Chapter 1
Chapter 1

Autumn in Tokyo, the capital city, bustled with people and the clamor of the market, a picture of prosperity.

But within the Jingfu Palace, an atmosphere of grimness prevailed. People moved with hushed steps, treading cautiously, fearful of disturbing something. This was because the aged Zhao Song Emperor had caught a cold, and his condition had worsened in recent days, to the point where he was bedridden, spending most of the day in a semiconscious state.

When the Emperor was awake, he summoned his old ministers to the hall. Seeing the grief and fear on their faces, Zhao Jiu coughed a couple of times and forced a smile. "My dear ministers, life and death are determined by fate. There is no need for sorrow. I know my own body, and I suspect I am not long for this world…"

The Emperor continued, in fits and starts, to give instructions, making arrangements for the aftermath. The ministers nodded repeatedly, all in tears.

After a long while, the Emperor said again, "I am a little tired… Zhengfu…"

Yang Yizhong stepped forward and bowed. "Your old servant is here…"

The Emperor said, "Zhengfu, stay behind… the rest of you may withdraw."

After saying these words, the Emperor closed his eyes, as if falling back into a coma.

He did not know how much time had passed before the Emperor coughed softly.

"Zhengfu, talk to me…"

Yang Yizhong could not help but weep. Seeing a trace of red gradually returning to the Emperor's face, he was even more grief-stricken. Yang Yizhong nodded to the Grand Supervising Officer nearby, who gently waved his hand, leading the palace maids and eunuchs out.

The Emperor stared at the flickering candlelight in the distance, silent for a long time.

"I had a dream yesterday…"

The Emperor's voice floated in the dark night, barely audible.

With tears in his eyes, Yang Yizhong listened silently as the Emperor described the world different from their own.

That world had man-made iron birds flying in the sky…

That world had four-wheeled vehicles running on the ground, not pulled by horses, but drinking something called gasoline and running tirelessly on their own…

In that world, men mostly did not grow beards…

In that world, women wore less than men in the summer…

Yang Yizhong hesitated, but finally could not help asking, "Dare I ask, Your Majesty, does that world have hot air balloons?"

The Emperor coughed a few times, his eyes glazed. "Of course, it does…"

That night, the Emperor woke and slept, slept and woke again.

The Emperor finally said, "Waking from the dream, I do not know if I am a guest… I… I… I really want to go back to the dream and see that world again…"

Yang Yizhong was already sobbing uncontrollably.

Three days later, Zhao Jiu, the Zhao Song Emperor of Cangzhou, closed his eyes forever, never to open them again.

Months later, in the Mingdao Palace in Weizhen County, Bozhou, Huainan East Circuit of the Great Song.

Yang Yizhong, dressed in blue robes and a wooden hairpin, stood by the Nine Dragon Well. Regardless of the dissuasion of his old mother and children, Yang Yizhong had decided to cultivate in the Mingdao Palace. His family, unable to dissuade him, had no choice but to send him to the Mingdao Palace in Huainan East Circuit.

From then on, there was an old Daoist in the Mingdao Palace.

Strangely, Yang Yizhong always paced around the Nine Dragon Well, muttering to himself, no one knew what he was saying.

Spring came and went, and another autumn arrived. Yang Yizhong, dressed as a Daoist, was staring blankly into the Nine Dragon Well when suddenly, the old man rubbed his eyes and saw what appeared to be a dog lying in the well. But his old eyes were dim, and he could not see clearly, so he leaned on the railing and bent down to take a closer look…

Unexpectedly, he slipped and fell headfirst into the well…

He did not know how much time had passed before Yang Yizhong felt pain all over his body and realized that he was still lying in the well.

He rubbed his eyes, turned over, and sat up. The Nine Dragon Well was called a well, but it was not deep. Yang Yizhong moved his hands and feet and, using both, managed to climb out.

The shadows of the trees in the Mingdao Palace swayed, and birds chirped, but there was no one to be seen.

An iron bird roared overhead.

Chapter 2

The autumn wind rustled, the sun was warm and slanted, and in the afternoon, a certain classical garden in Bozhou, Huaixi, was full of light and shadow, refreshing and warm.

However, such beautiful scenery was not shared by many people because it was an afternoon on a working day. In fact, in this scenic garden, which mainly featured Taoist culture, there was only one backpacker who bought a ticket to enter, and he was still using a book to cover his face on a bench, sitting with his head tilted back, dozing off.

"Whirr… thud!"

Suddenly, as the autumn wind tightened sharply, a thin copy of *Gains and Losses of Politics Throughout Chinese Dynasties* slid directly from the face of the young male tourist to the ground and was blown several steps away by the wind. The man woke up immediately, but instinctively looked at his backpack on the bench, and after confirming that nothing was lost, he went to find his book.

But at this moment, an old Daoist dragging a large broom appeared from nowhere, bent down to help pick up the book on the ground, and then dragged the broom to sit on the bench, and then casually flipped through the book… the autumn wind was blowing, blue clothes and wooden hairpins, a pale face and white hair, which made the young man who had just woken up startled.

However, when the young man looked carefully and saw the XL logo on the collar of the Daoist robe below the back of the other party's hair, he felt relieved and secretly laughed at his own suspicion.

It turned out that this place was Woyang, Bozhou, known as the hometown of Lao Tzu. This garden was built near the Lao Tzu Temple, so it was normal to encounter Daoists.

"It's rare to see young people reading books seriously these days." After flipping through a few pages, probably because he couldn't see clearly or simply couldn't understand, the old Daoist quickly handed the book back over the backpack with a strong Huaixi accent. "Actually, governing is the same since ancient times. Understanding the general idea is enough. The specific things are useless. You're reading the right book."

"Thank you… um… Daoist." The young man took back the book casually, but hesitated for a moment because of the address. "I was just pretending on the train, I don't really read it."

"You're quite modest." The old Daoist became more interested after hearing the answer. "Where are you from, young man? How old are you? Why are you interested in coming to our Lao Tzu Temple?"

"I'm local, twenty-one." The young man said casually, his Mandarin gradually taking on a bit of the local Huaixi flavor. "I just graduated from college and started working. I came home to do something, and I'll take the train again tonight. I know it's quiet here, so I just came here to spend some time."

"Twenty-one is good!" The old Daoist sighed. "Young! You don't know, our Woyang is the hometown of Lao Tzu, and the Lao Tzu Temple has a long history. Unfortunately, few locals come, and even fewer young people come. It's rare that you…"

Before he could finish his words, the young man couldn't help but laugh: "Daoist, I'm a local. You can fool outsiders with these words, why are you trying to fool me? Who doesn't know that the hometown of Lao Tzu is in the neighboring Luyi? This one is fake?"

The old Daoist was even more embarrassed and blushed, waving his hands and saying nothing.

The young man was probably bored and didn't let the other party go, but instead pressed on: "What do you mean, Daoist? Ours is real, and Luyi's is fake? Their Lao Tzu Temple has been built from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, layer upon layer, with endless cultural relics and monuments. The iron pillars in front of the gate are a thousand years old…"

"We didn't say Luyi's is fake." The old Daoist replied awkwardly, holding the broom. "But our Woyang may not be fake either… The two places are so close, and in ancient times, Luyi always belonged to Bozhou. Woyang is a newly built county of only a hundred years, why bother to distinguish so clearly?"

The young man suddenly laughed again: "That makes sense. They're both by the Wo River. Maybe they were one family when Lao Tzu was alive."

"That's right!" The old Daoist finally breathed a sigh of relief. "The truth or falsehood of such things is meaningless in history. When we say the hometown of Lao Tzu, we're referring to Li Er's birthplace. Luyi can be a place for ancestral worship throughout the ages. Both are true, why say the opposite is fake?"

The young man nodded perfunctorily, but in his heart, he sneered… To put it bluntly, who cares where Lao Tzu was born? The dispute over the hometown of Lao Tzu is clearly a competition for tourism resources and local cultural confidence. Even if the old Daoist's remarks have some sophistry, the governments of the two places certainly won't agree! The Luyi government, which holds a large number of real cultural relics and monuments, certainly won't agree!

Moreover, this Daoist isn't a proper Daoist at all. He's probably just a cosplaying cleaner, and a lazy one at that… otherwise? A Daoist, opening his mouth to Lao Tzu and closing his mouth to Li Er, with no respect at all? Then, on a windy day, he's carrying a broom in the garden, pretending to be something, fooling who?

However, seemingly seeing the young man's perfunctory attitude, the old Daoist resumed his endless chatter: "Young man, don't disbelieve… Our Woyang also has real cultural relics and monuments. The Nine Dragon Well in the Meteor Garden is an ancient artifact from the Spring and Autumn Period, according to experts. There's only one, believe it or not, go take a look."

The young man shook his head repeatedly and simply got up, picked up his backpack, and prepared to leave… As a local, what didn't he know? The so-called Nine Dragon Well, Luyi also has one, but to be honest, not to mention the one in Woyang, even the one in Luyi, who knows if it has anything to do with the Daoist ancestor?

"Young man, wait a moment!" Seeing this, the old Daoist became even more anxious and simply got up, leaning on the broom, and told the truth. "There's a dog that fell into the Nine Dragon Well over there, and its leg is injured. I can't reach it with the broom. Logically speaking, the well is wide and only about one person deep, but I'm too old and I can't get back up if I go down. I need to trouble you to help."

The young man was speechless for a moment: "You should have said so earlier, Daoist!"

"I was afraid you wouldn't agree." The old Daoist also felt embarrassed and directly led the way with the broom. "Young people these days are hard to talk to. And I didn't want to bother with this dog, but its family is familiar with me and often treats me to dinner. Now that its family isn't here, I'm too embarrassed to leave their dog at the bottom of the well and just watch…"

In the endless stream of words, the two, one in front and the other behind, finally headed towards the so-called Nine Dragon Well in the Meteor Garden, an ancient site from the Spring and Autumn Period. When they arrived, they saw a well with strict protection, a pavilion built above it, and a plaque hanging that read "The Number One Pavilion in the World"… but the old Daoist led the young man to a side well.

The side well was just one of the eight new wells built to make up the Nine Dragon Well story of Lao Tzu's birth. It wasn't an ancient site, but simply made of cement, with a cement bottom, two meters square, and less than two meters deep… It was more like a wide-mouthed cement pit than a well.

The young man followed the old Daoist to one of the wells, and when he stuck his head in, he saw a small pug lying motionless at the bottom of the well, which was a little more than one person deep, only occasionally kicking its legs to show that it was still alive. Around the dog, there was a pile of coins and other things for praying for blessings.

Seeing this, the young man only frowned slightly and was about to put down his backpack and jump down, but when he put his hands on the edge of the well, he didn't know why, but he didn't want to do this small favor. It was as if going down this well would lead to death.

Seeing that the young man was so uncooperative, the old Daoist sighed and suddenly glared:

"You won't save it, and you won't leave. Are you trying to fool the world?!"

"It's just a dog, how does it have anything to do with the world?" The young man frowned instantly.

"No matter what, since you agreed to my words, you should keep your promise, right?" The old Daoist scolded, leaning on his broom. "Young people are indecisive and don't keep their promises. How will you enter society in the future?!"

The young man was about to say that he had already found a job and was a member of society, but the old Daoist suddenly raised his broom and pushed hard, easily pushing the other party into the well.

Chapter 3

After the young man fell into the well, the old Daoist quickly grabbed the edge of the well with both hands and looked into the well. But there was no sign of the young man in the well, not even the dog was gone. Only the young man's backpack lay quietly at the bottom of the well.

The old Daoist stared blankly at the backpack, and tears suddenly welled up in his eyes. The old Daoist prostrated himself and kowtowed to the Nine Dragon Well repeatedly: "Your Majesty, forgive me, your old servant deserves to be executed. The Great Song can do without your old servant, but it cannot do without Your Majesty…"

A few days later, the old Daoist, carrying the young man's backpack, stood in front of the Nine Dragon Well again and bowed down: "Your Majesty, the Great Song is entrusted to Your Majesty… Your Majesty's parents, your old servant will serve them…"

After saying this, the old Daoist kowtowed a few more times to the Nine Dragon Well, got up, and walked down the mountain…