Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“What about you? What’s your name?”

He was still young, and clearly thrilled to have run into something like this. In no time at all, he had poured out his entire background to me.

From what he wrote, I learned that his name was Gu Shi’an, and that he was sixteen this year.

According to him, his family was in the medicinal herb business. He had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had a younger sister. Given those circumstances, and the fact that he could still afford to attend school in that era, his family had to be quite wealthy.

“Are you really someone from a hundred years in the future? Then what is the world like a hundred years from now?” Gu Shi’an asked curiously.

I thought for a moment, then described it to him. “China a hundred years from now has no flames of war. The country is prosperous and the people live in peace. Children can all afford to go to school…”

I wrote to him about people’s lives a century later and introduced him to televisions, refrigerators, airplanes, and high-speed trains. Gu Shi’an couldn’t picture them, so I drew simple sketches for him in the notebook.

Every time I introduced something new, several excited exclamation marks would appear beside it. Though I couldn’t see his expression, I could imagine how thrilled he must have been.

“How wonderful!” Gu Shi’an wrote back. “So that is what the world will look like a hundred years from now. I truly wonder if I can live long enough to see it with my own eyes!”

The tip of my pen paused.

His side was currently in the age of warlord conflicts. In a few years, invasion would come, and China would be left devastated.

I wanted to tell him all of that, but no matter how I tried, I couldn’t make myself write a single word.

Gu Shi’an continued writing from his side. “A few days ago, I said I didn’t want to go to school. When my father heard, he immediately enforced the family rules on me.”

“Why do you hate school?”

“The things the teacher lectures about are far too dull, and he assigns so much homework. If I can’t finish it, he drags me up to the platform and hits my palms with a ruler…” Gu Shi’an launched into a long complaint.

Gu Shi’an was right in the middle of his rebellious phase. He liked skipping class, going off with his fair-weather friends to play cards, listen to opera, and watch movies. He did absolutely nothing proper.

It seemed he didn’t have many friends he could truly confide in, so he told me everything.

“Shen Qingqing, I once told a friend of mine that I could talk to you. He said I must have gone mad from reading too many illustrated storybooks full of Liaozhai-style strange tales. Hmph. What does he know?”

“Someone invited me to play cards, but I refused. They were treating me like an easy mark. They always used to set up games just to cheat me out of my money!”

“Today I skipped class and rushed over to Tianqiao to watch a newly arrived acrobat troupe perform. They could swallow knives and breathe fire. It was truly spectacular.”

…

My work and life had always been routine and orderly.

But ever since I got this diary, I found myself carrying a little extra anticipation every day. I looked forward to coming home after work and seeing new handwriting from Gu Shi’an in the notebook, reading his rambling reports and descriptions of life on his side.

His descriptions of funny little everyday incidents often made me laugh despite myself. Yet deep down, I couldn’t help feeling a faint worry. When the situation changed suddenly in the future, how long would his family be able to protect this innocent life of his?