A Call from Chang'an: I Found a Princess in 2026

One stormy night in Xi’an in the fall of 2026, overworked office drone Cheng Du found two girls dressed in ancient clothing in the back alley of his residential complex on his way home. The older one looked fifteen or sixteen, dignified and wary. The younger one was three or four, feverish and unconscious.

Thinking they were unfortunate kids lost while cosplaying, he kindly took them in for the night.

Then the older one said, “I am Li Lizhi, eldest princess of the Great Tang.”

When the little one woke up, she cried in a babyish voice that she was hungry. “Elder Sister, I want some of that yummy-smelling porridge.”

Cheng Du looked at the Baidu Baike page on his phone: “Li Lizhi, eldest daughter of Emperor Taizong of Tang, died in the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, aged twenty-three.” He fell into deep thought.

He was done for. He’d picked up two living princesses from the Tang dynasty.

One was the emperor’s eldest legitimate daughter, who had died young in history. The other was Li Shimin’s most beloved little daughter, who had died in childhood.

And he, a freshly graduated computer programmer who stayed home all day and wrote web novels on the side to make ends meet, was now responsible for raising them?

Later...

Three-year-old Xiao Sizi learned to order takeout, watch cartoons, and brag at kindergarten that “my dad is the emperor,” earning her teacher’s request for a parent meeting.

Fifteen-year-old Changle learned to use a smartphone, ride the subway, and look up her own life on Baidu Baike, then quietly cry while holding her little sister at night.

Cheng Du learned to make Touhuaci, wrap palace-style dumplings, and get mistaken for the girls’ father at a kindergarten family event.

And later still...

Watching Cheng Du’s clumsy but earnest efforts, Changle asked softly, “Are all you modern people this awkward when you like someone?”

Cheng Du blushed to the tips of his ears. “We... we believe in taking things one step at a time...”