fake gentry

In the first year of Yongchang (322 AD), in Jiangzhou.

Chaisang County, Xunyang Prefecture, is located at the northern foot of Mount Lu.

A dirt road winds its way down the mountain, its surface uneven and full of potholes, with roadside weeds reaching knee-high.

Dressed in ancient costume, Xie Hong felt both panicked and angry.

"I'll fucking kill you!"

"Is there anyone even in this godforsaken place?"

As a passionate enthusiast of Wei and Jin history and culture, he scoured historical records of clothing and accessories, and after much deliberation, he created the aristocratic attire he is wearing. He also grew his hair long and fought his way into the finals of the first National Han and Jin Style Clothing Competition, striving to win the championship.

As long as he wins the championship, the million-dollar prize money is nothing; he will immediately go from a small internet celebrity with over 100,000 followers to a big internet celebrity.

When the time comes, my pocket will be as full of Cullinan-like creatures, and my Henan girlfriend will become a Dutch girlfriend. Just thinking about it makes me feel so happy.

But plans can't keep up with changes.

The organizers made a last-minute decision to hold a field trip to the Taohuayuan Scenic Area in Kangwang Valley of Lushan Mountain. According to research, this is the true origin of the Taohuayuan described by Tao Yuanming in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Halfway through the journey, Xie Hong suddenly felt the urge to urinate, so he secretly found a cave and crawled inside.

As a result, when he pulled up his pants and turned around, he found that the hole behind him had turned into a winding passage, and some blurry images flashed by in his daze.

Just like the Peach Blossom Spring described, there were houses and fertile fields, and the sounds of chickens and dogs could be heard from one another.

Xie Hong was so frightened that he turned and ran without thinking. When he stumbled out of the cave, he found himself on a barren grassy slope, with no scenic area in sight.

The sky above was clear and blue, and the majestic mountains, shrouded in clouds and mist, presented an iron-gray outline in the sunlight.

Isn't this Lushan, the venue for the finals?

Isn't the spot where he's standing right at the north gate of the Lushan Scenic Area?

But what about the visitor center? What about the parking lot?

"Hey Xie, I told you not to pee like that, are you going to pee now or not?"

Xie Hong looked at the inlaid gold Han sword in his hand, forged with a loan of 100,000 yuan, and then looked at his own hand...

Nima!

Is this my hand?

My fingers are a bit thinner, my knuckles are more defined, and my skin is much smoother.

"Calm down, calm down, I must be dreaming."

He stumbled and found a puddle. Looking at his reflection, the face he saw was clearly that of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old.

"Am I seeing a ghost?"

More than half an hour later, Xie Hong confirmed one thing.

Despite trying to catch the last train, I ended up urinating in the process.

But he had absolutely no idea which dynasty he had transmigrated to.

The most urgent task is to find the person first before making any further plans.

But after walking for a long time, he found that the path under his feet was becoming more and more remote, and the weeds by the roadside were getting taller and taller. He didn't see a single person, let alone a ghost.

Deep in the weeds, several emaciated refugees lay sprawled.

They wore patched, coarse linen short coats, their hair tied up in a cone shape, and held wooden spears in their hands, staring at the aristocratic youths approaching from afar.

The young man carried a sword. He was over seven feet tall, with a handsome appearance and a dashing expression. He wore a wide-sleeved blouse, a tattered skirt, and a moon-white wide-sleeved shirt with black trim on the collar and cuffs. He had a blue brocade belt around his waist, a lotus-shaped pouch hanging from his waist, a flat turban on his head, and thin silk footwear and black silk shoes.

This is the most sophisticated attire of aristocratic gentlemen at the time.

"It's a white-necked black bird, quite a beautiful appearance."

The sons of noble families loved to wear white and only knew how to engage in empty talk; behind their backs, they were cursed as crows by the common people.

The speaker was in his thirties, with a detached expression in his deep-set eyes, and a dark red patina on the rusted hilt of his sword.

Someone beside him advised, "Squad leader, judging from his attire, he must be a gentleman from a prominent family. Ambushing him might cause trouble."

The team leader scoffed, "What trouble? Who would know in this desolate wilderness?"

"What if in the future..."

"The future?" The captain sneered, "You're starving, how can you worry about the future?"

His eyes flashed with cruelty as he looked at the person beside him: "Chen San, are you scared?"

Chen San immediately fell silent.

The captain's gaze toward Xie Hong gradually turned lewd: "Heh heh, this kid's face is even more beautiful than a woman applying powder. It's a real waste to kill him, we might as well capture him..."

Xie Hong, however, was completely unaware of the approaching danger and was in a state of panic.

It was at this moment.

"Let's do it!"

Before he could turn around, he was knocked unconscious by something.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself bound hand and foot with hemp rope, in a huge cave, surrounded by a group of pale-faced men with eyes like hungry wolves.

And it's a cave?

Xie Hong felt like he had developed cave phobia.

On the stone platform inside the cave, there was a tattered straw mat. One person was kneeling and another was sitting cross-legged. On both sides of the stone platform were more than ten bottles and jars, and two broken lacquered wooden boxes.

The age of the kneeling man was indiscernible, and his gray-brown clothes made him seem somewhat dazed.

The man sitting with his legs spread apart was probably around thirty years old. He wore a black flat-topped hat and a brown robe with a leather belt with animal patterns. Beside him was a ring-pommel sword, and a gold-inlaid Han sword was stuck in the leather belt at the man's waist.

This person was clearly the leader, and he was sizing up Xie Hong. The look in his eyes sent a chill down Xie Hong's spine.

grass!!

He'd only ever seen that look in his eyes on Chunxi Road!

Xie Hong quickly shifted his attention to the other people.

The brown robes they wore were not in the style of the Tang and Song dynasties, but rather the brown robes of the Han dynasty were short and tight.

Could it be that I've traveled back to the Wei and Jin Dynasties?

Xie Hong felt like he was going crazy.

He simply admired the elegance of the Wei and Jin dynasties, not the era itself.

People will die.

He had studied documents about refugees during the Jin Dynasty, and those who bound themselves were probably refugees. The lecherous leader was also a low-ranking military officer.

A military officer turned refugee—did he somehow travel back in time to the War of the Eight Princes?

The leader suddenly spoke, in what sounded like a broken Henan accent: "Young man, what's your surname?"

Xie Hong suddenly felt a sense of relief.

The standard official language of the gentry during the Jin Dynasty was the elegant Luoyang dialect, which differs from the modern Henan dialect, but he happened to have studied it.

With a grateful heart, I thank you for being there. My girlfriend from Henan, whom I dated for three years, if it weren't for your guidance, I would probably just be saying, "I'll beat you to death, you bastard!"

If I could go back, I would repay this debt with all my might.

During the Jin Dynasty, those who spoke the elegant music of Luoyang were not necessarily from the aristocratic class, but those who did not speak it were definitely not.

Xie Hong took a deep breath and asked with a smile, "And who are you? Do you know that kidnapping a noble family is a capital offense?"

A cruel glint flashed in the captain's eyes as he threatened, "You little brat, you've got guts. Chen San, kill him for me, drain the blood and hang him in a breezy place so his clothes don't get dirty. That way we can get more salt and grain."

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Xie Hong's head.

Isn't that kid trying to seduce me?

Why are you treating me like dried-up cured meat without a second thought?

Others travel thousands of miles to deliver meat for people to use... I'm traveling thousands of years to deliver meat for people to eat?

Compared to air-dried cured meat, Xie Hong felt that being smuggled out wasn't so bad... Ugh!

I will never wage war against the chrysanthemum.

Chen San approached Xie Hong, scrutinized him for a moment, and then bowed and said:

"My name is Chen San. May I ask your esteemed family background, sir?"

When the other party asked about his ancestral home, Xie Hong was so flustered that it took him a while to react.

The term "junwang" (郡望) can be translated as "which prefecture your family belongs to," and it served as an identification card for aristocratic families from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Xie Hongxin thought to himself, "Can I tell you that I was born in the new China and grew up under the red flag?"

What kind of prestigious family background do I have?

Without determining the exact time period of the Wei-Jin period, recklessly impersonating someone will definitely lead to endless trouble.

He suppressed his panic and said calmly, "There is a distinction between the gentry and commoners. Do you have the right to ask?"

Chen San paused for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and threatened, "Young master, aren't you afraid of death?"

Those who frequently travel through time know that begging for mercy at this point will only lead to an even faster death. You have to grit your teeth and maintain your composure, but you can't overact. You have to find the right balance.

Xie Hong, with an arrogant attitude, retorted, "Kill me if you want, I, Xie Fengzhi, would rather die than dishonor my family."

Chen San was stunned for a moment. He knew all too well the character of scholars: dissolute, absurd, and boastful. Today, he had actually encountered one who was not afraid of death.

Looking at the boy's handsome face with its red lips and white teeth, he said with a dark expression:

"Come on, let's escort the young master..."

"Wait a minute."

Xie Hong closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then looked at the other party sincerely: "Your Excellency, would it be acceptable for me to die upon learning of this?"

A strange look appeared in Chen San's eyes.

He was, after all, just a young boy.

"Please don't be offended, my lord. We were once law-abiding citizens. Our leader was originally a squad leader under the General Who Conquers the West. It was during the chaos caused by the General that we became refugees."

The Rebellion of the Great General?

Many rebellions occurred during the Jin Dynasty, but only the rebellions of Wang Dun and Heng Xuan during the Eastern Jin Dynasty fit the description of a Grand General's rebellion.

He tentatively asked, "I have been traveling for the past six months... Please enlighten me."

Chen San shook his head and said, "I only know that Wang Dun has already taken over as prime minister and retreated to Wuchang City ten days ago."

Xie Hong's brain started working frantically.

The Book of Jin states that Wang Dun raised an army in the first month of the first year of Yongchang, and was appointed prime minister in the fourth month. So now it is May of 322 AD.

Sima Rui, the founding emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty who ushered in a period of shared rule between the Wang and Ma families, will die next year, and will be posthumously honored as Emperor Yuan.

Who succeeded him? He died less than two years later, but his wife Xie Hong remembered him very clearly as Yu Wenjun.

This is because she was the first woman in Chinese history to be called "Your Majesty," more than three hundred years earlier than Wu Zetian.

Unfortunately, his ending was tragic; he died a humiliating death.

Xie An, the main character of "A New Account of Tales of the World," is only two years old this year and is still wearing open-crotch pants.

Zu Ti, who rose at the crowing of the rooster and struck the oar midstream, had been dead for a year.

Wang Xizhi was nineteen years old this year. His wife, Xi Xuan, must have been extremely beautiful. Otherwise, the Sage of Calligraphy would not have taken any concubines and would have only focused on one woman, with whom he had seven sons and one daughter.

Sigh, I've learned a whole bunch of different things.

Despite being imprisoned, Xie Hong felt a strange sense of surprise.

There's a saying, "What are you going to do now that you're already here?"

The Eastern Jin Dynasty was a grand stage; who would dare to enter without some skill?

Putting aside the question of conquering the country and saving the crumbling empire, just look at his appearance—if he stood in front of people, wouldn't everyone say, "This guy is damn handsome"?

Even if one cannot become a powerful minister, one can at least become a famous scholar and be one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.

If all else fails, he could at least become the junior apprentice of the Sage of Calligraphy, right?

As for the rest...

Could you fulfill Master Ji's wish?

What are you thinking, Xie? You're practically going to be turned into dried bacon.

The key is figuring out how to save yourself.