What? This Isn't the Republic of China!

What? He’s been dumped into the Republican era?

Oh, not the Republican era, but the first year of the Constitutional Era...?!

Qi Xiaochuan’s life motto:

If you can lie down, don’t sit. If you can keep your head down, don’t pick a fight.

Until one misstep sent him tumbling into the world of the first year of the Constitutional Era.

One second, he was playing live-action airsoft with his roommates. The next, bullets were whizzing past his cheek.

All he could hear was real screaming, and the air reeked of blood.

Qi Xiaochuan: “...Isn’t this immersive theater a bit too realistic?”

He looked down and saw his hands covered in blood.

Holy crap, it’s real blood?!

Desperate to stay alive, he grabbed the leg of a passing bandit hunter and pleaded:

“Bro! Spare my life! I can fix machines, do accounting, and recite the whole of Journey to the West!”

Zhou Yan, the notorious “Lord of Death” of Jiangnan, lifted his chin with the barrel of his gun and gave him a sardonic smile.

“You can recite Journey to the West? Then tell me, which character in it am I?”

Qi Xiaochuan looked at the gun barrel pressed against his throat and swallowed.

“...G-Great Sage, spare me?”

Before long, all of Jiangnan knew that a “freak” had appeared at Young Master Zhou’s side.

He couldn’t use an abacus, but he was excellent at balancing accounts.

He was afraid of blood and pain, yet dared to take apart Zhou Yan’s inherited Patek Philippe and turn it into a compass.

He was always spouting crazy talk about things like “Wi-Fi,” “computers,” and “signal transmission.”

He even used moldy green juice as a lifesaving medicine.

For the first time, Zhou Yan’s hand trembled as he raised his gun.

“Ancestor, do you have any idea how much this watch is worth?”

Qi Xiaochuan ducked his head.

“Judging from your reaction... I’m guessing it’s not cheap?”

Zhou Yan took a deep breath. ...Hold it in. He’s still useful.

But as time went by, Zhou Yan realized that this coward who talked nonsense seemed to be hiding quite a few secrets.

For example, he could always come up with bizarre solutions when all hope seemed lost.

For example, he would sometimes gaze at the night sky and mutter, “If only I could get a 5G connection.”

And then there was the way he looked at Zhou Yan. More and more, it wasn’t the way you looked at a powerful man, but rather...

Then came the day the city was besieged.

Cannons roared, and their lives hung in the balance.

Zhou Yan shoved the only ticket aboard a ship into his hand.

“Go back to your era.”

Qi Xiaochuan stared at the ticket and suddenly smiled.

Then...

He tore it up.

“If one of us is going, we’re both going! This dump doesn’t even have Wi-Fi!”

Zhou Yan’s pupils shrank. He yanked him into his arms, one hand firm against the small of his back.

“Fine. Then you’re never leaving me, not in this lifetime.”

Bonus Scene:

Zhou Yan: “How do people... date in your era?”

Qi Xiaochuan suddenly grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him, right before his astonished eyes.

“A cross-temporal demonstration,” he said, pulling away and running his tongue over his canine. “Clear enough?”

Zhou Yan slowly rubbed his thumb over the warm corner of his lips. Good. Got it!

Reading Guide:

1. Happy ending! Happy ending! Happy ending! After all, Qi Xiaochuan said, “The history books say we both lived happily ever after!”

2. Younger gong, one-on-one, both pure in love, a cool-headed, scheming gong x a goofy, technical-savvy shou

3. Alternate-history Republican era. Don’t nitpick the history. Goofiness and angst in equal measure.

4. A feel-good, sweet romance.

Theme: In an era destined to sink, be each other’s one and only lifeline.