Joy of Life

“Why do you want to see what this world is like?” Five-Bamboo looked as though he was considering something, “The place you are standing right now… Isn’t it part of this world?”

Fan Xian did not know how to answer him. Because he originated from another world, he was naturally curious about many things in this one. Moreover, there was the question that had troubled him for a long time now – How did he come into this world?

Years ago, when Teacher Fei Jie was still teaching in Danzhou, he had mentioned a temple. Back then, Fan Xian had thought that if a dying man from another world becoming such a young man could only be considered a miracle.  What other explanation could it be otherwise? That was why he was really interested in the temple and was very eager to explore it.

The Capital was also another place that he really wanted to visit. He was curious if the little lady Fan Ruo-Ruo managed to live peacefully despite living under the tyranny of her stepmother. After having been separated from Fei Jie for a few years, he also harbored a longing to visit the loveable old pervert.

The most important reason was, while he had been bed-ridden for an extremely long time in his previous life, he had lived a life of luxury in Danzhou since he was a child in this world. The contrast was too great. A fire was lit in Fan Xian’s heart, the heat searing his spirit, stimulating his ** (This was censored. Heh heh heh ~MCM). He wanted to do and attain everything.

Peace and ambition, power and happiness, love and ladies…… these words which connoted utterly contradictory things were pa.s.sing in his mind like a will-o’-wisp. After deliberating for a long time, he finally replied cautiously, “If everyone could only live once (YORO ~MCM), it would be good to see all the exotic sights, meet many different people. That way, this game that can only be played once will be really fun.”

That was Fan Xian’s heartfelt words. Lying on his deathbed in his previous life, he would play out what he would do if he could ever live his life again.

“What do you plan to do?” Five-Bamboo said.

“First, I need to make sure I survive.” Fan Xian squatted down and threw another stone. As he did not put in much strength this time, the stone hit the grey rocks below and shattered into pieces. “That’s why I need to have the strength to protect myself.”

“And after that?”

“After that, I have three objectives in mind.”

Five-Bamboo listened quietly.

“Firstly, I want to have a lot of kids. Secondly, I want to write a lot of books. Thirdly, I want to live a really good life.”

Fan Xian said these absolutely absurd things very calmly and without a single trace of embarra.s.sment.

In the depths of his heart, he did not regard this world as Earth. As such, he was the only representative of humans from Earth in this world. Based on principles of evolutionary processes, as a specimen carrying the genes of h.o.m.o sapiens, he had the obligation to produce as many offspring in this world as possible.

At the same time, he thought of himself as an envoy who had inherited the culture of humanity on Earth. This world did not have a single piece of literature or art since the ancient times. If he did not write [or perhaps copy?] a lot of books in order to glorify the works of Cao Xue Qin or the Kill Bill series in this uncultured world, he would have dishonored his lonely ancestors in the parallel universe…… Of course, the most important thing was not dishonoring himself.

Naturally, he also saw himself as the only man from earth to observe this world. That was why he must ensure that his life is as comfortable as it gets. Only then can he live a long life and observe as many years as possible.

It was not until many years later that Fan Xian admitted embarra.s.sedly that these n.o.ble reasons were only excuses for his own lecherousness, shamelessness and avarice.

On the cliff above the seaside, Five-Bamboo seemed to require a long time to digest the implications of Fan Xian’s three goals. Calmly a.n.a.lyzing, he said, “Then you’ll need to marry a lot of wives, find a lot of scribes and hire a lot of servants.”

“Scribes?” Fan have heard of the word, but he did not quite understood its meaning.

“They are pathetic people who specialize in writing ma.n.u.scripts. They do not own the works.”

Fan Xian smiled and thought to himself that as long as simpletons like Old Cao and Old Sha (Not sure what the actual translation is; might edit this later ~MCM) are willing to be his slaves, he did not need to hire those scribes. As he was thinking that, Five-Bamboo continued his impa.s.sionate simple a.n.a.lysis.

“If you want to marry a lot of wives, hire a lot of servants and find a lot of scribes, you will need a lot of money. If you need a lot of money, you will require a lot of power. If you want to attain a lot of power, you will need to get closer to the political powers in this country.”

Five-Bamboo turned around and left sharply. “When you are ten, we leave for the Capital.”

Behind him, Fan Xian stood dazed on the edge of the cliff. He merely uttered some thoughts that he did not seriously contemplated; where did this slightly crazy elite fighter get the idea about political power? Moreover, to decide to just leave for the capital without much thought – Fan Xian suddenly remembered being carried by Five-Bamboo while fleeing the Capital the day he was born into this world.

Slapping his own face, he shook himself from his state of bemus.e.m.e.nt and ran over to catch up. “Uncle, since I’ve told you something personal, shouldn’t you also tell me something of yours?”

Fan Xian said smilingly.

“What do you want to know?”

“Stuff about my mother. Why were we being targeted in the Capital?”

“I will let you know everything about the mistress when you are ten years old. That is the mistress’s orders. As for the ones trying to a.s.sa.s.sinate us, you do not need to know. They have already been dead for ten years.” (Or, they were already dead ten years ago. ~MCM)  (There’s a problem here. Wasn’t Fan Xian already 12? ~MCM)

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

It was already noon by the time they returned to Danzhou port. At a distance from the city, Fan Xian split with Five-Bamboo and went into the city alone. The people living in the city were already used to the adventures the young master had outside the city. Although there were neither wild beasts around the city of Danzhou nor much dangerous places around, some still felt that the people in the Manor were not concerned enough for the safety of this baseborn child.

In the eyes of the people, the Fan Xian now was still just an eleven to twelve years old boy.

Because the people living in Danzhou had little worries and did not need to worry about taxes, they were extremely gossipy and had a lot of strange ideas. For example, was someone in the Manor hoping that the illegitimate child would be eaten by wild beasts or fall to his death over a cliff?

The thought that the little boy with the adorable smile was living in such a dangerous Manor sent a chill through everyone’s hearts.

Fan Xian was oblivious to what the pa.s.sersby were thinking. Maintaining his gently smiling demeanor, he lowered his head and arrived at the Manor.

All the servants were waiting for him because they knew he would return for lunch. The Old Madam was seated on the armchair, her eyelids opening and closing drowsily.