In the first year of Xingping, Cao Cao marched east to Xu Province, while Lu Bu was about to seize Yan Province.
Shen Yan, a low-ranking grain transport clerk, had transmigrated into the era and wanted only to find a job that wouldn’t require him to leave the city.
But on his very first grain run, an order to change course arrived halfway there: take the grain across the river first, leave the escorts behind, and sign the receipt in advance.
The grain was still on the carts, yet he was being told to write, “Delivered in full.”
Shen Yan didn’t dare put pen to paper.
That pause saved twenty-one lives, but landed him before a tribunal to answer for his actions.
Worse still, a grain-delivery receipt he had never signed bore a name written in his own hand.
From a lowly clerk on the supply route to a strategist in Cao Cao’s camp, Shen Yan used his memories to spot danger, his evidence to win opportunities, and watched familiar history change bit by bit.
Shen Yan had thought that helping Cao Cao avoid a few defeats would earn him a safe, steady living.
Only later did he realize that the more Cao Cao trusted him, the more dangerous the assignments he gave him became.
Al dialogue, the same dialogue method as Al's short play.