Chapter 1: Crossing Over

  Lü Shì crouched down at the base of a half wall, his hands clasped together, and tilted his face up to bask in the rare warm sunlight on this chilly spring day.

  A cold gust of wind blew over, drilling into the collar of his cotton-padded jacket that wasn't very thick, icy and piercing, Lü Shi shrunk his neck even tighter.

  Look at that pale sun, the gloomy blue sky, and I couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, old heaven, bullying me for not adapting to the current weather? Looking at my thin clothes, can't even pity myself. If only there was a warm winter." After cursing, I shrunk my neck again, then muttered: "I wonder when the greenhouse effect will come back, I really miss it."

  His stomach was growling, reminding Lü Shi of the delicious food.

  The last time I had a full meal was in my own home in the 21st century, my mother made buns and porridge. At that time, I was eating hastily while looking at my schoolwork, there was an exam in the afternoon, this is called sharpening one's sword on the eve of battle, not fast but radiant.

  The mantou is soft and slightly sweet, which was naturally fermented by my mother herself. The millet porridge is also very delicious, but now it's hard to describe in words.

  In the 21st century, those carefree and happy days are now only a distant memory that can only be revisited in dreams. Yes, Lü Shi was one of the soldiers who crossed over to this place, and it's been more than ten days since then.

  Crossing over like Lv Shi is infinitely tragic. As the saying goes, crossing over happens every year, and today it happened at my house. It was just a careless step, and I stepped into a sewer that was under maintenance. At the time, when I fell in, I still heard the maintenance worker's scream of terror and curses, and then I crossed over.

  But his own crossing was indeed embarrassing, without others crossing like a general, but became a naked beggar, and also did not bring any personal belongings that could be sold in this world to become rich, as the Buddha said, truly coming empty-handed, not bringing a single cloud.

  Fortunately, after reading countless 17K novels, my spirit has become as tough as steel wire. I covered my crotch and scanned the surroundings. Luckily, in the cold wind, the first thing I'm grateful for is that I'm still on Earth and haven't been transported to the countless mystical lands written about by netizens, with gods and Buddhas everywhere. Thank you, Allah! I'll definitely treat Lao Jun to a meal.

  Standing in the cold wind, I really want to laugh loudly towards the sky. This is an opportunity given by God, away from my original poor student background with no future prospects. Heaven gave me a chance for rebirth and struggle, hahahahaha!

  But laughter was immediately replaced by the intersection of upper and lower teeth, as if it were still winter, as if it were that kind of winter without a greenhouse effect.

  Staying warm is the top priority, being naked and carefree may be nice, but it's definitely not a way to survive. A set of clothes, a warm set of clothes is what I love most and need most. Looking around, there's a dilapidated village not far away, hurry up and run in, hoping to beg a kind-hearted person to give me a set of clothes.

  Covering her shame, she ran into this low and dilapidated village, which was empty and desolate, without a single sign of human life.

  Run-down, truly run-down, a wooden door, cautiously pushed open with a peek - collapsed, Lv Shi was startled and hoped the owner would forgive his carelessness.

  The yard was silent, without a single sound of human voice. Lv Shi called out in a low voice: "Is anyone there? Is anyone there? The young master has encountered bandits and is in distress, can I ask for a piece of clothing to cover my body?"

  This is no excuse for being caught off guard and is simply inexcusable.

  No one responded, gritting his teeth and moving forward, staring at the half-open door that was swaying in the cold wind. He didn't expect to trip over something on the ground, stumbled, barely stood up, turned around, and saw a ghostly figure emerging from the darkness.

  A tattered and emaciated man collapsed at his own feet.

  "It wasn't me." This was the first thought. "Call the police." This was the second thought. "Clothes," this was the third and instinctive thought.

  He was wearing a tattered cotton-padded jacket, but this jacket was a short-sleeved one with a right lapel, and below it was a pair of pants that were almost worn out at the knees. At first glance, they looked like ancient clothes. His hair was disheveled but high on his head, which further indicated that he was an ancient person.

  It seems that reporting the police is useless. I already knew I was a crosser, but I didn't know where I crossed to, what country. Now it's good, I know where I am now.

  The old man is absolutely an ancient person and a Han Chinese at that, which made Lv Shichang let out a sigh of relief, "Fortunately I'm still in ancient China."

  For the past 5,000 years in China, except for the period of the Five Barbarians' invasion, there has been no great distinction in the attire of the common people. Although it is impossible to tell which dynasty they belong to, whether or not you can tell which dynasty they belong to, this ancient person's attire shows that it is from ancient China, and that is enough. Now I love this attire the most.

  To that ancient man, the tattered clothes are now on Lü Shi's body. The moral integrity of being a person made him endure hunger and cold to find half a hoe, and in this empty courtyard, he dug a big pit and buried the kind old man who donated his clothes, then left the village which had no signs of human life or food.

  He got the information about crossing the ages by seeing the notice of the village head's oppression.

  A large piece of paper was pasted on the wall at the entrance of the village, flapping in the wind with a rustling sound. Lü Shixi liked ancient texts and calligraphy, and these traditional characters were not unfamiliar to him. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an official notice from the government to this small village, urging them to pay their imperial taxes. It was just some numbers and threats, but the signature at the end left Lü Shixi stunned.

  In the first year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, Yulin County was governed by Xuan.

  The extent of the damage to the notice told Lü Shi that it had been posted not long ago. Looking at the amount each household owed in back taxes and this year's tax burden, and comparing it with the dilapidated houses and barren fields, one could see the outcome for this village: one, flee; two, starve to death; three, there was no third option.

  Lü Shì stood stupidly at the village entrance, looking around blankly, but his heart was surging like a stormy sea.

  At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was a chaotic world where people were eating each other. Everyone knew that this declining dynasty had strong enemies outside and natural disasters and man-made disasters inside, with refugees rebelling, which really made Lv Shiyu cry without tears.

  Heavens, others who cross over aren't just for show, the most perverted ones even become imperial princes, but I became a vagrant in the blink of an eye. Heavens, how unfair is that? How can this be endured by those who have crossed over?

  Alright, Lü Shi stood in the cold wind for a while like a plant, then raised his middle finger to the sky.

  Since I've come, although I don't have the ability to create heaven and earth, although I've become a refugee, I only have limited common sense of life. But since Heaven has arranged for me to come into this world, it has given me a mission, which is to change the world at the end of the Ming Dynasty and save these millions of lives.

  Lü Shì's blood was boiling, however.

  But in the history of this world, there were Chongzhen, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Hong Chengchou, Yehe Nara, Huang Taiji and so on. These historical figures were either extremely intelligent or held powerful armies, and were decisive in their killings. How could a helpless refugee like myself defeat them? Just thinking about it makes my hair stand on end.

  Forget it, I'd better flee to the south, find a safe and prosperous place, take advantage of my hundred-year-old privilege, open up my golden fingers, make a fortune, and live a stable life as a rich man, that's the way to save my life.

  However, the rumbling of Lü Shizhong's stomach made him forget about Chongzhen, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Hong Chengchou, wild boar skin, and forget about changing the sky and earth. He forgot about the prosperity of Jiangnan, making him think of only one thing - how to fill his belly first, this is simply a matter of survival.

  To survive and not become a starving corpse of the Ming dynasty by tomorrow is the root of everything.

  The last full meal in this world was the day before yesterday, which was the last dog leg gnawed clean by myself.

  At that time, when I was gnawing on a dog's leg, a scholar with a messy hair and dirty face was squatting beside me watching, drooling, and with an air of arrogance in his bones, the scene was really comical.

  "Does a monk also eat dog meat?" Wen Shi asked in surprise with a weak tone.

  In this era, it is emphasized that the body and skin are given by one's parents and should not be damaged. Men all have long hair, so Lü Shi's short hair naturally makes him look like a monk.

  Lü Shì handed over the dog leg and said with a light smile: "Dog meat also has another name called 'Buddha Jumps Over The Wall', if Buddha jumps over the wall for it, why can't monks? Come on, try some, it's not bad."

  Na Wen Shi reluctantly accepted the dog leg with Lv Shiyin's teeth marks, and politely said thank you.

  "This mountain is so big and dry, when people are starving to death everywhere, they can still eat dog legs, it's really rare." The scholar took a deep sniff first, then sighed. Looking at him, he was originally from a wealthy family, but now he had fallen on hard times and become a refugee who would beg for food without shame.

  Scholars were supported by the imperial court, but during the Chongzhen period of the Ming dynasty, with internal troubles and external threats, the court was already on the brink of collapse. These low-ranking scholars also lost their support from the imperial court, and people like them became beggars, showing how difficult the world had become.

  Lü Shi laughed and said, "This is the time when wild dogs are at their plumpest. The guy you're holding in your hand, I saw him eating a dead person just two days ago, but the next moment he became food for this monk's mouth, it's all about karma."

  Na Wenshi was taken aback, his face turned deathly pale, and he dropped the dog leg as if it were on fire. He squatted down and dry-heaved for a while before slowly getting up with a pale face. He looked at Lü Shijie deeply for a long time, then muttered: "I'm guilty, I'm guilty." Then he stumbled away.

  "Is it a crime? How did this monk's words become his?" Lü Shi shook his head and smiled self-deprecatingly, picking up the dog leg from the ground to continue eating.

  Open the vast historical scrolls, and you can see two words at any time - starvation.

  In my memory, it was only after China in the 1980s that these two words were completely unrelated, but that doesn't mean they won't appear again.

  The historians who wrote about the two characters "E" and "" all did so with a calm mind, leaving readers without a sense of shock or astonishment.

  After all, there are no scholars or officials in this poor and weak country, no matter what color or nationality the leader is, as long as he can become a leader, he can enjoy the world's top clothing, food, housing and transportation.

  The land of Shanxi is starving people to death, but it's said that Emperor Chongzhen also knew about this matter, he just thought it wasn't as severe as the officials reported.

  However, since the new emperor ascended to the throne, he wanted to be a model for the revival of the dynasty. So, during the difficult times of national expenditure, he expelled more than half of the palace maids and eunuchs, leaving only 40,000 behind. Those poor eunuchs had become eunuchs in order not to starve to death, but now they faced starvation again due to reduced national expenditure. In fact, for those people, hunger was more important than removing their ancestral roots.

  The mountains and rivers are still dry, the emperor is still frugal, but the imperial grain tax cannot be reduced by half. The officials from top to bottom, for the sake of their performance, for the sake of their expenses, for the sake of their mutual collusions, for... anyway, they all use various excuses to extort money desperately.

  In fact, the emperor can pretend to be a figurehead, but those officials and scholars don't even need to do that, so they wrote about famine victims with no color under the circumstances of wearing brocade clothes and eating fine food.

  Just like now, although knowing that Shanxi is suffering from a severe drought and the people are struggling to survive, the emperor, in order to deal with external enemies, still did not provide relief, nor could he spare any money or grain for relief.

  The emperor is also having a hard time, with external enemies surrounding him. The deceased emperor needs a grand funeral, and there are tens of thousands of palace maids and eunuchs inside the palace, as well as millions of officials in the imperial court who need to be fed and entertained. The emperor's sons and grandsons keep multiplying, all needing to be supported, so it seems that the common people will have to struggle together with the emperor.

  "One meal, one grain should be treasured. In two days, even this dog leg might not be available." Lü Shi picked up the dog leg that Wen Shi had thrown on the ground and carefully tucked it into his bosom.

  For Lv Shi, this unlucky traverser, this dog leg is the hope to survive in this era, although it may also only be a few days later, it will also be a starving corpse. Who cares? It's just living one more day.