Coincidentally, the TV was currently showing the drama "Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties." George Washington was brandishing his huge axe and roaring, “Eric Johnson, you old man, let me fight three hundred rounds with you!”

Ryan Bolton was deeply shocked by what he saw. Eric Johnson? King Kaoshan Eric Johnson, a man of immense power and influence, the granduncle of Emperor Yang William Johnson, the foremost of the Five Elders who founded the Sui Dynasty. However, Ryan Bolton had dealt with Eric Johnson once before, and that guy didn’t look like this at all. Just as Ryan Bolton was watching intently, the TV screen suddenly changed. Several graceful young women in swimsuits walked elegantly along the poolside, and a voiceover said... “There are always a few inconvenient days every month.” Then a pretty, charming girl said seductively, “With Danbisi, I can swim every day…”

Ryan Bolton was dumbfounded. He circled the TV, looking it over from front to back, but couldn’t find the scene of Eric Johnson battling George Washington. He asked in confusion, “Where’s King Kaoshan?”

David Brooks snickered at the country bumpkin, grabbed the basketball from under the bed, and went out to play.

After three minutes of commercials, the battle between George Washington and Eric Johnson finally resumed. Ryan Bolton vaguely realized that this might be fake. He started to pay attention to the wardrobe in the room. All four compartments, top and bottom, were locked. Since he had seen David Brooks use a key to open the door, Ryan Bolton easily deduced how to open the lockers. Using the keychain at his waist, he tried them one by one and finally found his own locker, which was in the bottom compartment. Inside, besides some clothes, there were books and food. The so-called food was just the most common scallion oil chicken instant noodles of the time.

Ryan Bolton was already hungry. He tore open the plastic package of the scallion oil chicken noodles and started eating them dry—he hadn’t yet reached the level of making them with hot water. To his delight, among the books he found a copy of "An Outline History of the Chinese People" by Bo Yang. Ryan Bolton munched on the noodles while flipping through the book from the beginning. He knew about events before the Sui Dynasty—he had been poisoned by Emperor Yang of Sui in the twelfth year of the Daye era, which was 616 AD. The more he read, the more shocked he became. Now it was already February 11, 1992, which meant he had unknowingly traveled 1,396 years into the future.

That night, David Brooks stayed in the neighboring dorm because he was playing cards with classmates. When he returned at dawn, he found the dormitory still brightly lit. Ryan Bolton had already finished reading all the newspapers and magazines he could find and was sitting on the bed, engrossed in the morning news.

The next morning, Ryan Bolton skipped work for a whole day, staying in the dorm to read books and watch TV. The box of scallion oil chicken instant noodles in the wardrobe was almost gone.

When David Brooks came back, he told him in a heavy tone, “Section Chief Director Foster from the Science and Education Section wants you to report there first thing tomorrow morning.”

Ryan Bolton showed no concern at all: “David, there’s no emperor now?”

David Brooks burst out laughing: “There is, but not in China!”

Ryan Bolton let out a sigh of relief. He put his ID card away in his jacket pocket. After a day and night of tireless knowledge cramming, Ryan Bolton had a rough outline of his current situation. His name was Ryan Bolton, male, twenty years old this year. As a graduate of a health school, he was already considered old for his age. His home address was No. 16, Anti-Imperialist Road, Xiguan, Chunyang County, less than three kilometers from the county hospital. Ryan Bolton had a habit of keeping a diary, and from the past entries of Brian Bolton, he learned about Ryan Bolton's inner world. When Ryan Bolton was one year old, his father died. His mother, Sarah Cooper, remarried her current husband, Mark Evans. Mark Evans already had two sons and a daughter, and naturally didn’t treat Ryan Bolton, the stepchild, very well. The diary was filled with Ryan Bolton's deep resentment toward Mark Evans's family.

David Brooks looked at the dry instant noodles in Ryan Bolton's hand and patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. “Eating instant noodles all the time is bad for your stomach. The hospital cafeteria food is pretty good. Don’t be so stingy.”

Ryan Bolton nodded and said bluntly, “I have no money!”

David Brooks knew a bit about Ryan Bolton's family situation and sighed, “Come on, dinner’s on me tonight!”

Ryan Bolton didn’t stand on ceremony and went to the cafeteria with David Brooks, enjoying a good meal. David Brooks's father was the head of the finance department at a state-owned enterprise in Jiangcheng, so his family was well-off and he was generous by nature. He invited Ryan Bolton to dinner partly out of pity, but also for another reason: Ryan Bolton had first offended Director Dean Carter, then fought with a patient outside the hospital, and today had the audacity to skip work. These three things combined were enough for the hospital to send him back to health school. This meal was, in a way, a farewell dinner.

Ryan Bolton finished two servings of braised pork and three bowls of rice, then buried his head in a bowl of tomato and egg soup. Since arriving in the 1990s, he hadn’t had a proper meal—he was truly starving.

David Brooks stared at Ryan Bolton in shock. This guy could really eat! Little did he know, the man had been hungry for over 1,300 years—this meal was nothing.

Ryan Bolton wiped his mouth, let out a satisfied burp, and looked at David Brooks with much more warmth. Never forget those who help you—since he’d been treated to a meal, he should, of course, be a bit friendlier.