Lin Yi's expression froze instantly, as if struck by lightning. She stiffly turned to Gu Fang, her eyes full of shock and doubt—did he know about this all along? No, could it be that everyone in this world... knew?!
Gu Fang was silent for a moment, then explained to Lin Yi with a slightly embarrassed tone: "Prince Ning once said that one day he suddenly dreamed of a celestial palace, and his guide... was an immortal who called himself Ah Tong."
Oh, so he said this but no one believed him. Lin Yi showed a look of understanding, but her eyes were fixed on Ying Baichuan, not missing any change in his expression. She tested the waters by asking softly: "Your Highness, this 'Ah Tong'... is its full name 'System'?"
"Eh? You know?" Ying Baichuan suddenly dropped his casual demeanor, leaned forward slightly, and stared sharply at Lin Yi. "I've never told anyone its full name. How do you know?"
How should she answer? Lin Yi's mind raced. Judging by Ying Baichuan's reaction, he was clearly not a native ancient—which ancient person could instinctively do the "Ge You slouch" so naturally? Moreover, he had just said "your bones," using the pronoun "your" to separate himself from the people here, indicating that deep down he didn't consider himself the same species as them. Was he an Earthling who felt superior because of privilege, or... was he not even born on Earth?
Lin Yi's eyes darted, and she lowered her voice: "Your Highness, can we... first exchange a code? After that, I promise to tell you everything I know."
"Code?" Ying Baichuan looked bewildered.
Before he could react, Lin Yi said rapidly: "Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron!"
Ying Baichuan: "???"
No reaction? Try another! Lin Yi continued without pause: "Royal Jade Wine!"
Ying Baichuan: "???"
It seemed she had to use the big move. If this didn't work, she would have to resort to energy conservation or the constancy of the speed of light like Huang Xining. Lin Yi took a deep breath and solemnly said: "Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves—"
Ying Baichuan almost instinctively continued, each word clear: "Let our flesh and blood forge our new Great Wall."
Bingo!
"Flower grower?" Lin Yi's eyes lit up.
"Yeah!" Ying Baichuan nodded excitedly. "Are you a fellow countryman?"
"Yes!" Lin Yi let out a long sigh, half-complaining, half-joking. "But why didn't you answer the first two codes? You almost scared me to death. If even the national anthem hadn't worked, I was planning to ask you some basic theorems to see if you were an alien."
"What basic theorems?" Ying Baichuan was even more confused. "But those things you said earlier—I've never heard of any of them!"
"Have you been living overseas for a long time?" Lin Yi asked casually.
"No," Ying Baichuan replied honestly. "I live on Ektar Star. There's no sea there."
What?
What star?!
Say that again!?
Lin Yi was completely stunned, her brain seemingly crashing, leaving only those five words buzzing in her ears:
Ektar Star...
"Ek... Ektar Star?" Lin Yi repeated mechanically.
"Yeah, it's the main planet of the Ektar System." Ying Baichuan said casually, saying things that made Lin Yi unable to stay calm.
"May I ask... what year is it where you're from?" Lin Yi's voice was trembling.
"Stellar Calendar 3756. Are you far from my year?" Ying Baichuan looked at her with slight curiosity.
It was not just far... it was a chasm of time and space spanning unknown light-years! Lin Yi's heart was a mess.
Gu Fang looked at Lin Yi, then at Ying Baichuan, smiled thoughtfully, and gently smoothed things over: "It seems that although Anjin and Xiaoyi have both received guidance from masters, they didn't study under the same teacher."
" Ha ha, right, right," Lin Yi quickly covered up, secretly annoyed at her earlier rashness. "My master said he came from Earth."
Ying Baichuan probably understood now too. He looked at Lin Yi with slight surprise and went along: "Exactly. We weren't taught by the same master. I misunderstood earlier."
"Ha ha, it's all a beautiful misunderstanding!" Lin Yi quickly changed the subject. "Let's talk about business."
Ying Baichuan also wanted Gu Fang to stop probing their earlier strangeness, so he followed up: "You just said there were a few more things to tell me?"
Gu Fang's gaze flickered gently between Lin Yi and Ying Baichuan. He lowered his eyes, thought for a moment, then said slowly: "Two things. First, Xiaoyi made a few new dishes from beans and brought them today for you to try. If you like them, we want to use your influence among the nobles to promote bean-based food. Second, Xiaoyi created a material called cement, which is extremely hard. It can be used to pave roads or build city walls. We want you to come see it. If you think it's feasible, we can discuss how to use it in Great Qian."
Hearing this, Lin Yi quickly handed over the food box. Ying Baichuan took it without ceremony and started eating directly with chopsticks, nodding as he ate: "Not bad, this is good. Promoting it is easy—you want to use the upper class to set an example for the common people to follow, right?"
"That's one aspect. But we plan to do it on two fronts simultaneously. We'll also send people to various places to teach bean-based cooking methods." Lin Yi explained. "For now, we only have tofu and yuba, but the kitchen in the mansion is already testing more varieties."
"Very good. If you can develop more varieties, the Great Qian people's dining tables will have more flavors." Ying Baichuan finished the few small dishes in a few bites, clapped his hands, and stood up. "Alright, then take me to see the cement."
"No hurry." Gu Fang said gently. "I haven't been to your mansion for a long time. I'd like to walk around and see if the scenery has changed." His eyes drooped slightly, his tone natural. "It just so happens that Xiaoyi's master seems to have some connection with Anjin's Ah Tong. Why don't you two take this opportunity to chat about your masters' old stories?"
Lin Yi and Ying Baichuan exchanged glances, both a bit at a loss. Lin Yi worriedly said: "But husband, you alone..."
Gu Fang looked up and smiled gently at her. That smile was as warm as the spring sun, making Lin Yi's heart skip a beat and her ears feel hot.
"Don't worry, Xiaoyi." His voice was soft. "I'll ask Anjin's guard, Cheng Xu, to accompany me. I've met him a few times, so we're somewhat acquainted."
Lin Yi was dazed by his smile and agreed without thinking. Seeing this, Ying Baichuan immediately called for Cheng Xu and instructed him to push Gu Fang around the mansion.
Cheng Xu pushed Gu Fang until their figures gradually disappeared at the end of the corridor, leaving only Lin Yi and Ying Baichuan in the hall. The air was silent for a moment. It was Lin Yi who spoke first, with a hint of awkwardness: "Um... My name is Lin Yi, from Earth. The time point is... 2025."
"Uh, I kind of guessed that." Ying Baichuan scratched his head and said bluntly: "Earth has been designated a cultural heritage protection planet now. You can only visit, not settle. When you said you were from Earth, I figured you were from the past."
"Earth became a protected planet?" Lin Yi's heart tightened, and she quickly asked, "Did something big happen? Disaster? War?"
"No, no." Ying Baichuan was startled by her urgent tone, then laughed. "Don't worry, it's not what you think. It's just that as humans spread across the stars, it became inconvenient to return to Earth. Plus, Earth's native resources were mostly depleted, so the Alliance legislated it as a protected zone, no longer allowing permanent residence. But if anyone really wants to go back and see it, they can buy a star travel ticket for a visit—just like going back to the ancestors' homeland."
"That's good. You scared me." Lin Yi breathed a sigh of relief and laughed at herself. "Maybe I've watched too many doomsday movies before. Conditioned reflex."
"But speaking of which," Lin Yi looked at Ying Baichuan curiously, "how do you have a system? We don't have anything. We're... naked transmigrators?"
"We?" Ying Baichuan blinked. "Do you mean... there's more than one? The fellow disciples you mentioned?"
"Yes." Lin Yi nodded and decided to be straightforward. "I told Gu Fang we're from the same sect, so that when we make things beyond this era's understanding, we can cover for each other. But there aren't many of us—including me, only three so far."
"That's already impressive." Ying Baichuan sincerely gave a thumbs up. "Having companions to look out for each other is better than fighting alone. I was unlucky—got caught in an interstellar turbulence and died. Then a system found me and said I had to be a temporary employee of the Quick Wear Bureau to save this place. If I succeeded, I could be resurrected. What could I do? I just gritted my teeth and went with it."
"Save the place?" Lin Yi didn't understand.
Mentioning this, Ying Baichuan's face fell, and he said gloomily: "The system said this is a novel world. But the original protagonist died when he was young. Novel worlds are fragile. Once the protagonist dies, the world starts to collapse. The world consciousness had no choice but to call for help from the main system. The main system sent rescue system number 005, which bound itself to me."
Protagonist... died young?
Lin Yi felt as if struck by lightning. She murmured, repeating: "How did the protagonist die?"
"Ah, it's a long story." Ying Baichuan sighed deeply. "In short, the protagonist had a scumbag emperor father. The emperor favored the Third Prince, born of Consort Zheng, and wanted to make him crown prince. But the Empress Dowager and the ministers insisted on 'if there is a legitimate son, establish him; if not, establish the eldest,' and flatly refused. That scumbag father secretly allowed Consort Zheng's faction to harm the protagonist. In the original timeline, Empress Wang protected the child and let him live to adulthood. But in reality, Empress Wang was in poor health and died early. Once the empress was gone, the child soon accidentally fell into a pond and died."
He paused, lowering his voice: "Of course, after I transmigrated, on the surface, I naturally saved him. But it's a pity that child—except for his birth mother, no one in this world knows that the real him is long gone."
Lin Yi was shocked: "Consort Gong knows that the real Prince Ning is no longer alive?"
Ying Baichuan retorted: "Otherwise, why do you think she cried herself blind?"
"I originally thought... it was because of her daughter's death and the suffering in the Cold Palace..." Lin Yi's voice trailed off.
"A mother knows her son." Ying Baichuan sighed lightly, clearly sympathetic to that poor woman. "She sensed it almost as soon as I arrived."
"She didn't expose you?" Lin Yi was puzzled. By common sense, wouldn't ancient people regard such a thing as possession by a demon and be terrified?
"No." Ying Baichuan shook his head. "She just said to me: 'That child endured too much suffering as my son. It's good that he's gone; he won't have to suffer anymore.' She only asked me... to take good care of her child's body." He paused, his voice even softer: "Even so, since I came, she has wept every day. Before, no matter how hard the days were, she silently endured them."
Lin Yi looked at the guilt in Ying Baichuan's eyes and didn't know how to comfort him. In her view, the root of everything was that fatuous and vicious emperor. Consort Gong and her son were completely innocent victims. Prince Ning was a child who had never been treated kindly by the world, and Ying Baichuan... was just a stranger pushed into this world by the system to save the day, forced to bear someone else's body and past.