Tang Dynasty: After living together with Chang Le, Li and his companion were dumbfounded.

Li Lizhi stared at him coldly.

"Who exactly are you?"

"As I said last night, my name is Lu Chen. You can think of me as an ordinary person." He put down his cup. "But you, you keep calling yourself 'this princess'—which princess are you, anyway?"

"presumptuous!"

Li Lizhi raised an eyebrow. "How dare you, a mere commoner, inquire about my identity as a princess?"

"Alright, alright, I won't ask anymore." Lu Chen waved his hand. "Then I'll ask it another way."

He pointed around.

"The style of your palace looks somewhat familiar. Could you tell me what era it is now?"

"Reign title?"

Li Lizhi looked at him warily. "You don't even know the reign title? Where did you come from?"

"Tell me the year, and I'll tell you where I came from."

Their gazes collided across an invisible line.

There was a silence for several seconds.

In the end, it was Li Lizhi who spoke first.

It wasn't because she gave in, but because she needed information.

She needed to know the background of the man in front of her.

"The eighth year of the Zhenguan era."

When she said those three words, her chin was slightly raised, and her tone was filled with undisguised pride.

The Zhenguan era—that was the golden age created by her father, the emperor.

Lu Chen's expression changed.

"The eighth year of the Zhenguan era..."

He repeated it, his voice a little dry.

That is, 634 AD.

Li Lizhi didn't quite understand what he meant by "AD".

But she noticed that the man's eyes suddenly became very complicated.

"The princess of the Tang Dynasty..." Lu Chen murmured to himself.

His gaze swept over Li Lizhi's face once, then again.

Then his gaze fell on the furnishings of the bedroom.

It is of extremely high standard, but not extravagant; it exudes simplicity and elegance in every aspect.

This is not an ordinary princess's bedroom.

Princesses who could live in palaces of this caliber were either born of the principal wife or were extremely favored.

Lu Chen quickly searched his mind for fragments of knowledge about the Zhenguan era.

The eighth year of the Zhenguan era.

Princess born of Emperor Taizong of Tang (Li Shimin).

To live in a palace of this size.

Seventeen or eighteen years old.

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes fixed on Li Lizhi.

"you……"

"Are you Princess Chang Le?"

Li Lizhi was shocked.

She instinctively gripped the dagger tighter.

Seeing his reaction, Lu Chen knew he had guessed correctly.

The person opposite is Princess Chang Le, Li Lizhi.

The eldest daughter of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, and Empress Zhangsun.

The most beloved princess of the Tang Dynasty.

Historical records praise her as "beautiful and intelligent."

"I..." Lu Chen opened his mouth, "This is a long story."

He pointed to his room.

"This is not the Tang Dynasty."

"This is 1,400 years in the future."

Li Lizhi's pupils suddenly contracted.

She did not immediately refute it.

Because of everything before her—the ceiling that needed no flame as a light source, the walls as smooth as bronze mirrors, the tables, chairs, and utensils she had never seen before—she couldn't explain any of it.

Fourteen hundred years later.

This explanation, though absurd, is currently the only one that can explain everything.

The bedchamber remained quiet for a long time.

The two were separated by an invisible dividing line, each with their own thoughts.

Finally, Li Lizhi slowly spoke.

"You said you came from a thousand years in the future."

"Then you should know...about me?"

When she asked this question, her tone was no longer as arrogant as before.

Instead, it carried a sense of cautious probing.

Lu Chen did not answer.

He silently turned around, walked to the computer desk, and picked up the glowing cube.

Li Lizhi didn't recognize what it was.

But she saw Lu Chen's fingers moving rapidly across the page, as if he were flipping through something.

Lu Chen is searching.

On the phone screen, five words were typed in the search box—

Princess Chang Le.

The result popped up almost instantly.

His gaze swept quickly across the lines of text.

Princess Changle, Li Lizhi, was the eldest daughter of Emperor Taizong of Tang, and her mother was Empress Zhangsun.

"In the seventh year of the Zhenguan era, she married Changsun Chong."

However, the description here differs from Li Lizhi's account. The search page shows it as the seventh year of the Zhenguan era, but Li Lizhi says it's now the eighth year, and she seems to be unmarried—

Lu Chen didn't have time to think about this issue.

Because his gaze was fixed on the next line of text.

Just that one line.

He was completely frozen in place, as if nailed to a spot.

The cold light from the screen reflected on his face, revealing an indescribable expression.

The phone screen displays the message:

He died in the seventeenth year of the Zhenguan era (643 AD) at the age of twenty-three.

Cause of death: respiratory illness.

This is what later generations called asthma, or some kind of chronic respiratory disease.

Lu Chen's hand holding the phone tightened slightly.

He slowly raised his head.

Across that invisible dividing line, the girl on the other side was looking at him with a wary yet curious gaze.

In the candlelight, her face appeared so beautiful it seemed unreal.

But beneath those beautiful eyes, there was a faint bluish-gray ring.

Her lips were slightly purplish.

His breathing was a few beats faster than normal.

The coughs from last night echoed in Lu Chen's ears again.

He studied clinical medicine for four years.

He knew all too well what these symptoms meant.

From the eighth year of the Zhenguan era to the seventeenth year of the Zhenguan era.

Nine years.

She has nine years left.

Lu Chen scrolled down the page, and more detailed information popped up.

Princess Chang Le was frail from childhood and suffered from a chronic illness that could not be cured despite prolonged treatment.

"In August of the seventeenth year of the Zhenguan era, he fell seriously ill and died. Emperor Taizong was deeply grieved and did not hold court for several days."

Lu Chen opened another page.

Some scholars have researched and concluded that the "qi disease" suffered by Princess Changle corresponds to bronchial asthma in modern medicine, and may very well have been combined with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

In the Tang Dynasty, without bronchodilators, inhaled corticosteroids, or any modern respiratory medicines—

This disease is like a slow death sentence.

It gets heavier every year.

It gets harder to breathe every year.

Until one day, an acute attack occurred, and he could not recover.

Lu Chen turned off his phone and leaned back in his chair.

The light tubes on the ceiling were a stark, unnatural white.

From the eighth year of the Zhenguan era to the seventeenth year of the Zhenguan era.

Nine years.

She can live for another nine years.

"Nine years..."

He read it aloud in a low voice.

Then he read it again.

A slight noise came from across the dividing line.

Li Lizhi was probably tidying up her clothes or doing her makeup, and occasionally a few very soft coughs could be heard.

Each sound was very short, as if it were deliberately suppressed.

Lu Chen just sat there, listening.

He recalled his junior year of college, when he was doing his internship in the respiratory medicine department.

The supervising teacher led them on ward rounds.

An elderly man in his sixties, suffering from late-stage COPD, was kept alive by a ventilator.

The teacher pointed to the data on the monitor and said, "Early intervention can control the progression of this disease, but in the late stages, there is very little we can do."

Early intervention.

The key word is "early stage".

Lu Chen sat up abruptly.

She is only eighteen years old.

From the perspective of modern medicine, this is precisely the optimal intervention method.

For asthma, salbutamol inhaler can relieve acute attacks, while budesonide inhaler can control chronic inflammation.

If a combined infection occurs, basic antibiotics such as amoxicillin and azithromycin can resolve most of the problems.

In addition, vitamin supplementation, nutritional improvement, and lifestyle adjustments—

In modern times, this is not a terminal illness at all.

She shouldn't have died at twenty-three. Lu Chen couldn't bear to watch an innocent life die before his eyes.