Chapter 1: Life Ends in the Desert, Dressed in Ancient Clothing
Bang--
On the eighth day of being trapped in the desert, another person collapsed unexpectedly in front of Zhu Mingyue.
He crouched down, put his hand to the man's nose to check his breath, and then forced a smile. He wanted to cry, but his eyes were so dry that he couldn't squeeze out a single tear.
He clearly realized that, apart from himself, there were no other survivors, and whether he could live was also unknown.
So tired, so very tired, but he didn't want to die. Even as people in the group broke down one after another due to dehydration, he kept his gaze fixed firmly ahead. The tour guide said, "There's a green field ahead, and a spring in the green field..."
Zhu Mingyue swallowed a non-existent saliva, slightly raised his head, and felt as if the sun was scorching every inch of his skin, evaporating every drop of moisture from his body, and mocking his overestimation of his abilities.
He turned his gaze forward again and moved his steps with difficulty.
Just a few more kilometers, just a few more kilometers and he'll see green land. When he gets there, he'll definitely lie down by the spring and drink his fill, to properly soothe his parched soul.
As Zhu Mingyue thought this, his vision gradually blurred. In the moment he fell to the ground, he seemed to see the green land he had been longing for transforming into countless tentacles beckoning to him.
I'm so thirsty! He was so close, but unfortunately he was destined never to reach his goal.
The last thought flashed through Zhu Mingyue's mind like a shooting star, and then she slowly closed her eyes.
"My child, my child? How are you feeling? Can you still hear your auntie?"
Zhu Mingyue felt a rough, large hand slapping his face forcefully.
"Why bother with him?" A man who had been watching the commotion spat out the grass root he was holding in his mouth and muttered in dissatisfaction, "Who doesn't have a hard time living in this world? If you ask me, it would be better to just let him die and be done with it."
"How can you say such heartless things! The child is still alive! If it were your son lying here, could you bear to say such things?"
Suddenly, a stream of sweet, clear water flowed down his throat from the corner of his mouth, and his internal organs, nourished by the water, gradually recovered.
He paid no heed to the cacophony of gossip around him; the instinct for survival compelled him to open his parched lips and desperately draw upon the source of life he so desperately craved.
The crack on his lip caused a sharp, tingling pain that stimulated every nerve in his body, reminding him that he was still alive.
Zhu Mingyue slowly opened his eyes and saw a group of men and women, dressed in tattered clothes and withered faces, staring at him with expressions of joy, disgust, curiosity, or numbness.
This scene caused him to momentarily freeze in shock. He looked up at the sky, where large trees provided shade, their leaves rustling like melodious wind chimes in the breeze. He looked down at the ground, where the soil was rich in moisture.
He grabbed a handful of mud in ecstasy. It was real, it was actually real! So he was still alive, rescued by a group of... uh, refugees?
He looked down at himself, still wearing the short-sleeved shirt he had worn before the accident, but it was stained with a lot of mud, and he didn't look any better than the people around him who were covered in tattered burlap.
"Where am I?" Zhu Mingyue murmured, a hint of unease creeping into her emotions from her earlier elation.
The woman in the flowery dress who was helping him feed water thought he was delirious from the hardship of the long journey and was unable to endure it. She kindly explained, "Child, we must have fled from Jiuhuang City to this place together. When I found you, you were lying in the group. Everyone else was awake, but you were still lying there, constantly complaining of hunger. Since we didn't have any dry food, I could only give you some water. I never thought you would be so lucky to wake up. Hang in there, the better days are yet to come!"
Zhu Mingyue understood immediately. The kind aunt must have misheard him. He must have said "thirsty" at the time, but his breath was weak and his cry for help was too soft, so it was mistaken for him fainting from hunger.
But that didn't matter anymore; he was glad he was being fed water instead of dry food.
He will probably never forget the scene of collapsing in the boundless desert, his body drained of its last drop of moisture by the intense heat.
Little did he know that the bowl of water the kind aunt had accidentally fed him would truly save his life.
The auntie tenderly brushed back the stray hairs on Zhu Mingyue's forehead. Because they were so short, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't reach the back of his head. Seeing this, the auntie spat into her palm, seemingly preparing to fight to the end with the hair sticking up on his forehead.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Mingyue quickly backed away. He was extremely grateful to his aunt for saving him, but that didn't mean he could stand having his hair spit on him!
Seeing his reluctance, the other person wiped their saliva on their clothes and said awkwardly, "Auntie, you are indeed one in a million handsome men, but I really don't understand your hair." Our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents, how can anyone cut their hair like this?
Zhu Mingyue gave her a weak smile, but her heart felt heavier.
His unease seemed justified; things did indeed appear to be developing in an unexpected direction.
He looked around and realized that he hadn't noticed before. His attire was completely out of place with everyone else. Although they were also disheveled, they all had long hair, either draped over their shoulders or coiled up behind their heads.
He'd only ever seen similar hairstyles and clothes in period dramas, but to say he was saved by a period drama production crew...
He quickly dismissed this absurd possibility as soon as it appeared.
The numb expressions on these people's faces don't seem fake. Where could a director find such a group of exceptionally talented actors?
Zhu Mingyue rotated her wrist, staring at the coin-sized red birthmark on the inside of her wrist, and an even more absurd idea surfaced in her mind.
He most likely accidentally triggered some kind of time-travel mechanism and ended up in that world.
He calmed himself down. There was nothing to be afraid of about time travel. Being alive was the best outcome right now. Maybe he could live well in this new world. In any case, it wouldn't be worse than dying of thirst in the desert.
He feigned composure and continued, "Auntie, where are we headed now?"
Upon hearing this, the other party said, "It's not far. If we go forward for another two days, we will have entered the territory of Ganzhou. Beyond that is Kangyang County. I have a relative in my hometown of Ningjiang. His daughter married far away here. He said that life here is prosperous and few people starve to death."
"Alas! Winter has fallen, and the border is in turmoil. If the southern barbarians attack now, Ningjiang may truly fall," someone in the crowd sighed.
"Breakthrough?" Zhu Mingyue's eyes flickered. So the country he was in was at war? No wonder it could accommodate so many refugees; they had all fled here because of the war.
Judging from their tone, Ganzhou should be relatively safe at the moment.
Zhu Mingyue lowered her eyes and pondered for a moment, deciding to observe the situation in the city first, and hopefully settle down here.
The group quickened their pace and hurried to Kangyang County, arriving around 11 PM.
Countless groups of refugees, young and old, have come to this place in recent days. The city guards are used to it, only questioning the leaders a few times before letting them in after searching them one by one.
When it was Zhu Mingyue's turn to be searched, the man looked him up and down with a surprised expression. Zhu Mingyue smiled at him, and the man realized something was wrong and looked away.
There was nothing he could do; he had received far too many such looks along the way, and he could only blame his short hair and clothes for being so odd.
But he could only endure it. He was penniless and had nowhere to stay, so he didn't even dare to hope to change his clothes.
A gust of wind blew by, making Zhu Mingyue shiver. "Auntie, we've arrived in Kangyang County. Do we have a place to stay now?"
It was the dead of winter here, the exact opposite of the season over there. He was only wearing a plain short-sleeved T-shirt and a cheap windbreaker, which offered no protection against the cold.
The sun is still out, and it's already so cold; the temperature will probably drop even lower at night.
He's not in good health to begin with, so being exposed to the cold for a short while won't cause any problems, but he definitely won't be able to stand being outside all night.
"Wait here," the aunt glanced at him, squeezed through the crowd and went to look for him. After a while, she hurriedly came back, clutching a short brown shirt and trousers in her hand.
"Auntie, you..." Zhu Mingyue was stuffed full of clothes and looked at a loss.
"Put these on first, put these on first!" Aunt Huayi pointed to where she had just gone. "My son and a group of young people have been leading the way all the way. I just went to get these clothes from him. You're not wearing enough, you won't be able to keep up. Just remember to return them later."
Zhu Mingyue felt embarrassed to accept the clothes, since the other person wasn't dressed well either. However, he was terribly cold and knew that now was not the time to be polite. So, he bit his lower lip and nodded vigorously, "Thank you, Auntie. I'll return the clothes to you as soon as I get them."
That's what he said, but he was really worried. He made it sound so easy, but where could he get clothes in such a short time?
Local officials simply accepted refugees without any intention of resettling them.
Therefore, the refugees who entered the city had to find their own way to survive. Some of them were old, weak, sick and disabled, begging on the streets. The young and strong were chosen to work, which was tiring but at least they could barely make ends meet. The rest chose to sell themselves into slavery.
Zhu Mingyue was completely lost about what lay ahead. He was too ashamed to beg, and he didn't have the strength to do manual labor. As for selling himself into slavery, he didn't even want to think about it. In the country he lived in in his previous life, everyone was in charge of their own affairs. If he had any backbone, he wouldn't have done such a thing.
A gust of wind blew by, its biting cold cutting like a knife, stinging Zhu Mingyue's face.
He bit his lip, hugged his clothes tightly, and turned to run into a secluded alley. His immediate priority was to put his clothes back on.
Zhu Mingyue was wearing a short-sleeved shirt with a red windbreaker on top. He had bought the windbreaker online for a little over 100 yuan. The quality was so-so; it wasn't very warm, but it was okay for wind protection. He decided to wear the linen shirt underneath so that it would be both warm and windproof.
As soon as Zhu Mingyue took off her windbreaker, goosebumps immediately rose on her exposed arms and neck, and her teeth chattered uncontrollably.
As he hurriedly tied the hempen belt, he felt a strong gaze fixed on him from behind.
"Wow! Look at that skin, it's even whiter than city girls!"
"Hehe, that's for sure!"
Then I heard these words, the malice in which was blatant and undisguised.
Zhu Mingyue's expression darkened slightly. He knew all too well that the more you paid attention to this kind of person, the more enthusiastic he would become.
He quickly put on his clothes and then walked past the two lewd young men with a blank expression.
Was Zhu Mingyue not angry? Of course he was. He was naturally handsome, the kind of guy who attracted both men and women, so ever since he was old enough to understand things in junior high school, he had been frequently pursued. In addition to receiving love letters every now and then, he would also be harassed by some men of questionable character. He never expected that even now, here, he still couldn't escape this disgusting gaze.
Hearing those words, he wanted nothing more than to beat the two men to a pulp to vent his anger, but his current situation didn't allow him to do so.
The other party was an indigenous person, and he was an outsider who had just arrived and knew nothing about them. If they gathered a group of brothers to bully him, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Fortunately, the two men seemed to have only gone to the alley to urinate, and while they did so, they made some suggestive remarks to him. After he left, they simply watched him go without bothering him.
This also relieved Zhu Mingyue.
When Aunt Huayi saw him come out, she waved to him from the crowd, signaling him to come over.
Zhu Mingyue went over and found everyone gathered together, their faces beaming with joy.
Aunt Huayi pulled his arm, rolled up his coat sleeves until the linen clothes underneath were revealed, and then patted his hand with satisfaction, saying, "You've got a place to stay tonight."
There was an abandoned earth god temple in the west of the city. Although it was dilapidated, it could at least shelter us from the wind and rain. With dozens of us huddled together, we weren't going to freeze to death.
Zhu Mingyue nodded. As long as it's habitable, that's fine. No matter what, they have to get through this night and see if they can find some work in the city tomorrow.
A note from the author:
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