Chapter 6 I am Guangxu

  "Cough, are you kidding me? You've read too much science fiction, what time tunnel? That's all just nonsense written to deceive people! You stay here, I'll go take a look at who we hit, don't want anyone to get killed!" I tapped Yanyan's forehead and then opened the car door to get out. Yanyan hastily said: "I'll go with you!"

  Fei blocked her way: "Yan sister, just stay honest, we both have guns, I'll accompany him down!"

  The swallow pressed her into the seat: "My little sister, don't make trouble, look at your small arms and legs, can you withstand the toss? If you really get sick, won't our old man be worried to tears? It's just a gun, who doesn't have one? Don't forget, I'm studying firearms, how could I not have a good gun?" As she spoke, she suddenly flipped her hand like magic, and a extremely delicate pocket pistol appeared in the palm of her hand. The gun was no larger than her small palm, shining with a soft blue light, the handle was plated with silver, it looked really beautiful!

  I pushed the two of them down: "Both of you be honest, it's cold here with warm air, and outside is icy and snowy, what are you doing wearing so little? Whoever gets sick, I'll be heartbroken!" After finishing speaking, I pushed open the door and jumped out of the car, trudging through the creaking snow towards the front.

  I had just taken a few steps when the swallow caught up with me. I was so angry that I slapped her little buttocks: "How can you not listen, catch a cold here and there is no white plus black (a kind of medicine for catching a cold)!" After finishing speaking, I took off my overcoat and put it on her body.

  A swallow with one arm around my waist, her head resting on my shoulder, walking forward with me.

  We walked a few more steps and saw that there was indeed someone lying in the snow. I hurried over to brush away the snow and take a look, but was startled by what I saw. The person on the ground was clearly dressed as an emperor from the Qing dynasty - was this some kind of performance? An actor filming a TV series? But no, there were no cameras, no director, no lighting, and the emperor's queue was real, not just a wig worn by an actor. Had we really entered a time tunnel and ended up in the Qing dynasty? That would be disastrous - we'd already bumped into the emperor and didn't even know if he was dead or alive! This could end with us being beheaded at Caishikou!

  I hastily felt the nose of the person on the ground and said to Yan'er: "It's possible that he's dead, this is a big trouble, we've killed an emperor!"

  "Didn't expect Yan Er to burst out laughing: "Xiang Yu, take a good look, how is he identical to you? Is your doppelganger hit?"

  I glared at her with a bad temper: "What time is it now? You still have the heart to laugh, you're really a child who can't grow up!"

  The swallow seemed as if she hadn't heard, still carefully examining the emperor, a smile appeared on her face, I knew, this girl had another idea!

  But I took a closer look at the person on the ground, and he really looked like me. Is it true that there are people in this world who look exactly alike? How can even the red mole on my left cheek be identical, same size, and in the same place? "Damn, I don't look handsome myself, how can someone else look like me? If you want to look like someone, look like Zhao Benshan or Ge You, that way you can make some big money. Looking like me will only get you a bowl of porridge!" Thinking about this, I said: "Hey, he really does look like me, but unfortunately, he's just a bit younger than me, still just a kid!"

  The swallow shook its head and looked at us: "You can't tell that you're older than him, it's strange. I don't know if it's because of the three refinements of Qi that have nourished my sister and me, or if it's the arrangement of the heavens, but these days you've become younger and younger, now you look like a 16- or 17-year-old kid, there's no difference between you two! I've really gotten a good deal, my husband is a young rooster!"

  I didn't have the heart to argue with her, so I hastily went forward to support the emperor and tried to save him.

  Today, this matter is really strange. My hand had just helped that person up, and with a light touch, there was no one there, only leaving behind that person's set of clothes, hat, boots, and his mother's big braid.

  The swallow was so frightened that it opened its eyes wide and kept its mouth open for a long time without saying anything. I was also scared, and said: "Is the ghost out? Where did the person go? Did he fly away? If he left, why leave this big braid behind? It's disgusting!" But then I became happy again: "No one knows who hit him, as long as his clothes don't stay here, they can't blame us. We won't end up at the Vegetable Market Mouth!"

  Thinking of this, I swept up all the things on the ground and carried them away, pulling the frozen swallow that was shivering with laughter back into the car.

  Fei saw us return and hastily asked: "How is he? Is he hurt anywhere?"

  I told her about my discovery just now, and she was stunned for a moment. After half a day, two big tears rolled down from her eyes, and she muttered to herself: "It's really fate, a black fog brought us into the Forbidden City of the Qing Dynasty, it seems that what I learned is useless!"

  The swallow has just come to its senses, and tears are rolling down in strings: "I'll never see those guys again, they'd cry to death if they knew!"

  I'm also feeling quite distressed, but in front of the two wives, I have to hold on! I looked at the clothes in my hand and handed them over to the two wives, saying: "You two quickly put it on, don't freeze!"

  The swallow looked at the clothes, took the sable cloak and wrapped it around Fei'er's body, then pushed back the remaining pants, jacket and vest: "You should wear these too! We can't go back to that era now, nor can we get out of this Forbidden City! We have to think of a way to survive here! Just now I saw that you look exactly like that emperor, even the mole on your face is the same! Now that dog emperor has mysteriously disappeared, and you've appeared, isn't it as if heaven arranged for you to replace him?"

  Swallow was delighted to hear that, and clapped her hands: "That's great, brother has become the emperor, we are imperial concubines! This time I'll be a real imperial concubine, it's not in vain that I've been called Huang Fei for so many years!"

  I frowned and said: "Do you think being an emperor is that easy? I don't understand the rules in the palace, I don't know if my words and actions are the same as the emperor's or not. It's all fake, and who knows when I'll be exposed? Western scenery, it's nothing to get myself executed at the vegetable market, but I also don't want to implicate you guys, I really don't want to provoke that shame!

  The swallow hugged me, kissed me, and said: "Good husband, don't say those discouraging words! Think about it, the probability of being able to enter the time tunnel is probably one in a billion, right? How did he manage to catch up with us? This Xuanyuan treasure has been hidden for hundreds or even thousands of years, how did we get it? I was picking herbs on the mountain, and no one else goes up that mountain, how did you go up there and break my body, and also meet the requirements of the Xuanyuan treasure? We came here, confused and accidentally killed the emperor, how does he look exactly like you? You're already 28 years old, but you're getting younger and younger, just like a 16 or 17-year-old kid, is it to become more like him? Is it heaven's will that you replace him and we rewrite Chinese history? Now we're trapped in the palace, can't go out, can't fly away, if someone comes out of the palace, we'll be caught and won't escape death. If you become emperor, we might not only survive but also live a good life. If you don't become emperor, we'll definitely end up on the execution ground! Which path to take, think carefully! Not for anything else, just for Xiaofei and me, you should be the emperor, give it a try, let us have a good life this lifetime!"

  I know what she said makes sense, but I really don't believe I can handle all those barriers!

  Fei'er also said: "I always feel that the three of us together, with two treasures in hand, should be able to do something big. I think we should follow Yan's suggestion, you put on those clothes, and let's make a scene of true and false emperors. If it doesn't work out, we can use our guns to rush out!"

  I know this may be the only way to survive, I'm determined to give it a try!

  I put on those tight pants and the yellow cotton-padded jacket and fox-fur waistcoat, if I was going to dress up, I'd do it with some style, so I also put on those boots and buttoned up that hat.

  Fei'er took a look at my outfit and burst out laughing: "How come you look like the Guangxu Emperor on TV?"

  I laughed and said: "Then you are Zhen Fei and Jin Fei!"

  The swallow helped me press the big braid into the small hat, then looked at it and said: "Hubby looks so spirited! I think he looks like the young Kangxi in 'Kangxi Dynasty'!"

  I couldn't help but laugh: "Have I become that small? Even smaller and I'll put all of you to sleep!"

  Yan'er's face turned red to the base of her neck, she pursed her lips and said: "I think that emperor is probably Guangxu, look at his pale yellow complexion and thin body, among the twelve emperors of the Qing dynasty, only he has the worst physique!"

  I was startled: "That's terrible, Guangxu was not even in power for a few days before he was controlled by Cixi!"

  Fei'er also said: "That was China's most decadent era! We mustn't be traitors!"

  "Damn it, no sense of honor at all! We've come, can't we rewrite history? Don't we have a truckload of AKs? Can't we train our own iron army? Can't we find a way to control that old hag Cixi? My husband knows governance, I know firearms, and Fei knows shipbuilding - these are definitely the most advanced things in the world! What can't we do?! Shh, don't say anything, someone's coming. Remember, don't speak yet, let's test the waters first. If it were Guangxu's era, we'd be your self-chosen concubines!"

  Faye and I both nodded repeatedly.

  The three of us checked our pistols and stuck them in our waistbands, just in case. Seeing a group of people had appeared nearby, we opened the car door and got out of the vehicle.

  We had just taken a few steps on the crunching snow when a shrill voice came from beside us: "The Old Master is over there! Old Master, Little Fu pays his respects to you!"

  I immediately said loudly: "Xiao Fuzi, how are you getting more and more unreasonable? I was just reciting poetry with two guests in the snowy field, and you came to disturb us!"

  That little Fu Zi hastily said: "The snow is getting bigger and bigger, and the garden has appeared who knows what kind of monster, I'm afraid that something will happen to the emperor, so I brought people to hurry over!"

  I laughed and said, "You little rascals are really frogs at the bottom of a well, you don't even know what an automobile is! This is a gift that these two guests just brought for me. How about it, isn't this car pretty good?"

  That little Fu Zi suddenly spoke up: "Something that Master Wan has set his eyes on can't be bad, right?" After finishing speaking, he looked at Huang Fei and Lin Yan: "They are——"

  As I walked, I said: "These are two talented women who have just returned from studying abroad. Today they came to give me a car and coincidentally it's snowing, so they accompanied me for a walk in the snowy ground! Oh, you immediately arrange someone to protect this car well, don't let anyone touch it!"

  That little Fu Zi replied after attaching to my ear and said: "Old Buddha had passed a message earlier, tomorrow is going to be your engagement day, shouldn't you also have a goal? I think these two are quite pretty, should we think of ways to keep them both here? The Empress that the Western Buddha chose for the Emperor is really not pleasing to the eye, and also very arrogant.

  I smiled and said, "That's great, since the Empress Dowager is worried about me, I'll wait for her to find a few more beautiful concubines! However, it can't be just the Empress Dowager who worries, I myself should also choose one or two on behalf of my mother!" I knew that at this time there were Cixi's informants around Guangxu, and I couldn't reveal even half a word.

  Xiao Fu Zi whispered in my ear: "Don't say that, Master. There are people from the Old Buddha's side here!"

  As we spoke, the three of us were led into the rear hall of the Palace of Tranquil Heart - Guangxu's bedchamber. I sat down on the bed, while Yan'er and Fei'er sat down on the dragon stool opposite me. I waved my hand at the others and said: "All of you withdraw! I want to have a few more words with our guests!"

  Xiao Fu Zi saw that everyone had left and said in a low voice: "Rong Lu and others have petitioned the Empress Dowager to extend the period of her retirement until after the Emperor's wedding, and now the Empress Dowager is discussing this matter in the palace!" I was startled when I heard this.