it delicious?" She asked with a sparkle in her eyes.
"Hahaha, really much better than before!" Sima Lie beamed with pride.
"Of course, they spent the whole day practising to finally get to this point." She quipped. Although they failed to meet her requirements, this was still much better than what she had been eating the past few days.
She even dragged Chun Jian and You Yue into the kitchen when she felt that they had a bit of talent in this area. In fact, the dish that she had just fed Sima Lie was cooked by You Yue.
"Very good, let them prepare more delicious food for you next time. See, you can do it if you put your mind to it! In future, you can spend more time teaching them more dishes." He tried to encourage her as she rarely had other interests. She only knew how to chase handsome men or create trouble.
"I know, don't worry." She answered softly. Suddenly, she thought of something and she immediately put down her chopsticks and sat up straight before she looked at Sima Lie warmly.
"Grandfather, I would like to go to our Book Pavilion to have a look at some books." The Book Pavilion was what they called the library in her previous world. She really had to get used to the different terms they used in this new world.
"You want to read?!" Sima Lie shouted aloud and started coughing as he choked on the food afterwhich he stared at her with a bewildered expression. His huge reaction made the whole kitchen focus on their Young Master, their interest piqued as they craned their necks and threw curious glances over.
In fact, one couldn't really blame them for their reactions as the other name Sima You Yue carried with it was trash and having only attended the Academy for two days, other than recognizing a few words, a book had never been seen in this Young Master's delicate hands. Not to mention reading a whole book! A sudden mention of 'wanting to read a whole book' and 'going to the Book Pavilion' was shocking news indeed.
"Cough, cough." Sima Lie readjusted his mood and returned to his usual calm demeanor and said: "Since you want to have a look, let's go have a look."
As soon as he said it, he strode out of the kitchen in large steps as Sima You Yue quickly followed behind. They came before a large courtyard with three-storey building.
It was a simple looking building built in the middle of a plain looking yard, no one would have guessed that this inconspicuous building would be the Book Pavilion .
"Here we are – the Book Pavilion." Sima Lie introduced as he flipped his hands and a large key suddenly appeared. After retrieving the key from his interspatial ring, he unlocked the door and gently pushed it open as the scent of musty books greeted them.
This was the first time she had been here, although the book Pavilion was located in between her courtyard and the main entrance, the past Sima You Yue had never once ventured in here.
"Here, this key belongs to you." Sima Lie casually flipped his hands once again and retrieved another key and handed it over to her.
All the other four brothers each had a key to this place, however as she did not enjoy reading, this key was never passed to her, for fear that she might lose it.
Sima You Yue took the key and put it in her pocket. She could not cultivate and had no spiritual power hence she could not use the interspatial ring.
"Alright, go ahead and read whatever you want. Take your time, I've still got some things that I have to do, I'll be in my study. If you need me, you know where to find me." Sima Lie turned to leave after granting her access.
Sima You Yue nodded and only after she watched his fading back did she turn to take a good look at the interior.
Although she knew that there were some problems with her current body, there were still some differences with the herbs and materials from her world and this, at least she hoped that they were merely name differences. She needed to know more about the differences in the properties as well and study these more thoroughly to be able to cure herself and rid of this 'trash' label herself.
Sima You Yue gaped in wonder as she looked at the interior of the Book Pavilion, who would have thought that the exterior which looked like any other common building but the interior was unexpectedly different! What attracted her attention most was that right in the middle of the Book Pavilion, there was actually a grand spiral staircase, which connected all four storeys, and each level had books that were placed in shelves that reached the ceiling. Such grandeur and splendour!
Moreover, the scale was totally different! From the outside it did not look as big as what she was currently looking at. Surprisingly, the size of the first floor was as large as that of a soccer field. Although each level got smaller, however the size of the top floor was still bigger than a basketball court!
"Oh wow, what sorcery is this?! This is simply too mysterious!" Sima You Yue cried out in shock as she tried to compose herself. This had outrightly defied her logic and common sense that she was used to. Ever since she's been in this world, everything had left her agape. Things that she had 'seen' from her memories were still foreign to her and it felt as if she was watching everything from a television and experiencing it herself still roused the adventurous spirit within her as her eyes sparkled with excitement. She was particularly fascinated by the vast disparity of scale and grandiose.
After she had finally regained her composure, she grew anxious. "With so many books, where should I even start looking? If I had known earlier, I should have asked Grandfather." She sighed with regret as she looked on helplessly at the grand collection of books before her.
She started exploring the books on the shelves and after looking for a while, she discovered that the books were arranged according to different categories. If this row of books in this shelf was in one category, that following ten rows were in the similar category.
"Haha, found it!" She cried out in relief. After scouring for an entire two hours, she had finally found the category she had came here for! She earnestly started to look for the books she needed as she carefully combed the shelves that housed the medical related books.
She looked for quite some time until she found a book about the various herbs and materials for medicine and discovered that this whole shelf had the same genre of books.
Her stomach rumbled and she touched her belly as she groaned in defeat. She quickly pulled out several books and hugged them carefully and left the Book Pavilion, locking the door securely as she left.
By this time, day had already turned to night and it was completely dark outside. When Sima You Yue returned to her own courtyard, Yun Yue and Chun Jian noticed that in the arms of their Young Master were a pile of books. They hurried forward to assist, and asked: "Young Master, would you like to have dinner now?"
"Yes, I'm famished. Bring the meal directly into my room. Also, Yun Yue please pass the message to my Grandfather that for the next two days, I will be dining in my own room and will not be joining the family for meals."
Sima You Yue rubbed her belly before returning to her room.
Chun Jian immediately went into the kitchen to prepare dinner for Sima You Yue, while Yun Yue brought the pile of books and placed them on the table before passing the message to Sima Lie.
Sima You Yue picked up a book and started reading, the books that she had selected this time round were all very general and were introductions to the basics of herbs and materials that were common in this world. It was a good start to help her identify the various herbs and materials and let her have a grasp of the differences of the two worlds. In her previous world, her intelligence quotient was higher compared with ordinary people, therefore whatever she studied took only a fraction of time. In addition, she originally majored in the study of Traditional Chinese Medicine so she was very familiar with the various herbs and properties. Moreover, she was just looking for the differences in these aspects hence her reading speed was exceptionally fast.
By the time dinner was prepared, she had already flipped through more than half of the first book. When Chun Jian came in with dinner saw that her Young Master was browsing the book in such a flippant manner, she could not help but shook her head. It was evident her Young Master was not reading it properly!
"Young Master, your dinner is ready." Chun Jian placed the meal gently on the table.
Sima You Yue immediately put the book down, and her gaze rested on the dishes placed on the table. Seeing that the steaming hot dishes that were visually enticing was a stark contrast with meals before, she smacked her lips and gave a satisfied nod, and said: "This is what I call a meal!"
She guzzled her dinner down heartily and as soon as she was done, she called for the two maids to clear the table and she continued to read into the night.
After she read finish the first book, she discovered that here, the ordinary materials for medicine were similar to her previous world, but some had some minute discrepancies. For example, the name was different, or some had similar properties, but there were also some unfamiliar names that she came across.
However she discovered that this set of books that she had brought back was from the same shelve and it was further segregated into the similar materials and properties. Realizing this, she quickly looked up according to each particular material and herb and studied them carefully.
"Luckily I went through these books first! Almost half of the names are different from before.."
Sima You Yue stretched her body lazily and stifled a yawn as she looked at the prescription she had written down before realizing that dawn was soon approaching.
Because she did not manage to get a good sleep last night, and she worked hard throughout this entire night, after she relaxed, her felt her eyelids were extremely heavy. She crawled to bed and as soon as her head touched the pillow, and she fell into a deep slumber.
Tonight, she did not have a single dream, and by the time she woke up, it was already noon. When she opened her eyes, she looked around groggily as her eyes focused on the ancient pattern of the mosquito net. For a moment there, she thought that she was dreaming.
"Rumble -"
The hungry belly started to protest, making her consciousness slowly return, as memories flashed in her mind reminding her where she was. She put a hand and touched her forehead, and muttered: "So this is not a dream."
She finally rolled out of bed, washed up and changed. Chun Jian quickly prepared lunch and brought it into the room. After lunch, she took the prescription that she had painstakingly written down last night and walked towards Sima Lie's study.
When Sima Lie saw Sima You Yue, he was somewhat surprised. Wasn't it only last night that she said that the next two days she would be busy reading in her own room? Why was she out so soon? She couldn't sit still for just two days? Or…did anything happen?
"Grandfather, I have a matter to ask you." She straightened her back and looked at him earnestly.
"What is the matter?" When Sima Lie saw Sima You Yue's serious appearance, he waved his hands and signaled for the bodyguards to exit.
Sima You Yue pulled a chair and sat down across from his desk and said: "Grandfather, do you know why can't I cultivate?"