A/N: Alright, here is the first chapter. You see the bits down there in blue? They are vocabulary. Sometimes, I can't translate the Chinese into English, so I may use the Chinese Pinyin. Thus I put a vocab section down there for any things you may need to know during the chapter. Anythign with an asterisk comes up to here. Sometimes it's not Pinyin but a tradition that needs to be explained. So continue reading...

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Hao = Good. I would have put good in there but it’s kinda awkward when translated to English…so yea…

Aunt *name* = like ahjumma in Korean. If it was Chinese it would have been *name* a-yi. Used to older women who are in your parents generation. Not necessarily related.

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“Huang Zitao! Will you please get off your phone or whatever and pay attention?!”

Zitao rolled his eyes, yanking out his headphones in irritation and turned to his mother.

“I’m paying attention.” He replied calmly, annoying his mother to no end.

“Zitao, please do not act this way in front of your fiancée’s family, you are such an embarrassment.” His mother sighed, placing her head in her hands as she shook her head.

“Well it’s not like you care enough to ask for my consent to the engagement before you simply just arranged it.” Zitao replied scathingly, quite hurt at his mother’s attitude. He turned away from the woman, looking at the paintings that covered the room that he was currently standing in.

Huang Zitao is a 19 year old boy, still attending university, when his mother suddenly announced that he had a fiancée.  He couldn’t believe his ears when his mother prattled on about his pretty the girl was and blah blah blah. Zitao knew that the girl was from a pretty affluent family, she attended the same university that he did. He knew that they girl had always had some crazy, near insane fangirl obsession with him, but the fact that she had use her power to ask her father to arrange a marriage was beyond crazy. It had just so happened that his family was struggling with money, ever since his father had died last year, their only source of income had disappeared, as his mother had never worked before.

Zitao had an interest in history, he loved reading stories about ancient China, about how the emperor would have one wife and so many concubines. He felt pity for the concubines, he didn’t really believe that someone could hold more than one person in their heart. He was particularly fond of the Qing Dynasty, so fond that he even had a favourite emperor, Emperor Yixing. Emperor Yixing was a hard working emperor, who changed Imperial China with the things that he introduced. Zitao greatly admired Emperor Yixing and his way of ruling China.

“Oh, they’re going to be a few minutes late!” Zitao’s mother cried, closing her phone from which she had just received a call from his fiancée’s family. Zitao rolled his eyes, plugging himself back into his earphones as he walked by the bookshelf. Another hobby if Zitao’s was reading, he loved to read. Especially historical works, whether they be fact or fiction. The only good thing about this place, Zitao noted was that it had many books and quite a few antique works depicting imperial China.

Zitao stopped at one book. He didn’t know why he chose that particular book, however it seemed to be calling out to him. It was a pretty thin, worn out book, an A4 paperback book. He picked it up, running his hands over the cover and noticing just how old it felt. Curiosity led him to open the book, and once he did, a puff of dust emerged, making its way into Zitao’s face. He coughed, swishing at the air with his hands to disperse the dust particles. Once the dust had all gone, he noticed that a paper had dropped to the ground. He panicked, wondering if he had broken the old book simply by opening it, as he stopped to pick the paper up. The paper had been folded into quarters, and it was soft to touch, leaving Zitao to wonder exactly how old it was.

He unfolded the paper, turning it around until it was the right way up. At first glance it seemed like a portrait, a drawing of a woman painted on it. Once it was the right way up, Zitao gasped, almost dropping the paper in shock.

The woman painted on the paper looked exactly like him.

They looked so similar, it wasn’t that the woman looked like a female version of Zitao, but more like it looked like Zitao was dressing as a woman, or that the woman was dressing as Zitao in the present day. Zitao looked closer, noticing that there was writing painted on the bottom.

“Zitao! She has arrived! Zitao! Are you listening to me?!” his mother yelled. But Zitao paid no attention to her, looking closer at the writing. Suddenly a wind gust blew through the window, snatching the paper from Zitao’s grasp. He looked up, semi-consciously following the paper, his feet leading him outside the venue.

“Zitao! You get back here right now!”

But Zitao took no notice of his mother, intent on following the paper, which seemed to have a life of its own. It drifted on and on, leading Zitao on a chase through the forest. Zitao put his other senses on alert, the forest was a place with many traps and accidents just waiting to happen.

But at long last, the paper settled on a tree. Zitao smiled, walking closer to the tree, reaching his hand out for the paper.

“You must go back…”

Zitao shrieked, the loud sound reverberating around the silent forest. He turned around, panicked, looking for the source of the voice.

“Go back…”

Zitao found it. It was the person from the painting, or the one who looked exactly the same as he did. She was dressed in clothing that a concubine would have worn. Zitao stared at his doppelganger, watching as she slowly faded out, thoroughly creeped out now.

It was only then Zitao noticed the eclipse happening. He mentally scolded himself, he had forgotten that today there would be a solar eclipse, it was not the best time to be in the forest when the sunshine would almost completely disappear for a moment. The eclipse was nearly complete, only a small curve of the sun was able to be seen. He watched, entranced by the sight as the moon slowly covered the sun.

And then the eclipse happened, the sun now appearing as a halo surrounding the black shadow of the moon. Zitao watched in air, admiring the ‘ring’ in the sky. A flash turned his attention back to the paper. It was glowing. The tree that it was on was glowing as well. Zitao, stepped off the roots of the tree, backing away from the paper slowly. A bright white flash blinded Zitao, his would turned completely white, the only sight he could see was the solar eclipse.

***

“Hey! Could you show us something more interesting?”

Loud raucous laughter followed the statement, the men around the one who had shouted it rising from their seats to give their similar opinions. The performer on the stage flushed an angry red, tears gathering in her eyes as she listened to their insults and criticism.

“ARGH!!!”

There was a flash of white light before Zitao appeared out of nowhere, tumbling down from the skies with a shriek. His scream attracted the attention of the audience that had been watching the performance. They stared with their mouth agape as Zitao fell, quicker and quicker due to the pull of gravity.

“Oh my god, I’m going to die!” Zitao yelled. He looked around him as he fell, looking for anything to grab onto to stop his fall. And he saw something. There was a red ribbon attached to the curtain for the stage. It was within reaching distance and if he did grab it, he could swing to safety. He reached out his hands, thanking his lucky stars when he felt the red ribbon in his hands. He held on to it for dear life, swinging through the air, before he realised he was in fact going to face plant right into a wall if he didn’t let go. So he let go, thanking his master for all the wushu lessons learnt, when he did a flip, landing perfectly on his feet, in quite a cool pose, might I add.

The audience was silent for a while, before applause erupted, the men standing up to give Zitao a standing ovation.

“Hao! Hao!*” the men yelled, throwing money at Zitao.

It was then that Zitao realised, he had landed right in the middle of the stage. He stared around him for a while, completely confused and lost, before a woman emerged from the left wing of the stage, taking his arm and yanking him right off the stage.

“Who are you?” was the first thing the woman demanded when  he had reached the backstage.

“H-Huang Zitao.” Zitao stuttered, quite frightened of the woman’s fierce glare.

“Huang Zitao…” the woman started. Zitao cringed, fearing the worst.

“You are amazing! Where did you learn that? Where did you get these unique clothes from? That was an amazing performance, could you perform with us from now on?” the woman said, her eyes shining.

Zitao was quite taken aback by the woman’s request. He had noticed that he had stumbled upon some weird, Imperial China Festival or something. That seemed the only logical reason why everyone was dressed in ancient garments.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what year is this?” Zitao hesitantly asked. The woman stared at him before bursting out into laughter.

“Oh you silly child. Of course it is 1721, the Qing Dynasty under the rule of the great Emperor Hangeng…my child are you alright?”

Zitao had out.

***

When Zitao woke up, he noticed that he was on a rather uncomfortable excuse for a bed. He sat up with a groan, feeling the pain shoot through his head. Evidently, he had hit his head pretty hard.

“Oh you’re up!”

Zitao stared around himself, waiting for the dots impairing his vision to disappear. Then he noticed the same woman from yesterday. He seemed to be in, what he assumed was her house. It wasn’t a poorly furnished house, but from his knowledge of the imperial China, it looked like she was teetering on the edge of middle and lower class.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude on your house.” Zitao mumbled, bowing his head.

“Oh no, don’t worry about it my child.” The woman smiled. She was completely different from yesterday, when she had been so fierce.

“May I ask, what do you call yourself?” Zitao asked politely.

“So polite, I wish I could have a son like you. My name is Wang Feifei.” She smiled. “So Zitao, you don’t look like you are from these parts.”

“Oh…no I’m not. Would you believe me if I said that I’m from the future?” Zitao said hesitantly.

Feifei smiled. “Of course. Was is yesterday when the eclipse happened?”

“Oh…yes! How did you know…?” Zitao said, shocked.

“Because, when the eclipse happens, two worlds line up and become one, and the portal opens. If you happen to the at the place where the portal opens, you get transported through to wherever the eclipse happened elsewhere. Of course, many eclipses happen, but each portal leads to a different time and place.” Feifei explained.

“So how do I get back?”

“When the next eclipse happened. If my calculations are correct, the next eclipse will happen in…a little over a year. After that, it will happen 4 years later. What brought you to the portal? Not everyone can find one.” Feifei inquired.

“Well, I was at my…engagement party when I saw a book. In the book there was a painting of a woman that looked exactly like me. But the wind made it fly away and it landed on a tree. Then the eclipse happened…and I ended up here.” Zitao said.

“Then it must be fate that lead you to it. You must do as fate says you do. What did your portrait look like?”

“I,” Zitao hesitated, embarrassed. “the portrait of me looked like I was dressed a woman, wearing concubine’s clothing.”

Feifei nodded.

“So Fate has dictated that you belong in the Forbidden City. Incredible isn’t if Fate? Eunuchs and palace maids have been sent out all week, this week they are scouting for servants. It is nearly time for the annual initiation after all. They are actually coming to this village today, looking for palace maids. We could…” Feifei mused. Zitao widened his eyes, not liking where this was going.

“No…”

***

“On behalf of Emperor Hangeng, we are here to search for those loyal to Emperor Hangeng, willing to serve him in the Forbidden City.” An eunuch yelled out, after hitting the gong. The villagers had gathered in the town centre, watching the procession. There were 4 palace maids and 4 eunuchs. Technically 5 eunuchs but the one that was talking was obviously the head eunuch. He was wearing a red uniform while the rest wore blue.

“Aunt Feifei*, remind me, why am I doing this again?” Zitao asked.

Zitao had been dressed is the clothes of the time that he was in. Except in female clothes. He was dressed in the clothes of Feifei’s late daughter, who was around Zitao’s age when she had died. Even though, Zitao was obviously tall for a girl, Feifei’s daugher had been not the skinniest person. Her tops hung slightly loose of Zitao, but obviously her skirt was much too short. Feifei was experienced in sewing though, and she had added some length onto the clothes. Zitao was lucky that he had had no time for a haircut back in present time, his hair reached his shoulder and was long enough to be tied up, letting him pass for a poor, village girl.

“Because Fate has said so. You may come back and visit anytime, it does get quite lonely by myself. Go join the line, Zitao.” Feifei winked, giving Zitao a gentle push. He joined the line of other village girls. The line was of average length, not everyone was willing to risk sending their daughter into there. But there was always the chance of their daughter becoming a concubine of a prince, or the emperor, and those whose daughters were palace maids, their families were paid greatly for their daughter’s services.

And so Zitao entered the well, it wasn’t really a carriage, but it was horse drawn, and open, in a way looking like a portable bench. He sat on the bench next to some other village girls. And so began the ride to the Forbidden City.

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A/N: Ok, I wasn't going to make Zitao cross-dress originally, but if he's an guy who pretends to be an eunuch... well that's a lot harder to write. I mean you can't really have a romance between a prince and an fake-eunuch, really, but you can have a romannce between a prince and a palace maid, fake or not. So yea... Also, I know that eclipses don't happen all that rarely, but hey EXO is all about eclipses, two worlds merging into one, I simply couldn't resist. So ignore science for once m'kay?