Chapter One: Encounter

  In June in Beijing, at dusk, the temperature is still very high. The leaves of the trees in the Imperial Garden are all wilted. There isn't a single breeze, making people feel like they can't breathe due to the dry heat.

  Although he was sitting in the pavilion by the pool in the imperial garden, with ice blocks placed around him and palace maids fanning him, Emperor Chongzhen still felt stifled. He simply stood up and walked back and forth inside the pavilion. Before long, he began to stand there dazedly again, his eyes listlessly staring at the water in the pool.

  Next to him, the eunuch Wang Cheng'en slightly raised his head and looked at Chongzhen, keenly discovering a hint of worry in the emperor's eyes. In fact, he was very clear that since Chongzhen was still Prince Xian, there had often been worries in his eyes.

  Previously, I was worried about my own life, not knowing when I would offend Wei Zhongxian and bring disaster upon myself. Now, my worry is about the ancestral foundation of our dynasty, as there is no aspect of current state affairs that does not cause trouble. Today, even Chongzhen, who has always been diligent in governance, followed my suggestion and came directly from Wenhua Hall to Yuhuayuan Garden to clear his mind. It seems that the pressure really is too great.

  The Chongzhen Emperor suddenly stopped and turned to Wang Chengen, saying: "Grand Companion, do you think it will rain in Shaanxi?"

  "Your Majesty, when things reach an extreme they must reverse. It has been dry for so long now. Perhaps the hot weather is concentrated in the capital, and it's already raining on the other side of Shaanxi." Wang Chengen could only comfort him with these words.

  Chongzhen Emperor turned his head to look at the fiery red sun in the west, which was about to set and still spewing fire. He couldn't help but sigh. He also knew that he wouldn't get any answers, it was just something to say to relieve the pressure. He truly hoped that heaven would create a miracle to help him catch his breath. This is what Chongzhen thought.

  Suddenly, Emperor Chongzhen saw a person appear out of thin air more than ten feet above the surface of the pool. Yes, that's right, a person appeared out of thin air. Then he heard a miserable cry: "Ah", followed by a "splash" as he fell into the pool.

  The emperor, the eunuchs, the palace maids and the guards were all stunned, their jaws dropped to the ground. The thing that person was originally holding in his hand fell out of his grasp as he floated away, drifting down to the ground below the steps of the pavilion.

  Wang Chengen reacted at this time, immediately rushed to the front of Emperor Chongzhen, opened his arms to protect the emperor, and shouted: "Protect Your Majesty!"

  The palace guards and eunuchs also reacted, immediately running to the emperor's side and forming a circle around him. Everyone knew that catching the assassin was not as important as protecting the emperor. Not only did it reduce the danger, but it also provided an opportunity for them to show off their loyalty.

  Zhong Jinwei has just bought a house, although it's a second-hand one, but at least he doesn't have to worry about the rise in housing prices anymore. Today, while passing by the town, he saw some paintings on the roadside stalls and picked out two maps: one of China and one of the world, which are part of the Chinese national land resources education series. The boss said they were from 2013 and he plans to put them up on the wall in his study.

  As a result, I was startled by the car behind me while walking and dodged to the side. Suddenly, my feet felt empty and I fell into the water with a "splash". My brain quickly reacted: "I don't know how to swim!" So, I struggled desperately and drank a few mouthfuls of water while shouting for help.

  Suddenly, Zhong Jinwei felt his feet touch the bottom of the water and stood up. It turned out that the water was not as deep as he had imagined, just reaching his neck.

  Zhong Jinwei wiped the water from his face and began to look around: "What the hell, where's the pool on the side of the road????? There's a crowd over there staring at me like I'm an idiot. Wait, what am I wearing? Is this for filming? Where's the camera?"

  Never mind for now, let's talk about it when we get ashore. At this time, Zhong Jinwei's direction choice was the same as anyone else's, which was to choose a direction with people.

  Chongzhen was strolling in his own garden, with only four guards around him. At this time, they all surrounded Emperor Chongzhen's body. The situation was urgent, and Chongzhen was surrounded so tightly that he couldn't breathe, so he said: "Disperse, I want to see what the situation is?"

  Wang Chengen hastily ordered two guards to stand in front of Emperor Chongzhen, and then told the other two guards: "Quickly take down the assassin!"

  Zhong Jinwei walked over and said to the two people who were holding knives, "You're so into filming that you don't even come to rescue someone who's fallen into the water? I'm not some old lady or old man, can I rely on you? The world is really going downhill!"

  Two guards had already walked to the edge of the pool, just about to attack, but were left speechless by these words. They looked at each other, then turned their heads back and asked King Cheng'en for instructions with their eyes.

  Wang Chengen did not hear Zhong Jinwei's words, and when he saw the two guards turn their heads to look at him, he glared at them: "Don't you hurry up and take it down?"

  At this time, Zhong Jinwei had already walked to the edge of the pool, docked on the shore, and climbed up. As soon as he got up, one of the guards punched him in the stomach, and while Zhong Jinwei was bent over in pain, another guard came forward and handcuffed his hands behind his back, and put a steel knife to his neck.

  Wang Chengen saw the two guards effortlessly capture the assassin, then turned to face Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, we've caught the assassin." Emperor Chongzhen thought to himself: This is stating the obvious, I've already seen it. But he didn't respond to Wang Chengen, instead directly ordering the two guards: "Bring him over."

  Two guards exerted their strength and pushed Zhong Wenruo towards Emperor Chongzhen.

  "Easy does it! What the... You're hijacking, aren't you!" Zhong Jinwei felt a sharp pain in his arms and his head involuntarily lowered as he hastily shouted.

  Zhong Jinwei's eyes had just seen the steps of the Liang Pavilion when his leg was kicked, and he involuntarily knelt down.

  "What are you doing, this is robbery! Ow, ow!" The guard with the knife pressed against Zhong Jinwei's neck tightened his wrist slightly and pressed down on him before shouting: "Silence, no noise allowed!"

  Zhong Jinwei felt that the knife was real, not a prop, and was so scared that he didn't dare shout again, so he shut his mouth. He couldn't help but think: "I won't let them get away with this if they're really trying to prank me like some foreign TV show."

  At this time, a young voice sounded above his head, with a hint of majesty and confidence. This was quite impressive, but Zhong Jinwei felt "Who are you? Why did you suddenly appear?"

  Zhong Jinwei wanted to lift his head to look at the person speaking, but both hands were handcuffed tightly and he couldn't lift his head. He could only speak with his head lowered: "Hurry up and let me go, or I'll report you for robbery when I turn back."

  "How dare you! This is the Emperor!" Wang Chengen shouted from the side.

  "You're still acting? I'm going to explode! If you continue to bully me, no amount of money can compensate for it. I'll definitely sue you!" Zhong Jinwei was furious.

  Wang Chengen looked at this person speaking nonsense and said to one of the guards: "Slap him in the mouth."

  Because he wanted to grasp his mouth, he loosened Zhong Jiawei's hands that were pinching him and let him lift up his head. Then he raised his hand, ready to start fighting.

  Zhong Jinwei saw that the other party really wanted to slap him, a good man doesn't take advantage of the situation, and quickly said: "Wait, wait, don't hit me, don't hit me."

  Everything was eerie, and the guards couldn't grasp it either, so they turned their heads to look at Wang Chengen.

  At this time, Emperor Chongzhen spoke again: "I ask you once more, who are you and why did you suddenly appear in the Imperial Garden?"

  Zhong Jinwei's gaze passed over the shoulder of the guard who was about to salute, and saw a young man standing on the pavilion behind him, wearing a dragon robe. Yes, it was a dragon robe. Everyone knew what a dragon robe looked like - it was yellow with dragons on it, and people called out "Your Majesty" when they saw it.

  About twenty-four or five years old, with a slightly pale complexion, furrowed eyebrows, and looking at himself.

  "My name is Zhong Jinwei, from Shenzhen. How did I end up here? I don't know either. Before I could figure it out, I was made to look like this." Taking advantage of being able to lift his head, Zhong Jinwei quickly glanced around, trying to find the director and the camera, wondering what was going on.

  The Chongzhen Emperor looked puzzled and turned to Wang Chengen. Wang Chengen knew what he meant, so he hastily replied: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, I don't know where Shenzhen is either." The other guards and palace maids also shook their heads in ignorance.

  Zhong Jinwei looked at these fools and said, "Don't you know that Shenzhen is a city? It's in Guangdong Province, an economic special zone! How can you not know this? Let me go and speak properly."

  The Chongzhen Emperor looked at this person with a puzzled face, and didn't seem to have any malicious intentions. In order to clarify the identity of the visitor, he signaled the guard to release him.

  Wang Chengen added on the side to the guards, "Search him." One guard was still holding Zhong Jinwei's hands, while another guard sheathed his knife and began to search him.

  Strange, where's the pocket? The upper garment obviously had nothing because Zhong Jinwei was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt without pockets. He took out a wallet, a set of keys and a mobile phone from his pants pocket. What strange things! But it wasn't up to him to be surprised, he quickly handed over all the items he found to Wang Chengen.

  Chongzhen Emperor turned around and sat back on the stone bench in the middle of the pavilion, Wang Cheng'en cooperated to put things on the stone table in front of Chongzhen Emperor, and moved a plate of snacks.

  Chongzhen Emperor looked at the thing in front of him, and the key could be seen, probably what it was. The wallet wasn't opened, first picked up the mobile phone, flipped left and right, couldn't understand.

  The phone had gone black after falling into the water, but on its screen, Emperor Chongzhen saw his own reflection. Oh, it was a mirror, a strange mirror.

  Put down the phone and turned over the wallet. Okay, very pitiful, just bought a house, no money on hand, only a little loose change in the wallet, which is old. There's also a card (it's a bank card), with some writing on it, but these words seem to be missing arms and legs, can't make out what they say.

  At this time, Zhong Jinwei spoke up: "I told you I don't have any money, you've got the wrong person for kidnapping and robbery. If you're just trying to scare me for a show, then hurry up and let me go, and I won't pursue it further."

  "Daring, but not rude." Wang Chengen looked at this strange person and started speaking without reserve again, and had to reprimand him once more.

  The Chongzhen Emperor heard Zhong Xiang's words and took out a paper note, asking: "Is this money?"

  Zhong Jinwei was speechless.

  "Your Majesty, I don't think it looks like a silver note, and I've never heard of such a thing being issued in Guangdong. Moreover, there is no Shenzhen City in Guangdong." Wang Cheng'en bowed his head to express his opinion to Emperor Chongzhen, then turned to Zhong Jinwei and shouted: "You're spouting nonsense, confess the truth, otherwise you'll be sorry!"

  At this time, Zhong Jinwei really felt that something was wrong: it was definitely not filming, the terrain here is open and empty, and no camera can be seen. It's also impossible to rob wearing such clothes.

  Moreover, they themselves were eerie, their speech and demeanor didn't seem fake, the steel knife on their necks was also quite heavy, and you could feel its sharpness. So, he asked: "May I ask, who are you?"

  The words were left unspoken, and he paused again, unsure of how to ask. Right, since you can understand the conversation, it should still be domestic: "Where is this place, what year is it now?"

  Wang Chengen saw that Zhong Jinwei not only didn't answer, but also asked back. Just as he was about to rebuke him, Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand and stopped Wang Chengen.

  He was very curious about the origin of this person, who suddenly appeared in the air, with some strange and weird things on his body, and a set of ancient and weird clothes, with short hair. Emperor Chongzhen said: "This is my imperial garden, now it's June 2nd of Chongzhen year."

  Zhong Jinwei was stunned: What, Chongzhen 2 years? Ming Dynasty? Time-traveled? Chaotic times?

  Wait a minute, maybe this Ming dynasty is not that Ming dynasty, and this Chongzhen is not that Chongzhen. He hastily asked: "Was it Tianqi and Wanli before Chongzhen? Was it Yuan or Song before the Ming dynasty? Is the Manchu now rebelling in the Northeast?"

  "Yes, but what is this Manchu you speak of? (Note 1) In the Northeast, there are Jurchen bandits rebelling." Chongzhen showed great patience.

  In fact, Chongzhen's patience has always been good. For example, he could tolerate Wei Zhongxian's arrogance until the day he had a grasp to take action. It is worth noting that at that time, he was not yet twenty years old and had such patience.

  Note 1: Premier Zhou ordered all national institutions in 1956 to prohibit the use of the ethnically discriminatory term "Manchu Qing"! Premier Zhou said that "Manchu Qing" was a term used by the Republic of China to persecute Manchus.