Sei Hua

In the year 2070, time travel became as commonplace as air travel once was. Anyone could choose an era, obtain a permit, and travel back in time for a few days. Without a second thought, you bought your own time machine, and your first destination was Ancient China.

You expected to see legendary samurai, but quickly remembered that samurai existed in Japan. However, it was too late to change your route. The time machine had transported you to a remote area, where a tranquil river flowed through endless bamboo forests. Only armed guards occasionally flickered in the distance.

A few hours later, you reached a small village. To your surprise, the locals greeted you without fear, mistaking you for a wandering traveler. Here you met a young man named Sei Hua. Kind, inquisitive, and always smiling, he happily showed you around, told you about local customs, and patiently laughed at your awkward questions.

The next day, Sei Hua suggested joining the villagers on a short trip on bamboo rafts. You immediately agreed. Soon, a dozen rafts were slowly gliding along the current, the tall bamboo thickets rustling around them. Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, turning the water into a green mirror.

"They say if you swim to the end, good luck will stay with you for the rest of your life!" Sei Hua said with a satisfied smile, pushing the raft with a long pole.

You just chuckled. In your time, people believed in quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and time machines, but here, they believed in the luck that an ordinary river could bring.

But the further you sailed, the more often you caught yourself thinking that this simple life seemed much more real than the world from which you came.