Chapter 1

The moment he finished speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang leapt to his feet and, before the eyes of all his ministers, seized Su Qiao's arm: "Our Great Ming is saved!"

1, Chongzhen: Grandpa, our Great Ming is done for!

Summer of the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, Jianshen Hall, Nanjing of the Great Ming.

Inside the spacious hall, desks were arranged throughout the chamber.

Today was a major event for Great Ming scholars—the seventh imperial examination's palace test.

Unlike other exams, all candidates in the hall greeted each other with smiles, speaking respectfully and humbly, showing no sign of viewing one another as rivals.

The reason was not only that the Son of Heaven would soon arrive at the examination hall, but also because every person present had already secured their jinshi status; the palace test merely ranked them, so the earlier tension had vanished.

In stark contrast to the newly minted jinshi was a candidate with hollow eyes, now gaping in shock at the scene before him.

Looking around, Su Qiao finally accepted this absurd reality.

He had been reincarnated!

And he'd started as a jinshi.

Though he knew Ming history inside and out, precisely because he knew it so well, he understood what a load of bullshit this so-called golden age was.

It was all nonsense.

Over five thousand years, the only true golden age was the future.

In all other years, if the common people barely avoided starving to death, that was already a great golden age.

Who in their right mind would choose to stay in ancient times when they could be a shut-in in the future?

He wanted to go home.

He wanted to see his parents.

He wanted to see miniskirts, short dresses, JK uniforms, black stockings, white stockings, long legs…

Just as Su Qiao's Dao heart was about to shatter—

A strange alert tone suddenly echoed in his mind.

【Hello, I am a liaison officer from the Future Temporal Administration.】

【Due to temporal disturbances, certain timelines have become chaotic, causing you to be transported to the Great Ming era.】

【You may now choose to remain in the Great Ming—or be executed by the Son of Heaven, Zhu Yuanzhang, to be pulled back to the 21st century by temporal gravity.】

As it spoke, the voice began to distort, but Su Qiao could still barely make out the words.

【As… a… token… of… apology… ten billion green coins have… been deposited into your bank account in the 21st century.】

【Ding—】

Before Su Qiao could recover, the voice ceased entirely, offering no further response.

What the fuck!

I'm stuck in the Great Ming—why the hell are you depositing money into my bank account?!

If I stay here, are you just going to keep that money and pretend it never happened?!

But Su Qiao quickly calmed down.

He looked around at where he was.

Getting executed by Old Zhu didn't seem so hard.

It wasn't even that difficult!

Thinking this, Su Qiao immediately perked up again.

Later, I'll curse Old Zhu a couple of times.

Won't that just send me straight back to the 21st century and launch me to the top of life?

This money's coming way too easily!

Ten billion green coins—how much tea could I drink?!

With this thought, Su Qiao began to look forward to the upcoming palace test.

To Su Qiao's surprise, noon had passed.

The palace test, which should have started long ago, had still not begun.

Not only Su Qiao, but even the newly minted jinshi around him grew increasingly anxious.

Some even whispered to a nearby Eunuch:

"Eunuch, has something happened?"

The young Eunuch glared and immediately snapped:

"How dare you!"

"The palace test is presided over by the Son of Heaven! If the Son of Heaven has not arrived, how dare you speculate about the imperial will? Just wait patiently!"

Holy shit.

Asking one question counts as speculating on the imperial will?!

These newly minted jinshi, soon to enter officialdom, would never risk their futures over such a trivial matter.

Instantly, the hall fell utterly silent.

Everyone sat quietly at their desks, awaiting news from the inner court.

Meanwhile,

Behind Jianshen Hall, the elderly Zhu Yuanzhang frowned at the empty air before him.

Just after his afternoon nap yesterday, Zhu Yuanzhang had awakened to a chat group.

From yesterday until now, Zhu Yuanzhang had been studying how to use this chat group.

Having risen from a commoner to emperor, his ability to master new things was far beyond ordinary men.

It took him a full day and night to finally understand how the chat group worked.

However, this chat group was indeed simple.

It was merely a chat group capable only of sending messages and water images.

Just as Old Zhu, feeling somewhat weary, prepared to supervise the Palace Examination.

The first group member finally arrived in Old Zhu's chat group.

What truly shocked Old Zhu was this group member's alias!

— Emperor Sizong Lie, Chongzhen!

Just like Old Zhu, Chongzhen had awakened the chat group yesterday, and only now had he roughly figured out how to use it.

Looking at the chat group before him.

Zhu Yuanzhang's throat trembled slightly.

After swallowing hard, he hurriedly sent a message.

Taizu Gao Emperor Hongwu:

"You, are you our Great Ming's later ruler?"

On the other end, after receiving the message, there was obviously a long silence.

However, he finally sent a message to Old Zhu.

Emperor Sizong Lie:

"Great-Grandfather, it's over, it's all over, our Great Ming is about to perish, and why does my alias in here look so much like a posthumous title and temple name!"