Chapter 1: The Robber Who Stole Clothes

  A gentle breeze caressed their faces, and Chen Xin and Liu Min simultaneously felt as if they had returned to the flow of time. Their senses and limbs were restored once more. It seemed as though time had only disappeared for an instant, yet it also seemed like a long time had passed. The two looked at each other, then suddenly let out a loud cry: "Ah, where are my clothes?"

  "My phone is gone, wallet, my wallet, keys are also missing"

  Desolate mountains and wild ridges, two naked men, mobile phones, wallets, and clothes all lost, not doing performance art, Liu Min felt like he was about to go crazy, in a flurry of activity, he quickly found some leaves to cover his lower body, took a deep breath, and calmed down a bit.

  When he looked at Chen Xin, he unexpectedly found that this person who had also encountered an accident was climbing naked to the side of a tree, observing something.

  After a while, Chen Xin jumped down from the tree, completely ignoring his nakedness, and said to Liu Min, "It seems that something is not quite right. The wireless base station in the distance has disappeared, the mountains are still the same, but the tree trunk we sat on earlier is gone, and the surrounding trees are a bit different. I'm afraid we're in trouble."

  Chen Xin said with a smile, "Yin Qiuyue's Nine Yin White Bone Claw technique has improved, you've lost everything today and can't even explain yourself, you'll have to take a severe beating."

  Liu Min said with some annoyance: "Still because of the house."

  Look up at the sky, the big and small golden pyramids have disappeared without a trace. The old man looked at him strangely, saw that he was winking again, and responded with a sound, no longer speaking. The old man heard that the two would not harm his life, and after muttering to himself for a while, he stopped making trouble.

  Chen Xinxian poked his head out of the bushes, looked around and saw no one, then carried Lao Han onto the small path they had taken before. After walking for about two miles, turning over two small bends, the front gradually opened up, a flat area between the mountains, a small river running through the valley, more than ten households were located by the river, a wooden bridge on the river, several large logs supporting the bridge surface, the path passing through the village, crossing the small bridge, after crossing the bridge along the river, winding out of the mountain, two women washing clothes barefoot by the river, faintly heard some conversation.

  Two robbers, now habitual offenders, hid in the woods, peering through the leaves at the village. The old farmer put it far away and said with a smile: "The farmhouse music we saw on our way should be here, and it was originally like this."

  Liu Min bowed his head and thought for a moment before asking Chen Xin: "How did you know that old man was hiding in the vicinity just now?"

  "After that turn, the view ahead is open and there's a fork in the road. The old man will want to see which way we went and make sure we're far away before he can feel at ease continuing up the mountain. So if we want to hide, we should choose that spot."

  "Why didn't you let him go just now and instead brought him along?"

  "Let him go, he took a shortcut back to the village. With just these few roads, if we get a few strong men with hoes and carrying poles to block the road, how are we going to get down the mountain, how can we continue to borrow clothes?"

  Liu Min had no choice but to ask, "What do we do now? The village is so quiet, if they shout for help while we're taking their clothes, we'll be blocked again."

  "After a while, we'll prepare two sticks to scare the dog, then let the old man go and watch us return by the original road. Then we'll hide nearby and wait for him to shout for people to chase after us. The two of us will sneak into the village to borrow some clothes and get something to eat." Chen Xin rubbed his belly and smacked his lips again.

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  "Woof woof", Liu Min ran with a stick in hand, gnawing on dried meat, unsure if it was rabbit or wild chicken. The wind-dried meat hung outside a household and was borrowed by the two of them. Of course, there were also many clothes, both men's and women's styles, but they didn't have time to pick and choose yet. As they ran, they ate, occasionally looking back to see if the dog had caught up with them.

  After running out for a mile or so, the sound of dogs barking gradually faded away. The two changed their clothes; the largest size was still a bit small, but they were already very satisfied with it. They each tore off a piece of cloth and wrapped their heads in it, then bundled up the remaining clothes and tied them up. Chen Xin put the bundle on his back and quickly headed towards the outside of the mountain. Along the way, there were two more small villages; the two did not dare to stay, nor did they enter the village, but only passed by from the road outside the village.

  As they turned over a small hill, the view gradually opened up. After walking for another segment, a wide dirt road appeared before their eyes. "Finally seeing the light of day again!" Chen Xin burst out laughing. After crossing over and going down the mountain, borrowing clothes, from 9 o'clock in the morning to the afternoon, it was now around 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the later generations. "Brother, which way should we go? Going west is to Ji County, continuing on is to the capital, going east is to Zunhua... Oh, do you want to go back to Tianjin and see if your house is still there?"

  "You clearly know it's not there, you've made up your mind, I'm all confused now."

  "I'm getting out of here for now. That old farmer and his men were like fiends from hell when they chased after him up the mountain just now..."

  Chen Xin hesitated for a moment, then said to Liu Min, "Zunhua is close to the Great Wall and is an important border town. The defenses are definitely stricter here. With our current appearance, it's better if we go to Ji County first, and then decide where to go next."

  The two of them turned onto the official road and headed west towards Jizhou. At that time, there was no Yuqiao Reservoir as there is today. About ten miles south of the official road were the Stone Drum Mountains and other rolling hills. In the valley between the northern and southern mountains were vast fields of wheat, which were ripe in April. A gentle breeze blew, causing waves of golden wheat to roll in. The Liriver (which becomes known as Guishui after passing through Jizhou and is now called Zhouhe) flowed from east to west through the area, with several small rivers flowing south into it from the northern mountains. There were many bridges on the official road, and scattered throughout the valley were some villages, creating a peaceful rural scene.

  Liu Min followed behind Chen Xin with a lack of enthusiasm, while Chen Xin was looking around with great interest at the Ming Dynasty scenery. Chen Xin raised his head and took a deep breath, sighing: "The air is really good, do you think we'll live a few more years?"

  Liu Min weakly replied, "Still thinking of living a few more years, tomorrow's meal is uncertain, the dried meat in the bag can only last two days, we have nothing but this package of tattered clothes, not even a penny. I only know how to write programs, you only know how to talk politics, with just the two of us like this, no one would want us as laborers."

  Chen Xin turned around and took a look at Liu Min's appearance, chuckled: "Don't be so pessimistic, think about it, there are also advantages, aren't there? At least you won't get scratched by Yin Wanqiu's Jiuyin Baigu today, and you don't have to worry about buying a house or taking on Lao Pan's project."

  "It's not that I'm pessimistic, but others who cross over become princesses or young masters, while we don't even have clothes on our backs. What's the advantage of this? If you're going to take everything, just let me go back and deal with Old Pan."

  "Since you're already here, then make the best of it. Anyway, even if you cry to death, you can't go back. Better think about what to do now. By the way, do you know what happened in Tianqi 7th year?"

  Liu Min was taken aback. He only knew that it wasn't until the Ming Dynasty, but he really didn't know when this Tianqi was. He hastily said: "Really, I'm not familiar with history at all. You'd better tell me about it."

  "In the seventh year of Tianqi, the current emperor was still a carpenter. Wei Zhongxian held great power and was in high spirits, but he would soon be hanged. In Liaodong, there was a regime called Houjin, which was the predecessor to the Qing dynasty. In three or five years, they would occasionally invade the Great Wall, and if nothing unexpected happened, about ten years later, they would enter Beijing through this road and establish 'our great Qing'. There was also a person named Li Zicheng, who was currently a postal worker. After being laid off in a few years, he would rebel, which would happen twenty years later, forcing the emperor Chongzhen to lose his job and even his life. After they had finished their turmoil, more than half of the people in the north had died, and those remaining were forced by 'our great Qing' to shave their heads and become slaves. As for other things, I know some major events and figures, which I will talk about slowly later."

  Liu Min looked at Chen Xin with a shocked expression: "That means to say, now is a chaotic era? Why are we so unlucky, and still stuck in this era where human life is cheaper than dog's?"

  Chen Xin stretched out his hand and shook it, saying "What's so precious about dogs? The sausages in your house aren't even fed professional dog food. When they're sick, there are pet hospitals, and some have even gone to school. They should be as worthless as grass, and that's the grass on the lawns of domestic parks."

  "Don't mention that dog school anymore, Lao Gui didn't say anything, and nothing was learned. If I had known I was going to cross over, I would..."

  "Burn it!"

  Liu Min shook his head and said, "Then I don't dare to. I'll go scold him for a while." He paused for a moment and sighed somewhat absent-mindedly, "It's just that I don't know how my sausage is doing. If I'm not around, it won't eat anything. And Yin Qiu doesn't like it either, saying it has no hair. With this outfit on, I'll eventually be thrown away by Yin Qiu."

  "It's also possible that it was stewed in a pot!"

  Liu Min pointed at Chen Xin and shouted "YOU!!!"

  "Alright, alright, I was wrong."

  Liu Min had just put down his hand when Chen Xin added: "It should be braised in soy sauce, that would be better."