Her Highness The Princess Comes from A Thousand Years Ago - Chapter 5

It was rare to see Li Mingyue so lost in thought.

“Missing home?” Shen Yanbing suddenly asked.

Li Mingyue shook her head but remained silent.

“Missing your homeland is perfectly natural.” Shen Yanbing could not bear to see that small face creased with misery, so she turned her laptop toward her. “Let me show you what life was like among ordinary people in ancient times.”

She had selected a detailed section of Along the River During the Qingming Festival. Although it did not depict the so-called Jing Dynasty, it was rich with the customs and atmosphere of ancient life.

Li Mingyue gazed at the finely rendered scene of commoners in amazement. Only after a long while did she speak, a smile appearing at the corners of her lips.

“It doesn’t look much like the Jing Dynasty.”

“After all, it isn’t from the same time and world.”

Shen Yanbing smiled. “This is only a painting. Photography is popular in the modern world, and it can capture someone exactly as they look. Let me show you.”

With that, she raised her phone, opened the camera, aimed it at Li Mingyue, and pressed the shutter.

Li Mingyue curiously watched the phone pointed at her.

Shen Yanbing rarely photographed people, and her skills were decidedly average, but Li Mingyue turned out to be unexpectedly photogenic.

She leaned closer to look. The moment she saw herself, her eyes widened in astonishment.

Shen Yanbing laughed. “Well? Does it look like you?”

“Yes.” Li Mingyue hardly knew what to say. “It looks exactly the same, and it was so fast.”

After thinking for a moment, she added, “Like the people inside the screen.”

Shen Yanbing understood what she meant and was pleased that Li Mingyue could draw connections between things.

“Exactly. The television shows recordings, which capture continuous movement. A photograph is more like a portrait—it’s a still image.”

Li Mingyue nodded, her gaze lingering on the photograph displayed on the phone.

Shen Yanbing smiled. “It can be printed out later.”

Li Mingyue did not understand what that meant, but she obediently rested her chin in her hand and nodded.

Before long, the doorbell rang. Shen Yanbing got up to answer it, thanked the delivery driver, and carried lunch inside.

As she called Li Mingyue over, she began opening the bags.

Li Mingyue sniffed the aroma of the food and asked in surprise, “Who was that person just now?”

“A delivery driver.” Shen Yanbing continued unpacking the meal boxes. “I pay to purchase food, someone delivers it to me, and then the platform pays them for their work.”

“Pay? Payment for their work?”

Shen Yanbing explained, “You can think of money as the silver and copper coins used in ancient times, except we now use paper currency and digital money. Payment means the money someone receives after doing a job.”

Li Mingyue did not understand the first part very well, but at that moment, her entire attention had been captured by the delicious aroma. She temporarily suppressed her questions.

Shen Yanbing had ordered rice bowls for two, both topped with beef, vegetables, and sauce.

But the first thing Li Mingyue tasted was plain white rice untouched by any sauce.

“It smells wonderful. Is this truly rice?”

Every grain was plump, soft, and delicious, leaving a lingering fragrance in her mouth.

Shen Yanbing was surprised by the question and smiled.

“Yes.”

Thank goodness for technology.

And thank goodness for the people.

Li Mingyue had been hungry for quite some time. She scooped up a piece of meat, chewed it slowly and carefully, then asked with delight, “What dish is this?”

“Sliced beef.”

“…”

She abruptly fell silent. Several seconds later, she asked in disbelief, “Beef?”

Only then did Shen Yanbing remember that cattle had been an essential source of agricultural labor in ancient times. Most dynasties had prohibited people from eating beef.

“The modern world is different from the Jing Dynasty,” Shen Yanbing could only explain. “Beef is one of the most widely eaten meats nowadays, and cattle are no longer needed to plow fields. You can eat it without worrying.”

Li Mingyue was speechless. Although the beef smelled delicious, she refused to try another bite.

Shen Yanbing found this surprising.

Cattle had been highly valuable in ancient times, and the law generally prohibited their consumption. Yet as far as she knew, there had never been a shortage of influential officials and nobles who ate beef without restraint in every dynasty.

This princess of the Jing Dynasty was rather different from what Shen Yanbing had imagined.

Regardless, she still needed to eat.

“Beef is highly nutritious. You should at least eat a little. If you don’t, all of this will have to be thrown away.”

Li Mingyue frowned. “Thrown away?”

“Yes,” Shen Yanbing replied naturally.

Although the Jing Dynasty was prosperous, the palace strictly followed the ancestral teachings and practiced frugality. Meals were rarely left unfinished in any of the palaces. Even if there were leftovers, they were usually passed down to the servants.

Li Mingyue’s expression turned serious.

“Although the modern world is even more prosperous than I imagined, frugality is the only way prosperity can last.”

With that, she neatly picked every piece of beef from her own meal and placed them, one by one, into Shen Yanbing’s container.

Shen Yanbing raised an eyebrow, surprised by her sudden boldness.

“You’re merely shifting the problem onto me.”

Li Mingyue looked up. Her eyes shimmered, while her thin lips were pressed into a straight line.

“But I truly do not want to eat cattle.”

Shen Yanbing looked away and coughed.

“If you don’t want it, then don’t eat it.”

Shallow dimples appeared on Li Mingyue’s cheeks.

“Mm.”

The dining table fell quiet.

Li Mingyue was extremely focused even while eating. Shen Yanbing scrolled through her phone, occasionally taking a few bites.

“What are you looking at?”

Li Mingyue had never seen anyone divide their attention while eating.

Ever since she had arrived in this world, that palm-sized object called a mobile phone had constantly demanded attention.

“News and information.” Shen Yanbing finally pulled her gaze away from the phone and looked at Li Mingyue. “In the modern world, everyone has a phone. You’ll have one in the future too.”

She could not stop herself from wondering once more how she was supposed to turn Li Mingyue over to the police.

Keeping her in the apartment indefinitely was hardly appropriate.

Li Mingyue looked at her for several seconds before asking, “What is news?”

The second word, “information,” had been too difficult for her. She had not even managed to remember it.

Shen Yanbing laboriously explained it to her. There had been cheaply printed news sheets with limited circulation in ancient times, but they were generally poor in quality and circulated only among common neighborhoods.

She chose two easy-to-understand reports and read them aloud as an initial way for Li Mingyue to learn about the modern world.

As expected, concepts such as “foreign countries,” “infrastructure,” and “tourism” left Li Mingyue thoroughly confused. Even so, she did not become discouraged. Her desire to learn only grew more urgent.

Shen Yanbing was deeply moved by such a thirst for knowledge.

For the entire afternoon, Li Mingyue remained bent over the coffee table, diligently watching documentaries, taking notes, and practicing her handwriting with a gel pen.

Her foundation in the Chinese language was excellent. By now, through a mixture of recognition and educated guessing, she had learned quite a few simplified characters.

Shen Yanbing was not idle either. She searched online for information about the Jing Dynasty and, unsurprisingly, found nothing.

She even tried entering the keywords “ancient person travels through time” into the search bar, but the results were, without exception, useless garbage.

The most urgent issue was Li Mingyue’s identity.

Shen Yanbing sighed and searched for ways an adult with no previous records could be added to the household registration system. Every answer she found was equally discouraging.

“How are we supposed to prove that her biological parents were citizens of Huaguo, or that she was born in Huaguo?”

Shen Yanbing murmured to herself before falling silent.

Perhaps she should simply report it and let the public security authorities worry about it.

The thought had circled through her mind so many times that she finally resolved to act on it.

Shen Yanbing immediately found the number of the nearest police station and dialed it.

“Hello, Bincheng West District Police Station. Please state your situation.”

“Last night, I found someone claiming to be a princess from ancient times. She doesn’t know how to do anything in the modern world and has no household registration. How should this be handled?”

“…I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?”

“I found a time traveler. Should I bring her to the police station?”

“…Where are your family members? We suggest asking them to take you to a psychiatric or neurological department for an examination.”

“I’m not joking.”

“Your behavior is seriously interfering with the normal operations of the emergency reporting line. Please do not make frivolous calls again, or you will be penalized in accordance with the law.”

Beep—

It was exactly what she had expected and entirely reasonable.

“…You have no idea what you’ve just missed out on!”

After hearing the other side hang up, Shen Yanbing shouted one final defiant sentence. Yet for some inexplicable reason, she also felt relieved.

Thankfully, this world had not truly gone insane.

Before making the call, she had even imagined being transferred to some secret department responsible for handling special incidents.

Life continued as before, but the problem had not disappeared.

“Next time, I’ll just take her to the police station in person.” Shen Yanbing sighed.

Then she thought of Li Mingyue’s rate of learning. Once she was dressed entirely in modern clothing, perhaps no one would believe where she had come from at all.

“And even if they believed me, what then? Under the current regulations, her identity problem still couldn’t be resolved.”

The crucial issue gave Shen Yanbing a headache.

Without household registration or proof of identity, Li Mingyue could neither work nor study. She would face restrictions everywhere she went.

Unable to think of any good solution, Shen Yanbing set the matter aside for the moment and turned to proper work.

Her so-called proper work consisted of marking her students’ final examinations and entering their grades one by one.

Modern literature was a relatively unpopular field. At present, she only taught a few undergraduate courses, with two or three classes each week. It was very easy work.

Of course, it would have been even better if she did not also have to conduct research and write academic papers.

As a young lecturer who appeared to have limitless prospects but had, in reality, almost completely lost her academic ambition, Shen Yanbing felt somewhat melancholy.

Still, the things that had to be done could not be avoided—such as making a trip to the university to sign an urgent document for a student.

Shen Yanbing looked helplessly at the WeChat message the student had just sent.

Fortunately, her apartment was not far from the university. She sighed, stood, and went into the bedroom to change. After briefly washing her face and applying lipstick, she prepared to leave.

Li Mingyue paused the documentary and looked toward Shen Yanbing, who had suddenly become radiant and polished.

“I need to go out for a little while,” Shen Yanbing explained.

She hesitated over whether she should take Li Mingyue along and allow her to experience modern society.

“Would you like to see the outside world?”

Li Mingyue hesitated for two seconds, then nodded.

“Then get ready to change.”

Shen Yanbing did not feel comfortable leaving her alone in the apartment either. She returned to the bedroom, found a pale green chiffon dress with a fitted waist, and handed it to her.

Li Mingyue cooperatively went into the bathroom and changed quickly. When she emerged, she looked youthful, quiet, and elegant—every inch a delicate little fairy from the modern world.

Her arms hung awkwardly at her sides. Her ink-black hair had become disheveled while changing clothes.

Shen Yanbing found a hair tie and walked behind her. Her fingers gently brushed through the strands before skillfully tying her hair into a bright, playful high ponytail.

“All done,” Shen Yanbing said.

Li Mingyue looked at herself in the mirror and, for a moment, almost failed to recognize the person she saw.

“This is called a ponytail. You can try tying it yourself next time.”

Truthfully, it was the only hairstyle Shen Yanbing knew how to do. Anything slightly more advanced, such as a bun, was completely beyond her.

Li Mingyue tilted her head slightly.

“Am I going outside like this?”

In the Jing Dynasty, such an appearance would have been considered slovenly. It was little different from leaving the house in one’s inner garments, and people would have secretly laughed at her.

Shen Yanbing’s gaze fell to her bare feet. She took an old pair of Velcro sandals from the shoe cabinet, crouched down, and taught Li Mingyue how to put them on.

“That’s enough.”

Once everything was ready, Shen Yanbing picked up her shoulder bag. While checking that she had brought everything, she firmly instructed Li Mingyue, “No matter what you see later, you are not allowed to speak carelessly or do anything strange.”

“Remember any questions you have. I’ll explain them when we return.”

“Follow me closely, and whatever you do, don’t get lost. Can you manage that?”

Li Mingyue nodded solemnly, her expression so grave that she might have been preparing to attend a grand ceremony offering sacrifices to Heaven.

“I can.”

Shen Yanbing smiled at her.

Her gaze happened to fall upon a few loose strands of hair at Li Mingyue’s temple. Naturally, she reached out and tucked them behind her ear.

Li Mingyue felt her draw closer and blinked.

Shen Yanbing immediately regretted acting without thinking. Keeping her expression perfectly calm, she said, “Let’s go.”