That very night, the love rhapsody Wen Zhuo had written in the visitor interaction area was uploaded online—
Title: Does anyone believe this? I ran into a calligraphy god at the National Museum, and I dare say even the real person couldn’t have made it look this authentic!
The blogger not only posted a video, but also uploaded high-resolution photos in the comments.
1L
I knew there was no way I’d come across this for no reason. Turns out it’s my bias’s Wanshan style~
2L
Holy crap, you can’t deny it. I know a little about calligraphy, and this imitation is seriously impressive. Which master is showing off?
3L
If you hadn’t said it was an imitation, I never would’ve noticed. It’s exactly the same—even the habits in the brushwork match.
4L
The internet is full of hidden talents. Can’t one more gifted person join the ranks?
5L
I’m dying. My dad is from the Capital Calligraphy Association. I just put the blogger’s picture against a backdrop of old rice paper and showed it to him. He swore up and down it was authentic. This round has completely ruined the old man’s reputation!
6L
Hahaha, so the world really is just one big amateur production. I’ve always thought those appraisal people were unreliable. Tell your dad to retire already!
7L
Why is everyone focused on the Wanshan style? Is no one looking at the content? Have netizens secretly improved behind my back again?
8L
I looked. The Zhuo-and-Shen shippers are already blissfully dead and don’t have time to reply.
9L
It’s exactly the same, so Zhuozhuo must have written it himself. Zhuozhuo traveled through time to write this for us. Mm-hmm, he and Brother Shen are true love, obviously. Some old fossils can only spout nonsense about them being confidants. Zhuozhuo couldn’t stand it anymore~
10L
On the classical Chinese multiple-choice section of my final exam, the correct answer was A: “hou” is interchangeable with “hou,” meaning “to treat generously.” I chose B: “empress.” What level am I at?
11L
The level of respecting official history, obviously. I’ve also been fooled by the answer keys before. It wasn’t until I joined the historical same-sex fandom that I realized—what the hell do you mean, “confidants”? Even the old Liu family wasn’t this genuine!
12L
Official history is already this obvious, and the unofficial histories from that era practically called Chancellor Wen the emperor’s empress outright. I’ve genuinely researched this. The emperor himself abolished the harsh laws against men falling in love with men. What else do you need to understand? Even our teachers have tacitly acknowledged it by now.
13L
What do you mean, unofficial history? That’s called a grassroots investigation, sisters! But I’m curious—doesn’t this passage also sound very much like the wording and style of the Jade Chancellor?
14L
Oh, right. The Jade Chancellor seemed to love using the character “chen.” And this person wrote in Jade Chancellor’s voice. It’s practically a declaration of love in the form of a rhapsody!
15L
Did the blogger get a picture of this person? Male or female? Someone with this level of skill should already be famous in the calligraphy world, shouldn’t they?
16L
I’m the blogger. I can only describe him: mask, long hair, slender build, incredibly beautiful eyes—the cold-faced beauty type. He was wearing a white tracksuit, simple and clean. Judging by his height, I’d say he was probably a man. There was also a tall, handsome college-age guy with an amazing figure beside him. That guy kept gazing at him with a smile. I genuinely thought he looked so devoted and charming. I didn’t take a photo because that would’ve been rude. Anyway, the two of them left after he finished writing. Everyone around us just silently watched them go...
17L
I can’t take it anymore... Let me project onto this, let me project! The Emperor and Chancellor were dissatisfied that anyone would question their love, so they traveled through time to leave behind a treasured piece of calligraphy and set the record straight.
18L
Blogger, did the college guy write anything too?
19L
I’m the blogger. No, only the long-haired one wrote.
10L
That’s even better for imagining things. The History of Qian says, “The emperor’s own brushwork was not yet accomplished, so he often ordered Zhuo to write official documents in his stead. Zhuo’s calligraphy spread throughout the realm, and scholars everywhere competed to imitate it, until it became the prevailing style.” So the one who actually picked up the brush must have been Zhuozhuo!
11L
I also ran into a long-haired beauty at the Palace Museum that day. Seriously, breathtakingly beautiful—the kind of person who leaves you staring blankly. He was even wearing a Great Qian official robe, and he was incredibly convincing as an ancient person. He was sitting near Jingyun Gate waiting for someone under the blazing sun, so I gave him my automatic umbrella. He took it, turned it over and over in his hands for a while, then set it down. At the time, I thought he simply didn’t need it. But on the way home, it suddenly hit me—could he not have known how to open it?!
12L
I was at the Palace Museum too! Did you hear the announcement looking for someone that day? It said, “Wen Zhuo is looking for Shen Zheng.” I thought some fellow fan was being absurd. I almost introduced myself as Shen Chen and arranged to meet this Shen Zheng at Meridian Gate for a duel...
13L
Holy crap, the more people talk about this, the more real it sounds. Why wasn’t I there? Could time travel actually be real? I’ve seen people say that Emperor Hongyu’s ideas were unusually advanced, as if he’d traveled here from the modern era.
14L
Um... everyone, calm down. I’m a Zhuo fan. I ran into this person at the museum yesterday, and he said he was a couple fan. The guy beside him was a fan whose favorite was Zhuo. They had specifically come to see the special exhibition about their favorite. Let’s not project too much onto them.
15L
I can’t. I even told my dad that the calligraphy was copied, and he still insists it’s authentic. Now I’m worried about whether the calligraphy and paintings in our collection are worth anything at all...
16L
The person who wrote this is clearly a fan of the Chancellor. Our Emperor just had ugly handwriting, that’s all—but he had incredible imperial charisma! He was amazing at horseback riding and archery, and he looked devastatingly handsome when he shot his younger brother at Meridian Gate. You have to love the Emperor and Chancellor together!
17L
Upstairs, your dad is so unprofessional. Tell him to retire immediately [laughing and crying].
18L
Damn, you even have a collection? What a scholarly family.
19L
Haha, nothing special, nothing special. But my ancestor was Zhu Xiwen, the Grand Historian of Great Qian, so quite a lot of it was handed down through the family. My dad is taking this very hard. He’s gone down to the basement to dig out the authentic works of Wen Zhuo.
—
Not long after they returned home from the National Museum, the weather in Beijing suddenly grew hot. It was only April, yet the heat was already comparable to the height of summer in Great Qian.
From the books, Wen Zhuo knew that Great Qian had existed during a Little Ice Age, and that the climate across the realm was colder than in the modern world. Thus, he found it difficult to imagine how people here were supposed to survive once summer truly arrived.
Shen Zheng, however, told him that every household now had air-conditioning, which could produce cold air, much like the coolness they had felt in the museum.
It was just that Wen Zhuo had suffered from a chill-related illness since childhood, so they would have to nurse his health back to normal before they could use one at home.
Physicians in Bozhou and the capital, as well as the imperial doctors in the palace, had all examined him and said that it was an old illness that could only be managed gradually and could not be cured completely.
Shen Zheng, however, refused to accept that. He insisted that medicine in the modern world was different from that of the past and that Wen Zhuo had to undergo a complete physical examination.
Wen Zhuo could not argue with him and had no choice but to go along.
He had thought that after seeing marvels such as mobile phones, food delivery, towering buildings, and automobiles, he would be able to face anything without surprise. Yet the moment he entered the hospital, he was still utterly astonished.
Up ahead, a small child burst into heart-rending sobs at the sight of a doctor in a white coat. He struggled desperately to escape, as though this place were a demonic pit in the human realm.
A man and woman hurried after him. The man took out a toy to coax him, but the child remained unmoved, crying without pause.
People nearby turned to look. The woman lost her temper and lightly smacked him several times on the buttocks, hoping to make him behave. Instead, the child cried even harder.
With no other option, the two adults forcibly held the child down and brought him to the doctor. A white cotton swab wiped his skin clean, then a fine needle suddenly pierced into it. Bright red blood slowly flowed into a thin tube, and the child kept crying until his voice turned hoarse.
Wen Zhuo’s face darkened. He could not bear to see such a crude scene, and he felt even more pity for the young child, who had to endure such suffering at so tender an age.
This was no good place. There was no need to go through with this physical examination.
He immediately stood up and prepared to leave.
Shen Zheng reached out and gently pressed him back into his seat, leaning down to whisper by his ear, "Wanshan, relax. This is just a blood draw. One small tube of blood can detect all sorts of underlying health issues. People in this modern world get this done every year since they were little, and it hardly hurts at all."
Wen Zhuo turned his head away, unmoved. "I am not from this modern era, so I have no need to follow such rules."
There was a playful, teasing lilt in Shen Zheng's voice as he deliberately poked fun at him. "Could it be that my teacher wants to end up like that little kid, getting his spanks first before being held down to get a physical checkup?"
Wen Zhuo's cheeks flushed bright red. He pushed Shen Zheng away in flustered embarrassment, stammering, "Your Majesty is being utterly shameless."
When it was finally his turn to get his blood drawn, Wen Zhuo refused to show any sign of fear. He forced himself to look perfectly calm, rolling up his sleeve to expose his arm, his whole back held rigid and straight.
Shen Zheng reached out and gently covered his eyes.
Just as Shen Zheng had said, the pain was incredibly faint, barely any different from the pricks of the old doctor's acupuncture needles. Wen Zhuo finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The physical examination results came out soon after. Shen Zheng held the white paper and read the findings out to him: "Iron deficiency anemia, low immunoglobulin levels, insufficient blood calcium, and undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy..."
Fortunately, none of these conditions were serious. All he needed was to take his medication alongside physical therapy, and he would make a full recovery without any impact on his daily life.
The weight that had been hanging over Shen Zheng's heart finally lifted. He immediately set to work drafting a vacation itinerary.
The second Wen Zhuo heard the word "vacation", he grew wary on instinct.
Shen Zheng couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. "This time I won't act up to no good. I just want to bring my teacher to take a plane for the very first time, and go back to your hometown Mianzhou to see it again."
Wen Zhuo had always been the type to planead. Right then and there, he picked up his phone and started researching travel guides for modern-day Mianzhou.
On the day they were supposed to leave, all their luggage was packed and ready, but an unexpected issue came up.
Shen Zheng's supervisor in this modern world was a terribly diligent man—he had sent back the revision comments on Shen Zheng's paper far sooner than expected.
Shen Zheng had no choice but to bury himself in his study, revising the paper so intently he forgot to eat and sleep.
Wen Zhuo had leaned over before to glance at the supervisor's notes. Some of the arguments in them were far off from historical facts, but there was nothing to be done about that. Scholars of later eras were inevitably limited by their own perspectives. Still, this supervisor was a conscientious man with a solid grasp of his field.
Of course, he was nowhere near as capable as Wen Zhuo himself.
Wen Zhuo sat cross-legged peacefully on the sofa, poring over modern books to learn new knowledge, keeping Shen Zheng company as he revised his paper.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Shen Zheng's fingers paused over his work as he called out without looking up, "Who is it?"
Wen Zhuo set down his book and stood up. "I'll get it."
He had already learned all the tricks of this little metal box (the doorbell camera), and even though he couldn't wrap his head around how it worked, that didn't stop him from using it perfectly. It felt almost like he was a child again, getting to know a whole brand new world bit by bit.
When he opened the door, a man in a yellow mandarin cap and yellow uniform stood outside, holding out a parcel. "Could you please leave a good review? Thank you very much."
"Alright," Wen Zhuo replied faintly, taking the parcel and closing the door behind him.
He tore the parcel open and found exactly the same item he had seen in that video *The Immersive Mukbang: Eating Thirty Ice Cream Bars in One Go*. He had placed the order himself, buying it all for himself.
He glanced furtively over his shoulder toward the study. Shen Zheng was still completely absorbed in his work, not noticing a thing.
Wen Zhuo immediately sat straight in the middle of the living room, took out one ice cream bar, unwrapped it, and started eating it in small bites. He used his fingertip to write a review on his phone by hand, which he then sent to the man in yellow: "Delivery was very fast. The ice cream hasn't melted. Five stars."
Right after he finished writing, Shen Zheng walked out of the study.
He caught sight of Wen Zhuo holding an ice cream bar he had already taken several bites out of, with a neat row of twenty-nine more lined up right next to him. The sight was quite a spectacle.
Wen Zhuo was so startled by his sudden appearance that he jolted his head up. Shen Zheng laughed and leaned in, taking a huge, greedy bite of the ice cream right from Wen Zhuo's hand.
"..."
Shen Zheng then leaned down to press a soft, quick kiss to his lips, looking at him with a half-amused glint in his eyes. "We're getting on a plane tonight. Teacher, you can't eat too many of these."
"This subject understands," Wen Zhuo meekly replied. After a short pause, he couldn't help but glance longingly at the remaining twenty-nine ice cream bars.
