The Jianghua River winds like a snake from the northwest to the southeast, twisting through the towering mountains. At noon, the sunlight drapes over the river like a veil. Gu Jun, dressed lightly, stood shivering by the riverbank, contemplating whether jumping in would take him back home.
After receiving his acceptance letter from his dream university, Gu Jun excitedly dragged his friends to a scenic spot for rafting. At a sharp turn, the raft capsized. He dog-paddled his way to safety, only to find the surroundings had changed. He had traveled through time.
He found himself in a dynasty that never existed in history—the Xuan Dynasty. Initially, he didn’t know he had arrived in the Xuan Dynasty until he was mistaken for a member of the White Python Army by the local yamen and thrown into jail.
The Xuan Dynasty, in the thirty-first year of Anqing, was riddled with corruption. The White Python Army was originally a group of bandits from Fengyun Mountain, three hundred miles away. One day, their leader dreamt of a giant white python that could speak human language. The python told him, “The heavens are angry, and the people resentful. The dynasty is rotten to the core. The mandate of heaven is clear: you are chosen to overthrow the old and establish the new, to cleanse the world and restore peace.” Thus, he proclaimed himself King Zhao, and his army became the White Python Army, pillaging and plundering to gather resources for a rebellion.
The county magistrate captured Gu Jun, demanding he reveal the White Python Army’s base in exchange for merit. Gu Jun had no idea where the base was; he couldn’t even understand the language of this era. After two days of beatings, he finally understood. He nodded, pretending to lead them to the base, and then escaped when they were off guard.
He hid in the deep mountains, surviving on wild fruits and dew, occasionally stealing food and clothes from a hunter’s temporary shelter. After hiding for over half a month, he heard that the White Python Army had been completely wiped out by the court, and only then did he dare to come out.
He made his way to another county town, hoping to find a job. But in this place, where he was both illiterate and nearly mute, he couldn’t find any easy work. Pure manual labor was beyond him, as his body was not what it used to be. Even if it were, he doubted he could manage, being a pampered child of the modern world, not just a pretty face.
Gu Jun thought about sneaking into a school to learn, but he almost got beaten again. Without a household registration in this era, he was considered a vagrant. Desperate, he went to the government to register for a household, hoping to get a piece of land to rent out for a small income, even if it meant bearing heavy taxes.
After registering, the yamen told him there was no land left to distribute and sent him away. With no way out, Gu Jun was utterly hopeless. He crossed mountains and rivers, arriving at the riverbank, contemplating the seemingly unreliable idea of jumping into the river to return home.
His stomach ached with hunger, leaving him no room for further thought. He lowered his eyes and leaped. In that moment, time seemed to stretch. His body lost support first, then it felt as if an invisible force pulled him down rapidly into the river.
The icy river water surged from all directions, flooding his nose and mouth, burning his throat with a fiery pain. Breathing became difficult, and in the dim world, he could hear nothing but the muffled sound of water. His heart pounded violently in his chest, and panic rose like a tide from the depths of his being.
He couldn’t go home. He was going to die. Gu Jun desperately swam upwards, but his sense of direction was already confused. In his terror, he flailed his limbs, trying to grab onto something, to float to the surface. The water slipped through his fingers, and he caught nothing, being swept southward by the current.
There was a rocky beach to the south, where Gu Jun was stopped by a boulder. Clinging to the rock, he swam towards the shore. His strength was rapidly depleting from the struggle, and his consciousness was fading. Gasping for air, he finally managed to get his head above water.
The moment air rushed into his lungs, it felt like being reborn. He panted heavily, the vast water surface stretching before him, the damp river wind howling, penetrating his clothes, making him feel as if he were wrapped in cold iron, his limbs numb. Overcome with sorrow, he tasted the salty liquid, wiping away tears while cursing this man-eating ancient world, shivering as he stumbled towards the shore.
The shore was only two or three meters away, yet it felt so distant to traverse…
“Splash!” The water surface rippled, splashing everywhere. Gu Jun’s heavy foot stumbled over something soft at the murky riverbed, startling him. Unprepared, he plunged into the water, swallowing a mouthful of muddy water.
He barely had the strength to get up. When he finally did, he saw what had tripped him and was so frightened he almost fell back into the water. The thing that tripped him was a person.