Chapter 2: From the Primordial Chaos, Heaven and Earth Descend; A Heroine’s Grace Unites Phoenix and Dragon

"Master, someone is at the door, here to collect your manuscripts..."

Guan Yin felt dizzy, his head heavy, and found it difficult to open his eyes. He couldn't help but suspect the tea he had just drunk—had he been drugged? Were his students safe?

"Master, your cold has yet to improve. Shall I go and turn the person away, or ask for a few more days' grace?"

"Hmm..." What 'Master'? What cold? Guan Yin touched his clothes and shifted his eyes slightly to observe his surroundings.

Logic told him that such a setting would be difficult to fabricate. Therefore, if the tea truly were the culprit, the perpetrator would have no reason to go to such great lengths to stage this environment just to show him.

"Master?" The doctor had said Master was suffering from a cold, but Sanheng looked at the Guan Master before him, harboring doubts about whether the man’s mind had been affected. "Are you feeling unwell somewhere, Master?"

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do," Guan Yin thought. He felt fortunate that this was a "soul transmigration." As long as he wasn't captured and treated as some kind of demon or monster, he would be fine. Otherwise, in any historical dynasty, without household registration, he would be completely unable to defend himself.

But Guan Yin couldn't understand it. After years of struggling through university, acting and rote-memorizing, finally landing an internship at a decent high school and being close to graduation... how did he end up transmigrating into a "Master"?

"Master, Mistress has gone to sell embroidery samples. She boiled some porridge for you this morning. If you are hungry, I will heat some up for you."

Having been single since birth for over twenty years, even with all his book knowledge, he had no idea how to pretend to be a married man!

Sanheng was staring at him expectantly. Guan Yin didn't have time to overthink. He decided to ask the boy to repeat the situation, giving himself a moment to calm down and consider how to respond.

"You just..."

The moment he spoke, Guan Yin noticed something wrong. A hoarse voice after a cold was normal, but the original owner of this body seemed to be a woman!

Deliberately exaggerating the hoarseness caused by the cold, Guan Yin became bolder. "What did you just say?"

"Master, Sanheng said that someone came for your manuscripts, but you have been bedridden for the past few days and haven't had time to write... Should I go and tell them you are ill and need a few more days?"

"Yes, tell them exactly that."

***

Sanheng pushed the door open and left. For a moment, the green grass and low hedges outside flooded into Guan Yin’s vision along with the light. Sanheng turned back to pull the door shut, fearing that his master’s cold would worsen—clearly, he had no suspicions about this "Master Guan."

Guan Yin sat up in a panic. The lingering effects of the cold hadn't faded, and his heart was racing.

The dressing table, the desk, the wardrobe... his attire certainly looked like men's clothing, but the room contained many items used by a woman. Could it be that the original owner and his "mistress" lived together?

"Am I a man or a woman..." In his panic, Guan Yin realized that the intermittent feelings of tightness were not due to the cold, but the two strips of cloth binding his chest beneath his undergarments.

The original owner was a woman.

Regaining his composure, Guan Yin realized he lacked any information a transmigrator should have. Sanheng had clarified his identity, but as for the "Mistress" who had gone to sell embroidery and hadn't returned, Guan Yin didn't know her name, nor did he know how long he could hide his true gender from her.

"Master, I sent them away. They said they could allow three days and will send someone back then to collect them." Sanheng returned to the room, holding the warmed porridge. "Mistress told me before she left that if you woke up, I must make sure you eat a little."

The room was simple and sparse, and the porridge had no flavor to speak of—it was barely enough to stave off hunger. Ordinarily, Guan Yin wouldn't have been able to eat it.

But with so much weighing on his mind, Guan Yin mechanically moved the spoon to his mouth. This predicament reminded him of the famous Huangmei opera from his hometown, *The Female Scholar*.

The female scholar in the opera rose to the rank of top graduate to save her beloved. But Guan Yin didn't even know what fate had brought him here, or if he would die before finding a way back.

Not every student was lovely enough to be missed by the intern teacher Guan Yin... In fact, at the most mischievous age of middle and high school, facing a teacher not much older than them, Guan Yin had once spent a ten-minute break crying after being bullied by troublemakers.

However, the parents who had supported him through a decade of schooling were still hoping for their daughter to return home. Guan Yin did not want to spend his life in this "old society" where women were barely allowed to read, living in fear of his gender being exposed and being executed at any moment.

"Master? If you are feeling better, I suggest you start writing soon. Otherwise, if you drag it out and have to stay up all night, you might fall ill again."

It was clear that the original owner and the Mistress were approachable; Sanheng spoke neither servilely nor arrogantly, even daring to urge his master... If only he could talk to this "audacious" woman who had been the original owner, Guan Yin felt she must have been an interesting soul!

But for now, as he was helped to the desk, the sight of the neatly formatted poems on the paper gave him a headache.

Guan Yin pressed his index and middle fingers to his temples, trying to probe the candid Sanheng. "Sanheng, this cold has hit me hard. I feel so dazed that I can't even remember what I was writing before I took to my bed."

***

His gaze fell on the white paper held down by the paperweight. Guan Yin had never been more grateful for his university general education courses; thanks to them, he could clearly understand this flowery, elegant prose.

"Master, the doctor said the prolonged cold damaged your heart, causing the fainting spell. It is normal to forget a few things."

Sanheng was indeed naive; Guan Yin had gotten the truth out of him in just a few sentences.

Hearing this, Guan Yin understood: the original owner likely didn't rest properly after catching a cold and died of acute myocarditis. That was how he coincidentally took over her identity.

"Sanheng, what if I told you I've forgotten who I am, and who your Mistress is?"

"Master?" Sanheng looked blank, thinking his master was joking. "Please don't tease me, Master. You remember my name, how could you forget the Mistress?"

"You and the Mistress have shared life and death, a deep and loving bond. The Mistress even came to this cottage at the foot of the mountain for your sake. How could you just forget her?"

Seeing that his master showed no signs of joking, Sanheng grew visibly panicked, hoping for a reassuring word that it was all a prank.

"Master, the Mistress is coming back soon. Please, don't scare her like this!"

Footsteps echoed from outside the half-open door. Sanheng’s eyes darted through the gap and saw his mistress. Without a second thought, he turned his gaze back to Guan Yin.

His eyes were filled with anxiety and confusion.

It was clear that the Mistress was a good person, and Sanheng could not bear to see her worried or heartbroken.