Gao Yiye said: “This guy won’t say the emperor’s name. Great deity is really angry. Everyone, grab your chaotic equipment and beat him up badly.”

Gao Chuwu was the first to pick up a big wooden stick. Several other youths also tightened the sticks in their hands. The villagers each began to search for weapons.

Under the setting sun, a huge crowd of villagers raised all kinds of chaotic equipment: clay pots, hoes, table legs, shoulder poles…

Seeing this scene, Thirty-Two’s face darkened. Before the villagers could strike, he immediately screamed: “Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youxiao, the current emperor is called Zhu Youxiao.”

He could no longer care about the taboo of not uttering the emperor’s name. As the saying went, in this remote place, imperial power didn’t reach the countryside. So his priority was to save his own life, regardless of breaking taboos. He even forgot to summarize every sentence the way he usually did.

“Hmph, it really is Zhu Youxiao.” Li Daoxuan’s face darkened. “Yiye, ask him about the state of the realm.”

Gao Yiye quickly turned to ask.

Terrified by the variety of weapons around him, and unsure what she meant by “state of the realm,” Thirty-Two recited an official document he had just seen at the county office: “On the eleventh day of the fifth month, Jurchen troops surrounded Jinzhou. The court dispatched soldiers to rescue Jinzhou. On the twenty-eighth day, the Jurchens divided their forces and attacked Dingyuan City again. Commander Yuan Chonghuan, along with eunuch Liu Yingkun and deputy Bi Zisu, led the troops to defend the walls. They set up camps in the ditches and used artillery to repel…”

Reciting to that point, he saw the villagers around him looked confused and clearly didn’t understand. He felt a bit uneasy. But since their weapons weren’t lowered, Thirty-Two knew he was on the right track and continued: “Man Gui led You Shilu and Zu Dasha with soldiers to come to the rescue. A big battle occurred outside the city, causing casualties on both sides. Man Gui suffered multiple arrow wounds. The Jurchen army soon withdrew, increased forces to attack Jinzhou, but failed to capture it either. Due to the severe heat, they returned with their troops…”

He paused at that point!

He couldn’t remember the rest. Sweat poured down. He thought: Damn, I can’t recite more. I don’t know if they’re satisfied. Will they beat me to death? This situation was incredibly critical.

In reality, he had recited enough.

Hearing this, Li Daoxuan was certain that inside the scenic box wasn’t some Tiny Kingdom from another world, but—Great Ming.

And it was the late Ming Dynasty, the most difficult period.

No wonder Gaojia Village was desolate, and the villagers couldn’t get enough to eat. Wasn’t this exactly the life of ordinary people in the late Ming Dynasty? Seeing it only in history books wasn’t vivid; witnessing it in the scenic box made him empathize deeply.

Now Li Daoxuan understood everything: “Fine, don’t trouble him anymore. I’ve asked all I wanted. Seeing he was captured and is tired and hungry, give him some food to eat.”

After saying that, he had no mood to bother with the scenic box anymore. He quickly opened his computer, opened the browser, opened Baidu, searched for information on the late Ming Dynasty… plunged into it, and roamed in the sea of history.

His last words were relayed by Gao Yiye. The villagers immediately put down their weapons, kowtowed to the sky, scattered, and returned to their homes.

Thirty-Two sighed in relief. He thought: I’ve saved my life. These villagers are strange—they all obey this girl, who acts like a divine being with a typical scammer look of “I talk for the gods.” Could it be a cult organization like the White Lotus Society? Facing danger in cult hands, I must go along to stay alive and get home. This is known as compromising to survive.

He also pretended, imitating the villagers, and kowtowed once to the sky. He didn’t know which god he was kowtowing to, but it was right to do so. To save his life, it wasn’t shameful.

Gao Yiye said to him: “Follow me. I’ll get you something to eat.”

Thirty-Two agreed and hurried after her. As he walked, he whispered: “Miss, I see everyone in your village worships deities… which immortal are you worshipping? This is called getting to the root.”

Gao Yiye: “I don’t know.”

Thirty-Two: “!”

It was the first time he heard people not know who they worshipped. Were these villagers overly stupid?

Gao Yiye: “Great deity is Great deity. He hasn’t said his name, and we dare not ask. We only know he has vast magical powers, is gentle and kind, and cares for us all in Gaojia Village. We survive only because of him.”

Thirty-Two sneered inwardly: Myths made up by a divine being—only foolish, stupid people would believe them. I, Thirty-Two, have read the scholars’ books, so I won’t be tricked easily. This is called being clear-minded and strong-willed.

Just as he thought that, they arrived at Gao Yiye’s home. She creaked open the shabby wooden door: “Sit for a moment. I’ll go to the kitchen and get you some food.”

Thirty-Two glanced inside Gao Yiye’s house and froze in shock. In the corner of the room was piled a huge mound of “big” white rice grains—each one truly massive, like a millstone in size. Against the wall leaned a piece of cabbage leaf—not a whole leaf—judging by the veins it was just a small slice, but as big as the entire wall.

Gao Yiye casually picked up a few broken rice grains and tore off a piece from the enormous cabbage leaf. She put them in a bamboo basket and walked into the kitchen. It seemed she planned to cook him a meal with those things.

Thirty-Two’s jaw dropped open in shock. It stayed gaping for a long time.

What was wrong with this rice? With this cabbage leaf? And what was wrong with this village?

Oh my god!

Thirty-Two was a typical ancient intellectual.

Though he knew far more than an illiterate and wasn’t easily fooled by divine beings, he still couldn’t shed all his “superstitions.” That is, he didn’t believe White Lotus nonsense like “Venerable Mother, Void Homeland,” but he wasn’t an atheist.

He did believe gods existed in the world.

After standing rigid for dozens of seconds, he darted to the kitchen door and yelled at Gao Yiye cooking inside: “Which great immortal bestowed you these foods?”

Gao Yiye: “Told you, I don’t know.”

Thirty-Two said: “You haven’t even gotten that clear? For shame, you’re supposedly a divine envoy. You’ve made the villagers kowtow without knowing to whom. When building a temple for the deity later, they won’t know what to enshrine. It’s downright muddle-headed.”

Gao Yiye: “Ah? You’re right! Educated people really think more thoroughly.”

She tilted her head back and shouted at the sky: “Great deity, Great deity, how should we address your honorable title?”

The sky remained quiet. No one answered her.

Li Daoxuan was now reading history books. The shameful history of the late Ming saddened him deeply. The faint sound of the girl figure in the box was impossible for him to hear.

Gao Yiye spread her hands at Thirty-Two: “Great deity doesn’t want to say.”

Thirty-Two: “Eh?”