This scroll was so vindictive!
Su Jin thought bitterly, but she couldn’t actually burn it.
The scroll was the only thing that could prove the Dayue Dynasty had existed.
Whether the Dayue Dynasty had existed or not determined whether the major Su Jin was studying would be shut down—and whether she could graduate.
She was already the last student in the program.
Back when she’d failed to get into her preferred university, she’d chosen this major because it was at a top-tier university.
But as soon as she started classes, her teacher had looked at her with tears in his eyes and begged her to study hard.
“If the Dayue Dynasty really existed, it would prove that Huaxia[1]A traditional name for China and Chinese civilization, often used when discussing cultural heritage. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717529_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717529_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); has five thousand years of civilization. Western scholars wouldn’t be able to find fault with us anymore!”
Who in China didn’t have some sense of patriotism?
Su Jin had been inspired on the spot!
Only then did her teacher explain, “Well… the official histories[2]Historical records compiled or sanctioned by a ruling court, traditionally distinguished from privately written accounts. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717529_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717529_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); don’t actually mention the Dayue Dynasty.”
“It’s all because of that treacherous minister in the unofficial histories[3]Privately compiled historical accounts, which may preserve stories or anecdotes omitted from official histories. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717529_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717529_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });!”
“Why did he have to seize power at such a young age? He deposed five emperors in a row and brought about the swift collapse of the Dayue Dynasty.”
“But I have a scroll here. It has the words ‘Dayue’ on it. If we can restore it, we’ll have direct evidence!”
That was what he said, but the writing was so blurred, and the painting was so ancient.
The pigments, brushwork, and techniques had all been lost long ago.
After three whole years, even Su Jin’s teacher couldn’t hold on any longer. Lying in his hospital bed, he still made sure to leave her with tearful instructions: “I’m entrusting the scroll to you, my precious disciple. You must study it carefully!”
Su Jin: “…”
Just thinking about it made her mad!
She’d brought the scroll home like a precious treasure, only for it to actually come to life and steal her things!
When she told it to give them back, it retaliated by smashing her cup.
“You’re paying for my cup!”
Su Jin shook the scroll furiously.
Let’s see you get dizzy! Dizzy yourself to death!
After a few shakes, the scroll finally spat out a note.
It twirled through the air before drifting to the floor.
Su Jin picked it up and saw that it read, in traditional characters[4]Traditional Chinese characters retain older written forms; they differ from the simplified characters commonly used in mainland China today. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717529_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717529_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, “Who are you?”
A scroll had written her a note. It was actually asking who she was.
Hadn’t it heard her teacher call her by name?
Wait!
Even if the scroll had come to life, it couldn’t have written her a note with a calligraphy brush, could it?
Su Jin’s gaze fell on the wooden pillow on the floor.
She’d seen one like it before at the provincial museum. Only people in ancient times used things like that.
A wooden pillow.
Brush-written characters.
Traditional script.
An outrageous idea took shape in Su Jin’s mind.
Could the note have been written by the owner of the wooden pillow, and could the scroll be connected to another time and place?
If the scroll could steal things from her, it could surely steal things from people in other times and places, too.
Su Jin’s eyes widened. She clapped a hand over her mouth, just in time to stifle a gasp.
To test whether her guess was right, she gathered up everything on the floor, held it in her arms, and hurried back to her dormitory.
She grabbed her notebook from the drawer, tore out a page, and wrote on it with a gel pen: “My name is Su Jin. I’m from the twenty-first century. Who are you, and what dynasty are you from?”
As soon as she finished, she placed the note on the unrolled scroll. It vanished in an instant.
…
A farmhouse courtyard.
A shrill woman’s voice sounded outside the door. “What kind of rich family do you think we are, that we can just throw money around?”
Madam Luo’s pleading voice followed, lowered to a murmur.
Shen Yubai couldn’t make out what she was saying, but he could picture his mother bowing her head.
His fingers curled tight around the quilt, and a chill seemed to radiate from his whole body.
“And you’re bringing up his monthly allowance?” Madam Zheng raised her voice, as if to make sure the person in the room could hear. “The clan[5]A clan is an extended kinship lineage whose members may share property, ancestral obligations, and resources for education or welfare. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717529_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717529_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); gives you only a hundred cash[6]In historical Chinese settings, cash refers to small-denomination copper money, not modern paper currency; its value varied by period. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717529_1_6').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717529_1_6', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); a month. That’s not even enough to feed you and your son!”
Shen Yubai sneered.
When his father was alive, his grandmother had been kind.
After his father died, her attitude changed. It was only because of his talent that she hadn’t been too hard on his mother.
He’d been bedridden for three years, and his mother had been left with no one to stand up for her. Their life had grown harder by the day.
Today, his grandmother had deliberately come to his window to provoke him. If he became seriously ill from anger, this family would strip his mother to the bone.
He was already seventeen. The clan would subsidize him only until he turned eighteen, at most. After that, they would stop supporting him.
There was only a year left. Could this family really not wait that long?
Madam Luo’s sobbing sounded outside. Shen Yubai couldn’t make out what she was saying.
Their voices grew more distant until he could no longer hear them.
Shen Yubai lay on his back, staring at the blackened rafters, lost in thought.
When Madam Luo came back, her eyes were swollen.
She forced a smile, tucked the quilt around Shen Yubai, and chattered on about this and that, not saying a word about what had just happened.
Shen Yubai listened quietly for a while, then said, “Mother, after I die, you should remarry.”
Madam Luo’s voice stopped abruptly.
She stared at him in disbelief. Then her eyes reddened with panic. “You’re not going to die. You’re the cleverest child in our clan. The teachers at the clan school all say you have the makings of a Juren[7]A degree or title awarded to a candidate who passed the provincial-level imperial civil-service examination in historical China. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717529_1_7').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717529_1_7', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. You’re just ill for now. Once you recover, you can go back to your studies. You’ll surely pass the imperial examinations and become a high-ranking official!”
Shen Yubai waited for her to finish, then continued, “Hunter Chen in the village has never been able to find a wife because he has no land, but he’s a genuinely skilled hunter. If you went with him, you wouldn’t have to worry about food or drink, and there’d be no parents-in-law or sisters- and brothers-in-law to make your life difficult.”
Newcomers to the village were often treated with some disdain. Fortunately, Hunter Chen lived halfway up the mountain, some distance from the villagers.
And Hunter Chen was capable. He could always bring game back to sell in the village, and he looked healthy and well-fed.
A bachelor lived for today, with no thought for tomorrow. He ate and drank as he pleased, never saved any money, and so could never buy land.
Once he married, he would find a way to save, live frugally, and buy a few acres of poor farmland. Then he could make a life for himself.
Originally, Shen Yubai should have gone to speak with Hunter Chen himself, but he truly had no strength left. All he could do was tell his mother to handle it herself.
He knew he didn’t have much time left. He had to plan for his mother’s future.
Madam Luo leaned over her son and burst into tears.
After who knew how long, she finally sat up and wiped her tears. “I won’t let you die. I’ll find a way to get medicine for you! If you die, I’ll die with you!”
The murderous rage in Shen Yubai’s heart grew harder and harder to suppress.
“Grandmother won’t give you any money.”
Ever since he’d fallen ill, his monthly allowance from the clan school had been collected by his Eldest Uncle.
Of course, none of that money ever reached a widowed mother and her son.
His mother had long since spent all her dowry on medicine to keep him alive. Now she didn’t have a single cash coin to her name.
“Tomorrow I’ll go to your maternal grandmother’s house to borrow money. Once you’re better, I’ll find a way to earn it and pay them back.”
Shen Yubai knew his mother wouldn’t give up.
Even if he spoke up, it would make no difference.
Perhaps he shouldn’t keep dragging his mother down.
She’d suffered enough these past few years.
Madam Luo didn’t stay in the room long. There was still a pile of work waiting for her at home.
Only Shen Yubai remained in the room.
He pushed himself upright, his gaze settling on the scroll.
From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a sheet of pure white, fine paper.
His pale, slender fingers gently picked it up. When he saw the writing, his brows drew together almost imperceptibly.
Why were these characters missing bits?
What a shame to waste such fine paper.
For some reason, Shen Yubai felt a pang of regret.
He pieced the sentence together as best he could, guessing at the parts he couldn’t make out.
The person on the other side was named Su Jin.
But what was “21”?
And what was a “century”?
Shen Yubai’s curiosity was piqued. To his surprise, he didn’t feel upset that the person on the other side wasn’t his father.
References[+]