When the Dynasties Tune In to My Chinese Class [History Livestream]

[Reading Guide: 1. This is a parallel world, not a historically accurate story, and includes some creative liberties of my own. Where there are discrepancies, please defer to official history. The author is not a history major, so just enjoy it for fun. 2. The heroine is not a teacher. She is only posting a few videos over summer vacation, partly to pass the time and partly to get closer to the textbooks, so there will be some internet culture mixed in. If that doesn't work for you, feel free to steer clear! 3. For now, the scope is limited to the two required volumes of the unified high school Chinese curriculum. I'll consider electives later. 3. Everyone has their own favorites among historical figures. Let's discuss them peacefully. 4. I have limited energy, so I'll fix typos and polish any rough plot points all at once after the story is complete.] Chu Tang has just been accepted into a graduate program in Chinese language education. To pass the time during her first year of graduate school, when she has nothing to do but coast along, she starts posting videos on Station 13. She takes a closer look at familiar texts from the textbooks, and the sentence she says most fluently is, “Hello, class. Today we'll be learning about...” What she doesn't know is that everyone she calls “class” is one of her ancestors. “Delight to See a Thousand Layers of Rice and Millet”: “The significance of hybrid rice goes without saying. According to statistics, the highest yield of hybrid rice per mu currently stands at 1,530.76 kilograms.” Qin Shi Huang: “What?! How much?!” “Short Song Style”: “When Cao Cao set out on campaign, he never imagined that a raging fire at Red Cliffs would burn his dream of uniting all under Heaven to ash.” Cao Cao, just then drawing up his troops at Red Cliffs: “...Ouch, that hits hard, bro.” “Dreaming of Tianmu Mountain and Bidding Farewell”: “Li Bai thought he could follow in the footsteps of his idol, Xie An, and make his mark. Who could have guessed that in the end, after amusing the emperor, he would be sent home with a gift of gold?” Li Bai, who has just received an edict and is eagerly preparing to set off: “...Suddenly I don't feel like going.” “Climbing High”: “Even in old age, he climbs high and writes poetry, but the youthful passion of his early years is gone for good. Behind that loss lies the turmoil and suffering that engulfed the Tang Empire.” Li Longji, listening to music in the Pear Garden, nearly drops his wine cup: “Which worthless descendant is so useless? Wait... This Du Fu sounds kind of familiar.” Warnings: 1. People from the past can turn in assignments to the heroine, but she will never discover who they are. Their identities won't be revealed; they're purely background characters. 2. This is not a typical Chinese class. The heroine isn't a teacher, and the videos differ from real classroom lessons. 3. “Short Song Style” is included. The heroine loves everyone, but Wei is her favorite. Coming soon: “Quick Transmigration: I Save Unfulfilled Wishes Through Dreams” Su Wanwan takes an elective on popular literature of ancient China and, in tears, crams through the reading just to scrape by with the credits. When she gets to the story of Du Shiniang, who pretends to give scholar Li Jia a fortune as a dowry, only for him to sell her to a scheming lecher for a thousand taels, after which she throws herself into the river with her treasure chest, her anger flares on the spot. She wants nothing more than to punch the scumbag. When she “wakes up,” she finds herself at the scene of the confrontation. Du Shiniang, the breathtaking beauty from the book, sits in a boat, clutching a gilt-decorated chest and tearfully tossing its jade ornaments into the river as if they were worthless. Su Wanwan shudders all over. Her feet move faster than her brain, and she rushes over to grab the beauty's leg, crying out through her tears: “Big sister, you can't throw those away! They're our lifeline! If you really want to throw something, I'll help you toss that scumbag overboard!” Save Shiniang, take on scumbags; promote new ideas and inspire awakening. With Su Wanwan's intervention, Du Shiniang not only escapes the fate of killing herself for love, but also becomes a renowned businesswoman in the Jiangnan region. With her help, many of her former sisters from the brothels leave that life behind and begin flourishing new lives. With the System in hand, Su Wanwan keeps transmigrating into one work after another through her dreams. Wang Jiaoluan, Cui Yingying, Huo Xiaoyu, the Rakshasa woman, and the many bright, spirited young women of the Jia household all break free of their predetermined fates and go on to live remarkable lives of their own. At the final exam, Su Wanwan manages to scrape by and earn her credits with a term paper titled “On the Plight of Women in Ancient Popular Literature and Ways They Might Overcome It.” But more meaningful than the credits is the package she receives from the sisters who should only exist as characters on a page... “I thought all I was doing was laboring in vain in a dream, a little comfort for my heart. I never imagined that, somewhere in the mysterious reaches of time and space, their fates would truly be changed.” Theme: Read history through literature, learn from the past, and understand what lies ahead.