Yuan Ye didn't understand the burden that sesame oil imposed on farming families, and after Yayoi left, he continued burning the midnight oil, seeming quite extravagant.
Firstly, it was only eight in the evening, and even though he was exhausted from climbing mountains all day, he couldn't fall asleep; secondly, he was under immense psychological pressure given the current situation, making it impossible to sleep.
Suddenly transported to the Japan Warring States Period, where should he go from here?
What should he do?
The current time was probably around the year 1550 or 1551, when Huaxia was under the rule of the Great Ming, but which emperor was reigning? Was his historical mission in this time travel to fight the Manchu and save Huaxia civilization?
With his excellent high school history knowledge, Yuan Ye counted on his fingers for a long time, estimating that it seemed to be the diligent Emperor Jiajing on the throne at this time. Then... Emperor Jiajing reigned for about forty years, after which came Emperor Longqing, who reigned for about six to seven years, then Emperor Wanli, who reigned for nearly fifty years; after Emperor Wanli was Emperor Chongzhen, who also seemed to have ruled for about ten years...
Counting to this point, it became impossible to continue; there were still nearly a hundred years and four to five generations before the Manchu entered. If he had Peng Zu's lifespan, maybe he would endure until then—Peng Zu lived to eight hundred, but he used the minor sixty-year cycle method of counting a year for every sixty days, so he lived to about one hundred thirty or forty; maybe he could endure?
But even if he endured to that age, being over a hundred years old to support Great Ming against the Manchu... that would be too absurd!
Then should he return, raising the red flag high?
During the mid-Ming Dynasty, it seemed that the common people were living alright, barely able to fill their stomachs. Later, there were Zhang Juzheng's reforms, which eased class tensions, and given the current level of productivity, there was no working class. Solely relying on farmers in a subsistence state and old intellectuals, could they really raise the red flag high?
The timing didn't seem right, lacking foundation, with a high probability of failure, and he would more likely be beheaded as a demon.
Then should he go back to Ming Dynasty to become a wealthy landowner, amassing a fortune, and then propagate scientific theories to kickstart an industrial revolution? There would be risks, as nothing is accomplished without breaking something. A feudal dynasty might find it hard to adapt to the progress of scientific and cultural technology, certainly facing both open and hidden attacks. It might not be a smooth sail like in time-travel novels.
If he were to die, maybe those scientific theories would instead benefit European countries, putting China's future in a worse situation, but it seemed there was no other path to take. If he cautiously weighed all options and had to go this route...
How to return to Great Ming? Even in a straight line, it was over two thousand kilometers...
Right now, buying a plane ticket and flying back to China in three and a half hours was impossible.
Yuan Ye stayed there pondering for a while, the more he thought about it, the harder it seemed.
Given the transportation and living conditions of this era, traveling alone, even with anti-inflammatory medicine, illnesses weren't too worrying, but continuous jolting and unacclimatized water and soil could still claim his life. Moreover, the Muromachi Shogunate had basically lost the ability to control the entire country. Many farmers on land were half-peasant, half-bandits, and at sea, even worse, with pirates and water thieves everywhere; he might not even make it to Southern Kyushu without being killed by bandits or pirates.
Even if luck allowed him to run all the way to Southern Kyushu without incident, it seemed to still be during the "Kanghe Trade" period. Getting onto the tribute ships to Great Ming was another issue. This was a booming, guaranteed-to-profit venture, with bloodshed for spots every year. Could an unrooted foreigner like him get on an official ship?
Perhaps by now, Sino-Japanese trade had already been severed, and there were no legal ways to get to Great Ming at all...
Then, to rely on smuggling boats? Zhu Yuanzhang's Yellow Register and the Household Defense Law likely weren't just for show, and the difference between Mandarin and Ming Dynasty Chinese might be significant. If communication problems arose, he could be beheaded as a Wokou pirate...
He couldn't have the illusion that the "Overseas Alien" notion popular in starting novels could work. Without household registrations, trying to infiltrate coastal areas would certainly lead to being reported, and anyone harboring this "overseas alien" would face severe consequences, ranging from family ruination to being convicted of colluding with pirates, resulting in confiscation of all property and enslavement.
Moreover, he had no money to buy a ticket, and smuggling boats or pirate ships likely wouldn't accept card payments. Even if he could pay, personal safety wasn't guaranteed in the slightest. Anyone with any common sense would never risk boarding such a ship—what kind of decent behavior could pirates exhibit? It'd be his ruin, worse than death!
Traveling alone was already tough enough, but bringing along a clueless, conspicuously chubby and pretty, completely defenseless silly son would make it ten times harder.
No matter how he thought about it, this was hell difficulty!
Yuan Ye went over and over the plan, realizing he seemed to be trapped in Japan, and he was still a pauper. Apart from a foolish son, he had no gold, no silver, not even a single copper coin.
The reality was disheartening.
However, his childhood was fraught with challenges, and he had a very tenacious character, so it wasn't long before he forcibly extinguished the negative emotions like fear and dejection.
In the sixty-four hexagrams of the Zhou Yi, the Qian hexagram was the first, with its opening sentence as "As heaven maintaineth its vigor through movements, a gentleman should constantly strive for self-improvement."
Would fear prevent being beaten? Would being dejected improve circumstances?
Never!
In life, fear, weakness, and dejection are of no use; only by facing difficulties and constantly striving can one find a way to live.
No matter how hard it is, living well is essential, as living brings hope; who knows, maybe one day the mountain mist will rise again, and he could carry his foolish son back to the present.
Determining based on the current conditions, taking the foolish son directly back to the Great Ming is unrealistic, with a possibility of being wiped out on the way reaching as high as 99%. Arano immediately began checking the resources at hand, changing the primary goal to survival, ensuring they could live safely first before considering anything else.
He opened the backpack and started taking things out.
A set of quick-drying clothes, a bottle of sports drink, a bottle of pure water, a pack of compressed biscuits, two chocolate bars, a bottle of dental care gum, two large-capacity power banks, a pack of garbage bags, a small coil of survival rope, a small flashlight, a box of carbon fishing line, a high-voltage electric stick, a signal gun, and a first-aid kit.
The first-aid kit contained a small pack of band-aids, a can of Yunnan Baiyao spray, a pack of quick hemostatic powder, a roll of disinfectant bandages, a can of insect repellent spray, a small pack of sunburn masks, a small bottle of loratadine, a dose of adrenaline, one blister pack each of painkillers, anti-inflammatory antibiotics, and fever-reducing medicine, a pack of cooling patches, and a pack of alcohol wipes.
In addition, he and the foolish son also carried two smartphones each, two leather wallets (each containing some banknotes, Suica cards, credit cards, and several membership cards), and half a pack of wet wipes.
These items were more than sufficient for short-term hiking, but somewhat inadequate for surviving in turbulent times.
After inventorying the items, Arano pondered for a while, estimating their usefulness, and realized that there were not many useful or valuable items, and even fewer that could be traded for money, only slightly easing the immediate crisis...
Of course, slightly easing the immediate crisis was enough. There was no need to worry too much about money. It's impossible not to make money with knowledge beyond this era. The main issue at hand was how to secure stability and survival for the two of them in this chaotic world.
Personal safety was the foremost priority.
His gaze passed over the medicines in the first-aid kit, feeling that being a doctor would be great, as usually, no one wants to harm a doctor.
On the contrary, most people like to be friends with doctors, just as stated in Japan's "Ancient Chronicles": In life, one needs three kinds of friends, namely, the Wise Man, the Noble, and the Doctor.
Wearing this halo, the mortality rate in chaotic times would at least decrease by 80%.
It's just that there were too few medicines, and even with saving measures, they would treat about seven or eight people.
Should he specifically treat dying noble Samurai?
Wandering around with the foolish son in a chaotic world to find them?
Arano's mind was churning with thoughts, making various assumptions only to negate them one by one when suddenly he remembered something, quickly grabbing his phone to turn it on—having realized that it was very likely he had time-traveled, he had turned his phone off, now it still had a little over 70% of battery left.
Of course, the phone still had no signal, and small programs like bus apps were certainly useless, and even maps were barely reliable—after nearly 500 years, who knows how many times the rivers had changed course, and hills were likely leveled down, greatly diminishing their reference value. He then remembered a book in the reader.
His eyes quickly passed over books like "My Girlfriend is a Villainess" and "Absolute Number One," which offered no help for the current situation—though those characters traveled to Japan, it was at least a modern society, where one wouldn't starve even working in construction; those were ordinary, very basic time-travel instances, unlike his own severe case—lacking food and safety, followed by a foolish son, with potential group annihilation looming at any moment.
Finally, his gaze fell on the "Barefoot Doctor's Manual," the life-saving book he needed.
He used to frequently ask for books in a book club group. Once, members were discussing the "three great books for time travel," and a kind-hearted person had uploaded the e-book for everyone's enjoyment. Out of curiosity, he downloaded it to have a look.
The "Civilian Military Training Manual" and "Friends of Dual-Use Military and Civilian Talent" were of no use to him. He never expected he would truly time-travel one day. Surprisingly, because he liked hiking, the section on herbal medicine in the "Barefoot Doctor's Manual" caught his interest, so it stayed in his reader.
Now, this book truly became a lifesaver, in every sense of the word.
This divine book wasn't like traditional Western medical training that starts with anatomy, pathology, and pharmacology. Instead, it focused on practical problems, simplifying complex concepts, using the simplest language and most feasible methods to popularize disease diagnosis and treatment. It covered everything from observation, interrogation, and diagnosis to acupuncture techniques, from the collection and preparation of herbs to Western surgical procedures, achieving "as long as you can read, you can be a barefoot doctor, capable of quickly diagnosing and treating 99% of common diseases."
This was a godsend for millions; now Arano had to rely on it for survival as well.
Endless gratitude to the predecessors!
Once clear, Arano switched off the phone again. The phone plus the two large-capacity power banks only supported the phone in power-saving mode for seven to ten days, so saving electricity was paramount, and he needed to quickly transcribe the book.
Of course, this was the crystallization of the predecessors' hard work, involving secret prescriptions contributed by almost a hundred traditional Chinese medicine experts, and must not be leaked in Middle Ages Japan; confidentiality was crucial.
Noting the sounds in pinyin, as long as the foolish son didn't wake up, no one in the world but him could understand it, and even if he died by accident, there was no need to worry.
Having a clear understanding and somewhat drawing up a plan, Arano's fatigue gradually rose, covering Meng Ziqi with his jacket, while he covered himself with the quick-drying clothes, curling up and slowly falling asleep.
Hope the foolish son wakes up naturally tomorrow!
Hope tomorrow the mountain fog rises again, and they can return to the modern age!