Zella arrived at the police station and immediately saw the man. After a confused explanation with the police, they finally believed that she knew him.
She decided to take him back to her supermarket first.
"Put the helmet on!" she said, handing him one.
"By the way, what's your name?"
"Cian."
Zella paused when she heard the name. Could it be that he really time-traveled?
He was so clumsy that he didn't even know how to wear a helmet. Zella quickly helped him put it on.
Cian had already sat in the police car earlier, but this was his first time on an electric scooter.
When Zella started the scooter, he got scared and grabbed onto her clothes tightly.
For some reason, ever since he came here, he felt like all his inner strength was gone.
Once they reached the supermarket, Zella parked the scooter and tugged on Cian's sleeve, leading him to the bathhouse next door.
It was summer, and since he hadn't showered all night, he was starting to smell.
"Go take a shower first. I'll go buy you some clean clothes," Zella said, deciding she might as well help him all the way.
She asked a staff member to take the clothes she bought into the bathhouse. Cian looked at the strange clothes, unsure of what to do.
Zella had been wearing long skirts and long-sleeved sun-protective clothing the last two days, so he hadn't thought much about it.
But now, he had to wear clothes that only covered half his legs and left his arms exposed.
And there was also this weird square-shaped piece of fabric.
Zella noticed that he had been inside for almost an hour. Even if he hadn't bathed for a whole week, that was still too long.
She asked the staff to check on him. If he really was from ancient times, maybe he didn't know how to use the shower.
With help from the staff, Cian finally came out wearing the clothes she had bought.
"You didn't wash your hair?" Zella frowned. "Isn't that part of cleaning up too?"
Hearing that, Cian started heading back.
"Forget it, forget it. Come with me."
She took him to a hair salon. Originally, she wanted to get his hair cut, but Cian firmly refused.
In the end, they just washed it. After returning to the supermarket, Zella took out a jade pendant and handed it to Cian.
"This thing is too valuable. I can't take it!" he said.
As for the money he'd spent the past two days, Zella decided to consider it a good deed.
"You've given me so many things. Think of this as my silver payment to you. If we ever meet again, I'll make sure to thank you properly!" he said seriously.
To him, a man's word is his bond. Once something is given, it shouldn't be taken back.
…Was he really clueless?
Who repays someone with an antique worth hundreds of thousands just for a meal and a set of clothes?
"You keep it. It's too valuable, I don't want it!" Zella said, trying to push the jade back into his hands.
As they kept arguing over it, Cian's old wound reopened, and Zella's right index finger got a small cut too.
A drop of blood came out.
Suddenly, the jade pendant began to glow.
Zella and Cian both felt dizzy and passed out.
When Zella woke up, her first thought was whether she had locked the supermarket doors. What if someone tried to steal something?
It was already dark. She got up to turn on the lights.
But instead, she saw a fire next to her.
???
Following the light from the flames, she saw a bunch of weeds... and a small river nearby.
Was she kidnapped?
Zella was stunned when she saw Cian walk back in. Somehow, he had returned to his own world—but the strange part was, the person from the other world had come with him.
Zella stared at him. He was holding two fish, looking calm and unbothered.
"You… I'm warning you! You better send me back right now! Or I'll call the police!"
She was sure of it now—he must be a human trafficker! Damn it, she had let her guard down.
Was she going to be sold to some remote mountain village to become someone's wife?
Thinking of that, Zella completely broke down. She sat on the ground and began to cry loudly.
"Ahhh! Waaa! I saved you! And you're going to sell me to some old man to be his wife!"
Cian looked confused after hearing that. What was she talking about—selling her to an old man?
He stuck the fish on a branch and started roasting them over the fire.
Then, he walked over and gently tapped Zella on the shoulder.
"Miss, I think you've misunderstood. I have no intention of selling you to anyone."
Zella looked up at Cian. Actually, now that she looked closer—he was kind of handsome. He even looked a bit like some actor…
She quickly shook her head. Ugh, what's wrong with her? How could she be crushing on someone at a time like this?
"Then where are we? We were clearly in my family's supermarket," she asked with teary eyes, looking pitiful.
"This is the Kingdom of Tiansi. You might be from another world. During our struggle, I somehow returned to my world again."
With Cian's explanation, Zella remembered—it might have been that jade pendant!
She recalled the pendant had changed color when it touched her blood, and then she passed out. When she woke up, she was already here.
"Give me the pendant!" she said. If she wanted to go back, that pendant was the key.
Cian didn't seem to mind. After all, the pendant had originally been given to Zella by him.
Once she had it, she quickly pricked her finger, letting her blood drip onto the pendant, hoping it would send her back.
But after waiting for a while, nothing happened.
Was she wrong? Was the pendant not the key?
Did that mean she couldn't go back to her original world?
No way! She still had family there! In this world, she had nothing—she didn't know how to do anything.
Thinking of that, she sat on the ground again and started crying all over.
Cian watched the whole thing, completely stunned.
Eventually, Zella cried herself out. Cian handed her some roasted fish, and she started eating it hungrily.
She still didn't know where she was and was too afraid to fall asleep, worried that if she closed her eyes, Cian might disappear.
Cian seemed to understand what she was thinking.
"Go ahead and sleep. We've got a long way to travel tomorrow. It's not safe here. I still have to report important matters to my father."
He wondered how his father was doing now.
Zella was truly exhausted. She finally leaned on Cian's arm and fell asleep. She didn't care anymore—if he could chop off his own arm to escape, then so be it.
They traveled off and on for about a week. Along the way, Cian even found her some traditional clothes to wear.
Finally, on the seventh day, they reached what Cian called the Shen household.
White cloth was hanging everywhere—it looked like a funeral was being held.
When Cian arrived at the gate, an old man saw him and looked like he had seen a ghost.
"Young master, you're alive! They said you were… You're alive, that's wonderful. Madam has been heartbroken and hasn't gotten out of bed."
"Is my mother okay? Quick, take me to see her," Cian said urgently, ignoring everything else.
Neither he nor the old man noticed Zella standing quietly nearby.
Zella tugged on Cian's sleeve, and only then did they remember her.
"Who is this?" the old man asked.