Chapter 1: Storytelling

Tanyu Port was in the east of Qing, although it was close to the sea, the center of gravity of the country’s trade had been shifted to the south as several ports in the south had recently been constructed, and the projected sea route to the west had been connected long ago. The port gradually showed its decay, and the once lively harbor became quiet a few years ago.

The seagulls flew freely, no longer harassed by those hateful sailors.

And the residents who originally lived in Tanyu Port didn’t feel that their lives had changed too much, although their income had decreased a bit, His Majesty the Emperor had long ago exempted this place from taxes for a few years, so their lives were still fine, and this harbor was beautiful, and now that it had become quiet again, it was naturally even more suitable for people to live in.

So occasionally some big shots would choose to build an estate here.

But because of the distance from the capital is too far, so there are not many officials who really stayed, and the one who can barely be counted should be the old lady in the courtyard in the west of the city.

I heard that the old lady was the mother of Earl Sinan in the capital and chose to come here to retire. The residents of the city knew that Earl Sinan seemed to be very much appreciated by His Majesty the Emperor, and had not been dispatched in accordance with the law, but had stayed in the capital to work in the Ministry of Finance, so most of them showed enough courtesy and reverence to that courtyard.

But little children know nothing of this.

It was a breezy day, and the adults were sitting in the tavern enjoying the salty and damp smell carried by the sea breeze, the salted plums and those drinks in their glasses.

There was also a bunch of teenagers who were gathered outside the stone steps of the back door of Earl Sinan’s private residence on the west side of the city, densely packed, not knowing what they were doing.

Looking closer, I realized that it was a very interesting scene, it turned out that all these teenagers were listening to a little boy who was only four or five years old.

The little boy was very beautiful, eyebrows like a painting, eyes clear and bright, but his voice was still milky and unfaded, but the tone of his speech was old-fashioned and powerful.

Only to hear him sigh, his tiny arms gesture: “That said, that Chu Men walked to the wall and found a ladder there, so step by step, he went up and found the door, so he pushed the door out ……”

“And then?”

“Then? Then …… naturally is to return to the human world.” The little boy beamed, seemingly impatient that the teenagers next to him who were older than himself would actually ask such a retarded question.

“Won’t it? Wouldn’t it go to the what’s-his-name Hani ……”

“Hani die.” Another teenager picked up.

“Yeah, wouldn’t Truman go beat the hell out of that Hani Death? It’s been locked up like that for years.”

The younger boy shrugged, “No hey.”

“Ch! How boring, Young Master Fan Xian, today’s story isn’t as good as the other day’s story.”

“Then what do you guys like to hear?”

“The Journey to the Faraway.”

“The Tale of Windy Styles.”

“Ch!” The little boy named Fan Xian gave a middle finger to the surrounding children older than himself, “It’s unhealthy to fight and kill, and it’s not environmentally friendly to dig around for treasures!”

An extremely angry voice suddenly came from the courtyard, “Young Master! Where have you been again?”

The children in a circle followed his example and also gave a middle finger, only there were many of them, so they looked much more spectacular, and snapped in the same voice, “Ch!” Then they dispersed, laughing.

The little boy named Fan Xian stood up from the stone steps, patted the dust on his buttocks, and ran into the courtyard with a turn of his head, only before closing the door, those witty and energetic eyes glanced at the young blind boss in the grocery store across the street, and a complex emotion that was completely incompatible with his age surfaced on his face, and then gently closed the wooden door.

This was Fan Shen’s fourth year in this world. During these years, he finally realized that he was not dreaming, and that he had really come to an unknown world, which seemed to be the same as the one he remembered, but also seemed to be different in many ways.

By eavesdropping on the subordinates in the Count’s other mansion, he finally understood his identity, it turned out that he was the illegitimate son of Count Sinan of Kyoto.

Just like the usual luxury family grudge drama, the identity of the illegitimate son is very easy to be poisoned by the stream of great aunts and second aunts and what not, and it seems that his own cheap old father only has himself as a son, so in order to continue the Count’s bloodline, he was sent to the Tanyu Port, which is very far from the capital of Kyoto.

Over the years, he gradually got used to his identity. Although it was said that an adult’s soul being trapped in a toddler’s body, whether physically or psychologically, had to undergo a completely different experience, and if he were a normal person, he would have gone crazy – but coincidentally, Fan Shen, in his previous life, had been a patient with myasthenia gravis, and had already been lying in a hospital bed for many years, and now he was just Now, he only had some mobility problems, which was nothing compared to the miserable situation in his previous life, so he didn’t have too many discomforts now that he was living in the body of this little child.

The most uncomfortable thing was his name, when he was one year old, the count of Kyoto sent a letter to him, giving him the name Fan Xian, the word An Zhi.

It was a bad name, sounding a lot like the curse words in his original hometown-“to commit suspicion.”

But his appearance was that of a small child, so it was impossible to object with words at all.

When he was treated in the hospital in his previous life, he was still able to twist his head beforehand, so he often begged that cute little nurse to buy him some pirated movie disks and books to watch.

After living in the Earl’s Mansion for a long time, although the old madam was cold on the outside and loved herself in her bones, and the maids in the mansion didn’t look at him differently because of his illegitimate identity, the pain of having no place to communicate with people still made him a little upset.

Could he tell the maid that he was from another world? Could he tell the teacher that he could actually recognize all the words in this book?

So he often sneaked out of the side door of the Earl’s Mansion and played with the children of the commoners on the street, more often than not telling them stories and movie novels from his own world.

It seemed that he wanted to use this to remind himself of something, to remind himself that he was someone who didn’t belong to this world, and that there were movies and internet and YA novels in his own world.

Until today, I don’t know why, he narrated the movie Truman’s World. The movie’s plot was already a bit wooden, and there was no Kim Carrey there to play cute, so he should have known full well that there was no way these Tanya Harbor teens would like it.

But he told it anyway.

Because there was always a sense of absurdity deep inside of him, why would he suddenly be reborn in this body when he was obviously going to die? Can t help but think of that movie …… Maybe, these people in front of me these streets, these seagulls flying in the sky, are all arranged by someone?

Just like Truman.

Truman finally realized the falsity of the world he was in, so he resolutely took the boat and found the exit.

But Fan Shen, no, it should be Fan Xian …… knows that he is not Truman, and that this world is indeed real and not a big studio.

So he found himself telling stories every day to remind himself that he was a person from another world, which was a ridiculous move in itself.