Chapter 39

“Unfortunately, it was clear that Nian Qi’s mind was fully preoccupied with the serious task of building an identity. And it was also obvious he was aware that not showering, especially in the summer, might make him unwelcome, so he instinctively kept his distance from Ruan Qing.

Ruan Qing lay down, resigned, and said, “Good night,” before turning off the lights. Unable to sleep, she started talking. “Can you help me go over the plot again to see if there are any issues?”

“?”

“What’s so funny?” Ruan Qing asked, puzzled.

Holding back a laugh, Nian Qi said seriously, “If you were truly transported to my time, you might make a living writing storybooks.”

Ruan Qing let out a huff, but after a while couldn’t resist adding, “I have written one.”

“Oh?” Nian Qi was intrigued.

“Not those fragmented pieces,” Ruan Qing clarified. “I wrote one complete story back in middle school.”

“A story about a male lead similar to you, who comes from ancient times, and a modern-day female lead,” she explained.

Nian Qi’s interest deepened. “Tell me more?”

Suddenly shy, Ruan Qing hesitated. “There’s not much to tell; it’s just an ordinary story.”

“Maybe it could be useful to me in unexpected ways,” Nian Qi suggested.

“It’s not useful at all,” Ruan Qing said. “It’s just a romance between an ancient male lead who time-travels and a modern native female lead.”

“Come on, tell me!” he urged. “Who knows, it might be enlightening in ways you can’t imagine.”

Back in her school days, Ruan Qing had written many disjointed snippets, but this was her only complete work. Her best friend had read it and mercilessly mocked it, accusing her of writing something utterly melodramatic. That reaction had kept her from sharing her writing again. Even though she now recognized how juvenile and cliché the story was, it still held a special place as her sole finished piece—a labor of her youth.

Clearing her throat, Ruan Qing said, ‘Alright, I’ll tell it, but remember, no laughing. This was written in my school days, and I was just that age.”

Nian Qi solemnly raised a hand. “I won’t laugh!”

Ruan Qing reminisced. “So, the story goes like this: the main character, who’s a modern girl, finds a man who has traveled from ancient times. She, um, well, she’s a bit like me in that way.”

“This man is the heir to a marquis, caught in the middle of a battle when a dark cloud pulls him into a vortex, sending him to the present day where the female lead finds him.”

“The girl helps him keep his secret and takes him in. It’s kind of like us. But unlike you, this guy was incredibly arrogant—a classic “overpowered hero” type. He didn’t know how to do household chores and refused to learn, embodying that aloof, cool, domineering attitude.”

Nian Qi, surprised at being indirectly complimented, felt a rush of joy. He mentally noted, She dislikes haughty, lazy types. She prefers those who are hardworking and unpretentious.

“Moreover,” she continued, “this heir held all the feudal beliefs typical of your era, like having multiple wives and concubines. But the female lead was a modern woman who longed for a mutual, lifelong partnership.”

Quickly, Nian Qi jotted down, A lifelong, exclusive love.

Ruan Qing went on, “After a series of conflicts and adjustments, they started to understand each other. The female lead slowly influenced the male lead, teaching him to respect women, and eventually, he fell in love with her. They finally confessed their feelings for each other.”

Nian Qi asked eagerly, “So, did they get married?”

“Nope!” Ruan Qing said with excitement. “Just after they confessed their feelings for each other, there was a news report about a mysterious black cloud vortex appearing in a certain place. As soon as they saw it, they both knew it was the time-travel portal.”

Her voice softened at this point, and the atmosphere shifted.

Nian Qi paused before asking, “The man wanted to go back?”

“Yes, you guessed it,” Ruan Qing said. “He was the heir of a marquis, part of the aristocracy in his world. It was different from living as an ordinary person here. And like I said, he was one of those “overpowered” types—oh, maybe you don’t understand that. It means someone who is extremely capable and knows it, with grand ambitions. He dreamed of achieving great feats, like those legendary military victories.”

“What? You’re asking what kind of feats I mean? They’re the type that leaves a lasting legacy. Anyway, he definitely wanted to go back.”

“After all, someone like him, with martial skills, couldn’t achieve much in modern times and would likely live out his life as an average person. So when he saw the vortex, he decided to return immediately.”

Nian Qi then asked, “What about the girl? Hadn’t they already pledged their love? Wouldn’t that be abandoning her?”

The phrase ‘pledged their love’ was so old-fashioned it almost made Ruan Qing choke.

“Well, they both went to the place mentioned in the news and waited for days. Finally, their persistence paid off, and the black cloud appeared again,” Ruan Qing continued. “The scene I designed was like this—”

Under the moonlight, the dark cloud in the sky spiraled endlessly, forming a pitch-black tunnel. The wind was so strong that it rolled pebbles across the ground. The marquis’ heir stood before the vortex, extending his hand toward the female lead. “Come with me,” he said.

The heroine’s long hair floated wildly in the wind as she bit her lip and looked at him. “I can’t go. My home is here,” she said. “You should go, quickly. The vortex is closing.”

His heart was filled with aspirations for power and conquest; love was secondary. He glanced at the fading vortex, clenched his jaw, took one last look at her, and turned into the time tunnel, vanishing along with it.

As the vortex disappeared without a trace, the female lead stood in the night, heartbroken and shedding beautiful, silent tears. She even wondered, if given the chance to do it over, would she step into the vortex with him? After a while, she wiped away her tears and turned to return to her life.

Suddenly, a fierce wind rose from nowhere.

“About a few minutes after he had disappeared, the black vortex reappeared in front of her,” Ruan Qing narrated. “The heroine was stunned, seeing it as a second chance from the heavens. So, she stepped into the vortex, abandoning her family, friends, and career to chase after her love.”

Nian Qi asked, “Did they finally end up together and get married?”

“Have some patience, will you? I’m not done yet,” Ruan Qing said, waving her hand to hush him. “So, she passed through and fell mid-air, only to be caught by a man using martial arts to fly up and grab her—just like your light-footed skills. Then, in slow motion, they twirled as they landed.”

Ruan Qing sighed, “That’s the scene I dreamt of.”

Nian Qi silently noted in his mental journal: She wants to be held while flying.

“The man held her in a princess carry. When the heroine looked up, it was the marquis’ heir. But his face was slightly different, and he was wearing ancient attire with many soldiers around him. The heroine asked what was going on.”

“’The marquis’ heir explained that while only a few minutes had passed in her world, two years had passed in the ancient one. Time moved differently in the two places.”

“Then ‘the marquis’ heir took her back to the marquis’ residence. There, she met an old marquis whom she’d never seen before—his grandfather. Also present were the old lady, the heir’s grandmother, and his mother. His father had already passed away.”

“This world had also seen the introduction of modern inventions, like glass, all brought back by the heir after learning about them in modern times. Because of these advancements, the marquis’ residence had transformed from an ordinary noble house into one held in high regard by the emperor.”

“However, the heroine noticed that the old lady seemed to dislike her, and the heir’s mother had an ambiguous attitude toward her. But she had already given up her life in the modern world for love, so she ignored these oddities and eventually, after a series of internal household conflicts, married the heir. Still, something always felt off.”

“Finally, using her intelligence, the heroine uncovered the truth.”

“It turned out this marquis’ heir was not the same one who had traveled through time. While only a few minutes had passed in modern times, decades had gone by in the ancient world. The marquis’ heir she had fallen in love with had long since grown old. Yes, you guessed it—the true marquis’ heir was now the old marquis who never appeared publicly!”

“This was why the old lady despised her—she knew that the heroine was the old marquis’ true love.”

“And the reason for the heir’s mother’s ambiguous attitude? It was because the old marquis’ eldest son had died, and the rightful heir, the son’s son, was competing with the marquis’ second son—his uncle—for the position of the heir.”

“Then the heroine had appeared in this scenario. The old marquis, having heard about the cloud’s appearance, suspected it was her, as she had once explained to him the time-flow asymmetry. He sent his grandson, who closely resembled him, to bring her back.”

“They made an agreement: the grandson would marry the heroine, and in return, he would be named the marquis’ heir.”

“When the heroine discovered the truth, she was heartbroken. But by then, everything had already happened, and she had fallen in love with her current husband. So she resigned herself to fate.”

“However, the current heir did not love her. He knew that his grandfather had brought many modern inventions back from her world, but the most crucial one—gunpowder—was still a mystery. He intended to extract the secret of gunpowder from her.”

“The heroine refused, believing that such knowledge should not be brought into the past. This led the grandson to reveal his true colors. He imprisoned the old marquis, seized control of the marquis’ residence, and subjected the heroine to brutal interrogation to force her to reveal the formula for gunpowder. His ambition was vast—he wanted to create gunpowder, overthrow the emperor, and seize the throne for himself.”

“Finally, the old marquis, who had been imprisoned, managed to escape and led a rescue to save the heroine. But soon after, the grandson pursued them. The old marquis and the heroine fled all the way to the edge of a cliff, with no place left to go.”

“At that moment, dark clouds appeared in the sky, forming a swirling time tunnel. The old marquis said ‘farewell’ and pushed the heroine into the time tunnel.”

“Time slowed down as the heroine reached out, but she couldn’t grasp the elderly man with graying hair. The last image she saw was of the man she once loved being shot through the heart by his own grandson.”

“Oh, I forgot to mention! By this time, the heroine was actually pregnant! She was carrying a child.”

“When she woke up, she found herself back in the modern world. All the violence, schemes, and conspiracies of the ancient world felt like a fading dream.”

“In the end, years later, the heroine visited an ancient mausoleum with her child. The tour guide chattered away, explaining that the tomb belonged to a certain marquis, who had been powerful and renowned in the ancient era.”

“But in reality, the marquis in that tomb was from her timeline—one who had never experienced time travel or met her. The man who crossed time and fell in love with her belonged to a parallel universe, just like yours, with parallel timelines.”

“In the final scene, while the tourists moved on with the guide, she stood in front of the stone tablet with her child, reading the biography of the marquis.”

“Words like ‘mighty warrior’ and ‘war god of the Great X Dynasty’ were carved into the stone.”

“In the end, she smiled with tears streaming down her face. The story concluded.”

“Nian Qi, what do you think?” Ruan Qing challenged him with an impassioned question, “Isn’t my story full of twists and turns, ups and downs?”

“I only ever showed it to my best friend after writing it.”

“She nearly strangled me, shaking me while shouting that I switched the male lead mid-story and ruined it! She even threatened to cut ties with me!” Ruan Qing pounded the bed in frustration. “What does she know? This is the beauty of a tragic ending!”

“This is the art of a tragic ending!” Ruan Qing waited for Nian Qi to praise her work. But after a full minute of silence, he finally said, in the dim light, “I wouldn’t go back.”

Ruan Qing: “Huh?”

“If a time tunnel appeared before me and gave me the chance to return,” Nian Qi’s voice was firm, “I wouldn’t go back.”

The leap in conversation left Ruan Qing stunned for a moment before she asked, “But isn’t there wealth and treasure over there?”

Nian Qi replied, “Those are just material things, and I can earn them again.”

“Ruan Qing,” he said softly, “there’s no one I care about over there.”

What did he mean by that? Ruan Qing turned her head to look at him, seeing only the silhouette of his profile in the dim light, his nose sharply defined. Suddenly, her heartbeat quickened.