Transmigrating Behind the Mirror to Become Her Guardian Lady - Chapter 2

“Clang”

A dull sound echoed in the dark, mirrored space, devoid of any resonance. In the water curtain, a door was swung wide open, coming to a gentle rest against a snow-white wall.

Shu Mengli stood before the shimmering water curtain, staring in bewilderment at the four people who had appeared behind the door. They weren’t people she knew, nor was it a place she recognized. What does this mean?

She sighed with a hint of disappointment. She had hoped that the opening of the door would provide a clue on how to return home; instead, it only left her more confused. However, Shu Mengli’s attention was quickly drawn back to the water curtain as the four people behind the door began to converse.

Their movements were clear, and their voices traveled through the water curtain into the mirror space without missing a single beat. For a moment, Shu Mengli felt as though she were watching a movie, and she couldn’t help but watch intently.

At the center of the doorway stood a noble lady. To her left was a young girl, elegantly dressed but wearing a haughty expression. Behind them stood a maid with a submissive, downcast gaze. Opposite these three stood a thin, frail girl with her head bowed and a gloomy aura about her.

Since the noble lady occupied the center position, Shu Mengli began her observations there.

Purely in terms of looks, the lady was exceptionally beautiful delicate and fair, with a gentle smile playing on her lips. She looked exactly like a tender, comforting “white lotus” type. She was dressed in winter clothes that looked incredibly expensive; an average well-to-do family could never afford such an outfit.

Except…

Shu Mengli stroked her chin. The style of the clothing was quite outdated—it looked like a fashion from about eighteen years ago. She was certain it was eighteen years.

Shu Mengli was the editor-in-chief of Fengxiang, the top fashion magazine in the country. At twenty-eight years old, she had reached her position in the cutthroat fashion industry through sheer talent and grit. She was naturally shrewd, calculating, and an expert at reading people.

Consequently, she saw through the beautiful lady at a single glance. Though the woman appeared amiable and gentle, her eyes flickered with a hidden sharpness, and her smile didn’t reach them. She was clearly a woman of deep schemes.

This person won’t be easy to get along with, Shu Mengli analyzed silently.

Sure enough, a moment later, the lady’s voice came through the scene—tender yet tinged with a hint of heartache as she questioned the girl opposite her.

“Lulu, Auntie is asking you one last time: did you really not take Auntie’s necklace?”

Though she used the word “take,” her tone heavily implied “steal.”

Across the water curtain, the girl being questioned didn’t answer for a long time. For a moment, even the mirror space where Shu Mengli stood fell silent.

After a long while, the small, thin girl standing opposite the trio finally gave a response. She gave a very slight, almost imperceptible shake of her head. If Shu Mengli hadn’t been so observant, she would have missed it entirely.

The people within the water curtain, however, truly didn’t notice.

As soon as the noble lady finished speaking, the haughty little girl beside her barked in a sharp, shrill voice: “Mom! Jiang Weilu definitely stole it! She loves doing these petty, thieving things. My doll went missing last time, she must have stolen that too!”

So her name is Jiang Weilu. Shu Mengli’s gaze swept over the thin girl from head to toe, feeling as though she had just acquired a key piece of information. Since she couldn’t escape this bizarre mirror world for the time being, she might as well watch the events in the water curtain closely. Perhaps she could find a clue to get out.

With that thought, Shu Mengli simply sat cross-legged in front of the water curtain and began to watch seriously.

The haughty girl’s words left the thin Jiang Weilu looking distressed. She bit her lip and shook her head. “No, it wasn’t me.”

But her answer was ignored once again. The young maid standing behind the noble lady spoke up urgently, cutting Jiang Weilu off. “Madam, I clearly saw the Eldest Young Miss entering your room last night.”

Now, this is interesting.

Shu Mengli crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow as she watched the maid, sensing something fishy. The maid’s eyes were darting, her voice was hurried, and her fingers were subconsciously twitching as she spoke. This maid was lying.

Yet, the noble lady seemed not to hear Jiang Weilu’s defense at all. Upon hearing the maid’s words, she immediately looked at the thin girl with a pained expression.

“Lulu! You are a daughter of the Jiang family; is there anything you lack? Why must you come to my room to…”

She seemed unable to bring herself to say the rest. She sighed before continuing, “Lulu, what you are doing is wrong. Whether it’s lying or steal… taking Auntie’s things. You are at an age where you are still growing. Although I am not your biological mother, I cannot sit by and watch you fall into depravity.”

“How about this: to temper your character, you will spend tonight in the storage room reflecting on your actions. Learn what can be done and what cannot.”

“Don’t come out for dinner, either. Your father is returning tonight. If he finds out about this, it won’t be as simple as just reflecting. Do you understand?”

How cruel.

Shu Mengli’s elegant brows knitted together. Although the noble lady spoke with “heartfelt pain,” acting as if every word was for the child’s own good and even worrying about the father’s punishment, she was actually using a blunt knife to carve flesh. Her words were painful and damaging. With a few light sentences, she was locking a child in a storage room and forbidding her from eating.

It’s likely a classic drama of a stepmother abusing the daughter of the first wife, Shu Mengli deduced from their snippets of conversation.

Moreover…

Shu Mengli’s eyes swept over the winter clothes the people were wearing, and her mood for “watching a play” vanished.

The time in the water curtain appeared to be winter. Would a storage room have heating in the middle of a freezing winter? Staying in there overnight would surely freeze someone.

Furthermore, this girl named Jiang Weilu was so thin and small, looking only about seven or eight years old. Her tiny face had slightly bulging eyes and sunken cheeks. There was no telling how many times she had suffered such abuse. Even her eyes, which should have been bright at her age, had lost their light, filled only with a dim gloom.

She was clearly quite beautiful, but she had been raised to be nothing but skin and bones. Despite her expensive clothes, her expression was somber and her aura was dark. This was the look of someone who had been mistreated for a long time the look of a child being raised “crooked.”

This immediately made Shu Mengli think of her own niece, who was the same age but was fair, chubby, and twice the size of Jiang Weilu a child who laughed at everyone and was bright and lovable.

Comparing the two, Shu Mengli felt a pang of heartache for the girl named Jiang Weilu.

However, the thin Jiang Weilu seemed accustomed to such scenes. She didn’t nod, but she didn’t resist either. She stood there in silence without making a sound.

The lying maid was clearly on the stepmother’s side. Upon hearing the lady’s orders, she immediately moved to execute them. She grabbed Jiang Weilu by the arm and shoved her toward the storage room. Her movements were rough, nearly causing Jiang Weilu to stumble and fall in a pathetic heap.

Seeing Jiang Weilu’s wretched state, the haughty little girl beside the noble lady burst into loud laughter, as if she were watching a monkey show.

The stepmother’s lips curled into a subtle, satisfied smirk as she turned to leave.

As she moved, Shu Mengli saw clearly from her side of the water curtain that a necklace was lying in the stepmother’s pocket.

The maid’s lie, the necklace in the stepmother’s pocket, and Jiang Weilu being locked in confinement.

Connecting the dots, Shu Mengli understood instantly: this was a coordinated frame-up designed to target a child not even ten years old.

Damn it.

Shu Mengli felt her fists tighten.

At that moment, the haughty little girl being led away by the stepmother suddenly turned her head. She looked at Jiang Weilu standing in the storage room and, with a malicious smile, silently mouthed a few words:

“Motherless trash.”

Then, the storage room door was slammed shut by the maid.

Inside the water curtain and outside the mirror, everything returned to silence.

You little brat!

Shu Mengli raised her hand and mimed a slap through the air at the back of the haughty girl, wondering how a child so young could be so wicked.

But Jiang Weilu showed no reaction to the girl’s insults, appearing even less angry than Shu Mengli, who was a total stranger. She simply turned around calmly and, in a storage room with nowhere to sit, found a random corner. She sat down on the floor freezing cold in the winter and hugged her knees, staring into the distance with vacant, glazed eyes.

Watching this scene, Shu Mengli felt a tightening in her chest. It seemed the child was used to being bullied.

After a long while, Jiang Weilu slowly lowered her head, burying it in her knees. Her shoulders began to twitch.

Is she crying secretly?

Shu Mengli was stunned for a moment, but then she realized how could she not want to cry?

Her own eight-year-old niece would wail for ages over a tiny scratch, let alone a child who had likely been treated like this since she was small. How could she not be sad? And from the stepmother’s words, it sounded like her father wasn’t someone who loved her either.

A scumbag father, a stepmother, and a wicked younger sister… Shu Mengli didn’t even want to imagine what kind of life this little girl lived on a daily basis.

In an instant, Shu Mengli’s maternal instincts as an older sister surged. She felt heartache for the girl and anger on her behalf. She couldn’t help but sigh aloud.

“What’s the use of crying?”

You should toughen up and beat them until they beg for mercy!

The sigh wasn’t particularly loud, so Shu Mengli, who had been shouting in the mirror space for a long time without receiving any response, didn’t think much of it.

Therefore, she didn’t see that as her voice fell, Jiang Weilu—who had been huddled in the corner—slowly lifted her head. She wiped her tears and looked toward the shelf opposite her with misty eyes.

Was it… an illusion? She thought she heard someone speaking just now.

But almost immediately, Jiang Weilu shook her head, thinking she had misheard. She had been locked in this storage room for “reflection” countless times. This place was as old and dusty as a haunted house, filled with her mother’s belongings. It was the place her father hated most; no one would come here but her.

However, in the next second, her thoughts were overturned because Jiang Weilu heard that gentle, beautiful female voice again. This time, it was even clearer, and she could even detect a tone of indignation.

“What kind of adults plot against a little child like this!”

Jiang Weilu’s eyes snapped wide. She heard it! Someone really was speaking.

Because she was frequently locked in the storage room, Jiang Weilu was very familiar with the layout. In an instant, she determined the sound was coming from the shelf opposite the door.

But… but no one ever came to the storage room. Because it held her mother’s things…

Could it… could it be a ghost!

Jiang Weilu’s face turned pale instantly, terrified by her own thought. But then she remembered that the female voice just now was clearly on her side, and she felt a bit more at ease.

What if it is a ghost? Could a ghost be scarier than people?

And the voice was supporting her… Could it be that her mother’s belongings were protecting her?

Jiang Weilu blinked, and a flicker of light appeared in her normally dead eyes. Supporting herself with her hands, she scrambled up from the cold floor, wanting to find the source of the voice and see who was speaking for her.

Perhaps Jiang Weilu herself didn’t realize how much she craved warmth at that moment—so much so that even if it were something as ethereal as a ghost or a spirit, she was willing to try and believe.

The storage room wasn’t large, and Jiang Weilu soon reached the shelf where the sound had originated. The shelf was somewhat high; the malnourished child had to stand on her tiptoes to see the items placed on top.

There were many things on the shelf, but the most eye-catching was a wooden mirror. The mirror was small, only about the size of an adult woman’s palm. The glass was round, and the frame was made of an unknown red wood, carved with intricate and ancient patterns. They were wild, passionate vines embracing a cluster of unknown but beautiful flowers, gripping them tightly as if refusing to let go.

Currently, the small mirror sat on its stand, quiet and silent. Perhaps because it had been left in the storage room for too long, it was covered in a thick layer of dust, but one could vaguely see a person inside the mirror.

It was a complete silhouette of a person, not Jiang Weilu’s own face.

The child was momentarily startled, but after a moment of hesitation, she reached out her hand and wiped the mirror surface clean.

Under Jiang Weilu’s touch, the mirror became clear, and the figure inside became distinct.

It was a woman so beautiful she was breathtaking. Dressed in a camisole nightgown, she was charming and alluring. Long, black, wavy hair cascaded over her shoulders. Her nose was delicate and straight, her lips were naturally red without makeup, and her eyes seemed to hold both a misty haze and a field of stars. She was so beautiful she didn’t seem mortal.

At that moment, she was sitting cross-legged in the mirror with bare, jade-like feet, surrounded by darkness.

Jiang Weilu was captivated by such a beautiful person. For a long time, she couldn’t speak, only blinking in a daze, thinking this person was a hundred times more beautiful than her stepmother.

A second later, she finally reacted. Her small mouth hung open in utter shock; only now did she look a bit like a child should.

Inside the mirror… how can there be someone inside the mirror!

Yet, she couldn’t help but cling to the shelf, wanting to see the person inside more clearly.

The beautiful woman in the mirror was just as surprised as she was. Her lovely eyes were wide with shock, and her lips were parted, unable to find words.

And so, the person inside the mirror sat cross-legged, while the person outside the mirror stood on her tiptoes. They stared at each other with wide eyes, both completely stunned.

The room was silent for a long time.

Then, on this cold evening, inside the old storage room, Jiang Weilu heard the beautiful woman in the mirror speak in a gentle yet hesitant voice:

“You… can you hear me?”