Chapter 1

A sense of bizarre temporal and spatial dislocation swirled in his mind.

The sky and earth seemed to spin, and everything appeared both real and unreal.

Li Qian patted his forehead hard, but the more he patted, the more his head ached.

"Hey, Li Qian, are you really okay? Do you need us to take you to the hospital?"

"I'm fine, really, I'm fine. I just need to rest a bit."

Waving off Liu Qiang, Li Qian shook his head forcefully and then looked around with wide eyes.

If his memory served him right, this was the basketball court of the National No. 13 High School in Jinan Prefecture. The people playing basketball not far away were his classmates from Class 5, Grade 2, and today was May 17, 1995, a Saturday, the year of the Pig in the lunar calendar. Oh, right, the Gregorian year was 1995.

Yes, you read that right, this is Jinan Prefecture, not Jinan City.

The dating system here is based on the Republic Era, similar to the ancient Chinese imperial era names.

Recalling carefully, Li Qian found in his mind the history clearly recorded in his textbooks: In the Gregorian year 1644, Li Zicheng entered Beijing, and the Ming Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself on Coal Hill. Li Zicheng then led his troops out of Shanhaiguan to fight the allied forces of Dorgon and Wu Sangui, and won a great victory. Over the next twenty years, the First Emperor of the Great Shun Dynasty campaigned east and west, subduing the Manchus, Mongols, Hui, and Taiwan, leading to a period of great prosperity for the Great Shun Dynasty...

Well, it's quite bizarre and disorienting.

Compared to the history Li Qian had learned before, the course of history took a major turn with the Great Shun Dynasty under Li Zicheng.

Then, the corruption and decline of the dynasty were inevitable, and the First Industrial Revolution in the West also arrived on schedule. In the mid-to-late 19th century, the Chinese nation indeed fell into the situation of "the weak will be beaten," and even Hong Kong was indeed occupied by the British for about eighty years. But miraculously, in 1865, the Great Shun Dynasty launched a top-down reform, historically known as the "Yichou Reform." Since then, although there were setbacks and fluctuations, the Chinese nation eventually embarked on the path of capitalist reform.

Even though the timeline was extremely disoriented, China still followed a similar path, but unlike the other history in Li Qian's memory, China had implemented reforms and opening-up much earlier, becoming the first socialist country to announce such policies. In the following decade, more than a dozen countries in the red camp also announced various degrees of internal reforms and opening-up.

From then on, the Cold War between the two major camps gradually shifted from military confrontation to economic competition. The pace of the Third Scientific Revolution accelerated significantly.

Oh, right, the Northern Bear Empire hasn't disintegrated yet!

Li Qian's thoughts continued to be in disarray...

This was truly a world that was both real and unreal, and yet not quite either.

He rubbed his forehead hard and muttered to himself, "The problem is, it was just a malfunction with the wire, and I only fell a few meters. I shouldn't have died from that, right? Now, not only did I die, but I also ended up in this bizarre and disoriented world..."

When he first woke up, Li Qian almost thought he had become schizophrenic from the fall. It wasn't until his understanding of this world became clearer that he finally realized that everything was real, and he had indeed traveled to a strange timeline, becoming a high school student named Li Qian.

Well, Beijing is not called Beijing but Shuntian Prefecture, Nanjing is not called Nanjing but Yingtian Prefecture, and as for Shanghai... it's called Songjiang Prefecture...

What a headache.

He subconsciously searched through a few pockets before remembering that he didn't smoke yet. He rummaged through the school uniforms of his classmates nearby and found a half-pack of cigarettes called "Daming Lake," lit one, and took a deep puff.

It was a bit harsh, and he couldn't help coughing.

"Hey, hey, look, Li Qian is smoking too!"

"Hey, Li Qian, didn't you say you hated your dad smoking? Why are you smoking now?"

"Damn, Li Qian, I only have half a pack left. You don't even know how to smoke, so don't waste it, okay? Every cigarette you smoke is one less for me!"

"Hey, you're being too stingy. This is Li Qian's first cigarette in his life!"

"It's not that I'm stingy. My allowance for this week is already gone, and this half-pack is my food for the next two days. Where am I going to get money to buy more after this?"

Li Qian held the cigarette, picked up his school uniform, patted his butt, and stood up.

After some thought, he put the remaining half-pack of Daming Lake in his pocket, turned around, and said, "I'll take this half-pack. I'll pay you back with a whole pack later! I'm not feeling well, so I'm leaving first!"

A miserable cry came from behind.

"Hey, at least leave me a few..."

"Li Qian, go quickly, we'll cover for you!"

...

Following his memory, Li Qian soon rode his bicycle back to his home.

This was a residential area called Shengshi Garden, where he had lived since he could remember.

Locking his bicycle at the building entrance, he didn't rush upstairs but looked up first.

Pleasant piano music, like a stream of clear water, flowed out from a slightly open window... If it were the original Li Qian, he wouldn't have recognized the piece, but coincidentally, the current Li Qian knew it was "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair," a classic work by Debussy.

And it was exactly the same as the "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" he knew, note for note.

Subconsciously, he reached for a cigarette, but then thought better of it and put it back—this was his neighborhood, and everyone knew each other. If someone saw him smoking and told his parents, that would be a disaster.

The sound of an engine grew louder, and a manhole cover clanged twice as a car turned the corner... Li Qian looked back and saw a red convertible, but when he saw the logo with the two ancient and powerful traditional characters, he was instantly disoriented again...

The Great Wall!

Hey, Chairman Wei Jianguo, do you know that the Great Wall here has already produced sports cars? Why are you still relying on the H6 for sales? How do you manage?

The car stopped in front of Li Qian.

Only then did Li Qian's gaze finally pull away from the "Great Wall" logo and look up.

A face of extraordinary beauty.

She got out of the car, closed the door, and lightly flicked her long, straight black hair...

She must be close to 1.7 meters tall, even without high heels.

Her gaze was a bit cold.

After just one glance, Li Qian quickly looked away.

In his memory, he seemed to be a bit afraid of this woman.

It probably started when, as a child, Li Qian tricked her little sister with candy to kiss him and got a severe beating from her. This grudge had lasted for over a decade, and her cold, icy face had become a psychological shadow for Li Qian, affecting even the current Li Qian, who instinctively wanted to avoid her.

The convertible's top slowly rose, and the woman walked over, stopping not far from Li Qian. She listened to the piano music, looked up at the third floor, then glanced at Li Qian coldly.

"Hello, Sister Jingxue."

If it were the original Li Qian, he would have pretended not to see her and avoided her, but now, Li Qian greeted her proactively.

Wang Jingxue nodded, said nothing, and walked past Li Qian up the stairs.

Her waistline was so stunning it made people's eyes widen.

Li Qian gave a helpless smile.

After she went upstairs, Li Qian looked back at the "Great Wall" logo on the car, muttered something, and then turned to go upstairs.

Li Qian's home was also on the third floor, directly across from Wang Jingxue and Wang Jinglu's home.

When he reached the floor, the piano music from the opposite door had stopped. Li Qian took out his keys, opened the door, and immediately smelled a strong smell of cigarette smoke. Peering inside, he saw his father, Li Shuwen, in the study, one hand holding a cigarette and the other writing furiously.

"Hey, Dad, did you get inspired again?"

In the cloud of smoke, Li Shuwen turned to look at his son, "Ah, I couldn't sleep last night and thought of the tree in the courtyard back home. I'm just writing it down, I'll be done in a bit."

Li Qian closed the door, changed into slippers, and walked over, looking up at the ceiling of the small study. "Dad, is Mom out buying groceries? She should be back soon, right?"

Li Shuwen found his son's question a bit strange, turned to look at him, and then followed his gaze to the ceiling. He immediately realized what was going on, quickly extinguished the cigarette, and got up to open the window, "Oh, I forgot!"

Li Qian smiled and said nothing, closing the door and leaving.

Although calling a stranger "Dad" should be awkward, influenced by the memories in his mind, he didn't feel any difficulty when he called out.

After taking a shower, Li Qian sat in the living room, turned on the TV, and began to daydream.

This strange yet familiar world left him somewhat lost.

Grade 2, 17 years old, his mother was an accountant, his father a Chinese literature teacher who had published a novel in his youth, though it didn't sell much. Oh, right, there was also a small celebrity living next door, but their relationship was negative...

Wait a minute!

Li Qian's eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had just remembered something. He rushed to his bedroom and quickly found a double-disc CD from a small bookshelf—this was a gift from Wang Jinglu. One disc was a CD with ten songs, and the other was a DVD with music videos for two of the songs.

Wu Xing Wu Su, a girl group consisting of five beautiful members, debuted last year and released their first album, which reportedly sold 200,000 to 300,000 copies, making them a relatively well-known singing group in the country.

Wang Jingxue was one of them.

With no one else at home, Li Qian closed the door to the small study as he passed by, walked to the TV, and turned on the VCD player, inserting the music video disc.

He turned on the TV, and soon the VCD began to play, with energetic songs and dances filling the room!

Such long, white legs!

Regardless of the quality of the songs, the way they showed off their legs was very similar to a Korean group called "Leg Era" in the other world.

Li Qian put on headphones, closed his eyes, and leaned back in the chair.

The two songs were "Love in the High Seas" and "Lu Bu and Diao Chan."

After listening to the first song, "Love in the High Seas," Li Qian pursed his lips and frowned slightly.

In his previous life, his father was a stage actor, and his mother was a music teacher at a high school, so he could be considered from an artistic family. He grew up influenced by this, and later made a living in the arts. He started a band in high school, didn't look for a job after graduation, and spent his days performing in bars, taking on side jobs like composing and scoring for TV dramas, and occasionally singing demos, living a life of feast and famine.

Then, by chance, he started working as an extra, and gradually moved up to roles like script supervisor, production assistant, screenwriter, camera assistant, director's assistant, stunt double, and minor roles. It took him a couple of years to establish a foothold in the film and television industry. Of course, it was only a bit better than before, just enough to get by, but not enough to get rich. He was in his thirties and still single, purely because of a lack of money.

Even after switching to the film and television industry, he didn't lose his love and attention to music. Just before the wire malfunction during the shooting of a martial arts drama, he had just written a new song and was planning to submit it.

So, even though he wasn't a professional singer in his previous life, his years of passion and attention, and the fact that he had written and sold several songs, gave him a basic ability to judge music.

Based on his judgment of popular music, this song... was quite average.

Then came "Lu Bu and Diao Chan."

It seemed... even worse than the first.

After all, songs that are made into music videos are usually the main tracks!

If the main tracks were like this, it was clear that the quality of the entire album was not promising.

The two music videos quickly finished, and the screen went black.

Li Qian subconsciously rubbed his chin, a habit from his previous life. Whenever he did this, he was usually thinking about something important.

And now, the question was: If this level of music could sell 200,000 to 300,000 copies, it meant that the music industry in this timeline wasn't too strong!

Thinking about this, Li Qian felt his mind opening up, and the confusion he felt after arriving in this world began to dissipate.

A light began to shine in his heart.

Now, he just needed to confirm one thing: how similar and how different the music and film industries in this timeline were compared to the familiar one he had experienced.