ISOF Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Translator: KongoIsamu

Editor: KongoIsamu

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Thoughts is italicized

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Chapter 4 is here, Chapter 5 will be updated two weeks later.

So, there are some changes to how the guy will be called. I know I used warrior and hero in the past two chapters, but now I decided to change it to soldier, I have edited chapters 2 and 3. Sorry if there are any confusions. Thank you so much for reading!

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Help?

That young man looked at Su Xiao Pei and the situation she was in, then nods his head. The man walked leisurely towards the fire where he had placed his bag, he took out a large piece of cloth and brought it over to the tree where Su Xiao Pei was.

Su Xiao Pei was wondering what he was doing, but suddenly, the man kicked the tree trunk, the tree shook violently. Su Xiao Pei could not hold on any longer, she lost her grip on the tree branch and she could feel herself falling.

She screams out “Ah” while thinking that she is going to lose her life, but also what a way to die. Suddenly, she felt something soft and warm around her and she felt herself hit and was rolling on the ground.

When she finally stopped rolling, she was unable to stand up and was sitting on the ground, wrapped in the cloth that the male had just taken out from his bag.

The male did not come forward to help her, nor withdraw the cloth. He just stood two steps from her, staring.

Su Xiao Pei suddenly remembered a dilemma, she was wearing a set of thin pajamas and wasn’t wearing undergarments. She tightened the cloth, wrapping them around her body.

When she got her bearings, Su Xiao Pei could not help but took a deep breath and stood up. She was standing on the mud, barefoot, not only was her feet cold, but also, she could feel that there were small stone in the ground that was digging into her feet, causing her to feel small sharp pains.

When Su Xiao Pei stood and said a soft “Thank you.”. The man said nothing, just gave a small smile and nodded, then, he took the lead to walk back to the fire.

Su Xiao Pei followed and walked behind him, when they had reached the campfire, she found a place to sit. She was sitting opposite the troubled woman, on her left was the Soldier that had helped her.

When Su Xiao Pei looked at these two people, she said to herself, I will take one step at a time, solve problem by problem.

“Why is miss here?” The one asking this question was the male, his question was directed to Su Xiao Pei. His tone was not surprising or stern. He sounded as if he it was nothing strange in seeing two women in the forest.

Su Xiao Pei looked at him, she still could not think of a good answer.

This time, crying for help is not appropriate, what should she say?

“I do not remember”

The other two looked at Su Xiao Pei

Su Xiao Pei looked at them, not too sure whether are they surprised due to the way of speaking. She curled up her body, lowered her voice, mimicking the voice of the troubled woman before, and whispered “I don’t know what happened… when I was conscious, I found myself in a tree… I did not remember anything.”

Instead of compiling a long-winded story, isn’t it better to push the problem to a memory loss.

What she said can be considered as the truth, she truly did not know what had happened.

The man looked at her, not saying anything.

The girl was stunned for a moment, she asked carefully “What Miss is saying is that Miss does not remember why she is here?”

Su Xiao Pei nodded her head.

“Then does this mean that Miss is unable to remember what Miss’s name is?”

Su Xiao Pei nodded.

The female sigh but did not say anything anymore.

At this time, the man opened his mouth and asked, “In that case, what does Miss plan to do?”

Su Xiao Pei start to think about what to do, what can she plan? She really did not have a plan, her head is empty, she really does not know what she should do.,

The three were quiet for a while, now Su Xiao Pei had a question for them, “Excuse me, where is here exactly?” [Su Xiao Pei used <哪裏,Nǎ lǐ>}

“Where<哪裏>?” The man’s eyebrow moved up

Su Xiao Pei frowned and thought, “He asked her?”

“Where?” He asked again, obviously questioning Su Xiao Pei. [The guy used <何處, Hé chù>]

Su Xiao Pei reacted, and nodded, “Yes, I mean, where is here? Ah, I meant to say is where is here?”

[At first Su Xiao Pei said 哪裏. But last time in ancient time they used 何處 instead, thus, she changed her sentence to say <此處是何處, cǐ chù shì hé chù>, which basically means ‘where is here’ only the words in chinese is more suited to say in the past.]

The Miss and the Soldier stared at her with a weird expression, Su Xiao Pei closed her mouth, not speaking another word.

“Tian Lian Shan” The Soldier replied quickly, “The mountain is named that is because the mountain is in between two towns. Down the mountain, after walking a certain distance, the first town you see is called Stone Town. After dawn, I will send Miss Tang to Stone Town, that is where her home is.” The man pointed to the troubled woman and asked Su Xiao Pei again “Where is Miss from, where is your hometown?”

Su Xiao Pei shook her head, she clearly said that she lost her memory, yet he still asked? She had no choice but to play dumb again “I really… cannot remember anything.”

This time Miss Tang said, “Miss’s hometown must be very far away.” She paused for a moment, then she whispered to explain the reason for her speculation, “Miss’s accent, is different from us.”

Su Xiao Pei nodded her head, not only accent, but other places are not the same as well.

The Soldier did not speak, neither did he fuss about it, nor did he give a random guess, all he did is just poke the base of the fire, letting the fire flame get bigger.

Miss Tang saw that Su Xiao Pei agreed with her speculation, she continue to make guesses, “Maybe Miss had been a nun in one of the nunnery, and now she is back to normal, she had met with some trouble?”

Su Xiao Pei was thinking what is meaning of nunnery, back to normal? Suddenly, she understood, she touched her short hair, feeling very helpless.

[Miss Tang said <庵裏姑子,ān lǐ gūz> which means nunnery, modern times used <尼姑庵, Nígū ān> as nunnery]

Su Xiao Pei thought “Nun? Well, at least I’ve change back to normal. Changing back from being a nun, will anybody have such fashionable hairstyle?”

Su Xiao Pei looked at Miss Tang’s hairstyle, she felt helplessness in her heart, maybe her own appearance is ugly in the eyes of others.

Su Xiao Pei tighten the rough cloth around her, it was big enough and very thick. She just hopes that the light won’t be able to penetrate through, so that the man won’t be able to see the style and the pattern of the clothes she is currently wearing.

Fortunately, neither of them said anything afterwards. At the moment, Miss Tang’s guess is the most reasonable explanation of the current situation, Su Xiao Pei is not stupid to refute against that. She pondered for a while, asked in her uncomfortable accent, “What dynasty is it now?”

She got a reply, “It is the 13th year of Jing Feng, 6th day of the third month.”

Su Xiao Pei thought for a while, the day she fell asleep in the modern world is August 26, the next morning should be August 27, in short, March and August are far from each other. Jing Feng? Jing Feng is what year? She simply gave up thinking about it, she was never good at history. Instead of thinking about this, she might as well ponder what she should do next.

Firstly, she has no money. This is a fact. She doesn’t even know how does the currency looked like in the first place. Is it copper, silver or gold? Unless, it is like what it was shown on television, those big pieces of cheque?

Thinking further ahead, if she had no money, she would have no place to live, then this means that she would have to starve to death. Thinking not that far, she currently does not even have the appropriate clothes to wear, and she is also barefoot.

In addition, her way of speaking is also different from everyone else, her dress sense is also different, she also has not seen their words, but the words should be same as what she knows, right? She sighed in her heart, if she is unable to fit in the crowd, how she lives will also be a problem.

And worse, she doesn’t even know where she should go.

Su Xiao Pei looked at the fire in a daze.

The lady opposite of Su Xiao Pei did not speak for a long time, seeing her curled position, Su Xiao Pei thought she had fell asleep. A girl who had been robbed and escaped by bandits, she has performed quite well. Su Xiao Pei looked at her hair through the fire, thinking about her case. With what she had gone through, Miss Tang would have some psychological problems.

Su Xiao Pei suddenly recovered, how could she still think about other people psychological problem at a time like this. Her own problem is the worst compared to others.

But perhaps, she thought too much, maybe after sleeping in this world, she will wake up back in her bedroom, just to realize that this is just a dream.

Su Xiao Pei took a looked at her own bare feet, subconsciously withdraw from the sight, and then turned her head to see the Soldier.

Soldier saw that Su Xiao Pei was watching him, said a sentence, “Rude.” And then speed up his hands actions, and soon a few pieces of coarse cloth and some sewing materials were passed to her.

Su Xiao Pei was stunned, the Soldier explained, “Miss does not have any shoes, how do you intend to trek down the mountain?”

“Oh, yes.” Su Xiao understood.

They were in the mountain, with the limited resources, shoes were not able to be made, only socks. But at least that is better than walking barefoot.

Su Xiao Pei took the cloth and sewing materials from the Soldier, she felt grateful to him. He gave her one of his clothes to wear, and broke another one to give her to make into a pair of socks, he really is a good person.

Not only a Soldier, but also a gentleman

“What’s your name?” Su Xiao Pei casually asked. After the words left her mouth, she felt that it was wrong, and changed the words, “Soldier’s name is?”

After speaking, she sighed in her heart, no matter how she speaks, it is so awkward.

“This servant’s name is Ran Fei Ze.” He politely answered.

Su Xiao Pei nodded her head, her attention back to the pieces of cloth. Turning them around, she does not know where to start. She is already not young, the only time she sewed was that one time when her button came off her shirt.

Don’t care already, sewed first. Not going to think so much about it.

She began to sew, while sewing she is thinking about what to do next. If it does not work, then she will follow this fellow, Ran Fei Ze. From what she can see, he is not bad, he won’t be so cruel as to leave a helpless girl, right? Or she could follow him to send Miss Tang back home, then look at the situation, then plan from there?

“Miss.” This time it was Ran Fei Ze who speak

“Ah?” Su Xiao Pei looked up.

“Maybe I should do it for you?”

Do what? Su Xiao Pei looked at his stretched-out hand, and reacted, quickly passing over the bunch of cloths and sewing materials over.

Ren Fei Ze did not say anything, quietly taking apart the string that was messed up by Su Xiao Pei, putting 2 pieces of cloth together and quickly sewed it up. Su Xiao Pei saw his skilled action, could not help but looked away in shame.

Soon, a thick pair of socks were made.

Ran Fei Ze handed over the socks to Su Xiao Pei, who quickly said her thanks and put it on. Ran Fei Ze stitched a few additional layers of cloths at the soles of the feet, making the soles of the socks very comfortable to step on. The also makes Su Xiao Pei feel that if she cannot find a way to survive, she must follow this good man, to survive.

At this time, Ran Fei Ze spoke again, “Miss, tomorrow morning, I will send Miss Tang to Stone Town. Does Miss want to join us?”

“Of course, of course.” Su Xiao nodded quickly. She noticed that the man had changed the words from ‘This servant’ to ‘I’, and he is the one who took the initiative to shorten the distance. This is a good start for her.

“Once we’ve reached Stone Town, what does Miss plan to do?”

Completely unable to think of a plan, Su Xiao Pei does not even need to act pitiful, her expression is able to express through what she thought.

Ran Fei Ze quietly looked at Su Xiao Pei while poking the fire, added, “I should be helping Miss, but I do not have the ability nor the skill. I ask Miss to not blame me.”

Su Xiao Pei was surprised for a moment, is this a subtle hint for her to not troubled him?

She directly asked, “What Soldier means to say is that you do not have any money, there is no way to help me, is this what you mean?”

Ran Fei Ze paused, Su Xiao Pei thought he did not think that she would be so direct. She knew that ancient women should be very reserved, so she was a little alert, and reminded herself to be careful, but then she saw Ran Fei Ze revealed a grin, he replied, frankly “Miss understood what I meant.”. Not embarrassed at all.

This startled Su Xiao Pei, then she reacted as well. She was the same as him, the brain must process though the words, then they will understand each other. It is not like they completely do not understand each other, they are just not used to it.

Su Xiao Pei do not know what type of reaction is appropriate, so she nodded her head, and did not say anything, just if she did not speak then that is fine. But this Soldier Ran really is…. To openly showed that he is poor, and to reject her so harshly…. Sigh…. He really is…

She could think of a suitable adjective to fit Soldier Ran, she also could not think of what to do, so she decided to sleep. Maybe after sleeping, the next morning when she wakes up, she will be back in her bedroom again.

Su Xiao Pei curled her body and hugged her knee, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

The next morning, when she woke up, she still saw the same scenery as the night before, the forest.

The fire that was burning brightly yesterday had been extinguished, the early morning sunlight shine through the trees and onto the ground, making the grass looked like cut pieces of gold, the wildflowers were stained with crystal clear dew. When Su Xiao Pei saw this view, she felt fresh. She had never stayed in the deep forest before.

Miss Tang and Ran Fei Ze had already woken up and started moving around. Su Xiao Pei stretched her legs and stood up, and looked at the weird men’s clothing that was around her. She also started moving her arms, and body, stretching her muscles.

Alright, since she is an expert in her field, she will be able to overcome the negative emotions and psychological disorders that this trip will give her.