Tang Dynasty: Starting at Xuanwu Gate, this prince is better off not being one.

"Master, please accept my bow..."

Having never learned ancient etiquette, I could only imitate the way people bowed in ancient costume dramas.

Before he could even bow down, Sun Simiao stopped him.

"Red tape is tiresome." These are Sun Simiao's original words.

.........

In the empty mountains, no one is seen, but the sound of voices can be heard.

The setting sun shines into the deep forest, its light illuminating the green moss once more.

It was already late at night; the last rays of the setting sun had long since disappeared from the horizon, and only the soft moonlight shone on the moss…

Sun Simiao was passing through this place while collecting medicinal herbs.

This fearless old man actually carried his medicine basket and ventured alone into the depths of the Qinling Mountains...

Li Yu rummaged through the medicine basket and took out a medicine pot. Following Sun Simiao's instructions, he fetched water and decocted the medicine.

Li Chengqian circled around for a while, but realizing he couldn't help, he returned to the campfire and roasted meat with Li Tai and Lüyi.

On the other side, Cheng Chumo's pig-like screams echoed through the mountains. Beside him, Sun Simiao was using a heated dagger to scrape away the rotten flesh and pus from his wounds again and again.

The herbs were put into a pot of boiling water and simmered, and the excess herbs were put back in.

There were several pieces of salt in Sun Simiao's medicine basket! This excited Li Yu greatly.

"Master, could I have a few pieces of this salt?" He held it up and waved it in Sun Simiao's direction.

"Take it." Sun Simiao didn't ask Li Yu what he was going to do. At that moment, he was concentrating on stitching up Cheng Chumo's wound with mulberry bark thread, whose voice was almost hoarse from shouting.

With the old man's permission, Li Yu took out two more jars from the medicine basket, used one to fetch water from the stream, and then crushed the salt and poured it in.

Once the salt had completely dissolved, Li Yu covered the empty jar with a piece of coarse cloth and then covered it with a layer of wood ash.

Li Yu added some wood ash to the filtered brine, stirred it, let it sit for a while, and then continued to boil it until a lot of white flocculent matter came out. Only then did he filter the brine again.

After filtering twice and seeing that there were no impurities, Li Yu continued to simmer it over low heat...

.........

Kids don't stay still for long. Seeing Li Yu busy at work, Li Tai handed his grilled meat to his older brother and came over.

"What are you doing? What is this?"

Seeing Li Tai's curiosity, Li Yu scraped off a bit of the salt that had been extracted with his finger and handed it to him.

"Here, want to try some?"

Seeing the white powder stuck to his fingers, Li Tai subconsciously stuck out his tongue to lick it.

"Hey! How disgusting!" Li Yu quickly pulled his hand back, his face full of disgust.

Li Tai felt somewhat embarrassed about his subconscious actions.

However, when he pinched off a pinch of the powder and put it in his mouth, he was immediately dumbfounded.

"This is... fine salt!? You're making fine salt!?"

Li Tai was somewhat at a loss. In his haste, he scraped another layer of salt from the medicine jar and hurriedly ran back to Li Chengqian's side.

A moment later, another exclamation came from the other side: "Such fine salt! Where did you get it?"

Li Chengqian's face twitched from the salt. He swore he had never tasted such fine salt in his entire life.

Not only the two brothers from the Li family, but also Green Robe, who was grilling meat, Sun Simiao, who had just finished his work, and Cheng Chumo, who was grimacing in pain, were all attracted over.

"Boy! Did you really make this?" The old man almost ripped his beard off when he saw the incredibly fine salt in front of him.

Li Yu nodded, making no attempt to hide anything.

"Cousin, could you teach me?" Before anyone else could react, Li Tai rubbed his hands together with an expectant look on his face.

"No way! This is my way of making money." Li Yu said decisively.

Li Yu knew that the early Tang Dynasty allowed the sale of smuggled salt, a fact he was aware of. Even though the current dynasty was still called "Zhou."

Seeing Li Yu's arrogant and disgusting demeanor, Li Taiqiang suppressed his curiosity and curled his lip: "Tch! Fine, don't teach me then!"

.........

The salty grilled meat was eaten by the group until it was dripping with juice.

Needless to say, Cheng Chumo was a mere warrior, and Old Sun was also unconventional. Even the woman in green lost all restraint and ate heartily with great relish.

As for the Li brothers, they couldn't bear to watch and ate with their mouths full of oil.

Li Yu was also hungry. He took a big bite himself and then tore off a small piece of meat to feed the little tiger lying beside his legs.

"What should I call you?" Li Yu muttered to himself as he watched the little tiger crunching away at the piece of meat.

"Call it Zhuifeng!" Li Chengqian mumbled, his mouth almost stuffed with meat.

What kind of wind is it?

"Wind Chaser!" After swallowing the food in his mouth, Li Chengqian gestured a few times and said, "Look, the general sits on the throne, and the Wind Chaser Tiger stands below! How imposing!"

"Too tacky." Li Yu really couldn't compliment the child's immature behavior.

"Then choose something more sophisticated!" Li Chengqian was somewhat indignant that his chosen name had been belittled as worthless by Li Yu.

"Let's call him Gou Dan (Dog Egg). A humble name is easier to raise." After repeating this a couple of times, Li Yu felt that he didn't seem to have much talent for naming things.

"Let's call him Xiaohua! When I was little, the cat at the entrance of our village was named Xiaohua."

Having gone through so much, Green Robe is no longer the submissive maid she once was, and is much more cheerful than before.

Li Yu was pleased with this. As an outstanding young person nurtured by the culture of the new era, he believed that there shouldn't be so many distinctions of rank and status among people.

But... looking at that extra little thing between the tiger cub's legs, Li Yu felt that if it could speak, it would definitely get up and argue with Green Robe.

"Let's call it Little Flower!" There's no other way; it can't speak human language...

.........

After eating and drinking their fill, the five teenagers, led by the old Taoist priest, spent the night in a nearby cave.

Li Yu slept very restlessly that night.

Scattered fragments of memory flooded his mind in the form of dreams, recounting the original owner's understanding of this world over the past three years.

So much so that Li Yu couldn't tell whether the day's experiences were a dream or reality...

He desperately hoped this was a dream.

Unfortunately, Li Yu still woke up in this cave.

Pushing away the little flower that was licking its face with its tiny tongue, Li Yu struggled to sit up.

As dawn broke, a few morning stars still hung in the pale blue sky.

Finding that everyone else was still fast asleep, Li Yu picked up Xiao Hua and walked out of the cave alone.

It was a bit chilly outside, and only a few birds chirped in the empty forest. He leaned against a tree and sat down.

It's very upsetting; a mix of complex emotions welled up inside me.

Time travel? Is it physics or some bizarre theology?

He really wanted to ask God. Li Yu couldn't understand why he had come into this world.

He has family and friends. He was in a car accident and lost consciousness after being taken to the hospital.

If this were the way to travel through time, Li Yu couldn't imagine how many parallel worlds would be ravaged by time travelers.

The cool air gradually seeped into his clothes, and Li Yu couldn't help but shiver.

Just as he was about to get up and go back, a sheepskin was placed over him.

Li Yu slowly raised his head. "Green clothes? You're awake..."

.........