Joy of Life - V1C12
Chapter 12
Mail Order and Newspapers
Fan Xian was now twelve, and time passed extremely slowly at Danzhou, so anything new was welcome to relieve his boredom.
The skies above Danzhou City suddenly darkened. Thick, heavy clouds hung over the residents, resembling wet, dirty wool or perhaps burnt cotton candy. The locals were so accustomed to the weather that they knew it would still be a while before rain fell, so no one panicked. This was different from previous years when the weather seemed more volatile. Back then, the handsome illegitimate son of Count Sinan could often be found shouting from neighboring rooftops, warning the entire city, “It’s about to rain; bring in your laundry!”
The main street in Danzhou Harbor was bustling with food vendors and trinket sellers. Spotting a pretty boy in the crowd, one of the merchants attempted to strike up a conversation. “Young Master Fan, why don’t you tell us to bring in the laundry anymore?”
Fan Xian smiled and said nothing. He grasped his maid’s hand with one hand while holding a piece of tofu in the other.
No one was surprised that he helped the servants. Everyone knew that the illegitimate son of Count Sinan was unlike other noble children in that he genuinely enjoyed aiding those beneath his station.
Since Fei Jie left Danzhou Harbor, Fan Xian had grown into a charming young teenager who exuded reliability. While he appeared youthful physically and mentally, he felt like a middle-aged man of forty, with the accumulated experiences from his previous and current lives.
Back at the house, he handed the tofu to the servants before greeting the Old Mistress and picking up a piece of paper beside her. Returning to his study, he placed a letter from his little sister next to the piece of paper on his desk, and his expression immediately brightened.
That year, the Emperor of the Qing Empire unexpectedly changed his reign title and year to reflect the country's name. While civil servants appeared to accept this change, they complained privately when no one was around. During that time, whether you were an official at the Ministry of Education or a scholar accustomed to eating congee, whether you sided with the new language faction or the old one, everyone had to pay the Eighth Bureau of the Overwatch Council to review their reports. Disgruntled old scholars heavily critiqued this topic.
The title of the reign was changed during the Emperor's reign, and the implementation of new laws was part of the plan. However, these new laws were hardly innovative; they mainly served to reorganize existing regulations. The only aspect the public found refreshing was the introduction of newspapers at the start of the new year.
But what were newspapers? No one knew until the first issue was published, followed by a collective "Oh," which marked the end of public interest. The imperial palace produced these newspapers, and every issue had to be approved by the Emperor himself before release, effectively eliminating any problematic articles that could incite backlash.
Subsequent issues cost a silver coin each, attracting buyers with their novelty. Some high-ranking individuals began to suspect that it was a ploy orchestrated by the Emperor, who might be planning to build a new garden.
The paper contained trivial information, ranging from landmarks to historical figures. However, the main feature consisted of articles about the private lives of government officials, such as how a general was beaten by his wife or why the Commander of Defence in the capital was missing a tooth.
There were also peripheral articles about their neighbors, the Qi Empire and Dongyi City. However, government officials only paid attention to their immediate circle. Initially amused, the officials soon became embarrassed when it was their turn to be featured in the newspapers. Knowing the Emperor was behind the publication, nobody dared to voice their complaints.
The newspapers were produced in limited quantities; the entire city of Danzhou had only two copies, one of which was found in Count Sinan’s villa.
The piece of paper Fan Xian had taken from his grandmother’s room was the much-discussed newspaper. After quickly scanning it, Fan Xian couldn't help but grimace; he felt like sticking his entire fist in his mouth. What kind of era was this? Tabloid newspapers? And ordered by the Emperor, no less!
The new “mail order” law enacted by the imperial family allowed the brother-sister duo to send letters to each other secretly. Fan Xian frowned as he looked at the newspaper. For some time, he had heard discussions about the new laws, which, in his opinion, were pure nonsense from the Emperor. Still, everyone knew that the Emperor was not someone to oppose.
Fan Xian was not inclined to change the world. Initially uninterested, he became curious out of boredom as this new world started to resemble his own, and he wanted to understand how things operated behind the scenes.
After much reflection, Fan Xian still hadn’t gotten to the bottom of the situation. Smiling wryly, he pushed the paper aside, thinking self-deprecatingly that perhaps someone else with grander ambitions had also transmigrated to this world.
Fan Xian shook his head. Nevertheless, these matters were of little relevance to him. The letter next to the paper was of much greater importance.
RuoRuo was his half-sister, and they spent some time in Danzhou during their childhood. His poor little sister was weak and unremarkable compared to his lovely appearance. When she arrived at the estate, she started to follow him everywhere. Because she was sweet and not whiny like most kids, he didn’t mind keeping her by his side most of the time. Over time, he truly came to think of her as a little sister.
They had not seen each other for many years, and Fan Xian wondered what she looked like now. Had her sparse blonde hair darkened? Had she become prettier? What was her life at their father’s estate?
“I am such an incompetent brother,” Fan Xian thought, feeling guilty for not caring enough for his sister. Despite his soul having experienced two different lives, he was still connected to her by blood through this body. When RuoRuo began school a few years ago, she often wrote letters to Danzhou. In contrast, Fan Xian hardly replied, as he was too busy undergoing Wu Zhu’s relentless training, practicing his daily Bàdào Zhenqi, and reviewing the poisons book left by Fei Jie.
RuoRuo, who had just turned ten, never forgot her brother and was extremely dependent on her distant brother and frequently sent him letters for no apparent reason. Perhaps it was due to the horror stories they shared in their childhood that lingered in her mind. At first, she mostly wrote about how she missed their grandmother and her memories of Danzhou. However, over the past six months, her letters mainly focused on her monotonous days at the estate in the capital and rarely mentioned their home in Danzhou.
Fan Xian lightly brushed the letter with his fingertips, and concern etched across his pretty face.
The paper bore his sister’s delicate handwriting. She had recently written about her life in the capital and how she had been accepted into a school for aristocratic ladies as if this were the natural path for someone like her.
Her letters showed signs that RuoRuo was dealing with troubling issues that were unexpected for someone her age.
Fan Xian paused to pick up the brush, prepared the ink, and dipped the tip into it before writing his reply. In his letter, he subtly advised his sister to spend as much time as possible with Count Sinan and to behave charmingly. He suggested that she not openly complain but occasionally let her hidden bitterness show.
Secondly, he emphasized that she must stand her ground against that woman and her spoiled younger brother. As the saying goes, people will take advantage of you if you are too kind. If RuoRuo didn’t want to be treated unfairly, she needed to show her willingness to defend herself.
Thirdly, she needed to be kind to the household servants, especially Count Sinan’s teacher. She should observe him with a pure and innocent gaze, even as he displayed monotonous methods.
Finally, she should find subtle ways to offend the concubine master and bear the consequences for a while. She could then find a way to inform the master. Any man would feel a strange desire to protect, especially when it involves his own young daughter. In such a scenario, Count Sinan would undoubtedly remember the daughter his late head wife left behind.
However, there were limits to these methods, as Fan Xian hinted in his letter. He was unsure if this tactic, inspired by the romance novels he had read in his previous life, would be effective, but he believed that if RuoRuo were clever enough, she would figure it out.
After sending the letter, he eagerly awaited her response, worried that he might inadvertently cause trouble for the ten-year-old girl.
Two months later, Fan Xian received a letter from his younger sister, RuoRuo. From her words, he could tell that she had been happy recently. He wondered whether this happiness resulted from his suggestions or if there had never been any incidents of mistreatment in the capital, to begin with. In her letter, RuoRuo asked why it was important to treat servants kindly. Fan Xian realized that not everyone was considered equal in a hierarchical feudal society. He shared a few anecdotes in response to her question, explaining that kindness benefits others and oneself.
Initially, Fan Xian had planned to copy down some stories from the “Decameron[1]” and send them along with his reply. In his previous life, he remembered critics praising Giovanni Boccaccio for glorifying romance and equality between men and women. However, after some thought, Fan Xian decided against this idea, recalling that many stories in the “Decameron” included adult content.
This exchange was a small but enlightening episode during Fan Xian’s free time, and his concern for his sister's well-being in the capital became one of the highlights of his monotonous life.
Though RuoRuo was still a young girl, but smart, she sensed that her Big Brother in Danzhou was no ordinary child. Despite their age difference, their correspondence revealed that Fan Xian was gradually influencing her. Her vocabulary became noticeably more mature than that of other girls her age, and she began to notice the subtle changes occurring in the world around her. Her maturity developed more quickly under her brother's tutelage. He quickly became her confidant, but very soon a teacher-disciple relationship started to unfold between them.
As seasons passed—kites in spring, fish in summer, bluebirds in autumn, and geese in winter—the siblings continued to exchange letters.
[1] Also nicknamed l'Umana commedia ("the Human comedy") is a collection of short stories by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375 CE). The book is structured as a story frame containing 100 tales told by seven young women and three young men; they sheltered in a secluded villa just outside Florence to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city. Boccaccio probably conceived of the Decameron after the epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353. The various tales of love in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic.
