Fu Su felt this night had been quite extraordinary.

First, he and the boss had followed the guidance of the Luoshu Nine Stars compass to arrive at a ghost market in darkness, then been given a bronze Ban Liang coin covered in verdigris, instantly arriving in another world.

Even though the boss had already informed him of Dawn Market’s abnormal circumstances and he was mentally prepared, when he witnessed this bizarre spectacle with his own eyes, he still couldn’t help but be startled.

People from various dynasties wearing all kinds of clothing strolling through a marketplace—it was simply… couldn’t be more jarring to the eyes!

Fu Su was, after all, a Qin Dynasty prince who had seen grand occasions. He merely rubbed his temples and regained his composure. Actually, it wasn’t too bad after looking for a while, though Qin Empire’s deep robes still looked better—like that person who just walked by… eh? Wasn’t that…

Just as Fu Su was about to chase after him, someone grabbed his arm, then he heard the boss whisper in his ear: “Don’t go. He won’t recognize you now.”

Fu Su froze, touching the half of his face covered by overly long bangs. The uneven texture under his fingertips immediately sobered him. Fu Su carefully withdrew his hand, tucking it into his wide sleeves, and smiled self-mockingly. Right, he had already changed bodies—how could the other person possibly recognize him? However, seeing the boss hiding in the shadows under the eaves, Fu Su asked puzzledly: “What? What are you hiding from? Didn’t you open a Mute House branch in Dawn Market? Hasn’t he seen you here? I’ve never seen you two at odds before.”

The boss’s expression showed rare hesitation. Seeing Fu Su’s determination to get an answer, he could only sigh: “I took away his token, which is why he’s been trapped here unable to leave. I can’t explain the reason to him, so if he sees me…” The boss didn’t finish his words, but it certainly wouldn’t be a pleasant meeting.

The subject of their discussion was named Ying, nephew to Qin Shi Huang and Fu Su’s cousin. Because very few historical records mentioned his background, some scholars guessed he was Hu Hai’s older brother, while others speculated he was Fu Su’s son. But given Ying’s age, how could Fu Su possibly have such a grown son? Being Hu Hai’s brother was even more wrong—to secure his own ascension, Hu Hai had killed seventeen brothers including Fu Su. How could he possibly leave a fish that escaped the net? How could he allow Ying to remain in Xianyang and have opportunities to offer counsel before him?

In the Commentary on “Records of Li Si” quoting Xu Guang’s explanation, “One version says ‘Summoned the First Emperor’s nephew Ying, bestowed him the seal'” where “nephew Ying” refers to “Ying, son of Qin Shi Huang’s brother.” Qin Shi Huang’s only brothers were Cheng Jiao and the two sons born to his mother Zhao Ji and Lao Ai, the latter two having been personally beaten to death by Qin Shi Huang. Ying was Cheng Jiao’s son. When Cheng Jiao betrayed Qin and surrendered to Zhao, he didn’t take Ying with him—at that time Ying was still in swaddling clothes and didn’t even have a proper name. According to “Interpretation of Names: Explaining Age Groups”: “A person newly born is called ‘ying.'” The attendants casually named him “Ying,” so his name wasn’t actually “Zi Ying” as later generations believed.

Such a lowly name also implied Ying’s awkward status in Qin—though possessing noble bloodline, he existed like an invisible person. So in official history, aside from his final surrender to Liu Bang and presentation of the imperial seal and military tallies, there was no other mention of him.

Fu Su had read the histories and naturally knew Ying had succeeded Hu Hai’s position, staying on the throne for only forty-six days, and that afterward Ying was killed by Xiang Yu. The boss’s refusal to give Ying a token to leave Dawn Market was naturally because he couldn’t bear for him to face such cruel reality.

“Though we can’t meet or explain, at least he’s… still alive now…” The boss’s expression was hidden in darkness, making it impossible to see clearly, but his words carried melancholy.

Fu Su touched his own hand hidden in his sleeve, bowed his head in silence for a long while, then raised it again and casually changed the subject with a smile: “Where are we going? Standing here is too conspicuous. If Ying comes back later, I won’t help you deal with him.”

“…This way.” The boss was speechless for a moment before emerging from the shadows to lead Fu Su toward the other end of the marketplace.

Though Ying’s figure was only a fleeting glimpse, Fu Su’s emotions remained unsettled. He had thought he could face the fact that the Qin Dynasty had been destroyed over two thousand years ago, but in reality, he still harbored unwillingness. In that instant of passing by Ying, memories of the past poured forth in his mind like floodwater through opened gates.

Dawn Market… how could such a miraculous place exist? Allowing people from many historical planes to gather here, like what should be an unbendable straight line where several points somehow intersected.

The boss said nothing more along the way, somehow producing a hat to wear, pulling the brim low to carefully hide most of his face. Fu Su watched him for a while, then helplessly smiled and shook his head.

Perhaps it wasn’t just Ying he couldn’t meet—maybe the boss had offended many people in Dawn Market, which was why the Mute House here couldn’t operate?

With this thought, Fu Su’s gloomy mood miraculously improved as he followed the boss into a shop. Since Dawn Market was shrouded in darkness, Fu Su hadn’t clearly seen the name on this shop’s plaque. Only after entering, by the soft light of several night-shining pearls placed inside, did he discover the shelves were filled with various books and classics—this should be a bookstore.

Precisely because of this, the shop didn’t light candles like other shops and stalls, fearing that water and fire might mercilessly destroy these books.

There were some people inside the shop moving about in shadows. People constantly came in to exchange books in their hands for new ones to read, or simply traded other items for books. Some couldn’t even wait and sat directly on the floor, reading by the weak light of the night-shining pearls.

The boss didn’t linger in the main hall but led Fu Su directly to the inner rooms. The shop’s manager didn’t stop them, didn’t even lift an eyelid, and those absorbed in reading paid no attention either. Walking along the corridor inside, Fu Su saw room after room filled with books, with more people inside than outside. These rooms were numbered with heavenly stems and earthly branches at their entrances, and the books inside were presumably categorized and arranged accordingly. The entire shop was permeated with a heavy musty smell, but mixed with the fragrance of books and ink, it unexpectedly calmed one’s mood. Even footsteps became lighter, with only the rustling sounds of turning pages audible.

Fu Su was also a book lover. When he was still a Qin prince, he never let books leave his hands, keeping the attendants who carried bamboo scrolls so busy their feet barely touched the ground. After his modern rebirth, he initially couldn’t adapt to simplified Chinese characters and the left-to-right horizontal reading order. He had specifically asked Hu Hai to buy many Taiwan editions to read. Now seeing so many ancient books, he couldn’t help but be distracted.

Hearing the boss’s knowing chuckle, Fu Su frowned slightly. He somewhat suspected the boss had brought him here deliberately—if he left him here to read books, wouldn’t he be unaware of whatever the boss went to do? So Fu Su said nothing and focused on following behind the boss.

They walked all the way to the corridor’s end. That room wasn’t closed, and the boss was completely unceremonious in not knocking, instead pushing open the decaying door and walking straight in.

This was a very large room, filled with bookshelves like a library, with countless night-shining pearls hanging from the rafters, illuminating every corner of the room. Fu Su intended to follow the boss further inside, but perhaps because the lighting was much brighter than outside, his gaze casually swept across the bookshelves and he stopped in shock.

Hua Tuo’s burned “Green Bag Book” was one thing! The complete “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon” was another! There was even the long-lost “Yellow Emperor’s Outer Canon”! Considering that the eighteen-volume “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon” alone was already revered as the ancestor of medicine, that “Yellow Emperor’s Outer Canon”… Fu Su held his breath and carefully counted the classics on the shelf—exactly the legendary thirty-seven lost volumes! Every single volume was here!

Fu Su had loved medicine since childhood. Even then, he had only collected sixteen volumes of the “Yellow Emperor’s Outer Canon,” never imagining he would see the complete collection here today! After taking several deep breaths, Fu Su resumed walking forward, though his gaze seemed glued to the bookshelves.

“Bian Que’s Inner Canon,” “Bian Que’s Outer Canon,” “Bai’s Inner Canon,” “Bai’s Outer Canon,” “Side Chapters”… The “Seven Canons” recorded in the “Book of Han” as coexisting with the “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon” were all here, volume by volume!

After a moment of stunned silence, Fu Su steadied his emotions and didn’t reach out to flip through them. Voices came from deeper in the shelves—it sounded like the boss conversing with a stranger. Fu Su forced himself to look away and continued forward.

However, the further he went, the more startled he became. After the medical books came many military treatises. “The Art of War,” “Wu Zi,” “Methods of Sima,” “Six Secret Teachings,” “Wei Liao Zi,” “Three Strategies”… Looking at these familiar titles, Fu Su’s steps grew slower and slower. After the military books came various lost ancient texts, some of which Fu Su had read and even memorized in his time, but he also knew these ancient books had vanished in warfare or time throughout long history, leaving only fragments or merely their titles.

His heartbeat grew more intense. When he saw the title “Returning to Hide,” he finally stopped again.

“The Rites of Zhou: Spring Officials” states: “The Grand Diviner masters the methods of the three Changes: first called Connecting Mountains, second called Returning to Hide, third called Zhou Changes. Their trigrams are all eight, their variations all sixty-four.” The Xia Dynasty’s “Connecting Mountains,” Shang Dynasty’s “Returning to Hide,” and Zhou Dynasty’s “Zhou Changes” were collectively called the Three Changes—three different divination methods. “Zhou Changes” still existed in the world, but “Connecting Mountains” and “Returning to Hide” had both been lost.

Fu Su recalled reports he had seen that although modern excavations had unearthed bamboo slips of “Returning to Hide,” much of the text was damaged, having been buried in earth for over two thousand years.

Sure enough, beside “Returning to Hide,” Fu Su also found “Connecting Mountains.” Though he had little interest in divination and fortune-telling arts, Fu Su felt solemn respect for whoever owned this library. These ancient books were all clean, elegant classics, all transcribed in the same handwriting. If the contents were truly accurate, it meant the transcriber had truly read all the books in the world.

Continuing forward several more steps, there were some books from the two-thousand-year period Fu Su had missed, which didn’t interest him much. But when he saw “Nine Hills,” he couldn’t help stopping again, this time abandoning his previous restraint. After confirming his hands were clean, he directly reached out to take the book and flip through it.

This was “Nine Hills”! The legendary most ancient book!

Books from Emperor Yu’s time were called “hills.” The records of nine provinces were called “Nine Hills.” Hill meant gathering—it said that what the nine provinces possessed, what the land produced, what climates suited, were all gathered in this book. The Hill of Tang Yao, the Hill of You Shu’s Attainment, the Hill of Meng Ying, the Hill of Black and White, the Hill of Red Gaze, the Hill of Shen Wei, the Hill of Martial Men, the Hill of Divine People…