“Be not afraid of growing slowly”

* Confucius

If one were to ask any minister of x country what they judge to be the most prominent feature of Li Ming, they would not hesitate to praise his mental prowess, and that is certainly not without good reasoning. Li Ming’s ability to endure any situation he had found himself in had led him in successfully ending the civil war where others failed.

Li Ming, after his initial shock, soon had, for the most part, recovered, and once again put on his approachable and friendly expression, yet when he saw Xu Xiaomeng’s smiling face reflected in the bronze, he could not help but feel miserable once again.

Yet he, no, she did not wallow for long.

The first thought that entered her mind was regarding the girl whose body he currently possesses.

However, before she could even begin consolidating her thoughts, a voice appeared in her head.

“I’m still here,” the melodious voice rang,” do what sir wishes with the body, I will not interfere.”

Xu Xiaomeng’s indifferent attitude certainly manifest a great deal of confusion for Li Ming, her apathetic nature that seems to extend even to her life and body, is one she had never seen before, even the people in country x during the civil war had a strong desire to live, yet she had drunk poison to end her life.

“Lady, it is not right to conduct yourself in this manner,” she commented.

A deprecating laugh that seems to echo through the room soon followed her comment,” It matters little to me, I had attempted to perish already, but it seems that my immortality is true,” as she spoke, her voice gradually became softer almost inaudible, while a rare sentiment of sorrow could be heard from it.

As Li Ming and Xu Xiaomeng both share the body, therefore she could hear her words perfectly. Considering that now they inhabit the same body, she decided to inquire her regarding the mention of immortality.

“Lady, may I ask what you mean by immortality?’

A moment passed before the voice once again rings out,” A legend once told that those born with silver hair has everlasting life. Furthermore, the legend details, through consumption of silver haired individual, one is able to transfer the immortality to themselves.”

“As I am born with silver hair, others had always hoped to gain immortality through the cannibalisation of my flesh, in response to this, my father had always kept me hidden.”

“I had always thought of it as an extension of his fatherly love towards me, to be able to resist the temptation of lasting as long as the heavens and earth still stands, require great mental fortitude.”

“Yet yesterday, he, in a drunken stupor, had openly proclaimed to my brothers his intention to present me to the emperor, in exchange for the emperor’s immortal life, the Xu family would be forever in the flavour of the emperor.”

“By chance, I had overheard the statement, and once I return to my room, I had determined it would be far more valiant to end my life rather than be eaten by another human being.”

“And that’s why you had drunk the poison?” Li Ming interrupted.

“Yes.”

“Have you not considered that your immortality would prevent you from death?”

“No, it had never crossed my mind.”

“What singled minded, yet honest person,” Li Ming thought to herself. Giving a slight sigh, yet the mellow voice that came out caused Li Ming to feel rather gloomy.

“Lady, do you wish to change your fate?”

A near inaudible, yet clear “yes”, rang out.

Having Xu Xiaoming’s confirmation, Li Ming picked a nearby censer that had cooled down overnight, removing the cover, she grabbed a handful of coal dust and released it over her silver hair.

As the dust settled, the silver hair could no longer be seen, replaced with one that seemed as dark black yet it still shone with a silver brilliance.

Li Ming, then changed her clothes, showing no hesitation as she slipped into one of the servants' uniforms, leaving the extravagant dress on the bed.

Looking out the window, she confirmed there are no servants’ guarding the door, as she approaches the exit, she casually grabbed a pouch of coins. Appearing almost a little blazon, she entered the main corridor, yet frowned as she notices the underwhelming lack of sunlight entering her eyes.

“This must be the Southern wing of the manor,” she thought to himself but feels a bit delighted that the exit is nearby.

Moving Eastwards, she notices the main entrance, guarded by two servants, yet she showed no hesitation as she walked forward.

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“Apologies,” she thought to herself,” you two will likely die due to the anger of the Xu family patriarch.”

As she approached the servants, the smile Li Ming constantly had appeared on Xu Xiaomeng’s face, appearing like a blooming flower, grabbing two iron coins from the bag, placing them in the hands of the servant, then before they could respond, had nonchalantly walked into the main street.

Leaving the vicinity of the manor, Xu Xiaomeng’s voice appeared in her mind.

“Even if it was as simple as you showed it to be, I would have still not been able to escape, I doubt I would be able to gather enough courage to do so.”

“Lady, I believe that to be false since you have enough courage to poison yourself, you would certainly possess enough to leave the manor.’

“No, I do not, what I did was out of cowardice, never out of bravery, I would prefer to consume hundreds of poison than to disobey my father.”

Li Ming could not make up a response, instead, she chose to change the topic.

“It seems as if I am once more alone in the world, with only a small handful of money, it seems as if I am back to when I had left my family behind.”

Yet she received no response from Xu Xiaomeng, it seems as if she had noticed her bad attempt drifting the topic, yet just as the silence settled, the melody like voice once more manifested.

“Perhaps, we should attempt at building this republic sir suggest,” Xu Xiaomeng suggested.

Quite shocked at the words Xu Xiaomeng had said, Li Ming stopped walking.

“Are you certain lady?”

“Yes.”

“Despite your immortality, to wage a revolution against the monarchy would be incredibly dangerous.”

“I am certain, as I said, I feel far more sympathetic towards those of the peasant class then the emperor or my father, to spend my eternal life in improving theirs is quite admirable,” she paused for a moment before continuing,” therefore, I ask of sir to create a republic from the current empire.”

Li Ming gave off a slightly bitter laugh, before replying,” lady, you cannot simply start a revolution, a certain material condition must be first met, in my world, the French Revolution could not have happened without the 30 Years War, the privileged noble, and the ideas of the Enlightenment.”

Shaking her head, Li Ming continued,” perhaps it is fairer to compare starting a revolution here to the White Lotus Rebellion, yet to begin something similar to that, our ideas need to spread to countless suffering peasants over hundreds of years, even then, it was crushed under the Qing dynasty.”

“The only possible path for us is one not dissimilar to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which had happened due to ineffective governance and the lack of food for the growing peasants. If lady has any knowledge on places where there is a lack of governmental control, while the peasants also suffer constantly, please do tell me.”

Despite that Li Ming cannot see Xu Xiaomeng’s face, she could certainly imagine it currently containing a bitter expression.

After a period of time, Xu Xiaomeng replied,” from what I overheard from the servants, the Northern reaches of the Empire is currently suffering a great drought, along with that, the distance from the capital should leave it relatively isolated, yet I know little aside from that.”

“That is fine my lady, it is enough, yet how will we get to the Northern parts of the empire then?”

“I’m afraid I am inexperienced regarding this world, perhaps it would be best to hire a carriage.”

“Lady, we have not enough coins to do that, when I picked up your coin pouch, it was light, perhaps only amounting to several dozen coins at most, I doubt we are able to afford the trip, I propose we travel there on foot, we have all the time in the world, after all, yet before anything can be set in motion, we must find a group to travel with.”

“Pardon me,” a voice suddenly interrupts Li Ming and Xu Xiaomengs’ conversation.

Refocusing her attention, Li Ming apologised to the person, only to a faint blush on the man’s face, before walking away.

“Lady, I believe it is best to dress up as a man for our travels, your looks seems to be attracting unwanted attention, there are even children calling you a fairy.”

Xu Xiaomeng made a sound of affirmation, and thus a merchant, later on, found a single article of clothing made from silk missing from his stock.

Li Ming, dressed as a man, with her hair tied in a bun, most fortunate, is that Xu Xiaomengs’ body is still one yet to enter adolescence, and do not have the defining female features. Therefore, Li Ming despite appearing incredibly feminine, at most she could be described by others as an effeminate boy who had yet matured into a man.

Li Ming, satisfied with the new outfit, decided to ask for Xu Xiaomeng’s input.

“Sir may do as he wishes,” she responded coldly,” I would not have it for long if it were not for sir. Regardless, should you not be searching for a group to travel with now?”

Li Ming ignoring the first part of Xu Xiaomeng’s sentence proceeded towards the main gate of the city, an endless stream of caravans and merchant could be seen lining in wait to enter the city.

As her eyes search for people from the North, her efforts were soon realised, noticing a group of merchants that appears much taller than the others, she moved towards the group, opening her mouth to speak, while also deepening her voice to sound make masculine.

“Hello fellow sirs, may I ask if you came from the North?”

The group, noticing the lavish clothes Xu Xiaomeng’s body, did not dare lie,” yes, young master, we had come to this city in order to sell our fur goods, we have just finished, and plan to return to the North.”

“I see if the fellow sirs do not object, may I join in your travels,” Li Ming requested, keeping a radiant smile.

“Naturally not young master, we dare not refuse, but we are afraid that the trip would be too difficult for you to travel, the North has harsh weathers that wear away even at the best of us, and travel will be difficult, as there are no rivers or canals, thus we can only travel by foot.”

“It matters not to me,” Li Ming objected.

“Young master, my body had been trained through hunting since I was young, yet I still experience much hardship through the journey down South, if it weren't for the recent drought, I would have have never entered this city, if sir travels along with us, I’m afraid you may lose your life,” cold sweat appears on the man’s face as he thought to himself,” this noble knows nothing about the world, if I accidentally offends a major figure, only death would await me.”

“No, I insist, I will certainly not slow down the party,” death is certainly the last thing on the mind of Li Ming, after all, Xu Xiaomeng’s body is immortal, along with that, Li Ming had travelled countless miles in his previous life.

A conflicted expression appeared on the man’s face, behind he finally capitulated,” Young master, please after yourself, my caravan only contains enough for six men, and there is already five, if you join, we may need to ration.”

“That is not an issue,” Li Ming replied, his experience fighting in guerrilla warfare had taught him to live off the land.

“If young master truly insist,” the man lament,” then it appears I have no choice, I am called Ke, while my surname is Liu, the caravan contains members of my clan, all brothers, if sir wishes, simply call us Liu One, Liu Two, Liu Three, Liu Four, and Liu Five,” Liu One said,” if sir would follow me to the caravan please.”

Li Ming, following Liu One, soon arrived at an isolated section outside the city walls, where their horses were grazing on feed, as Li Ming introduced himself to the group, each member of the Liu family objected, yet after insistence from Li Ming, they had no choice but to say silent.

As they begin to travel along the road leading to the North, Li Ming, by then sitting on a makeshift carriage the brothers had made by placing wheat onto the cart they had used to carry the animal skin, suddenly asked a question.

“May I ask fellow sirs, how long does this journey take?”

The Liu brothers were extremely shocked that Li Ming did not even know where they were going, thinking to themselves,” This person seems to have made no preparations for the journey, we’re certainly doomed to suffer the wrath of a noble,” yet by then it was past the point of no return, after a brief bickering among the brothers, Liu Five, walked up to Li Ming and as respectfully as possible, replied to the question.

“Young Master, it will take approximately 20 days to reach the regional capital of the North without rest, yet we must sleep, eat and let the animals rest. When we had journeyed South, it took us 30 days.”

“I see,” Li Ming voiced, before thanking the man and sending him back towards his group.

“It seems like it will take some time, lady, would you care to engage in some small talk with me?”

Xu Xiaomeng’s voice sounded in his head, her melodious voice ringing out.

“Perhaps we shall,” she paused before continuing,” I’ve always wondered sir, what is this French Revolution you speak of, the language sounds like the words spoken by the Jesuits that had arrived in our city to spread their faith.”

“Naturally I shall tell you, lady, the French Revolution is the most well-known example of a nation overthrowing their monarchy in my world, despite it not being the first nor the last, it was certainly the bloodiest.”

As Li Ming lectured Xu Xiaomeng, the Liu brothers were cursing themselves for allowing a crazy person on board.