A Startling Swan at the Wei Court: Cao Chong’s Record of Conquest

Zhou Zhe, a modern history student, dies suddenly in a library and regains consciousness on a sickbed. Using a bronze mirror decorated with a kui-dragon pattern, he sees the body of a pale, elaborately dressed boy who looks about thirteen. His hearing returns first, and he catches a maid whispering outside, “Young Master Chong has been asleep for half a day.” His sense of touch registers the difference between the texture of the rush mat beneath him and that of the red silk quilt. Fragments of memory flood in, and he realizes this body belongs to Cao Chong, Cao Cao’s youngest son.