When they arrived at the courtyard house and the celestial bridal chamber, they discovered it was a

Section Chief Wang stared at Zhou Zheng'an, his eyes sharp: "Zhou Zheng'an, I'll ask you one last time, are you feigning madness to try and escape punishment?"

"I'm not faking it! I'm telling the truth!" Zhou Zheng'an also pretended to be anxious, since it was all an act anyway.

Let's act then. You act, I act, we all act.

"I really did marry Liu Qianqian yesterday! We got our marriage certificate right there at the household registration office! If you don't believe me, you can check! The marriage certificate is still in my house!"

Section Chief Wang and Liu Qianqian exchanged a glance.

"Officer Liu, go and check it out," said Section Chief Wang.

Liu Qianqian got up and left.

Soon only Section Chief Wang, Zhou Zheng'an, and the clerk remained in the room.

Section Chief Wang lit a cigarette and slowly smoked it, his eyes fixed on Zhou Zheng'an, looking very angry. It was because he liked Liu Qianqian. And now Zhou Zheng'an was saying this—it was spreading rumors!

Zhou Zheng'an felt uneasy under his gaze, but he tried to remain calm.

About twenty minutes later, Liu Qianqian returned, carrying a cloth bag.

"Section Chief Wang, I searched his room." She placed the cloth bag on the table and opened it. "These are everything I found; there was no marriage certificate at all."

Section Chief Wang also couldn't believe it; how could Liu Qianqian possibly marry a madman like Zhou Zheng'an?

However, there was indeed a document in the cloth bag, which was a piece of yellow paper.

Zhou Zheng'an's eyes lit up: "Look! The marriage certificate! I told you I wasn't lying!"

Liu Qianqian picked up the yellow paper, glanced at it, and her expression became even stranger. She handed the paper to Section Chief Wang.

Section Chief Wang took it and examined it carefully.

Zhou Zheng'an looked at him with anticipation.

Section Chief Wang stared at it for a full minute, then looked up and turned the paper towards Zhou Zheng'an: "Is this what you mean?"

Zhou Zheng'an nodded: "Yes! That's it!"

Section Chief Wang slammed the paper on the table: "Zhou Zheng'an, are you playing us? This isn't a marriage certificate at all!"

Zhou Zheng'an was stunned: "How is that possible? It clearly says on it..."

"See for yourself!" Section Chief Wang pushed the paper over.

Zhou Zheng'an leaned closer to take a look.

Yellow paper, signed again. Zhou Zheng'an read aloud, "This certificate is issued to Comrade Zhou Zheng'an for his active participation in literacy studies, as encouragement... Literacy Committee of the Military Control Commission of Shangcheng District, Beijing... March 1950?"

This guy was dumbfounded.

"No...that's not right..." he muttered, "It's clearly a marriage certificate, how did it turn into a literacy award certificate?"

"You still want to make this up?" Section Chief Wang had completely lost his patience and was extremely angry.

"Zhou Zheng'an, let me tell you, your problems are very serious! You've harassed women, insulted staff, and now you're trying to feign madness to get away with it! This is counter-revolutionary behavior!"

"I didn't! I really didn't!" Zhou Zheng'an cried out anxiously. "I really did get our marriage certificate yesterday! I really married Liu Qianqian! You have to believe me!"

"Officer Liu was at the police station all day yesterday and didn't go out at all," Section Chief Wang said coldly. "Everyone in our unit can testify to that, while you've had a high fever for the past two days and have been in bed without leaving the house."

Zhou Zheng'an was struck dumb.

Fever? Have you been bedridden for two days?

"No...it's impossible...I clearly..." His mind was in complete chaos.

Yesterday, he woke up, saw Liu Qianqian, went to get their marriage certificate, came back, went to their wedding night, and then discovered it was a reality show. He was so frustrated and under immense psychological pressure that he ran out and fainted…

Were these all dreams caused by a fever?

It was so real; I remembered every single detail clearly.

"I...I might really be delirious from the fever," Zhou Zheng'an murmured. Actually, he was more overwhelmed with dread; could he have really traveled through time?

I just need to figure out whether my marriage to the celestial being yesterday was a delirious dream or real, and that's why I transmigrated here.

This is actually quite important.

Seeing Zhou Zheng'an's dumbfounded look, Section Chief Wang suspected that the guy was doing it on purpose, but was also worried that he was really stupid.

She stood up, walked up to him, and said, "Now you know you can't keep up the act anymore? Zhou Zheng'an, confess! Why did you act like a hooligan towards Qin Huairu? Why did you say those crazy things?"

Zhou Zheng'an raised his head, looked at Section Chief Wang, and then at Liu Qianqian.

Liu Qianqian's eyes were cold, as cold as ice.

He suddenly realized that saying anything was pointless.

These people won't believe him. They'll just think he's a thug, a madman.

"I didn't do anything indecent." He lowered his head, his voice hoarse. "I might just be delirious from the fever, that's why I'm acting stupid now."

"Does being confused give you the right to grope a girl's buttocks?" Section Chief Wang said sternly. "Does being confused give you the right to say such vulgar things?"

Zhou Zheng'an fell silent.

What are you saying? That you think I'm an actor and I'm just playing along? That you think this is a reality show?

Nobody will believe it.

"Take him away and lock him up." Section Chief Wang waved his hand. "We'll discuss how to handle this at a meeting tomorrow."

Two officers stepped forward and pulled Zhou Zheng'an up from his chair.

Zhou Zheng'an stopped struggling and let them drag him out of the house and into a small room in the corner of the yard.

The room was small, with no windows and only an iron door. The floor was covered with straw, and a chamber pot sat in the corner, emitting a foul odor.

Zhou Zheng'an was pushed inside, the iron gate slammed shut with a clang, followed by the sound of the door being locked from the outside.

Darkness descended.

He leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to sit on the floor.

My arms were still bound, and it hurt a lot. The injuries on my face and body were also starting to hurt. But none of that could compare to the pain and panic in my heart.

That feeling of being abandoned by the whole world.

That kind of despair where no one believes you no matter what you say.

"Could it be... that I really time-traveled?" he murmured to himself.

Once the idea popped into my head, it grew wildly like weeds.

If it wasn't time travel, how can all of this be explained?

If it's not time travel, how do you explain how realistic this 1950 world is?

But then I felt something was off. If I really did time travel and ended up in the passionate world of "Birds in the Courtyard," how would I explain that Liu Qianqian looked exactly like a celestial being?

The celestial maiden is not a character in "Birds Fill the Courtyard"; Jia Zhangshi and others are.

"Yesterday's Liu Qianqian was just acting, and then for some reason, she time-traveled. But what's with this younger Liu Qianqian?"

He thought of the angelic woman he married yesterday, her smile, and the look on her face when she said, "I'll treat you well." He felt he'd lost out big time; he should have at least touched her.

If you don't touch it before you travel through time, you'll really be missing out.

That's ridiculous!

Then I remembered Liu Qianqian from the Military Control Commission, and wondered what their relationship was.

Zhou Zheng'an's mind was in complete chaos.

He just sat there, for who knows how long. In the darkness, time lost its meaning.

Then this guy started thinking, "Aren't transmigrators supposed to have systems? Where's my system? Why hasn't it arrived yet?"

Then there was no "ding" in my mind, no mysterious old man, nothing at all.

Only my hands hurt, after all, they had been tied with rope for quite a while, and Yi Zhonghai and the others had been very rough with me.

This was clearly retaliation for Zhou Zheng'an injuring them earlier.

I don't know how much time passed, until I heard footsteps outside the iron gate, followed by the sound of a lock being opened.

The door opened, and a staff member came in carrying a bowl. "Let's eat."

There were two cornbread buns and a bowl of water in the bowl.

This treatment is not bad.

The staff member put the bowl on the ground, glanced at Zhou Zheng'an's still-bound hands, hesitated for a moment, and then untied the ropes: "Behave yourself, don't even think about running away."

Zhou Zheng'an immediately expressed his gratitude, saying that being tied up was too uncomfortable, especially since it was May and there were mosquitoes even during the day. But being tied up and bitten by mosquitoes meant he couldn't even scratch his itch.

As someone who traveled from 2025, I rarely get bitten by mosquitoes anymore. With air conditioning on and an electric mosquito swatter, I'm practically armed to the teeth.

Unlike now.

Soon, the staff left and locked the door again.

Zhou Zheng'an stretched his numb arm, then picked up the bowl and began to wolf down his food.

The cornbread was hard, the water was bland, and it tasted earthy. He definitely wouldn't have been able to eat this before he time-traveled. But now he ate it with relish. When you're hungry, everything tastes good.

Therefore, the best way to deal with a child who doesn't like to eat is to let him go hungry.

If one meal isn't enough, then two meals will do.

After finishing his meal, he put the bowl by the door and sat back down on the haystack.

My arms are free, but the shackles in my heart remain.

What should he do?

What if I get severely punished tomorrow?

In this era, harassing women is a very serious crime, especially now that we have just been liberated and in this chaotic time, we need to use severe punishments.

One year, three years? Five years? Or longer? Or perhaps execution?

Zhou Zheng'an dared not think about it. He felt he had been too hasty this time, failing to observe the situation before unleashing his full power against the flock of birds in the courtyard. Unlike his first time traveling through time, when he had carefully observed the situation.

All I can say is that people shouldn't be too impulsive or too carried away by success.

And so, Zhou Zheng'an drifted off to sleep, ate another meal in the afternoon, and then slept for a while longer. But when it got past ten o'clock at night, it was late, and he couldn't fall asleep.

He lay on the straw, eyes open, staring at the dark roof.

For the first time, he began to seriously consider: if this really was time travel, how should he survive?

This is truly a disgrace to the time-travel fandom.