Chapter 11: The Alternate Way Home

Taking a morning stroll in the Garden had been a pleasant affair for the past couple of weeks that I was here as a guest.

Some days I would walk along the narrow stone path, which led to the Tower, to observe the bright orange koi fish in the pond. With permission from Wu-momo, I would share bits of my steamed buns with them. Now that I had learnt from Ji Kai that this Garden is enchanted, I wondered if the fish had been thanking me the whole time for food that they never needed. They must have gone at least a hundred years without needing to eat anything.

Other days I would take another path decorated with pebble mosaic hibiscus flowers, butterflies and cranes. This path led to another courtyard adjacent to the main residence. This courtyard was another garden, except that it housed all the rare and treasured plants that were too precious and expensive to be displayed in the Garden. Although I had little interest in the different species of plants, I did wonder whether they were brought in from the real world or whether they were smuggled out from the books. Maybe some of those pots contained poisonous plants.

Most of my days, however, were spent in the Tower of Ten Thousand Books. I was prohibited from entering the floors with the rare ancient books but it never piqued my curiosity. If I had damaged any of those books by accident, I would never be able to compensate Ji Kai even if I slaved at work for the rest of my life. Over time, I discovered that the highest floor of the Tower that I was allowed access to was used to store common yet classic books from the late 20th and 21st century. Ji Kai was entrusted with the task of collecting contemporary fiction books which were deserving of recognition by the family that owned one of the largest publishing houses in the country.

But this morning, I was to take a path that I had never ventured on before. Xiao Lan had said that everyone was restricted from exploring what was down this little road. She heard that it led to another courtyard far away but to get to that courtyard, one would have to go through the maze-like Garden and one would inevitably get lost. Only the Young Master knew the way around as he would enter the Garden through this path every time he arrived. And now, I knew that Ji Kai was able to do so with the help of his personal compass.

Standing at the edge of the path to nowhere, I spun around to bid my final farewell to everyone at the Garden. Even though Han Dong's attitude was less than hospitable, he had attended my farewell party last night and recited a poem that he had written for me. Even though it was along the lines of how I would grow wiser each year as I aged, it was still a nice gesture from him.

Han Dong and the other assistant librarians stood some distance away and only Wu-momo and Xiao Lan walked with me to the archway at the boundary of the Garden.

"Xiaoyu, we hope that you will come visit us again if you ever have the chance to," said Wu-momo with a bittersweet smile on her face as she pulled me into a warm hug.

I loosely circled one arm around her and patted her gently on the back. "If Ji Kai ever invites me here to play, I'll definitely come to see all of you."

Hearing someone sniffling behind me, I was about to break away from Wu-momo when I felt someone join in the hug. "Xiaoyu, you must come again soon! If you must, just marry the Young Master—then you'll be able to come as and when you please," Xiao Lan cried tearfully. My face instantly warmed upon hearing her words but I managed to maintain a deadpan expression.

Just as Pan Yi burst into a low but audible laughter, Wu-momo released me and stared at Xiao Lan alarmed. "Xiao Lan, you can't say things like that out loud!"

Turning toward me, she stuttered apologetically, "Don't mind her words. She just can't bear to see you go. It's been a long time since she's had a female companion around."

I waved a hand in front of me and laughed abashedly. "It's fine. But someone like Ji Kai would never fancy someone like me. More importantly, we're not yet grown ups."

"Well," Wu-momo said after a pause, "we can't predict the future."

"Well," I echoed her pause. "I better get going now. Once again, thank you for all your hospitality. I really enjoyed my time here."

Beaming, Wu-momo gave a little curtsy and waved her hands to say goodbye. Xiao Lan wiped her eyes with a handkerchief before waving it in the air. I bowed solemnly to express the last of my gratitude before turning around to face the long path that seems to lead to nowhere.

Holding out Ji Kai's compass in front of me, I waited for the needle to stop spinning. The needle came to a hovering rest above the direction that points to the West, consistent with the direction of the path. Taking in a deep breath, I took tentative steps forward. I resisted the urge to glance over my shoulder to wave goodbye to them again. Freedom was just only a few steps away. If I looked back, I feared that I may never be able to leave this place again.

Following the stone path for what felt like a really long time, I noticed that my surroundings did not seem to change. Even trees had their distinctive characteristics and every scenery had its own distinctive features. But the garden around me looked like it was carefully constructed to be repetitive. Looking down at the ground, I realised that the path that I was walking on had suddenly disappeared. Soft grass was trampled under my feet, but when I lifted my shoes, the blades of grass stood perfectly tall and unbent. An unsettled feeling came over me but I tried to console myself that all I had to do was walk westward and I would be able to escape. Back at the jetty before we separated, Ji Kai had instructed me to just keep following the compass and walk until I see a house with traditional architecture.

I wondered why I had to use his personal compass to navigate my way. Would it not work if I had just used any random compass? If Ji Kai had given me his, then what would he use to make his way out? There was no way he could use the surroundings as markers to tell the direction.

Just as I was starting to feel exhausted from walking non-stop, the dark grey eave of a house came into view. My footsteps picked up as my heart throbbed with joy and thick anticipation. Entering through a tall wooden gate with no signboard, I found myself standing in the middle of a garden surrounded by high walls. However, the landscape of this garden was unlike that of the Garden. There was a duller and muted atmosphere and the warm air was slightly more humid and... smelt like the city.

Scrambling up the steps leading into the house, I stepped into what appeared to be the main hall for greeting guests. As there was no one in sight, I left the room through another door and wandered down the corridor. The wooden lanterns with red tassels hanging above me swayed serenely as a light gust of wind blew through the walkway. Turning around a bend, I found myself in another passageway decorated with a few pieces of Chinese paintings. One of them caught my eye when I realised that it was a painting of the Garden, the Tower and the huge lake with a mountain range in the backdrop.

"Young lady, how may I help you?" A voice from behind me jolted me out of my focused analysis of the painting.

I whipped my head around and saw a late-middle aged man wearing a uniform that said 'Security'. "I'm trying to find the exit," I blurted out but stopped short when I realised that I did not know how to explain my sudden presence. How was I going to explain that no one saw me enter this place because I came from an enchanted Garden in an alternate reality?

Thankfully, the security guard did not ask any questions and proceeded to show me the way out. Maybe they were expecting me or maybe they thought that I was Miss Li. But the security guard politely ushered me to the entrance. Glancing back to look at the traditional signboard hanging above the large opened doors, I saw the words "Wan Shu Lou".

"Sorry, may I ask what this building is?" I asked before my brain could process my words.

The security guard gave me a funny look. "This is the Wuxi branch office of Wanren Book Company."

"Wuxi? Wanren?" I gaped at the signboard and the golden characters on it. I had known before that Ji Kai's family was the owner of a large publishing company, but I did not care enough to know which one it was.

"Uncle, my friend told me that there would be a car that will pick me up from the entrance and take me back to Shanghai?"

The security guard pointed to a black sedan parked at the side of the building. Being a simple and ignorant student, I couldn't recognise the car brand, but the car plate was a string of rather auspicious numbers. "I'll go and notify the driver that the guest is here. Please wait here."

I thanked him and stood by the driveway. The building was located along the exit of a minor road with high traffic and was flanked by other traditional looking houses. The sound of passing cars and occasional honks brought me some comfort and relief.

"Are you Mr Ji Kai's guest?" A young man in a suit hurried out of the building and came up beside me. "Can you show me your token?"

"Oh, the compass?" I held it out and displayed it to him. Besides the compass, I did not have any of Ji Kai's belongings.

"Ok," the driver nodded and beckoned me to follow him. "Let's go."

After a little more than three hours, we finally arrived near my neighbourhood. It was at this time that my phone buzzed and lit up. One message from Ji Kai.

My thumb trembled as I tapped on the notification banner and input my password. A message from Ji Kai? Has he finally left the fictional universe?

The one second that my phone took to load the messaging application felt like forever. When the message finally loaded, my eyes skimmed the few words on the screen and my useless heart skipped a beat.

Hey Yuhan, have you reached home? Let's arrange a time to meet up for you to return my compass. 

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A/N: 2 chapters for Chinese New Year!

I know I said this was the last chapter, but there is actually going to be one more! Stay tuned~