Da Tang Si Zi: My Six Super Rich Little Nuggets!

Chapter 205 Yu Zhanmo's "Four Seasons of Poetic Time and Space"

In the heat of war, as the hourglass turned, Yu Zhanmo heard a metallic clang resounding within him. A blinding light, like the shimmering silk of flying apsaras in Dunhuang murals, enveloped him layer by layer. Before his last vestige of clarity faded, he vaguely saw the Earth element on his destiny chart transform into quicksand, and the Metal element solidify into arrowheads, whistling as they pierced the veil of time.

He honed his sword in the desert, the crisp sound of yellow sand seeping into his armor awakening him.

When Yu Zhanmo opened his eyes, a lone wild goose swept across the cracked sky, its wingtips brushing down wisps of smoke. In the distance, thirty-six watchtowers twisted like wolf fangs in the heatwave, and the neighing of warhorses tore through the stagnant air—the roar of the Shen Metal White Tiger on his destiny chart was mixed in with the sound of that roar.

"General Gao!" The young soldier's forehead was stained with sweat and blood scabs. The bronze armor he brought out revealed Yu Zhanmo's unfamiliar features: his eyebrows were like broken blades, and his eyes held the snow of the Qilian Mountains. Suddenly, the tiger's mouth holding the sword burned with pain. Looking down, he saw a few grains of sand embedded in the lines of his palm—the very "golden evil spirit" that Xiao Si had mentioned.

During his night patrol, he touched the serrated edges on the crenellations of the city wall. The notches carved by the Huns' scimitars were strikingly similar to the cracks in the Earth element of his birth chart. In the dead of autumn, as the crimson sunset stained the border grasses with blood, the poem he spontaneously uttered startled the vultures atop the city walls. Every word struck like a nail, every rhyme sparking on the sand—it turned out that even poetry, imbued with the element of Metal, could be a powerful defensive weapon.

When Liang Song Liuyun opened his eyes again, fate played an even crueler joke on him!

Spiderwebs from the dilapidated temple swayed before his eyes, like crumpled threads of destiny. Yu Zhanmo stared at the drafty thatched eaves and smiled bitterly, the thunder in his stomach harmonizing with the distant roar of the Luo River. He suddenly understood what Xiao Si meant by "heavy earth causes stagnation"—at this moment, he was carrying more than just the Five Yellow Earth Fiends; the entire Taihang Mountains were pressing down on his three souls and seven spirits.

A turning point arrived on a certain apricot-blossom-filled day. When he found half a scroll of the incomplete manuscript of "The Road to Shu is Hard" in a tavern, the ink on the Xuan paper suddenly danced like a dragon. Those wild, cursive characters entangled his wrist bones, dragging him into a night banquet by the Qujiang Pool.

The moment Li Bai poured ink from the wine pot, all the candlelight in the room transformed into golden lotuses. Yu Zhanmo watched as the amber light poured into his ceramic bowl, and floating in the wine were the Hai water and Jia wood of his birth chart—no wonder the poet immortal could cleave three thousand silver rivers on Xuan paper when he was drunk.

That night, sitting opposite Du Fu, the autumn rain wove a cage outside the thatched hut. The half-eaten flatbread that the old poet tremblingly pushed towards him reminded him of the horse meat that soldiers shared when they were stationed on the frontier. The eerie fire dancing in Du Fu's eyes was the unfrozen Gui water in the ugly earth, which understood the bitterness of human life best.

A bond forged by fate, twenty years of friendship tempered in the pages of poetry.

One day, he looked in the mirror and was startled to see that the frost on his temples resembled the moonlight on the frontier years ago. The Wu Earth city wall in his birth chart was already covered with moss, and the Shen Metal tiger tally had rusted into a classic story in his poems. Only the Jia Wood in Hai Water had grown into a towering pine tree—just like the willow grove he had planted on the banks of the Qi River, which had grown into a graceful canopy in the blink of an eye.

On the night before his birthday, he dreamt of Xiao Si at the Tongguan post station. The girl's vermilion brush touched his brow, and the earth element fell in a flurry, revealing the bright peach blossom pattern beneath: "Pudding Yu, have these fifty years of mountains and rivers brewed your Xin metal into wine?"

When he awoke, the ink on the "Song of the Swallow" on his desk was still wet, and swallows were flying past the lingering shadows of beacon towers outside the window. Yu Zhanmo suddenly burst into laughter, startling the divination plate in his palm into ripples—in the reflection in the water, he was still the general in black robes forging swords, the poet in plain clothes and straw sandals, and a young man a thousand years later, divining fate under the moon.

Just when he thought his life would pass by uneventfully, the gears of fate began to turn.

On Zhang Jiugao's recommendation, he took the imperial examination and unexpectedly passed it smoothly, even becoming the magistrate of Fengqiu County. This overjoyed Yu Zhanmo, who thought, "Finally, I can realize my grand ambitions!"

But once he actually entered officialdom, he discovered that the intricacies were far more complex than he had imagined. The various tedious rules and complicated interpersonal relationships were almost overwhelming for this "modern man."

Fortunately, he was familiar with Gao Shi's experiences, and when he could no longer tolerate the various unspoken rules of officialdom, he decisively chose to resign, just like Gao Shi had done back then.

After leaving officialdom, Yu Zhanmo's life fell into a slump.

Fortunately, his talent was eventually discovered by Geshu Han. Geshu Han greatly appreciated him and recruited him into the Hexi Shogunate as his chief secretary. There, Yu Zhanmo finally found a stage to showcase his talents, and his life gradually improved.

The good times didn't last long; the An Lushan Rebellion broke out, plunging the country into chaos. Seeing the nation in turmoil and the people displaced, Yu Zhanmo was extremely anxious. He resolutely stepped forward and volunteered to defend Chang'an.

However, his request was not granted. But he did not give up. After learning that Emperor Xuanzong had fled west, he took a shortcut and followed him all the way. He knew in his heart that this was a critical moment in history, and he had to do his part for the country, just like Gao Shi.

In the days that followed, Yu Zhanmo experienced many challenges and trials.

He opposed Emperor Xuanzong's decision to enfeoff princes, because he knew that this would only make the situation more chaotic; he was appointed by Emperor Suzong as Grand Censor, concurrently the Military Governor of Huainan and the Chief Administrator of Yangzhou, to quell the rebellion of Prince Yong.

Through this series of events, he deeply understood Gao Shi's ups and downs in officialdom and the difficulties of being an upright official. In particular, when he was framed by the powerful eunuch Li Fuguo and demoted to the position of Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince, he was filled with resentment.

But remembering Gao Shi's perseverance, he quickly adjusted his mindset and continued to strive forward.

In literary creation, Yu Zhanmo also fully demonstrated his talent. He combined his observations, thoughts, and feelings in modern times with his experiences of ancient life, incorporating them into his poetry.

When he recalled Gao Shi's frustration at being unable to serve his country after failing his first imperial examination in Chang'an, he felt a deep empathy for him and poured these emotions into his poetry. While traveling in the Yan and Zhao regions, he witnessed many injustices and, filled with righteous indignation, couldn't help but, like Gao Shi, use poetry to expose the darkness of reality.

This wondrous time-travel experience was very rewarding for Yu Zhanmo.

He saw in Gao Shi an indomitable spirit in adversity. Despite poverty and setbacks in his official career, Gao Shi never gave up his pursuit of his ideals.

Gao Shi's loyalty to the country, his care for the people, and his dedication to literary creation deeply moved Yu Zhanmo. He understood that no matter what era one lives in, one must maintain a positive attitude, uphold one's beliefs, and bravely pursue one's life values.

As time and space overlapped, a long song was sung. Suddenly, sparks flew from the sandalwood ash in the bronze incense burner. Yu Zhanmo sprang up from the sofa, the scent of mugwort from Lu Zhaolin's herbal medicine shop still lingering in his palm.

The phone screen lit up with the words "Four Great Poets of the Early Tang Dynasty," but outside the window came shouts with a strong local accent:

"What are you looking at? Your horoscope is a complete mess!!" - Xiao Sizi, a girl from Northeast China, was sitting cross-legged on the air conditioner unit, her red cotton-padded jacket fluttering like a dancing fire in the night wind.

“Your birth chart is afflicted by the Grand Duke Jupiter and also carries the 'piercing hall' evil influence,” she said, chewing on a frozen pear as she climbed through the window, her fingertips smeared with ice as she drew talismans on the coffee table. “The Earth element in the city wall has cracked, and the Metal element of the White Tiger is running wild. How could it not be a time-traveling event?” Suddenly, she used a peach wood hairpin to open his collar, revealing a newly formed cinnabar mole on his collarbone: “The seeds Lu Zhaolin planted on Mount Taibai, are they bearing fruit now?”

The event that extended Chang'an's life occurred when Yu Zhanmo opened his eyes again, his wheelchair rolling over the blue bricks of Taiji Palace. A cold wind carrying the scent of medicine blew in, and he saw Sun Simiao dozing in front of the alchemy furnace twenty paces away, his silver beard stained with cinnabar powder—a glaring red suddenly mixed into the scene that overlapped with his memory.

"Old man Sun, you give acupuncture and then assign homework?" Little Sizi appeared out of nowhere, her ponytail tied with five-emperor coins, and she was rolling moxa wool into the shape of a lucky cat. She turned to Yu Zhanmo and winked: "Your wind disease is caused by the backflow of Hai water rushing into your life gate, you need to use Li fire moxibustion." As she spoke, she lifted his trouser leg, startling the medicine boy so much that he knocked over the copper ewer—his crippled legs were covered with golden thread-like patterns, which were exactly the same as the corrected horoscope.

Spring has returned to the Shu Road, and Little Sizi, pushing her wheelchair, burst into Wang Bo's poetry gathering, stunning all the renowned scholars present. She snatched a wine cup, splashed ink, and began writing in wild cursive script on the tattered scroll of "Ancient Thoughts of Chang'an": "What are green oxen and white horses? Watch our Siberian tiger clear the way!"

Yu Zhanmo suddenly felt a burning sensation in his leg bones, and the golden lines on his chart lit up along with the poem, as if in a trance he saw the Jia wood of his destiny chart sprouting from the earth!

The most bizarre thing was that on the Lantern Festival, Xiao Sizi stole Sun Simiao's alchemy furnace and burned the manuscript of "Five Sorrows" with cinnabar.

As the wisps of smoke rose and transformed into the Big Dipper, Yu Zhanmo was surprised to find himself able to stand, supporting himself on the table—the girl had popped a canned yellow peach into his mouth. "What?! The Hai Water and Jia Wood elements in your destiny have been ripened by this girl; now you're Lu Zhaolin, radiating springtime charm!"

Returning home, on a frosty morning, Yu Zhanmo saw the manifestation of the natal chart atop Zhongnan Mountain. The city wall of Wu Earth was covered with wild chrysanthemums of Xin Metal, the White Tiger of Shen Metal transformed into bronze chimes, and in the southeast corner, the position of Wood and Fire, stood a girl in a red cotton-padded jacket.

"It's time to go back and continue your modern story." Little Sizi suddenly pushed him into the sea of ​​clouds. During the fall, he saw:

On the kang table in Northeast China, a book of Zi Wei Dou Shu (Purple Star Astrology) lay open, its annotations dense and numerous, like stars in the sky; a young girl appeared and disappeared amidst the remnants of a Tang Dynasty scroll, five ancient coins strung at her waist, representing a thousand years of history; golden lines extended from the lines of her own palm, connecting her to the original manuscript of Lu Zhaolin's "Ancient Thoughts of Chang'an."

When Yu Zhanmo opened his eyes in his modern office, there was a copy of "Youyouzi Collection" on his desk, with a piece of dried mugwort tucked between the pages. It was nothing more than a place for worldly affairs.

In the reflection of the floor-to-ceiling window, a vague figure in a red cotton-padded jacket was gesturing: "Remember, when the metal element is cold and the water is frigid, have some barbecue; when the earth element is too strong, do more square dancing!"

He smiled as he opened the new project proposal, the blue light from the electronic screen overlapping with the golden light from the birth chart.

At this moment, he finally understood: those time travels were nothing but pipe dreams, while true cultivation was about using the moonlight of the Tang Dynasty to illuminate every obstacle in the concrete jungle in the present world...

In the second year of Yonglong, Yu Zhanmo moved to Donglongmen Mountain in Luoyang to study Taoism, attempting to improve his health by consuming elixirs.

To buy medicine, he had to swallow his pride and write letters to people everywhere seeking help. The once spirited young man was now struggling to survive, and this huge contrast brought him to a new awakening.

In the first year of the Chuigong era, Yu Zhanmo moved to the foot of Juci Mountain in Yangdi and actually dug his own grave.

Lying beside the grave, he gazed at the sky, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He recalled his experiences after transmigrating, from initial excitement to later despair, and now to acceptance... a journey fraught with uncertainty.

Yu Zhanmo did not choose to end his life like Lu Zhaolin in history. He planned to follow Xiao Si's guidance to find that spirit, that courage to live.

He calmed his mind and poured his insights and love for life into his poetry. His poems were no longer limited to romance and nature, but rather expressed reverence for life and an indomitable spirit in the face of fate.

This wondrous time-travel experience greatly inspired Yu Zhanmo.

As time passed and the light shone once more, Yu Zhanmo transmigrated into the body of Li Qiao.

At this moment, he was in a quiet mountain forest, surrounded by falling autumn leaves.

Looking at the beautiful scenery before him, he appreciated Li Qiao's keen observation of nature and his delicate emotional expression. He strolled through the mountains and forests, feeling the gentle breeze on his face, and thought about Li Qiao's poems and prose, which were full of perfect parallelism and gorgeous diction.

Back at his residence, he picked up his brush and wrote, "It can make the leaves fall in autumn and the flowers bloom in February," as if resonating with the soul of Li Qiao. In this poetic environment, he seemed to be engaging in cultural activities, just as his fortune indicated that he was suited to the cultural industry.

Yu Zhanmo was an honest and simple man, always proper in his speech and actions, and sincere in his dealings with others. One day, he was holding a book on the history of the early Tang Dynasty, dozing off, when suddenly his head felt heavy. When he opened his eyes again, good heavens! He had actually transmigrated into the body of Li Qiao. This shocked him so much that his jaw almost dropped to the ground.

Before he could even catch his breath, he was enveloped by an aura of academic prodigy. It turned out that Li Qiao had been a child prodigy since childhood, easily mastering the Five Classics. Yu Zhanmo was both surprised and a little bewildered. He scratched his head and chuckled to himself, "Hehe, now I'm a child genius too! I can't let Li Qiao down!"