1972, spring and summer, Harbor City.
At twilight, the sun is sinking in the west, on both sides of the street, the traffic is like weaving, there are well-dressed modern men and women talking and laughing, there are also squatting on the side of the road side of the ragged poor people waiting to sell labor, like this prosperous metropolis, one side of the decay, the other side of the bloom.
With a creak, a rickshaw came to a stop at the side of the road.
The car down is a teenager, seventeen or eighteen years old appearance, because the body is too thin, the body of the wrinkled white shirt, will appear empty. His thin body, is a pale as paper face, even the lips can not see a trace of blood color, the whole person through a weak sick face.
Because of this sick face, at first glance Xing may not realize, but if a little square eyes, will find that this is actually a very handsome young man. The face is a long face, a pair of thick black deep eyebrows, straight nose, lips - even the pale lips have a good-looking curvature.
Unfortunately, it looked so frail, even staggering as if he were about to fall when he got out of the car, that it was hard to appreciate how handsome he was born.
At least the rickshaw driver didn't have the heart for it.
Seeing that he really looked like he was about to return to the west at any moment, the driver originally wanted to ask with concern, but was afraid of getting into trouble - after all, what the poor people feared most was trouble. So after accepting the money he handed over, he thanked him and hurriedly pulled the car and ran away.
Qiaowen felt that now he really does not look like a serious living person, after all, just "back from the dead".
The weakness is also really bad, but it's always good to be alive.
He slowly walked to the sidewalk, turned to look across the street, there is a teahouse, hanging in the air on the hot gold signboard, written "Hibiscus Tea Room" four big words.
If there are no accidents, tonight in this teahouse, a nineteen year old young man will stab a rich merchant in the city to death, and from then on change his own fate and that of the rich merchant's young son.
And the reason why Qiaowen knew in advance about this bloodshed that was about to happen tonight was not because he had precognitive ability, but because he was in a novel world at the moment.
The young man who is about to kill is the villain of the novel, and the son of the rich merchant is the hero.
As for Jovian himself, or the original owner of the body he's in today, he's the arch-villain's best friend from childhood, a tiny cannon fodder who originally died of an illness today.
The character is so insignificant in the book that he doesn't even make a positive appearance because he dies so early, and only ever exists in the villain's memories.
Yes, Jovian is a book wearer.
Crossing over from the year 2020 to this novel set in a 1970s harbor city, he becomes a minor supporting character in the book with the same name as him.
*
Go back in time a day, early fall of 2020, in a desert in the west.
The desert night was already very slightly cooler in the July fire, and the campground was already asleep, so that deep breathing could be faintly heard from the nearby tents.
Qiao Wen was guarding the campfire, and had just saved the fire when he heard someone rustle up next to him and come up to him and whisper, "Brother Wen, do you smoke?"
Qiao Wen turned his head and saw that it was the young boy wearing glasses in the camping team. He and this hiking camping team, only met during the day, do not know what the boy's name, only to hear him call himself a geek, this time out because the house for a long time, want to experience life, which know just follow the team hiking for two days, in the desert lost their way.
"Thanks." Jovian took the cigarette from the boy's hand and lit it on his lips over the campfire, smiling, "What's the matter? Can't sleep?"
A cool night breeze blew, and the boy couldn't help but rub his arms, saying, "It's dark everywhere here, there's no people at all, it's weirdly scary."
Jovian asked, "First time in the desert?"
The boy nodded, "Originally that leader said he was very experienced, so I signed up, I didn't expect to get lost after walking for more than a day, luckily I met you, or else I might have gotten into some trouble." Said another sincere, "I really admire you actually dare to hike across the desert alone."
Jovian laughed and shook his head, "It's nothing more than a few more tries."
He looked up into the distance, the vast vault of the stars, a glimpse of the desert, hidden in the darkness, so quiet that only the sound of the wind from nowhere, who knows how many dangers are hidden in that dark place.
And danger is always fascinating.
The boy, on the other hand, was unmoving as he surveyed him; the group had been bouncing around like headless flies during the day, and when they saw that they were about to run out of drinking water, this young man had come out of nowhere to lead them to a water source and then camped nearby.
He didn't know his identity, but only knew that he was an experienced hiker with superior physical strength and a calm mind, and very well equipped, so he should be quite rich. In fact, most of the people who love adventure are looking for excitement because they don't lack money.
And he was still handsome, and in the light of the campfire, the handsome face with a bit of stubble had an almost distorted handsomeness to it.
Not caring about the boy's measuring gaze, Qiaowen smiled at him and casually said, "Or else you could just snooze by the campfire? I'll be next to you, no need to be afraid."
The boy was thinking just that, "Then call me when you're sleepy and I'll watch the fire with you for a shift."
Jovian hooked his lower lip, noncommittal.
The boy spread the blanket underneath him, wrapped his windbreaker around him and lay back down, and then, as if remembering something, pulled out the kindle he had with him and handed it to Jovian, "If you're bored, read a novel to pass the time."
The long night was indeed boring, and Jovian took it and casually opened the first book on the shelf.
The Great Lords of the Seventies.
I can tell by the name that it's internet cool writing for YA.
Qiaowen seldom read online, but thinking that waiting for the gang to wake up and replace themselves would probably take until dawn, he clicked on it in boredom and started reading to kill time.
By the time he saw that villain in the story being shot randomly by the protagonist, the sky was finally showing fish-belly white, and the people in the tent were waking up one after another.
He returned the kindle to the waking boy.
The boy rubbed his face and took it, asking casually, "What are you reading?"
Jovian said, "Just the first one on your bookshelf."
The boy said, "That web novel. By the way--" Suddenly remembering something, he laughed and said, "There's a character in it with the same name as you."
"Yeah? I didn't notice." Jovian passed the time, scribbling, not noticing that there was a minor supporting character with the same name as his own in the book.
The boy thought to be a fan of the novel, chatting about this, then came to interest: "It is the villain Chen Canaan that early death of the hair small, only appeared in the memories. Back then, the two families were poor, this hair little born seriously ill can not afford to go to a major hospital, Chen Canaan in order to give him to earn medical fees, go to assassinate the hero father. But by the time he finished killing, this hairy boy had already died in the black clinic in Kowloon Walled City. Chen Canaan is greatly stimulated by this and goes down a crooked path of doing whatever he can for money."
After he reminded him, Qiao Wen remembered that there was indeed such a minor supporting character, who was gone before the story started, just a character who appeared in the memories of the villain Chen Canaan, so he didn't care about the name.
Originally it was nothing more than a cool book to pass the time, and this kind of crappy plot was really nothing special. Just by the boy's description, he was suddenly slightly moved by the friendship of the villain in the book.
Because he also happens to have a hairdresser who can put his life on the line for him, and even has the word Nan in his name.
One after another, the others came over to greet them, interrupting their small talk.
The group simply washed up, ate some dry food, and set off on the road before the sun rose. By noon, Qiao Wen sent them to the nearest highway, and he himself went on the road alone to continue the unfinished desert journey.
Since Lin Nan's absence, all the adventures and journeys the two had once planned together could only be accomplished by him alone.
This desert journey was his last stop, and when it was over, he would return to the earthly smoke and fire and live his life as well as Lin Nan wished him to.
But as fate would have it, just halfway through this desert journey, Jovan is caught in a sandstorm.
The yellow sand swept up from the sky, and he was soon buried in the sand, his breathing became harder and harder, and in the end, his whole body was plunged into a sinking darkness.
He knew he was going to die.
I just don't know if I'll be able to see Lin Nan after I die.
*
"Arwen! Arwen! Wake up, don't die!"
The piercing howl shook the eardrums, and combined with the violent shaking of his body, pulled Jovian back from his suffocation.
A fishy heat leapt up from his throat, forcing him to cough heavily, followed by gasping for air while breathing hard, like a drowning man regaining air, the choking sensation finally relieved.
"Arwen, you ...... you're not dead?"
Qiao Wen lifted his eyelids with difficulty, and a snotty, unfamiliar teenager appeared in his vision, holding his shoulders and shaking them violently. He finally realized why he was just as seasick as he was just now, it was because he was shaken so hard by this kid.
He took two deep breaths, eased up a little, and spoke in a muffled voice, "Howie, are you calling for your soul?"
Howie?
Jovian leapt to his feet, not only because he had blurted out the name of this strange teenager, but because he was clearly speaking a mouthful of Cantonese.
Just as he was stunned and bewildered, suddenly a tidal wave of memories that didn't belong to him flooded his mind.
After a moment, he looked around incredulously.
This is a dimly lit small house, he thought he had seen a lot, but he had never seen such a simple and dilapidated house in his lifetime. Yellowish walls, a small window with half broken glass, a few tables and chairs inside the house that hadn't even been painted, a few black ceramic pots for boiling medicines on the table, and the whole house emitting the pungent smell of a mixture of various medicines.
An old sit-down fan was on a nearby table, cackling and spinning.
Dark, damp, stuffy, dirty ......
The memory that had just flooded him told him that this was a clinic, a black clinic belonging to the seventies, in the Kowloon Walled City of Hong Kong.
Seeing him wake up, Howie finally let go of his hands that were holding his shoulders and shaking them furiously, wiped his eyes, and excitedly howled out towards the outside, "Uncle Wah! You come quickly, Man is awake!"
As soon as his words fell, a thin old man in his fifties or sixties lifted the curtain from outside.
This person was born with a round nose and small eyes, with a long beard, wearing a cap of melon skin popular in the Republican period, not like a doctor, but like a fortune-teller under the flyover stall.
He walked over incredulously, reached out and lifted Qiao Wen's, frowned and looked carefully, and then grabbed his wrist, one side of the pulse one side of his wide pair of soybean eyes, incredibly smacked his lips: "Strange, strange, just now clearly has stopped the heartbeat of the air, how to come back to life?"
Beside him, Howie stopped wailing and turned to choking, saying brokenly, "Uncle Wah, I was almost scared to death when you just said that Man had gone."
Qiao Wen honestly leaned back and sat on this wooden-framed cot underneath him, allowing this old Chinese doctor to practice looking and sniffing on himself, while his mind silently digested the new memories he had just obtained and organized the current situation.
Obviously he was in the desert and encountered a sandstorm, how come he came to this strange place as soon as he opened his eyes?
Fortunately, he had just read the online book called "The Great Lords of the Seventies", so he was rather quick to ascertain that, out of some metaphysical power, he, who was supposed to have died in a sandstorm, was reborn in this fictional world, turning into the cannon fodder with the same name as him in the book, that is, the big villain, Chen Canaan, who had hiccuped early as a good brother.
The world is Hong Kong City in the early seventies - called Hong Kong City in the book, the corresponding real world is actually the chaotic yet prosperous Hong Kong in the seventies.
He ran through the timeline in his mind.
He remembers that when Chen Canaan died, the author describes his past journey in a big way, and the most important piece of reminiscence is the day his brother Qiao Wen, who he grew up with, died.
This world's Qiao Wen grew up a sick child, eighteen years old that year was born a serious illness, in the Kowloon Walled City of the broken clinic lay for several days, medicine and stone to no avail, was told by the boss must be transferred to the big foreign hospital treatment. However, at that time the two were poor children of Kowloon Walled City, where the money to go to a large hospital.
In order to earn money for Qiao Wen's medication, Chen Canan takes a killing mission from a club boss, and the target of the assassination is none other than the hero Lin Zi Hui's own father.
It was his first kill, and he did it well, yet when he ran back with the money, ready to take Jovan to the Oceanic Hospital, the teenager lying on the shabby cot in the black clinic had long since gone cold and hard.
That was the darkest moment of Chen Canaan's life, and it was from then on that he vowed to get ahead and make a lot of money, and from then on he embarked on a path of no return as a villainous villain, which became the source of his tragic ending later on.
If he wasn't mistaken, today was the day Qiao Wen died, and also the turning point of Chen Canaan's fate. Combined with how Howie just grabbed the original body and shook it violently and howled like a ghost, as well as the reaction of the old Chinese doctor, Uncle Hua, the Qiao Wen of this world should have originally died, only for this body to come back to life because of the entry of his own soul.
The original Jovian became him.
But anyway, he who originally died in the desert was reborn as another person in another world.
He had promised Lin Nan that he would live well, even if he had changed worlds, changed identities and shells, but it was always good to be alive.