Return to the Wei River [Ancient Times to the Modern Day]

[God of War of Xiliang * Resilient Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor | Ancient-to-Modern Transmigration, Road Trip] I was heartbroken, bought a plane ticket to America, and drove straight into the Nevada wilderness. My car broke down, and by the roadside I found a man covered in blood, unconscious and unresponsive. I was trained in traditional Chinese medicine, and spent several hours cleaning his wounds and stopping the bleeding. It was nearly dark when he woke. The very first thing he did was grab my wrist and ask in an ancient, strange-sounding form of Chinese, "Where is this? Where is that old villain Cao Cao?" Only later did I learn his name was Ma Chao, and that he came from the sixteenth year of Jian'an. Cao Cao had slaughtered his entire family. He hated him so, so, so much! So, from the very beginning, I knew this man did not belong here, and would never belong with a woman who ran a traditional Chinese medicine clinic. But when has falling for someone ever made sense? From that day on, I went with him to explore Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, Nordic runes, and South American shamanism. I never said I liked him, and neither did he. He would simply walk on the roadside to shield me on the way back from every failed attempt, hand me a handkerchief when I cried, and drape his coat over my shoulders late at night. The day we finally found a way, light surged from the formation, and Ma Chao looked back at me. That look was so heavy that, without thinking, I rushed in and grabbed his hand. "There are plenty of medicinal herbs in the Eastern Han. I'll go with you and have a look." He smiled, like spring ice melting on the Wei River. But the transmigration went wrong. We landed in Luoyang at the end of the Cao Wei dynasty. The Cao clan was in decline, and the Sima family was hurrying to usurp the throne. Even so, the hatred in Ma Chao's eyes still burned like a blazing fire. He said fate had decreed it, and he would wipe out every last descendant of the Cao clan. I stood in his way. I pleaded and reasoned with him, then finally shouted hoarsely: How are you any different from Cao Cao? But he brushed my hand aside. I said no more. I turned and walked into the formation that would take me back to the modern world. As it activated, I saw Luoyang ablaze. He stood with his spear in the midst of the crowd, his white robe stained with blood, his back utterly alone. He was like a crease on a page stepped out of the history books, one that time's tenderness could never smooth away. After I returned, I drifted through three days in a daze. At dusk on the fourth day, the setting sun dyed the streets the color of that night in the wilderness, and, as if possessed, I went downstairs. A man stood across the street, his face half hidden by a hood. He crossed toward me, dragging a long shadow behind him, as if it stretched all the way from eighteen hundred years ago to today. He was thinner, with stubble shadowing his jaw. But the eyes that had once been filled with hatred were now clear and clean. "I've figured it out. All the affairs of past and present are best left to laughter and conversation." He raised a hand and touched my hair. "But you were never just a story to laugh about." Looking at him, I suddenly remembered the day in the wilderness when he had asked me, "Where is this?" Now I could finally answer him. This is the world of the living. The world you chose to stay in after letting everything go. Note: 1. The main text is written in third person. 2. This is a romance novel, not history. Please don't nitpick the details. Theme: All the affairs of past and present are best left to laughter and conversation.