Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

**Jiacun Riverside**

The sky, washed a mirror-like blue after the rain, streamed down unhindered, bringing with it the fresh scent of the vegetation along the riverbank. Xiao Cui held a large wooden basin, piled high with the coarse clothes her father-in-law and mother-in-law had changed out of. She walked to the stone slabs by the river where she usually washed clothes, but a frown settled on her face. The force of last night's torrential downpour still lingered, and the river's murky, turbid water, carrying mud, sand, and broken branches, slammed against the rocks on the bank, creating a crashing sound.

"Oh, how can I wash with this water..." Xiao Cui muttered, putting down the wooden basin and laboriously scooping up several buckets of murky water from the river, setting them aside to clear. She squatted on the stone slab and picked up the mallet. "Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang!" The dull thuds against the soaked clothes sent water splattering everywhere. She had to finish washing quickly while there were fewer people around, otherwise by noon the area would be packed with the village women.

As she mechanically repeated the action of scooping out the slightly clearer water from the upper layer of the wooden barrel and pouring it on her clothes, she caught a glimpse of the spilled water from the corner of her eye. The color seemed wrong. She stopped the hammer and took a closer look - the water pouring on the gray cloth was a glaring, diluted crimson!

Xiao Cui's heart suddenly sank! She hurriedly looked at the wooden barrel. Above the sediment at the bottom of the barrel, a faint red water halo had suddenly appeared!

"Blood... blood!" Her hands trembled with fear, and the wooden ladle fell to the ground with a crisp sound. She looked at the turbulent river in horror. The muddy water was churning and she could not see anything clearly. A huge fear seized her, and she almost wanted to run away.

But...was that blood rushing down from upstream? What was in the river? She suppressed her throbbing heart and, mustering her courage, carefully walked upstream along the slippery riverbank, scanning every dent and crack in the rock ripped by the current.

Suddenly, her feet froze in place, and her pupils suddenly contracted!

Not far upstream from where she was washing clothes, in a shallow bay half-enclosed by several large rocks, the turbulent current formed a small whirlpool. And between the murky water and the jagged rock wall, two entangled human figures hung in the air!

The current pounded them, their bodies swaying slightly with the waves, like two pieces of lifeless, rotten wood. One of them, the cyan robe soaked and torn by the river, and the profile of that face, even pale and swollen, with closed eyes, was so familiar to her...

"Ah!" Xiao Cui let out a shrill scream, breaking the tranquility of the riverside after the rain. "Someone's dead! Help! There's someone in the river... in the river! It's the young master! The young master fell into the water!"

The screams were like a huge rock dropped into calm water, instantly alarming the entire Jia Village. Soon, several strong men rushed over with bamboo poles and ropes, wading into the icy river one step deep and one step shallow. After a lot of effort, they finally dragged the two heavy bodies, tightly "locked" together, to shore.

The wet body was laid flat on the gravel on the riverbank. A sharp-eyed villager took a closer look and cried out, "Oh my! It's really the young master!"

Xiao Cui also squeezed forward, her heart pounding. She looked at the bloodless face. It was Zhang Jingwei, with whom she had had an erotic past! She stretched out her fingers tremblingly and carefully touched Zhang Jingwei's neck.

Her voice trembled with tears, "He still has a pulse! It's very weak... but he's still alive! God bless you!" She breathed a sigh of relief, then said anxiously, "I guess he was rushed by the water too fast and hit the rocks at the bottom of the river and fainted!"

Everyone's eyes turned to the equally drenched and disheveled man next to him. Zhang Jingwei had one of his arms firmly gripped, his teeth sinking deep into the flesh. Even unconscious, he didn't let go. His other hand was still tightly gripping a dagger. Zhang Jingwei's tattered official robes were punctured with several holes. The edges had been bleached white by the river water, but the blood that seeped out could still be seen, staining the surrounding fabric red.

"The young master is injured! He's covered in wounds! His hands are tied behind his back!" someone exclaimed.

"This guy must be the murderer! He wants to kill the young master!" Another villager pointed at Shen Kaiyang angrily, "Look, he's still breathing! Quick, find a rope and tie this bastard up tightly! Quickly carry the young master back to my house! Gently! Gently!"

The villagers hurriedly tried to lift Zhang Jingwei, some carefully, fearing to touch his wounds; others found thick hemp ropes and tied up the unconscious Shen Kaiyang like a dumpling. Xiao Cui watched Zhang Jingwei being carried away, clasped her hands together, and silently chanted "Buddha bless you."

……

The harsh sound of metal friction, the hissing of steam in the pipes, and the workers' shouts one after another instantly overwhelmed Zhang Jingwei's senses like a tide.

He snapped his eyes open and found himself standing beside a familiar, brightly lit modern production line. Huge robotic arms swung rhythmically overhead, conveyor belts emitted a low hum, and the air was filled with the smell of machine oil, metal dust, and a hint of burnt welding.

"Director Zhang!" A young worker in blue overalls and a hard hat trotted over, holding a report, his brow furrowed. "Master Li and his team at Line 3 have reported that the yield rate has dropped again in recent batches. They suspect the boiler's heat supply is unstable, and the parameters are fluctuating too much. Do you think you could coordinate with the energy department and increase the supply?"

Zhang Jingwei subconsciously wanted to look at the dashboard, but another voice interrupted him.

"Director Zhang!" A clerk from the Finance Department huddled up to him, a grimace on his face. "I just received notice that the energy company is raising prices again next month! This cost pressure... Sigh, we're probably going to exceed our budget again this quarter. Do you think we need to readjust our cost accounting?"

Before Zhang Jingwei could digest these two pieces of information, another voice came from the intercom: "Director Zhang! Director Zhang! If you hear me, please reply! The pressure valve in the boiler room is a little unstable. I need you to come over and take a look. Do you want to shut down the machine for debugging? What if..."

"Director Zhang..."

"Director Zhang, from the Equipment Department..."

"Director Zhang, quality inspection..."

Countless voices, countless anxious faces, swirled and overlapped before his eyes like a revolving lantern. Information was like cold steel needles, trying to pierce his chaotic brain.

*No!* An unusually lucid voice cried out in his heart. *This is an illusion! It's fake! I'm clearly in Gaoyang, in the dark river... I'm injured... Shen Kaiyang!*

He shook his head vigorously, trying to dispel this all-too-real yet incredibly absurd scene. The cold touch of the metal, the dry air, even the smell of engine oil were all so real, but he knew deep down in his soul that this was not his "present."

"Where's my master?" Zhang Jingwei suddenly grabbed the arm of the worker closest to him, his voice filled with an urgency and a hint of panic that he himself didn't even realize. "Li Zhuowu! Where is my master?"

The worker was stunned by his arrest, his eyes filled with confusion. "Master? Director Zhang, what nonsense are you talking about? Aren't you our most senior master in this workshop? Don't we rely on you to solve all the technical problems?"

"Bullshit!" Zhang Jingwei practically roared, a fury of being deprived of his foundation welling up in his heart. "Without him, Li Zhuowu, who taught me the blueprints, how to debug, and how to withstand pressure! Where would I be today?! Where is he?!"

The worker shrank back at his yelling, his eyes becoming even more confused, even taking on a hint of pity, as if he were looking at a patient. Hesitantly, he raised his hand and pointed to a corner at the end of the production line, slightly obscured by steam. "Li... Li Zhuowu? Are you talking about... him?"

Zhang Jingwei looked in the direction of his finger——

Against the backdrop of massive, roaring modern machinery, a figure dressed in a loose, ancient robe and a bun stood quietly. With their backs to him, they stood tall and straight, their sleeves fluttering gently in the faint breeze of the workshop. They stood out from the cold, steely world around them, creating an eerie sense of dislocation, a sense of time and space.

Zhang Jingwei's heart skipped a beat.

Just as he tried to see the figure's back, the entire workshop scene twisted and rippled violently, like a surface of water after a stone was thrown into it! The piercing noise, the strong smell of engine oil, the flashing indicator lights, the workers' anxious faces... everything flakes off and dissipates like a shattered mirror.

Instead, there is endless, pure, and heart-pounding emptiness.

There was no light, no darkness, no up or down, no left or right, only a void, cold, absolute silence. He felt as if he was floating, as if he were tightly wrapped by an invisible force.

Then, in the center of nothingness, a figure slowly condensed into shape.

The figure was wearing the familiar blue official robe belonging to "Zhang Jingwei, the Magistrate of Gaoyang County". He had a handsome face and deep and calm eyes, and was looking at him quietly.

Zhang Jingwei looked at the face that looked exactly like his own, and a chill ran down his spine, instantly spreading throughout his body. He fell into a state of profound confusion and contemplation. This strange mirroring experience made him even more uneasy than the workshop he had just been in.

"Your world... is truly 'wonderful'." The "Zhang Jingwei" on the opposite side spoke first. His voice was calm, but with a penetrating power that could see through everything, and it resounded directly in his consciousness.

Zhang Jingwei's pupils shrank slightly, and a name blurted out: "Are you... Zhang Qi?" This was the name of the original owner that he occasionally captured in memory fragments after he took over this body.

"Zhang Qi?" The man opposite raised his lips in an indescribable smile. "I am you too, Zhang Jingwei." He paused, as if absorbing the weight of the name. "Or rather, we... are all Zhang Jingwei."

"Stop playing word games with me!" Zhang Jingwei growled irritably. In this void, his emotions were like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, stirring up invisible ripples. "I don't care if you are Zhang Qi or Zhang Jingwei, and I don't care what magic you used to trap me in this damn place! I'm going back now, right now, right away!" He remembered the icy cold river water, the excruciating pain of being pierced by a dagger in his body, and even more so... those who were waiting for him.

"Go back?" Zhang Qi tilted his head slightly, his eyes filled with a trace of pity and inquiry. "Where are you going back to? To your 'workshop' world with its roaring machines and 'cell phones' (he paused strangely as he uttered this unfamiliar word)? Or... to return to this body and continue to be your Gaoyang County Magistrate, Lord Zhang?"

Zhang Jingwei was stunned by his question. Go back? Go back to where? His parents and everything familiar in modern society were undoubtedly a deep longing in his soul; a true "home." But what about Gaoyang County? Huangfu Ling's sorrowful eyes, Mu Tou's heartbreaking cries, the loyalty of Wang Ergou and his companions, the unsolved cases, the people who awaited his protection... Countless fragments of images instantly flooded his mind, creating a huge tug.

"I..." He opened his mouth, but found that his throat seemed to be blocked. An unprecedented tearing sensation gripped him.

"Look," Zhang Qi said, his voice filled with understanding and a hint of bitter sympathy. "You don't even know where to go back to, so how can I 'send' you back? I may not even have the key to this cage."

"I want to go home!" Zhang Jingwei raised his head suddenly, his eyes full of stubbornness and the directness of a modern youth, "Go back to the home where I have parents, friends, the Internet, a mobile phone... everything that belongs to me, 'Zhang Jingwei'!" He almost roared, his voice echoing in the void, "I'll help you! I helped you deal with Shen Kaiyang, helped you solve the case, and even helped you gain a foothold in Gaoyang County! I've done enough! Enough for you to go down in history! Now, it's time for you to fulfill your 'promise' and send me back, right?!" He subconsciously regarded everything he did after taking over the body as a transaction.

Zhang Qi watched him calmly, his eyes filled with complex emotions. After a moment, he slowly shook his head, his voice filled with a weariness and helplessness that pierced through time and space. "It wasn't me who trapped you here..." He raised his hand, as if trying to touch the edge of this void. "I too want to 'go back'? To return to my own time, my own path... But I'm already dead."

"Are you dead?" Zhang Jingwei pointed at himself as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke. "Then how do I exist? Isn't this body yours? This heartbeat, this breathing, this perception... aren't they real? If you are dead, then what am I? A ghost living in a corpse?!" Fear and anger intertwined.

Zhang Qi spread out his hands, an extremely helpless yet fatalistic gesture: "Who knows? Maybe... this is a bad fate. An entanglement that neither you nor I understand." His figure seemed to fade a little in the void.

Zhang Jingwei completely lost his patience, a nameless rage rising to his head. He felt his consciousness being driven mad in this void. "I don't care about fate or not! Send me back! Now! Immediately! I don't want to stay in this damn place for a moment!" He rushed towards Zhang Qi's phantom, trying to grab something.

However, Zhang Qi's figure drifted away like smoke. He didn't dodge, but simply stared at the furious Zhang Jingwei quietly, his eyes piercing through him, as if gazing at some distant place. He asked softly, his voice trembling with a subtle tremor and deep concern:

"Ling'er...how is she now?"

Zhang Jingwei froze. Huangfu Ling… that tearful, worried face emerged vividly. A strong, uncharacteristic sourness washed over him, causing him to reply stiffly, "She's fine! No need for you to worry!" His tone tinged with jealousy, something he hadn't even noticed.

Zhang Qi's gaze finally focused on Zhang Jingwei's face. His eyes were so sharp that they seemed to be able to see through the disguise deep in the soul: "She is obviously... worried about you to death." He emphasized the word "you".

"She's worried about you!" Zhang Jingwei blurted out, trying to dispel the accusation in a huff. "She's worried about her ex-husband, Zhang Qi! Not me!"

"No!" Zhang Qi's voice suddenly rose, carrying a soul-piercing power that resonated strongly in the void. "She's worried about you! She and all of them—Mu Tou, Wang Ergou, Qian Ming, Fang Yue... They're all worried about 'you'! It's 'you' who's occupying this body right now, doing all this! Zhang Jingwei!"

“Zhang Jingwei——!”

"Worried about you—!"

“It’s all your fault—!”

This emotional cry was like an invisible hammer, slamming down on Zhang Jingwei's consciousness! The voices, layer upon layer, carried the original owner's lingering obsession, concern, and a certain final relief, transforming into an irresistible torrent!

"Ugh!" Zhang Jingwei felt as if his head was about to explode, and the nothingness before his eyes was instantly torn apart! He felt himself being pulled by a huge suction force, falling downward, into a deeper, colder darkness!

In the last moment before his consciousness was completely swallowed by darkness, he seemed to see Zhang Qi's figure in the void giving him an extremely complex smile that seemed to be sad, sighing, and relieved, and then completely disappeared.

Zhang Jingwei didn't even have time to express his anger, and was left with only a deep feeling of fatigue and powerlessness from being repeatedly toyed with.

"Tsk..." A sigh of helplessness and resignation dissipated in the falling wind, "Again..."

The boundless, cold abyss that was beyond the reach of consciousness once again completely swallowed him up.