Liu Haoyu spent the next few days resting. Resting, and thinking. While Yinuo tidied up the room and coaxed him to play gambling cards (wasn’t that frowned upon?! Was Liu Haoyi normally mischievous, or was this all Yinuo’s personality?), Liu Haoyu thought, and thought, and thought. While the kind Physician Zhuanjia came in daily to circulate his qi and medicate him, he thought and thought some more.

In the end, Liu Haoyu came to this conclusion: unless he found out otherwise, he should assume he was dead in the modern world, and try to make the best life for himself that he could here.

As a woman.

Who was on a hit list.

And who had a maid that pestered and pouted at her all day like a puppy.

Siiiiiiigh.

Well, it wasn’t too much to mourn over, was it? In his first life, he’d just had his mother. She would definitely be mourning him right now, which made him sad to think about, but what could he do? It wasn’t like he could get un-devoured by that stupid mirror and swagger back home to say, “Just kidding! I’m not dead, haha! And I’m also definitely not a woman. Ahem, that was not related, but I felt like I should say it.” So, he should just suck it up like a man and move on as best as he could. No tears and no self-pitying.

…Who was he kidding?!

He wanted to inwardly light one thousand candles for himself!

Liu Haoyu, the coolest, manliest and bravest of men, known around school and Yangzhou for his mysterious masculine energy, had been reincarnated into the body of a delicate woman! Yeah so what if she was a cultivator? She was still a woman! His manliness would never come off the same way in a body like this…

At least he was good-looking. Ah…but even being a good-looking woman was unacceptable to someone who always strove to prove how much of a man he was…

It was at times when Liu Haoyu felt droopy and mopey from these kinds of thoughts that he was actually grateful Yinuo was around. Her constant yapping and chattering and tugging on his arm was enough to keep him from pulling up the blankets, curling into a grumpy ball, and never crawling out again.

On the fifth day, Physician Zhuanjia released Liu Haoyu from bedrest.

“Your meridians are stable now, and though you seem to have remnants of anxiety that were not present before, your mental and physical states have been stabilized as well,” Physician Zhuanjia smiled.

Soon after, Liu Haoyu resolved to take a walk through the gardens around the Plum Blossom Pavilion. He was sick of staying in that room. It was like a little prison box with constant background noise (which was 100% made up of Yinuo’s giggling and blabbing).

While walking through the Blue Wisteria Gardens, Liu Haoyu got a sense of comfort from the beautiful blossoming trees and flowers. He’d kept it a tight secret in his past life, but besides being a secret otaku, he’d also been a bit of a flower boy. He had a little collection of pressed flowers, and he liked to write down different species he saw. That was definitely too feminine to be let out in public though, so the flower collection and species notebooks all went in a box under his bed.

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The gardens were calm and smelled pleasant. The sweet, mild scents of various flowers floated through the air like fairy dust, and Liu Haoyu strolled in his flowing silken robes with his hands clasped behind his back, as all xianxia fanatics know respectable cultivators walk.

He passed a couple of patrolling guards and nodded at them without a word, feeling a little giddy. Okay, so he was a woman now. But compared to his past life, he had a much higher status here, didn’t he? He was the son—daughter? Whatever!—of the Zhengyi Liu Peaks’s leader! All of the guards looked at him with respect, and he didn’t even have to say a word to them.

This was the life.

(Besides him being a woman. Ahem, I mean, in a woman’s body. Aish, this was getting too confusing.)

Suddenly, as he was strolling with a noble air through a path of sweet-smelling blooming weeping willows, a bush nearby rustled.

“Gah! Who’s there?!”

No one answered.

The bush was still.

Holding his breath and wishing he’d brought that fancy white sword even if he didn’t know how to use it, Liu Haoyu started walking again.

The bush rustled.

“AIEE!”

That was enough for him. He was on some assassin’s hit list, after all! A rustling bush was never a good sign for someone on a hit list! Liu Haoyu picked up the skirt of his robes and took off at the speed of light, sprinting like a cheetah out of there.

He turned the corner, hellbent on speeding straight back to the Plum Blossom Pavilion—

SLAM!

Everything went white, then red, then black.

“AIEEEE!” Liu Haoyu shrieked again as pain exploded across his forehead. When his soul returned to his body and he opened his watering eyes, he was met with this sight:

A woman that could only be described as harshly beautiful, with inky black hair and eyes and robes deep blue like the night sky. In one hand, she held a black sword in an elaborate sheath. Her other hand was clutching her jade-white forehead and rubbing it furiously.

For some reason, an intense emotion rose up in Liu Haoyu’s chest just looking at her. Was that—hatred? Anger? Disgust? It was so strong that he almost vomited right there. He had to stop rubbing his head and hold his stomach instead!

He’d never seen this woman before, so where were these feelings coming from? Had Liu Haoyi felt so strongly towards this person that her body even remembered those emotions after she was gone?

“You imbecile!” The other woman spat suddenly, vaulting to her feet. “Why the hell did you do that?”

“...”

Liu Haoyu blinked.

Oh.

So that was why Liu Haoyi hated this person.

Because she was a jerk.

“...Ah, I’m sorry? I didn’t mean to run into you…”

“Why the hell were you running in the first place?! Liu Haoyi, you’re the clumsiest person I’ve ever met! It’s embarrassing for our sect to have you as an heir.”

Liu Haoyu’s face flushed red with disbelief. Seriously?! He couldn’t help but nod his head a thousand times in agreement with Liu Haoyi now. This person was a raging menace full of trashy insults! He already wanted to vomit a barrage of swears at her. But…ahem, he was a manly, chivalrous, um, man inside. He was definitely still a cool and manly guy in spirit. So, he shut his mouth and didn’t swear her out.

“Look at you, lying there like a dead fish! I can’t believe we’re disciples of the same Shifu,” The woman spat furiously. “And where’s your sword? How can you waltz around like an airhead without it after what happened? You’re just asking assassins to come and cut off your stupid head!”

All right, nevermind about being a manly and chivalrous guy. Liu Haoyu had had enough. He struggled to his feet, tripping a couple of times on his silky robes, and stabbed a slender feminine finger at her accusingly.

“You’re such a jerk! Go and vent your anger on a wall instead of on me like a loser!” He snapped. “I’m leaving. I don’t have time for immature people like you.”

Feeling very badass after standing up for himself, Liu Haoyu turned on his heel, silken robes swishing gracefully, and left.

Behind him, the woman in blue gaped, her eye twitching. Her expression hardened into one of pure hatred.

“What a shijie I have!” She called after him, throwing her sword bad-temperedly on the ground. Then, to herself, she muttered: “You wouldn’t even want to talk to me if I was a little lamb coming to nuzzle your leg.”