Extra 3
In the spring of the sixth year of the Zhaochen era, the Great Yan Dynasty enjoyed peace and prosperity. Emperor Xuanjing and Empress Si Mianmian were admiring cherry blossoms in the Imperial Garden when a strange phenomenon suddenly appeared in the sky. A bolt of purple lightning tore through the heavens, striking the yin-yang jade pendant embedded in the top of the pavilion—the very same object that had led them to the modern era. The pendant emitted a blinding white light, engulfing the embracing emperor and empress.
Si Mianmian woke up to the shrill sound of the school bell and the pungent smell of disinfectant. Her head throbbed with pain, and she found herself slumped over a cold, graffiti-covered wooden desk. The ornate palace around her was gone; she was now in a bright but unfamiliar room (classroom). Dozens of boys and girls, dressed in identical, oddly styled blue and white uniforms, chattered noisily.
She looked down sharply and saw that she was also wearing the same loose and cheap "prison uniform"! Her waist-length black hair had been hastily cut short, only reaching her ears, and what was even more terrifying was that her profound internal strength had vanished! She looked around in horror, trying to find Xuan Jing's figure.
"Hey! Si Mianmian! What are you daydreaming about? You dare to sleep during the teacher's class? Aren't you afraid he'll make you stand in the hallway as punishment?" A girl with black-rimmed glasses and a few freckles on her face poked her arm with a pen, her tone familiar.
Si Mianmian? They actually called her by her given name?! And so rudely! She suppressed her shock and forced herself to remain calm, tentatively asking, "Who...who are you? Where is this? Where is His Majesty...Xuan Jing?"
The freckled girl looked at her like she was a monster: "Si Mianmian, are you asleep? I'm your deskmate Zhou Xiaoyun! This is Class 3, Grade 11 at Jiangcheng No.1 Middle School! Also, who is Xuan Jing? Is he your new idol? Is he even more handsome than our class monitor Gu Yang?" As she spoke, she gestured towards a tall boy in a clean school uniform in the front row.
Class monitor? Gu Yang? Si Mianmian followed her gaze and saw the boy turn around to talk to the student behind him. His profile was cold and hard, his eyes deep-set—who else could it be but Xuan Jing! Only his bangs slightly obscured his eyes, making him appear less like a regal figure and more like a young man with aloofness. He seemed to have just woken up, frowning as he silently surveyed his surroundings, his eyes sharp as an eagle's. His gaze met Si Mianmian's, and both of them were startled.
Survival Handbook (Campus Edition) Rule #1: When the familiar world collapses in an instant, the greatest advantage is not force or power, but the ability to adapt quickly and disguise oneself. Before understanding the situation, silent observation is the best camouflage.
The first lesson was mathematics. A stern-faced "teacher" with thick glasses was explaining a mysterious subject called "functions" on the blackboard. Si Mianmian stared at the distorted symbols on the blackboard (f(x), y=ax+bx+c), feeling dizzy. Having mastered music, chess, calligraphy, and painting in the Yu Dynasty, and even dabbling in political intrigue, she had never encountered such a bizarre subject before.
"Si Mianmian! You answer this: what are the coordinates of the vertex of this quadratic function?" The math teacher's voice was like a thunderclap.
Si Mianmian froze on the spot, her face flushed red. Vertex? Coordinates? She didn't even understand the question. A few suppressed laughs came from around her.
“Teacher,” a clear, cool voice rang out. It was “Gu Yang”—Xuan Jing—in the front row. He stood up, his posture composed, as if he were still presenting a memorial in the Golden Palace. “The vertex coordinates are (-b/2a, (4ac-b)/4a).” His voice was steady and his reasoning clear.
The teacher nodded in satisfaction: "Very good, Gu Yang, please sit down. Si Mianmian, pay attention in class! If you daydream again, you'll have to stand!"
Si Mianmian sat down awkwardly, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She, the Empress Zhaochen, who was the mother of the nation, was being publicly reprimanded in this unfamiliar place for "poor academic performance"! Meanwhile, her husband, Emperor Xuanjing of the Great Yan Dynasty, had become a "top student" favored by his teachers!
Survival Handbook Postscript: In times of change, one's identity and status may be drastically reset. When past advantages vanish, humbling oneself and learning from scratch is the only way out.
After class, by listening in and flipping through the book's title page, she pieced together the information: they seemed to have entered the bodies of two high school students named "Si Mianmian" and "Gu Yang." The original owner, "Si Mianmian," was a poor student with terrible grades, an introverted personality, and an extremely low profile; while "Gu Yang" was an excellent student from a wealthy family, known as the "high school's unattainable beauty," and the class monitor. The two had almost no interaction in class.
During lunch break, Si Mianmian finally managed to stop Xuan Jing in a corner of the corridor. "Jing... Gu Yang!" she whispered urgently, "What exactly happened? Why are we here? Can we go back?"
Xuan Jing (Gu Yang) glanced at the students coming and going in the corridor, then pulled her to a quieter stairwell. His voice was extremely low, filled with unprecedented solemnity: "I... I don't know either. The power of the jade pendant has dragged us here, and it seems... it has replaced these two. The language, writing, and objects here are all vastly different from our understanding. We must be extremely cautious." He paused, looking at Si Mianmian's pale face, "The most urgent thing is to adapt to your identity and not reveal it. Especially you, 'Si Mianmian' is not doing well in her studies, you need to... conceal it."
Si Mianmian smiled bitterly: "Cover up? I can't even understand what they're saying, how can I cover up?"
Xuanjing pondered for a moment: "I will try my best to imitate the mannerisms of others. As for learning... I... I observe that these 'mathematics' and 'foreign languages,' though their systems are strange, contain underlying logic and are not entirely without rules. I will... I will study them as soon as possible, and if I have the time, I may... offer you guidance." His tone became slightly stiff at the end, clearly indicating that he was not used to this "tutoring" role.
The days that followed were a period of agonizing torment for Si Mianmian.
Classroom torture: Mathematics, physics, and chemistry were like gibberish; English class was even worse, like listening to birdsong, with those 26 tadpole characters dazzling her eyes; although history and geography involved historical allusions, the way they were expressed and the historical facts were far different from what she knew, so she dared not speak easily, for fear of giving herself away.
Physical fitness test: In PE class, they were required to run around the field. Her frail body left her breathless after only a few steps, leaving her far behind her classmates. When practicing a strange sport called "volleyball," she either couldn't catch the ball or got hit on the forehead, eliciting laughter. Xuan Jing, on the other hand, quickly mastered the technique thanks to her excellent physical fitness and coordination, even earning praise from the PE teacher for her "talent."
Social Dilemma: Her classmates talk about topics she understands nothing about, such as "idols," "gaming," and "Weibo." She tries to imitate her deskmate Zhou Xiaoyun's words and actions, but always seems out of place, and people gossip about how "Si Mianmian has been acting strangely lately." Meanwhile, Xuan Jing (Gu Yang), with his aloofness and excellent grades, attracts attention, but no one dares to approach him easily, thus saving her a lot of social trouble.
The only thing that brought her some comfort was the wide variety of food available in this era, with unique yet delicious flavors. The sweet and sour pork and spicy hot pot in the canteen, and the potato chips and milk tea in the convenience store, all broadened the horizons of this empress who was used to eating imperial cuisine. However, the fact that there were no palace servants to serve her food, and that she had to carry her own tray and queue up, was also a novel experience for her.
Survival Handbook Revisited: Integrating into a new environment requires attention to detail. Observation, imitation, and learning—even the smallest daily habits—are key to successful disguise.
However, this seemingly peaceful campus was not a pure land. Si Mianmian quickly sensed several undercurrents.
First, there was Shen Cong, the "prominent figure." Shen Cong came from a very wealthy family, was handsome, and had an outgoing personality. He was a key player on the school basketball team and was always surrounded by a group of followers. He seemed to have taken an interest in Si Mianmian, this quiet girl who had suddenly become somewhat "different." He repeatedly approached her to strike up a conversation, his words frivolous. Once, he even tried to pinch her cheek, but Si Mianmian instinctively deflected his touch with a clever move and glared at him coldly. Shen Cong was taken aback, then his smile became even more playful: "Oh, Mianmian, you've got quite a strong grip, haven't you?"
Si Mianmian's alarm bells rang loudly. This person's eyes were arrogant and his behavior reckless; he was definitely not a good person. She noticed that when Shen Cong approached her, Xuan Jing (Gu Yang) remained expressionless, but the fingers he used to turn the pages of his book would tighten slightly, and the pressure around him would drop a few degrees.
Secondly, there were the troubles seemingly left over from the original owner of this body. During break, several girls dressed maturely cornered her in the restroom, verbally abusing her and calling her a "poor wretch," a "bookworm," and a "toad trying to eat swan meat" (seemingly implying she had inappropriate feelings for Gu Yang). Si Mianmian had never suffered such humiliation. Normally, she could have easily given them a command and brought them to their doom. But now, she could only suppress her anger and respond in as calm a tone as possible, "I don't understand what you're saying, please move aside." Fortunately, a patrolling teacher passed by, and the girls reluctantly dispersed. Leaning against the cold tile wall, Si Mianmian felt the humiliation of being isolated and helpless for the first time.
What troubled Si Mianmian the most was her relationship with Xuan Jing (Gu Yang). On campus, they were like two parallel lines. He was the high-achieving class monitor, while she was the unassuming bottom-of-the-class student. Aside from that brief exchange in the stairwell, they never crossed paths again.
But at certain moments, she could feel his silent attention. When she was punished by standing in the corner for not being able to answer a question, he would frown slightly; when she was bothered by Chen Cong, he would "just happen" to pass by and drive her away with a cold look; when she stared blankly at the test paper full of red crosses, she would find a line of neat small handwriting on her scratch paper, which was the correct solution to a wrong question. It was unsigned, but she recognized the handwriting.
He was also struggling to adapt to this era in his own way. Si Mianmian had seen him frowning and clumsily tapping on a small, glowing screen called "cell phone"; she had seen him in the library, flipping through a thick, brick-like "Modern Chinese Dictionary"; she had seen him in history class, his fists clenched and his jawline taut when he heard the professor's "erroneous" assessment of the history of the previous dynasty (similar to the Yan dynasty).
They maintained a tacit distance, yet saw the same confusion, wariness, and a barely perceptible dependence in each other's eyes. In this completely unfamiliar world, they were each other's only kindred spirits, the only driftwood remaining in the storm.
A turning point came a week later. The homeroom teacher announced that, to promote mutual assistance among students, "one-on-one" study groups would be established, with high-achieving students helping those who were struggling. Gu Yang's name and Si Mianmian's name were listed together.
When the news was announced, the whole class was in an uproar. The aloof and unattainable Gu Yang was going to be paired with Si Mianmian, who was ranked last in the class? This was practically unheard of! Shen Cong whistled loudly, his eyes darting suggestively between the two. Si Mianmian's face was flushed crimson, wishing she could disappear into the ground. Xuan Jing (Gu Yang), however, accepted the arrangement expressionlessly, though the atmosphere around him grew even more tense.
After school, only the two of them remained in the empty classroom. The afterglow of the setting sun shone through the window, casting long shadows of the desks and chairs.
"Here you go." Xuan Jing tossed a brand-new notebook onto Si Mianmian's desk, his voice still indifferent. "These are my notes from today's math class, and... a summary of some basic concepts. If you have any questions... ask me again tomorrow." With that, he picked up his bag and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Si Mianmian called out to him, her voice trembling slightly. "Why...why are you helping me?" She didn't believe it was just a coincidence.
Xuan Jing stopped in his tracks, without turning around. After a moment of silence, he said in a low voice, "If you continue like this... staying at the bottom will attract too much attention, which is not good for either of us." The reason was high-sounding, but Si Mianmian could read a different kind of emotion in his stiff back.
He walked to the door and added, his voice so soft it was almost inaudible: "...Take care of yourself and don't cause any more trouble." Then he quickly left.
Si Mianmian stared blankly at his disappearing figure, then looked down at the neatly written and clearly organized notebook on the table, her heart filled with mixed emotions. Humiliation, grievance, gratitude, confusion, and a trace of... indescribable warmth.
She opened her notebook, and on the first page were written: "Survival Rule One: Conceal Your Weaknesses. Rule Two: Observe. Rule Three: Learn." These were the very essence of the survival manual she had compiled back in the deep palace of the Yu Dynasty!
He actually remembered! Si Mianmian's nose tingled, and she almost burst into tears. In this bizarre and fantastical campus, he seemed indifferent and aloof, yet he was still fulfilling his promise to "protect you" in his own way, even though he himself was struggling to make ends meet.
Survival Handbook Finale: Even with shifting times and reversed identities, some bonds remain deeply ingrained. True allies need no words; they lie in unwavering mutual support through adversity. Campus life is a new battlefield, and also the beginning of rediscovering each other.
Si Mianmian gripped the notebook tightly, her fighting spirit rekindled in her eyes. So what if it's math, physics, or foreign languages? Back in the day, she had fought her way through the Yu Palace, so why would she be afraid of this mere school exam?
Xuanjing, since fate has brought us together again, let's see if we can join hands once more and create a new world in this modern campus!
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