Chapter 1: The Old Mansion's Ancient Well

  "Grandpa, I'm back!" As Li Yu stepped into the old mansion, he suddenly felt a pang of sadness in his heart. Since Grandpa's passing, he had returned to NJ City for school, and now a year had passed, he was back in this city, this old mansion.

  Pushing open the door of the side house, Grandfather's portrait was still on the altar, the warm smile in the photo just like when he was alive. A year had passed without returning, and a thin layer of dust had already accumulated on the portrait. Li Yu felt guilty, picked up the photo and began to wipe it with his clothes.

  This year, Li Yu has just graduated and returned to SH City. He thought about it and decided to come back here to find a job. His old house is in the suburbs of SH City, not far from a subway station, with very convenient transportation, making it an ideal place. It also saves him the trouble of renting a house, allowing him to focus on finding a job.

  After paying respects to his grandfather, Li Yu began to clean up. The old mansion was his home after all, and he couldn't just leave it in the same state as before. With a broom in hand, Li Yu started a thorough cleaning of the old mansion.

  The old house is a typical self-built house in the south, with a small two-story building and a small courtyard behind it. The small building has white walls and green tiles, which gives off an ancient charm. In the past, his grandfather would plant some vegetables in the courtyard, and by summer, they would have enough to eat for the whole year.

  Recalling the days he lived with his grandfather, Li Yu arrived at his grandfather's former bedroom and picked up a broom to sweep under the bed. At this time, a yellowed envelope was swept out by him with the broom.

  Li Yu furrowed his brow slightly, and suddenly remembered the night before his grandfather passed away. He was pointing under the bed and kept saying "letter", but at that time, Li Yu was too grief-stricken to pay attention, and later sent his grandfather to the hospital. After a series of funeral arrangements, he completely forgot about this matter.

  Pinching the envelope, Li Yu felt a hard ring-shaped object, which seemed to be a ring. He tore open the envelope and took a look, and indeed, an ancient bronze-colored ring lay at the bottom of the envelope.

  The ring was turned over, and Li Yu opened the letter paper to take a look. This look completely overturned Li Yu's worldview.

  In the letter, Li Yu's grandfather said that he was not a person of this world, and Li Yu was not his grandson, but a child he had picked up. The world where he used to live was a place with highly developed space technology, and he was once a top scientist in that world. A failed space experiment led him to come to Earth.

  For decades, he has been trying to restore the space-time tunnel with his skills, but when he spent decades of hard work and thought he had succeeded, he failed again. He did not arrive at the original world, but another space-time.

  Letter after letter slipped from Li Yu's hands, he was now in a state of utter confusion, and he couldn't believe that these words, which only appeared in novels, had actually appeared in his own life.

  Grandfather wouldn't play a joke like this before his death, so all of this must be true. Thinking of this, Li Yu looked towards the old well in the backyard.

  From childhood to now, Li Yu has never understood why his grandfather refused to use the water from the well to irrigate the garden and constantly warned him not to approach the ancient well. Now he thoroughly understands that at the bottom of this ancient well lies one end of a space-time tunnel.

  In the backyard, Li Yu found that old well in the center of the yard which had been forbidden by his grandfather since he was a kid. The ancient well had existed since he could remember and the one-meter-diameter stone millstone had always been pressed on top of it.

  With all his might, Li Yu pushed the millstone down the well mouth. At this time, a man-made steel ladder appeared in front of him. Once curiosity is aroused, it cannot be extinguished, and it will become a person's driving force for exploration. This is what Li Yu is like now.

  It's high noon now, the sunlight shines directly to the bottom of the well. Li Yu looks down and sees that there is not a single drop of water at the bottom of the well, but a piece of dry land.

  Holding onto the ladder, Li Yu descended down the well and soon reached the bottom. Turning around, he saw a two-meter-high cave to his right that stretched about five meters deep. At the end of it was a metal door with the same height as the entrance, one meter wide, embedded in the mud like an inlay. The inside of the metal door reflected Li Yu's astonished face like a mirror, with blue energy emanating from within.

  Step by step, Li Yu walked towards the metal door and took out the ring left by his grandfather. This ring not only contained a huge space but also served as the key to traverse the time-space tunnel; otherwise, after passing through this energy membrane, he would not be able to reach anywhere and would only crash into the mud wall behind the door.

  "Grandpa has already tried it out, what's there to be afraid of!" Li Yu couldn't help but tense up, while constantly comforting himself, his hand gripping the ring tighter and tighter.

  In the letter, Li Yu's grandfather told him that on the other end of the space-time tunnel was a parallel universe to Earth, and that this universe was currently in a dynasty he knew well - the Tang Dynasty.

  No kidding, Li Yu really knew a lot about the Tang Dynasty. And it was all thanks to his name. When he was in school, his teachers and classmates would often tease him during history class because he shared the same name as Li Yu, the sixth son of Emperor Taizong of Tang!

  With a nervous heart, Li Yu hesitated about whether to take that step. At this time, fear gradually suppressed his curiosity, and in the face of the unknown, humanity's inferior nature was revealed in him.

  "People who are not willing to take the first step will never learn how to walk, nor can they experience the joy of running!" A sentence suddenly echoed in his mind, which was said by Li Yu's grandfather when he was two years old. At that time, two-year-old Li Yu couldn't walk yet, and his grandfather said this sentence. For some reason, young Li Yu remembered it, and after his grandfather finished saying the sentence, two-year-old Li Yu really took his first step in life.

  "Grandpa, I believe in you!" he muttered to himself as Li Yu took a step forward through the metal door. Suddenly, a white mist obscured his vision, and then he saw the most terrifying scene of his life - his body was slowly disintegrating, and only then did he remember that he had forgotten to press the protective button on the ring in his excitement.

  "FUCK!" In the space-time tunnel, Li Yu only thought of this word, and then he lost consciousness...

  The seventh year of the Zhenguan era, in the Liang Wang's mansion.

  "Woe is me... Sixth Brother, why must you be so stubborn? Father Emperor was only momentarily angry and scolded you, how could you be so desperate as to throw yourself into the well?"

  In the back hall of the Liang Wang Fu, beside the bed where Liang Wang slept, a young man wearing a blue round-necked long shirt with a jade belt around his waist was staring at another young man on the bed whose head was wrapped in white cloth strips and sobbing continuously. He was none other than the third son of Emperor Li Shimin of the current dynasty, Li Ke.

  Just a moment ago, the steward of the Liang Wang Fu, Jin Daqian, rushed to his Shu Wang Fu and told him that Li Yu had jumped into the well in the backyard of the Liang Wang Fu.

  Li E was his younger brother by the same mother, and their feelings were naturally deep. When he heard this news, he immediately put down his official duties and came over. At this time, the imperial physician had already diagnosed Li E and told him that Li E had only suffered a head injury and would not be life-threatening, so he was relieved.

  It was unclear how much time had passed when Li Yu slowly came to, the terrifying experience in the space-time tunnel left him with lingering fear, after calming down slightly, he suddenly felt a burning pain in his head, and there were faint crying sounds coming from beside his ears.

  As he opened his eyes, Li Yu's first glance fell on the crying Li Ke. This young man was unfamiliar to him, yet felt extremely familiar. Complex memories flooded in, and Li Yu finally understood - he had transmigrated into a new body, and this body belonged to none other than Li Ke, the sixth son of Emperor Taizong of Tang.

  "It's all over!" Li Yu sighed repeatedly, having received the memories in his mind. He had originally thought that he would just take a trip to the Tang Dynasty and then return, but now it was too late, he had directly become a person of the Tang Dynasty.

  "Ring! My ring!" Li Yu suddenly remembered the ring and sat up with a loud cry, nearly scaring Li Ke into a heart attack as he was quietly wiping away his tears.

  "Prince Wang, is this what you're talking about?" A voice sounded behind Li Ke, and Jin Dajian walked forward with a bronze-colored ring pinched between his right thumb and index finger, which he had picked up from the bottom of the well.

  Li Yu's face lit up with a smile as he glanced at the ring in Jin Dajian's hand, and as long as he had the ring, he could go back.

  Li Rou woke up and looked energetic, Li Ke turned around, quickly wiped away his tears, and when he turned back, his face was like a layer of frost, changing from the previous heartache for his brother, scolding: "Old Six, how long do you plan to be crazy? Because of you, Mother Empress and Father Emperor quarreled in the palace today. How much more worry do you want me and Mother Empress to have for you?"

  The ring was lost and then found, Li Yu was delighted, but was suddenly scolded by Li Ke, and he couldn't help being stunned. He just remembered his current identity and felt a little more at ease.

  It turned out that this Li You had been naughty since childhood, often hanging out with some rascals, strolling around the brothel, flirting with decent women, and fighting was a common occurrence.

  Under the emperor's feet, Li Shimin had a dense network of informants, so how could he not understand his son's character? So in the seventh year of Zhenguan, an imperial edict sent Li Yu to Xiangzhou as governor, and he was delighted to be out of sight and out of mind. But what Li Shimin did not expect was that this high-ranking official's son would become even more **unruly** after being demoted to a local position, launching unbridled attacks and stirring up intense resentment among the local people.

  An official from Xiangzhou couldn't bear it anymore and went to persuade Li You a few words, but unexpectedly Li You suddenly became furious and violently beat this official. This time, the officials of Xiangzhou could no longer tolerate it, jointly wrote a memorial, each pressed their fingerprint, the meaning of the memorial was very direct, either Li You get out of Xiangzhou or they would collectively go on strike.

  Upon receiving this memorial, the imperial court was in an uproar. All the ministers looked at Li Shimin, implying that this is your son, what do you say should be done?

  Li Shimin's expression at the time was unknown to Li Yu, but soon another imperial edict summoned him back to Chang'an and had him go directly to Taiji Palace without even returning to the Wang Mansion.

  Li Yuansheng was born in Chang'an and had long been fascinated by the prosperity of Chang'an. With a simple mind, he hurried back. After his departure, it is said that the people of Xiangzhou celebrated with joy, which shows that Li Yuansheng brought great disaster to Xiangzhou.

  Riding swiftly, Li Hui returned to Chang'an and this time he listened, going directly to the Taiji Palace to see Li Shimin.

  Seeing his son, whom he had not seen for months, Li Shimin did not show any joy of a father and son reunion, but instead scolded him harshly from the start, and directly cursed at him for half an hour. In summary, all Li Yu could gather from his father's words was four characters - "not as good as animals".

  Scolded by his father as being no better than a beast, Li You naturally wouldn't be happy and returned to the Prince of Liang's mansion in low spirits. However, both Li Xie and the people below him in the Wang Fu thought he was so humiliated that he would kill himself, which greatly underestimated Li You's mental endurance and thickness of skin.

  This guy came back and heard that the old well in the backyard was haunted, so he ran to the backyard to join in the fun, but didn't expect to accidentally fall in and lose his life, which just happened to benefit a certain careless person.