Chapter One Portable Space

The wind cut like a blade, and snowflakes whirled through the air.

The white snow drifted down like goose feathers and willow catkins, soft and lingering, turning the world into a scene of pure, frost-bright splendor.

Across the vast whiteness of the land, several carriages moved slowly forward. Yet the snowfall was so heavy that before long the wheel tracks were swallowed beneath the snow, leaving not the faintest trace behind.

It was only the eighth month, and yet the first great snow had already fallen, making the weather all the more bitterly cold.

Around the carriages, more than a dozen cavalrymen rode in escort. Now and then, the calls of men guiding warhorses could be heard. In the midst of those sounds, inside one of the carriages, a drowsy youth slowly opened his eyes as the vehicle swayed beneath him.

"So cold... and my head is spinning... Who is she?"

A little girl, beautifully delicate like carved jade and painted porcelain, appeared beside him, staring at him with bright, curious eyes.

"Brother, your face is so red!"

"Brother? What is she talking about? Is she speaking to me?"

The youth was about to ask more when a stabbing pain suddenly tore through his head, and he once again sank into unconsciousness.

In his dream, he dreamt of himself as a man past forty, framed by others, and in the end standing on a high platform to prove his innocence.

In that dream, he had crossed into the body of a man who shared his name and surname, a man also called Jia Pingan, and had occupied that body in the freezing cold. Along with him came the fifteen years of memory belonging to this youth.

In the dream, he also saw a place like a hidden paradise, where there was a thatched hut, a set of table and chairs, a wooden bed, nearly twenty mu of black soil, a stretch of grassland, a stream, and a grove of trees.

And yes, there were also two wells, one clear and one murky.

Driven by curiosity, Jia Pingan came to the clear spring, cupped the water in his hands, and, feeling a little thirsty, took a small sip. At once, a wave of comfort swept through his entire body, and all hunger and coldness, even the earlier discomfort in his flesh, vanished without a trace.

"A treasure indeed. Hmm? Isn’t this the pattern engraved on a jade pendant given to me by one of my subordinates? I had thought it was only an ordinary antiquity of no great age, but now it seems far more mysterious than that."

With more than forty years of life behind him, Jia Pingan knew at once that he had stumbled upon a priceless treasure.

And as he swallowed that drop of spring water, his hearing and vision sharpened as well. The sounds of two sets of footsteps, one heavy and one light, approaching the carriage became distinctly clear.

Though his thoughts were still somewhat muddled, Jia Pingan instinctively turned his awareness back into his body. Then the curtain was lifted from outside, and a burst of frigid air rushed in. Had he not just drunk that drop of spiritual spring water, he would surely have been shivering uncontrollably by now.

"Mother, Brother fainted just now. Rongrong was so scared."

The voice came from the girl from earlier. By now, Jia Pingan had a clear understanding of things. Just now, he had received all the memories of the youth, and he knew exactly who he was, what his identity was, and where he stood.

In his previous life, Jia Pingan had come from humble beginnings, but as a boy he studied hard and, through relentless effort, rose like a carp leaping the dragon gate. Not only did he enter one of the greatest universities in the land at a young age, but after graduation he entered the government service. By sheer good fortune, he was noticed by a powerful superior and soon became an important secretary to a top official.

He had soared like a great roc borne on the wind, ascending ninety thousand li in a single day.

From that point on, his path had been smooth and prosperous, and before the age of thirty he had reached heights that many people could not attain in an entire lifetime. But because of that, he also drew more envy than he could count.

As the saying goes, when the embankment rises higher than the shore, the waves will strike it first.

Within the competitive machinery of power, schemes and arrows both hidden and open came one after another without end. Like a fish stirred to life among the rest, Jia Pingan grew constantly in such an environment. Through caution and prudence, he not only avoided ruin, but eventually won the appreciation of his superior and was given the chance to govern a region of his own.

It could be said that before the age of forty-five, Jia Pingan had enjoyed almost nothing but smooth sailing, until the appearance of an old classmate and childhood friend. Remembering the affection of their youth, he had still fallen for the man’s trap. Because of old ties, he had done a few things that crossed the line. Then, when political enemies emerged and pointed to his wrongdoing, Jia Pingan finally realized that none of it had been coincidence. It had all been deliberately arranged.

At first, he had thought that admitting fault would be the end of it, and that losing power would be the consequence. He had never imagined that the other side would be so ruthless, so bent on total destruction. That old classmate exposed the matter to the public with records of money transferred into his bank card, forcing him to the point where he could no longer even remain human in the eyes of the world.

The moment he leapt from the building more than twenty stories high, the howl of the wind had filled his ears, and yet Jia Pingan still had time to think of many things. His final thought had been this: if he could live again, he would never again trust anyone so easily.

It had only been a passing thought. He never imagined that he would truly live again, only not by returning to the past. Instead, he had come to another fifteen-year-old boy, also named Jia Pingan, whose body had long been frail.

As his thoughts returned, Jia Pingan was simultaneously digesting both his former life and his present situation, while he kept his eyes closed, feeling the fragrant nearness around him.

The person Jia Rongrong called Mother was named Yu Luoli, a woman in her twenties, the second wife of Jia Pingan’s father, Jia Fanghao.

Ordinarily, Jia Pingan addressed her as Aunt Yu.

Just now, Jia Pingan had woken and then fainted again, terrifying his half-sister Jia Rongrong, who had run down from the carriage to fetch her mother. As Yu Luoli drew near, a delicate hand settled precisely on Jia Pingan’s right wrist.

Sensing that she was taking his pulse, Jia Pingan remained expressionless and continued to pretend he was unconscious. The memories he had inherited had neglected to tell him that Aunt Yu knew medicine. Not only that, but his father was even more skilled in the art of healing and had once held the rank of imperial physician. It was precisely because of some wrongdoing that the four members of their family had been exiled together to the northern frontier.

"Hm? Why can I no longer feel the gu?" Yu Luoli gave a soft exclamation after checking Jia Pingan’s pulse.

Her voice was so quiet that even Jia Rongrong beside her did not hear it clearly. But Jia Pingan, being so close and having just had his body transformed, caught every word despite the softness.

"Gu!"

At that word, Jia Pingan could not help thinking to himself: could it really be that kind of gu he had heard of before? But did such things truly exist in this world?

No matter. Even the matter of his soul being reborn had happened; what, then, was impossible?

Jia Pingan, who had long been accustomed to refusing to speak before understanding the whole matter, continued to keep his eyes closed and play the unconscious man. He wanted to see what else this aunt of his intended to do.

"Rongrong, go to your father’s carriage and bring back the medicine chest," Yu Luoli said after that soft murmur.

Eleven-year-old Jia Rongrong obediently answered and trotted away. Once there was no one else inside the carriage, Yu Luoli began searching over Jia Pingan’s body. Before long, a gu worm a little longer than a finger appeared beside the seat.

"Why would it come out for no reason?" Seeing the gu worm emerge, Yu Luoli could not help but relax.

She had originally intended to examine it more carefully, but then she suddenly heard footsteps approaching once more. In her anxiety, without even looking, she quickly fed the gu worm back into the mouth of the still "unconscious" Jia Pingan.

No sooner had she finished than a middle-aged man’s deep, vigorous voice sounded from outside.

"My lady, do you need assistance?"

"Thank you for your concern, Captain Ren. An-ge’er only caught a chill. After taking some medicine, he will be fine," Yu Luoli replied toward the carriage exterior, while one hand once again rested on Jia Pingan’s pulse. Only after she felt the gu worm had entered his body and begun to take effect did her expression return to normal.

Jia Pingan could clearly sense every step of the entire process.

He did not understand why this aunt would have put a gu worm in him.

In the memories he had inherited, this aunt had always been very good to him. Whenever there was anything delicious, she made sure he had it first. Even her own daughter Jia Rongrong could only take what he had left.

Jia Pingan’s former self had long since taken this for granted. The Jia clan had even praised Yu Luoli for it. Yet who would have thought that people’s faces can be known, but not their hearts? This woman was so vicious, planting gu in him.

Then, thinking of how in his previous life he had trusted that old classmate after so many years apart, and how it was precisely his own trust that had led to his downfall, Jia Pingan’s mind sounded an alarm. He could not help but think that one must never trust others too easily, or regret would come too late.

After the gu worm was swallowed, Jia Pingan once again felt his body grow a little heavier, far less light and agile than before. And recalling how his body had always been unwell since Aunt Yu’s appearance in his memories, he finally found the reason.

"Mother, the medicine chest is here." Jia Rongrong ran back and handed over a small medicine chest.

"Good girl, Rongrong." Yu Luoli smiled and praised her daughter, then took out a pill she had clearly prepared long ago. Using the warm water from a waterskin, she helped him swallow it.

Jia Pingan did not struggle, nor did he resist. He was only fifteen now, still a boy, and his body, weakened by years of illness and lacking any exercise, had not much strength at all. If he refused now, he did not know what else might happen next.

So he decided to meet change with stillness.

After the pill was swallowed, Yu Luoli checked Jia Pingan’s pulse once more. Finding nothing amiss, she finally let out a breath of relief. Then she told her daughter to keep a close eye on Brother An, after which she left the carriage and went toward another one.

Like him, his father Jia Fanghao had also fallen ill, and Yu Luoli still needed to care for him.

Once everything returned to normal, the carriage continued onward. Captain Ren and several cavalrymen escorted the convoy, and once again the ears were filled with the creaking of wheels grinding over the ground.

It was a rhythmic sound, and after hearing it for long enough, one inevitably became drowsy. Jia Rongrong, only eleven years old, soon fell asleep to that hypnotic cadence.

Her head tilted gently downward, bobbing little by little, endearingly sweet.