Chapter 1 of 100

Chapter 1

21 min read5,221 words

The bone-chilling wind blew in through the window, and the disheveled room looked like a disaster site. A young man was huddled up, trying to keep himself warm.

The curtain, lifted by the wind, made a rustling sound, and occasionally a few withered leaves drifted in. It seemed as if this place had been abandoned by the world.

Lin Han shivered, crossed his arms over his chest, and sat up from the sofa. His skin was covered in goosebumps, and his hair stood on end. He began to rub his hands together to generate some heat.

"Damn it, what a lousy place, I'm freezing to death!"

As he spoke, he quickly avoided the obstacles in the room and ran toward the open window. He closed it, blocking the cold wind outside, and let out a long sigh of relief.

Standing by the bed, Lin Han looked at the room in front of him with confusion. With his mild OCD, he couldn't imagine anyone living in such a place!

Magazines and books were scattered all over the floor, clothes and pants were strewn everywhere, and socks emitted a foul odor from who knows where. Empty cans of cola and beer were everywhere.

An expired pizza was barely visible on the coffee table, and the opened chips had buried the remote control. Blu-ray cases were piled up haphazardly, and the takeout boxes in the corner looked as if they had accumulated for centuries. Even the soup in the instant noodle cups hadn't been emptied.

The room was a mess, and Lin Han felt as if he had entered hell. He looked down at his clothes, which were stained with grease and black spots, as if they hadn't been washed for days.

His mind went blank, and he muttered to himself, "This must be a dream, it must be a dream, it's too scary!"

His hands didn't feel like his own, and the clothes on his body were definitely not his. Lin Han clearly remembered the style of every piece of clothing in his wardrobe. He glanced around the room, then walked to the bathroom mirror and came to a conclusion: he had traveled through time!

This major event suppressed his mild OCD. He ignored the mess in the bathroom, pinched his face hard in the mirror, and then jumped. The sensation was all too real.

The man in the mirror looked disheveled, with an uneven beard and slightly messy hair, but he wasn't unattractive. At that moment, he had the look of a down-on-his-luck handsome man.

Lin Han didn't know why he had traveled through time, but he felt something different in his mind. As he thought about it, a set of memories that didn't belong to him suddenly surfaced.

Leaning against the bathroom door frame, even with his temples throbbing, Lin Han refused to sit on the sofa, which had already caused him enough discomfort. He didn't want to sit on it again.

After sorting through the memories, he was shocked to discover that this man with the same name and surname as him was a somewhat famous director, at least he had been.

The world he found himself in was extremely similar to the one he had known before, with only minor differences. It felt familiar, at least it was still modern, not ancient.

At this time, China and the United States were on par, and with the improvement in living standards, social entertainment had become a focal point. Movies, music, literature, and art were all thriving, but few of the people he knew were familiar.

In the memories of the original owner, there were figures from the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, but Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor Taizu of Song, and Emperor Chengzu of Ming were all missing. The Four Great Classical Novels still existed, but the poet who wrote "Beside my bed a pool of light" was called Li Du.

He didn't know where history had taken a turn, but it seemed that half of the historical figures had been replaced. New talents emerged in every generation, and the stars in the entertainment industry were all unfamiliar names. The books in the bookstore were only the classic works of ancient China, and the modern literary works were all unknown to him.

The thriving economy naturally led to a flourishing cultural and artistic scene, with outstanding representatives in every field, and excellent works were abundant.

The original owner, a graduate of the Directing Department of the China Academy of Drama, had started as an assistant to a famous director and had a stroke of good luck last year when he was given the opportunity to direct a sci-fi blockbuster, "Beyond the Solar System." However, the film, adapted from a best-selling novel, flopped at the box office, grossing less than 50 million RMB on a production budget of nearly 300 million RMB, and its rating was only 4.8!

Normally, a film needs to gross three times its production cost to start making a profit. The box office earnings were less than one-sixth of the cost, and the production company, Candy Entertainment, lost so much money that they had to sell their underwear and eventually declared bankruptcy.

Thus, the original owner became a unique and beautiful sight in the entertainment industry, a man who single-handedly brought down a company, a true harbinger of disaster.

No production company was willing to hire the original owner as a director, no film crew wanted him as an assistant director, and even when he humbled himself and entered the television industry, no institution or production team was willing to hire him. His reputation as a harbinger of disaster spread far and wide.

Even entertainment magazines and gossip shows would occasionally bring him up to criticize, listing him among the top ten most loss-making films and the most overrated directors. His reputation became so bad that his alma mater even considered revoking his diploma.

After integrating all the memories, Lin Han couldn't help but feel that life was truly dramatic. He had achieved success at a young age, but then everything went downhill, and now he was a man who only knew how to numb himself with alcohol.

Long-term alcohol abuse had left his body in a state of sub-health. His skin was abnormally pale, his hair was long and messy, and his beard was unkempt. If he walked down the street, he would look like a homeless man.

Lin Han didn't have overly ambitious goals; he just wanted to be a quiet and artistic young man. For now, it was better to focus on staying alive.

His stomach growled, but in such a hellish apartment, Lin Han couldn't eat anything. He rolled up his sleeves and decided to clean the place up.

This was no place for a human to live; he couldn't stand it!

He found a garbage bag from his memories and picked up the trash from the table and floor, then gathered the clothes and pants and threw them into the washing machine. He would wash the socks and underwear separately later.

He threw away the pizza boxes, poured the soup from the instant noodle cups down the drain, and put all the chips and snacks into a garbage bag. Another bag was used for the takeout boxes.

After clearing the large pieces of trash, he took a broom and swept the entire room, collecting paper scraps, dust, packaging, peanut shells, cookie crumbs, and pull tabs, leaving nothing behind!

After sweeping, he opened the door and carried the full garbage bags to the trash bin in the hallway, taking a moment to look at the blue sky of the capital.

Cleaning wasn't enough; he also used a cloth to wipe the coffee table, window sill, bedside table, cabinets, and sofa clean. Then he mopped the floor until it was spotless.

The washing machine hummed continuously, and Lin Han felt quite miserable. The first thing he did after traveling through time was to clean the room. Did he really have the attributes of a cleaner?

A phone rang repeatedly with a pleasant melody. After fumbling in the sofa's crevices, Lin Han finally found the phone.

There were three missed calls and several messages from his former agent, Chen Jiaxuan. As a seasoned agent in the entertainment industry, Chen Jiaxuan was undoubtedly successful, having launched two pop kings and a film queen. Her only failure was with Lin Han.

"You damn fool, answer the phone, don't pretend to be dead. It's been a year of depression, now it's time to get back to work!"

Reading the message, Lin Han could picture Chen Jiaxuan's furious expression. His former agent was truly responsible. Even though the original owner had no money to pay for the agency contract, she still cared about his well-being, often bringing food to visit him.

It was hard to resist such kindness. As an observer, Lin Han could sense something more than just professional concern. He didn't know how to face Chen Jiaxuan, so he decided to ignore the messages for now, hoping to buy some time.

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