Rebirth: Enchantment at the Golden Summit

Chapter 8: Good News

　　—There’s some good news.

　　Ge Si-han is on Earth.

　　—And there’s some bad news.

　　Ge Si-han is in Thailand on Earth in the 1950s.

　　Ge Si-han looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.

　　Listening, speaking, reading, and writing—listening and speaking are much easier than reading and writing. After studying for over three months, Ge Sihan had basically mastered the Thai alphabet and pronunciation rules and could communicate simply with people in everyday Thai. She then began studying the royal language, a foreign language (English), piano, and painting, while also receiving a basic general education (mathematics, chemistry, natural sciences, etc.).

　　All of her teachers were Tasapong.

　　Ge Sihan truly admired Teacher Tasapong. Although Tasapong admitted that his expertise was limited to Thai, the royal language, mathematics, and piano—and that his knowledge of painting and general education was only superficial—Ge Sihan felt this was more than sufficient; it was more than enough to teach an elementary school student.

　　Because Ge Sihan was progressing so quickly in English and math, Teacher Tasapong highly praised her talent in these subjects. Adit, who was far away in France, received Ge Sihan’s homework via fax from Teacher Tasapong every month. After reviewing it, he couldn’t help but remark, “This little girl’s Thai writing is really quite poor.”

　　Teacher Tasapong was very optimistic about Ge Sihan’s future, believing she could complete the elementary school curriculum in two or three years at most and move on to middle school.

As for why Ge Sihan—who had been 18 before her time travel—hadn’t caught up to the elementary school curriculum yet and still had to wait another two years, the reason was simple: she didn’t want to appear too extraordinary. If she acted like a genius now, finishing the curriculum ahead of schedule after only a few months of study at age 10, what would she do when she later encountered knowledge she didn’t know?

　　Her learning pace would suddenly drop, and that would be too strange.

　　Besides, Thai is really, really hard…! Ge Sihan pressed her hand to her forehead.

　　Once she could speak, Ge Sihan’s life became much easier. At the very least, she could express herself and was gradually coming to understand her surroundings.

　　First of all, this house was called “Golden Peak,” a massive estate covering a vast area. Aside from the main building where they lived, the gardens, horse stables, forests, and the ocean behind it all belonged to them.

　　It was an extremely wealthy family.

　　On her days off, Ge Sihan would go horseback riding with Usa—she certainly didn’t know how to ride, but Usa and Uncle Song, the servant in charge of the gardens and stables, did, and they were responsible for teaching her. If she finished her homework quickly and made good progress with her daily drawing and piano practice, Ge Sihan loved to take evening strolls along the shoreline on the beach when she had nothing else to do, letting her mind wander and relieving some stress.

　　One of the key figures in the family, Lady Montha, is the wife of the late Duke of Sanaruksgaironrong—a duchess.

　　She has two sons and one daughter. One son is a diplomat stationed in the UK and currently resides there with his wife; her other son inherited the Golden Roof and is now the most important figure in the family—he is the father of Adit Sirdom, the current owner of the Golden Roof. As for her youngest daughter, she has passed away. Her daughter gave birth to a daughter named Gaew, who married Talal Thewpongs Na Ayuthaya, the Thai Minister of Finance. She lives in Bangkok with her husband and has an only daughter.

　　Usa had shared all this information with her in private, and this was the first time Ge Si-han truly learned the name of the handsome young man who had helped her—Adit Sirdom.

　　But for some reason, upon hearing that name, she felt a strange sensation—a familiar sense of déjà vu, as if she had heard it somewhere long ago.

　　Ge Si-han racked her brain for a long time but simply couldn’t recall where. In the end, she could only attribute this sense of déjà vu to having heard it when she first arrived here and didn’t yet understand Thai.

The old lady didn’t like them, but according to modern Thai customs, as juniors, they were required to show respect to their elders no matter what. So, regardless of whether she could speak or not, Ge Si-han went to see the old lady every single day without fail to pay her respects.

　　In her heart, Ge Sihan secretly referred to this as “paying respects.”

　　Basically, all she had to do was smile, perform the wai, and say, “Hello, Grandma,” and that was it—after all, they didn’t really have anything to talk about.

　　When Adit was around, he stood in front of her, and the Old Lady’s heart was completely devoted to her grandson; if she got a glance from her once in ten visits, she considered herself lucky. But after Adit left to study in France, the old lady naturally focused her attention on her whenever she appeared.

　　If she went to pay her respects, the old lady would accuse her of being insincere; if she arrived a little late, the old lady would call her an ungrateful wretch. When the old lady was feeling well enough to come downstairs for meals, she would either sneer at her or scold her for eating the Sirdom family’s food yet failing to inherit even a shred of the Sirdom family’s good fortune… …Ge Sihan couldn’t fight back. On several occasions, she was so distressed that her heart raced and her vision went dark; she could only sigh deeply to the heavens when alone. This was why she liked to spend time by the deserted beach—simply to be alone in silence, or to scream and vent, to relieve the pressure.

　　Still, it was just a few verbal jabs. Ge Sihan wasn’t physically harmed, nor was she subjected to any material hardship. In fact, she and Usa each received a monthly allowance that was quite substantial by ordinary standards. Even if she went out to complain, people would say, “So what if an elder scolded you a little?”

　　No one would understand her feelings. Living under someone else’s roof and depending on their goodwill, Ge Sihan knew when to keep her head down and was grateful. After all, the fact remained that Jin Ding was providing her with a life where she never had to worry about food or shelter and could even pursue her hobbies… She was already lucky enough. The only two things she could do were to put on a good show and never complain to anyone.

　　Besides, the old lady was an elderly woman in poor health—how could she possibly bring herself to hold a grudge against her?

　　But perhaps as an aftereffect of her near-death experience, Ge Sihan’s health was still fragile. She couldn’t tolerate either cold or heat, and she occasionally coughed. Since Jinding was by the sea, unless the weather was exceptionally hot, she had to wear a sweater in the early morning and evening to stay warm—but if it got too hot, she’d feel unwell and lose her appetite. She truly felt extremely uncomfortable because of the Old Lady’s words and actions.

　　To keep the old lady’s behavior from making her sick, Ge Sihan has been working hard to adjust her mindset, feeling that she’d never been this mentally healthy even before her time travel.

Teacher Tasapong has been staying at Golden Summit Monday through Friday for the past few years, so naturally, she’s seen everything clearly.

　　She is a kind-hearted person. Although she believed Adit loved Ge Sihan dearly as a younger sister, seeing the old lady’s attitude still made her feel deeply sorry for Ge Sihan. Every month, in the teaching plans and student progress reports she sent to Adit, she must have written countless kind words about Ge Sihan, yet she never once mentioned these silent acts to Ge Sihan herself.

　　Whenever she was face-to-face with the old lady, Ge Sihan would feel particularly envious of Usa, because from the moment Usa left the house at 8:00 a.m. until she returned home around 3:00 or 4:00 p.m., she wasn’t at the Golden Summit, greatly reducing the time she had to spend with the old lady.

　　However, things changed when she turned 13. Teacher Tasapong believed she had mastered the elementary school curriculum and was ready to attend middle school to make new friends. Within a couple of days of the teacher informing Adit, Ge Si-han received instructions relayed by one of Adit’s subordinates—Adie had already made arrangements for her to enroll at the best girls’ middle school in the city in May.

　　Well, three years after her time travel, Ge Si-han was finally going to become a proud middle school student!

　　When she heard the news, Ge Sihan couldn’t help but smile. Although this meant she would have to say goodbye to her beloved Teacher Tasapong—a prospect that made her very reluctant—she was still overjoyed!

　　Everyone assumed she was happy because she could finally go out and make friends; even Adit’s subordinate reported it that way to Adit. But who could have known that this poor little girl was simply overjoyed at the thought that she would finally have to spend less time with the Old Lady!

　　Of course, Ge Sihan wasn’t completely confined all the time. In recent years, Adit had been busy with his studies and career in France, returning home only briefly each year. To spend more time with her grandson, the Old Lady would simply fly from Thailand to France to spend the holidays with him.

　　….... Ge Sihan was utterly amazed.

　　But leaving two underage girls at home wasn’t an option, so whenever the Old Lady went to France, Ge Sihan and Usa would be sent to Bangkok to stay with the Old Lady’s granddaughter—Ge Sihan and Usa’s nominal older sister—the wife of the Minister of Finance. Their only daughter, Pintong, was about the same age as Ge Sihan and Usa; she was a kind, gentle, and beautiful girl, and the three of them got along very well.

　　The good times didn’t last long. When Ge Sihan was 15, the Old Lady’s health deteriorated, and she was no longer fit to fly. This coincided with Dr. Adit’s final year of studies; after defending his thesis and earning his doctorate, he finally returned to Thailand.