Qi Yue was jolted awake by the insistent blare of her alarm. It was the specialized alarm she used for her night shifts—one she knew intimately… "Am I on duty today?" she mumbled, rubbing her head as she sat up, met by a blinding expanse of white.

White lights, white walls, a white desk piled high with textbooks, pens, patient files, and a stack of instant noodle containers. This was her… office!

"Doctor Qi…" a knock sounded, followed by the door swinging open. "We have an emergency…" Qi Yue stared blankly at the person entering.

This was a young woman, about twenty-four or twenty-five, plump, with short, ear-length hair, dressed in nurse scrubs and clutching an IV drip bag, clearly rushed off her feet. "Xiao Huang?" Qi Yue called out.

"What are you doing here too?" "Sister Qi, we're on the same shift," Xiao Huang said, smiling faintly, looking at her with confusion. "Are you alright?" Qi Yue scrambled up from the ** bed.

Really… I’m back! I’m back!

She laughed aloud, rushing forward to embrace Xiao Huang. "Sister Qi, are you really okay?" Xiao Huang asked, half-frightened, half-amused, hoisting the IV bag defensively.

"Careful of the needle…" "Xiao Huang, you have no idea. I had the most terrifying dream," Qi Yue said, smiling as she clutched her chest, savoring the sight of her surroundings—her office at Yan Jing Hospital.

Everything was so familiar… Wait a moment… "But… I wasn't in the countryside," she said, stunned. "Hurry up, we have an emergency," Xiao Huang was already striding away, beckoning her along.

Qi Yue nodded; in the face of an emergency, everything else yielded. She snatched the white lab coat hanging by the bed and bolted out.

The hospital corridor at night was profoundly quiet. Qi Yue sprinted towards the Emergency Room with practiced ease.

From a distance, she could see nurses and doctors rushing towards her, pushing a gurney. Qi Yue hurried to intercept them.

"What's the situation?" she demanded loudly, reaching out to take the gurney. The cart and the people pushing it sped toward her, then passed directly through her body.

Qi Yue stood frozen in disbelief, staring down at her own hands. The noise of the commotion resumed behind her.

Qi Yue whipped around, eyes wide, watching the group disappear into the Emergency Room doors. Am I… "Doctor Qi… Doctor Qi…" someone shouted urgently.

Qi Yue shouted a response and rushed toward the ER doors. The doors opened, revealing the frantic activity inside.

"Doctor Qi, the patient has a history of heart disease… Blood pressure is plummeting…" a doctor yelled, anxiously urging her forward. "Doctor Qi, Doctor Qi, you need to come quickly, hurry up, hurry!" Qi Yue felt her own heart hammer violently.

She shouted an acknowledgment and lunged toward the entrance. The door slammed shut precisely at that moment.

Qi Yue instinctively raised a hand to block it, felt a violent jolt run through her body, and snapped her eyes open. The room was pitch black—a darkness impossible in the light-polluted world of modern society.

She raised a hand and drew deep, ragged breaths. "Xiao Huang?" she called out.

No reply came. Qi Yue got out of the ** bed, struggling to adjust to the dark, when a sudden clap of thunder made her cry out in alarm.

A flash of lightning split the night sky, illuminating the room as if in daylight. Qi Yue clearly saw the ancient, utterly non-modern furnishings surrounding her.

It was just a dream, after all… As the thunder faded, Qi Yue rose and lit the lamp. Another peal of rolling thunder sounded overhead.

"Why is there thunder in the middle of winter?" she murmured, pulling on her clothes. The thunder passed, and the sound of outside commotion filtered in.

"Fire… water is rising…" a voice called, seeming to come from both near and far. Firewater?

Did that mean a fire? Qi Yue suddenly recalled the usage from Dream of the Red Chamber and hurried out.

Stepping out the door, she saw firelight blazing in the western half of the sky. The air was thick with smoke, and the noise was growing more intense.

"How did a fire start?" she called out loudly. In the courtyard, a maid stood stock-still, clutching her hands in prayer while staring toward the flames.

Hearing Qi Yue, she turned. "Young Mistress.

I don't know…" the maid replied. Qi Yue looked toward the fire.

How effective were ancient firefighting measures? The casualty rate for fires was huge… "Where is it?

Did everyone get out?" she asked quickly. "It's nothing.

No one was there. It's the Qiutong Courtyard; no one lives there.

Young Mistress, don't worry, it's under control; it won't reach here…" the maid called back loudly. As she spoke, another clap of thunder rolled across the sky, drowning out her words.

"What did you say? Where is the fire?" Qi Yue heard her indistinctly, but then the words seemed to pierce through, and she gasped, shouting, "Where is the fire?" "It's the Qiutong Courtyard…" the maid called back loudly.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than Qi Yue bolted out the door. Qiutong Courtyard!

Qiutong Courtyard! Oh, heavens!

Another lightning flash lit up the scene. "Heavens, why such a storm in deep winter?" the maid cried, sinking to her knees and trembling.

Thunder… Qi Yue looked up, breathing heavily. Yes, this thunder… she had seen this thunder before—it was roaring when she fell off the mountain… Does that mean she could go back?

If she could just reach the Qiutong Courtyard now? Qi Yue felt her whole body tremble, her hairs standing on end.

The dream hospital had been calling her, summoning her back… I want to go back, I can go back… Qi Yue nearly tripped over the threshold, stumbling as she ran out. "Young Mistress, Young Mistress, it's bad!" A Ru's voice sounded from behind her.

Qi Yue’s feet halted abruptly. She turned to look.

"Young Mistress, Young Master Huang has a fever again!" A Ru burst out of the room where the invalid was kept, the light from the corridor lantern illuminating the anxious expression on her face. What?

Qi Yue froze. "Again…?" she demanded loudly.

"He started running a fever this afternoon. Doctor Liu said it wasn't serious and didn't want to wake you, but it hasn't broken yet…" A Ru rushed over.

She glanced up toward the distant glow of the fire. "A Ru, the Qiutong Courtyard is on fire," Qi Yue said, her breath catching.

A Ru paused. She knew there was a fire, but since she’d been assured it wouldn't spread here, and in her haste to care for the patient, she hadn't asked the location.

Qiutong Courtyard?! "I… I want to go look.

Maybe I can go back…" Qi Yue whispered, restraining her excitement. A Ru looked at her, her expression instantly complicated.

"Young Mistress, but… if there's a fire…" A Ru stammered, her eyes filled with concern for Qi Yue. Has she gone mad from wanting to return…?

"Look at this thunder," Qi Yue pointed to the sky. As she gestured, a massive clap of thunder struck nearby, a deafening roar.

A Ru instinctively clapped her hands over her ears and cried out. "When I arrived here, it was thundering just like this," Qi Yue said, her voice hoarse with excitement and tension.

"And it was… winter…" Is that true…? "Then… then, hurry and go…" A Ru said faintly, looking at Qi Yue.

Qi Yue gave her a deep look, reached out, and hugged her. "A Ru, take care of yourself," she murmured.

A Ru nodded, tears welling up. Qi Yue released her and spun around, running with long strides.

"A Ru, hurry, have you woken the Young Mistress? He’s started vomiting!

Young Master Huang is vomiting…" Hu San rushed out of the sickroom door, shouting. Qi Yue, who had only taken a few steps, stopped dead.

"Let Doctor Liu think of a way…" A Ru turned back, sobbing. Hu San paused at her words, then spotted Qi Yue, who was already outside the door.

"The Young Mistress is awake? Where is the Young Mistress going?" he asked.

Fever, vomiting… Qi Yue breathed in short, sharp gasps, feeling as if her heart was about to leap out of her throat. She looked up at the continuous roll of thunder, then toward the brightly lit western sky where the fire raged… Damn it.

She let out a heavy curse. As Hu San finished speaking, he watched Qi Yue turn and run back.

A Ru stared dazedly as Qi Yue ran past her. "What is it?" she called out loudly, quickly climbing the steps and rushing back into the house.

As dawn began to break, Qi Yue finally stood before the Qiutong Courtyard, before her lay the scorched, black-smoking ruins of broken walls and crumbling foundations. The rolling thunder was gone… The house was gone… Gone… Gone… Half of the Qiutong Courtyard was gutted.

The firefighters were still spraying water onto the wreckage. People milled everywhere in chaos, a cacophony of noise.

Qi Yue, clad in the white cloth gown that resembled a doctor’s coat, stood out jarringly against the scene. "Young Mistress, Young Mistress, please, don't come here, it’s dangerous…" the servants who recognized her rushed over to say.

Qi Yue ignored them, seemingly unable to hear or see. She stared blankly at the half-ruined area before her, watching smoking rafters fall, smashing onto the ground in puffs of ash and sparks.

"Young Mistress, you can't go in. The residual heat hasn't dissipated; you mustn't enter," A Ru shouted, gripping Qi Yue’s arm desperately.

The other servants were terrified, unable to fathom why the Young Mistress had suddenly come here. In this situation, masters and servants alike were fleeing, yet she ran to stand here, seemingly stupefied, now attempting to rush inward.

"Don't stop me. Make way, get out of the way," Qi Yue automatically struggled against the obstruction.

Her gaze was fixed solely on the broken walls before her; she saw nothing else. I can’t go back… I can’t go back… This dream will never end… "Young Mistress, we absolutely cannot go look now.

We'll wait, and A Ru will go in with you to look later…" A Ru held on tight, weeping. Another commotion erupted in the distance.

"What are you doing here?" Chang Yuncheng called out, watching the woman whom A Ru couldn't hold back, who was instead dragging the servant toward the burnt ruins. Qi Yue heard nothing.

She had always believed this was a dream she would wake from, waking to find herself still herself, living her familiar life, complaining about trivialities, working hard, earning money, perhaps starting a new romance, marrying, and having children. None of it—the Residence of the Dingning Marquis, the wives and concubines, the cold and capricious heir husband—had anything to do with her.

That belief was why she could watch these people with such detached amusement as they enacted their dramas of weeping, struggling, love, and hate. But in this moment, she suddenly realized she wasn't an audience member; she was an actor, a part of this very drama… Or perhaps, she should have realized it long ago, but simply refused to admit it.

In truth, she could never go back, not from the moment she woke up here… But she refused to relinquish that hope, refused to accept that reality, stubbornly clinging to the notion so she could escape the terrifying truth. The truth that she would never see her family again, never return to her familiar life, but would live out her days utterly alone in this strange time and space, dying alone.

I want to go home… I want to go home… I don't want to be here alone… "Let go, release me," Qi Yue shouted, violently shaking off the force that was preventing her from charging toward the Qiutong Courtyard. A Ru, unable to withstand her near-frenzied strength, was thrown aside.

With the obstruction gone, Qi Yue felt unbound and rushed forward. A powerful grip seized her arm.

"What madness is this now!" Chang Yuncheng shouted, pulling Qi Yue close. The sharp pain in her wrist cleared some of Qi Yue's hazy awareness.

She turned her head to look at the man before her. This man was handsome and spirited… He was a living person, a real human being, not a character spawned in a game or a phantom conjured in a dream.

He would never vanish simply because she wished it… Everything was real. This was not a dream.

Wake up, you fool.