The emperors and dynasties were different, but "Jiangcheng" remained the same.
Ruan Qing asked further, and Nian Qi clearly mentioned several place names such as Kaifeng, Jiangning, Lin'an, and Quanzhou. This meant that the continent Nian Qi came from and the one Ruan Qing lived on were the same—both were undoubtedly the land of Huaxia.
"Then the issue must lie in the timeline," Ruan Qing, who had read hundreds of transmigration novels, understood immediately.
Nian Qi chewed over the new term: "Timeline?"
Ruan Qing stood up, went to the study to fetch paper and a pen, and sat in the middle of the sofa. She began writing and drawing on the coffee table: "Come here, let me explain!"
Her slender, bare arm was pale and delicate, right before his eyes.
Nian Qi held his breath, leaned forward slightly, and looked at the rectangular white paper spread on the coffee table.
Ruan Qing drew a straight line and began her (not-so-scientific) explanation: "Generally speaking, time is a straight line. My grandfather gave birth to my father, and my father gave birth to me. Or, Zhang San became emperor, and the Zhang family ruled for hundreds of years. Then the dynasty changed, and Li Si became emperor, so the Li family ruled for another few hundred years. Time flows like this, and history develops this way. Does that make sense?"
Nian Qi said, "Yes."
"Good." Ruan Qing said, "Look, I’ve connected the flow of time and the development of history into a line. This is the timeline. Understand?"
Nian Qi said, "Yes."
"Good. But…" Ruan Qing drew another short line and heavily marked a black dot. "Now, there’s a problem with this timeline! Look, something went wrong at this point in time. The problem could be that my grandfather didn’t give birth to my father, or that when the dynasty changed, Li Si didn’t become emperor—Wang Wu did instead."
She drew a branch from that "point": "History changed from this point. So, there’s another timeline different from mine. In my timeline, Li Si became emperor, and my grandfather gave birth to my father. In the other timeline, Wang Wu became emperor, and as it developed, my grandfather might not even exist, let alone my father or me. Oh, I forgot to mention—'father' means 'dad'.'"
"So, these two different timelines are parallel timelines. They exist on the same continent but have different histories."
"Understand?"
This time, Nian Qi didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he stared intently at the two branching lines on the paper.
After a while, he looked up: "A dream of the yellow millet?"
Ruan Qing thought this man was really quite clever! She had been worried that an ancient person like him might struggle to grasp so many new concepts.
"Not entirely accurate, but you could think of it that way," she said appreciatively. "Let’s say… well, my timeline is one dream, and your timeline is another dream. There’s no saying which is real or fake—they’re both real, both genuine worlds and genuine timelines."
Nian Qi fell silent again for a moment, then said, "Three thousand worlds."
Well, it was clear he was educated. That was really great.
"Exactly," Ruan Qing said. "And now, you’ve crossed timelines—from one world to another. It’s like you were supposed to enter one room but walked into the wrong one."
But confusion appeared in Nian Qi’s eyes.
"What kind of power could accomplish such a thing?" he murmured.
"I don't know," Ruan Qing said. "In my era, where you are now, knowledge, theories, and technology far surpass the time you came from. Humanity's exploration of the universe is beyond your imagination—people have even landed on the moon, the very moon in the sky. Yet, there are still many supernatural phenomena that science cannot explain."
Since Nian Qi transmigrated to this world, he had first been stunned by the towering buildings. This was the second time he was shocked.
"Landed on the moon?" he asked in disbelief. "You mean the moon in the sky?"
They were getting off track.
But seeing someone who had always appeared so composed so astonished, Ruan Qing felt she had to answer him first. "Yes, the very one above our heads right now."
Nian Qi asked, "How did they get up there?"
Ruan Qing said, "A machine that can fly into the sky, called a rocket."
She thought for a moment and added, "This kind of rocket can fly beyond the 'cloud layer.' We also have another machine called an airplane, which can also fly in the sky but can't reach the moon. It's used for ordinary long-distance travel. For example, from Jiangcheng to Hangzhou, it would take less than two hours by your timekeeping method."
However, Nian Qi's focus wasn't on the difference between airplanes and rockets. After his initial shock, what intrigued him most was: "So, is there really a Moon Palace on the moon? Did those who landed there see the fairy Chang'e? Is Wu Gang there?"
Ruan Qing: "…"
They were seriously off track.
"No, myths are all lies," she waved her hand dismissively. "Don't believe in that. Things like the Jade Emperor and Laozi are all made up. The moon is similar to the land beneath our feet, just with a worse environment. There's nothing there—it's freezing cold and uninhabitable for living beings."
"Friend, friend!" Seeing Nian Qi's eyes gleaming as if he had many more questions to ask, Ruan Qing had to forcefully steer the conversation back on track. "These are trivial details! Let's focus on the matter at hand, okay?"
Nian Qi coughed, seeming a bit embarrassed. "My apologies, Miss Ruan. Please continue."
Ruan Qing also had things she wanted to know—as an enthusiast of transmigration stories and alternate history novels, she was eager to find out where the timeline diverged.
Fortunately, Nian Qi was educated. In ancient times, it was said that people in remote, impoverished areas who had never received an education didn't even know who the current emperor was. In particularly isolated mountain villages, they might not even be aware of dynastic changes.
Educated people were different. Nian Qi could recount eras even more "ancient" than the one he came from.
However, each time he mentioned one, Ruan Qing refuted it.
"Yi? Never heard of it. Next!"
"Ying? No such dynasty. Go further back!"
"Zhou? Which Zhou? What was the emperor's surname? Niu? There was actually a royal family with the surname Niu? Next, go further back!"
And so, tracing back step by step, they finally found the divergence point between the two timelines.
"The Qin lasted three hundred years? The Qin of Qin Shi Huang? The one with Lü Buwei? The Qin that unified the six states, standardized the gauge of chariots, and unified the writing system?" she exclaimed in shock.
Nian Qi gave her a definitive answer: "Exactly, the Great Qin founded by the First Emperor lasted over three hundred years."
"Oh my god!" Ruan Qing was stunned. "In our timeline, the Qin Dynasty fell in the second generation! It only lasted a little over a decade!"
Nian Qi was also astonished. "How could that be?"
The two compared histories and discovered that Prince Fusu had not committed suicide—he had ascended the throne!
Beside him was an extraordinary individual who, before the forged edict arrived, had "predicted" its occurrence through astrological observation. When the forged edict finally arrived, Prince Fusu took one look and thought, "Holy shit, it's actually real!" He immediately drew his sword and executed the messenger.
From there, history galloped off like a wild horse.
The Qin Dynasty remained powerful for three hundred years, completely altering the course of subsequent history. Many founding emperors were born into peaceful and prosperous eras; some became renowned ministers or famous figures, while others simply vanished from the records, lost to history, or perhaps were never even born.
The entire historical timeline was different from Ruan Qing's.
Calculating the time, Nian Qi likely came from about a thousand years ago, roughly during the period spanning the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to the Song Dynasty. However, his Da Mu Dynasty was only around a hundred years old, just entering a phase of peace and prosperity.
"A thousand years!" Ruan Qing gasped, trembling as she extended a finger. "Um, can I… could I…"
That finger held no threat whatsoever. Throughout their journey, Nian Qi had already observed that Ruan Qing possessed no martial arts skills whatsoever—neither internal nor external. He raised an eyebrow but remained still.
Ruan Qing slowly extended her finger, poked his shoulder, paused, then poked it again.
Nian Qi: "…"
"My god!" Ruan Qing clutched the finger that had touched the "ancient person from a thousand years ago," trembling with excitement. "A thousand years!"
I touched an ancient person from a thousand years ago!
Nian Qi was speechless for a moment before asking, "Why is Miss Ruan so excited?"
Her eyes were practically glowing, as if she had stumbled upon some treasure.
Ruan Qing said, "You don't understand, you just don't understand."
She composed herself and continued, "We have a genre of fiction here—fiction is like storybooks, tales made up for people to read."
Nian Qi nodded.
Ruan Qing went on, "We have a specific type of fiction called transmigration stories. They're specifically about modern people transmigrating to ancient times, or ancient people like you reverse-transmigrating to the modern era. I've been reading this kind of fiction since middle school, for over ten years now. I don't even know if I've read a thousand of them."
Ruan Qing didn't have the heart to admit that during her chuunibyou phase, she had dreamed of transmigrating and even compiled a complete set of essential transmigration materials.
For example, the formula for gunpowder, methods for making soap, glass, and allicin, and memorizing countless ancient poems and famous literary works. She had even attempted to teach herself hybrid rice cultivation but gave up when she realized it was too difficult. After all, in real life, she couldn't even tell wheat seedlings apart from chives—agriculture was simply beyond her.
"I've always dreamed of transmigrating," she said. "Even though it's not me going back in time, but you coming here, it's still fate, isn't it? Why did you fall onto my car and not someone else's?"
As she spoke, her eyes sparkled with irrepressible excitement.
Nian Qi began to understand. "Is this why you're willing to help me?"
With that, the conversation finally returned to the main point.
Some crucial matters needed to be clarified.
"You could say that," Ruan Qing cleared her throat. "There are some things you need to listen to carefully."
Nian Qi nodded.
"First, your situation is… well, what exactly it is, I actually don't know," Ruan Qing said. "Those transmigration stories are all made up, just like plays. But now you're right here in front of me, alive and real. My first piece of advice for you is: don't expose yourself. Don't let anyone know you're an ancient person from a thousand years ago."
Nian Qi's expression grew serious.
"Because this matter is too… too rare," Ruan Qing continued. "If you expose yourself, I don't know how the government would treat you. Taking you away for research is a certainty. In that case, you'd likely lose your personal freedom. The worst scenario is they might dissect you, and then you might not even survive."
She tried to sound grave: "I'm not exaggerating. Just put yourself in my shoes—if I transmigrated to your time and was discovered, how would people there treat me?"
Nian Qi didn't need to think to answer: "Nine times out of ten, they'd burn me as a 'demon.'"
Most likely, they'd also grind my bones to dust and invite high monks or Taoist priests to perform rituals, sealing and suppressing the remains to prevent the demon's soul from retaliating.
In short, as someone who doesn't belong to the era, there would be no good outcome.