Rising from Humble Origins

The drizzling rain showed no sign of stopping, casting a perpetual haze over the world. Though twilight had yet to arrive, the streets were already deserted. A boy of fourteen or fifteen walked slowly along the wet stone road, a paper umbrella sheltering him from the rain.

On either side of the street stood red brick houses with green-tiled roofs and distant eaves that soared like wings. Willow branches along the riverbank brushed gently in the wind, while a few swallows, delayed in their return to their nests, skimmed low between the branches. It was like a painted verse—rain falling softly into the dust, revealing the world’s true face before Xu You’s eyes.

Teahouses, taverns, inns, butcher shops, the county office…

It had been twenty-seven days since he arrived here, and this was his first time venturing out. Though he knew he had, for some unfathomable reason, crossed time and space to inhabit this era and this frail body, only now, breathing in an air so clean and fresh—unlike anything he had ever known—did he feel, from the depths of his soul, a sense of helplessness and confusion.

“Young master, Young Master Wei!” a woman’s anxious voice called from behind. The boy paid no mind, moving to the river’s edge and gently grasping a swaying willow branch.

The touch was icy, the chill seeping into his bones. It was already late autumn.

A pain seized his chest and abdomen. He bent forward, coughing violently.

“Young master, are you all right? Are you hurt?” A slender, fair hand reached out from behind to steady him. The faint trem