Transmigration: The Farm Life of a “Fool”

On the eighth of November, it was a joyous day for Xu Ran and the rest. After four months’ traveling, they finally reached Yanzhou. When they saw the three words “Yanzhou” on the city gate, Xu Ran felt so happy that he wanted to jump up.

Arriving in Yanzhou  meant that they could finally have a good rest, have a good meal and there was no need to travel every day.

It seemed that the checking was extremely strict when entering Yanzhou. The carriage had to stop at the gate, and the horses had to be led in.

Lu Qi got off the carriage first. “Finally!” he exclaimed as soon as his feet touched the ground.

When they saw Lu Qi get out of the carriage, everyone else followed him. They led the carriage to line up and walked forward. After being checked by the guards at the door, they went into the town one by one.

Unexpectedly, Lu Qi met an acquaintance at the gate. A man in armor, with a sword at his waist. And he looked like a general.

The man saw Lu Qi and greeted him from afar, “Hey, military counsellor!”

Lu Qi smiled at him and said. “Commander Mu, why have you come to guard the gates yourself today?”

Commander Mu started to talk to him, “Ah! It was all because of the plague in the South. Some of the refugees fled north. We thought that no one of them could reach Yanzhou, but who would have thought that someone would take another way to Yanzhou. The Yan King thought that the refugees must be settled down properly, so he asked me to guard the city gate in person. But apart from the first few refugees, I never saw anyone else again. I thought something was wrong, so I reported it to the king. It happened that the king received a letter from the capital, saying that something had happened there and we must be careful. So the king commanded me to check the people who came to Yanzhou. That’s why I came here to check every day.”

After Commander Mu said this, he looked behind Lu Qi. There were four carriages and people standing beside the carriage. Commander Mu asked Lu Qi, “Master, Who are these people behind you? Did they come with you?”

There were some people else standing next to Commander Mu, and there were other people lining up next to them. Commander Mu was also King Yan’s trusted follower. Lu Qi went over to tell him the identity of Xu Ran and the other people.

Commander Mu was quite shocked to hear that and he quickly asked Lu Qi, “Master, we just stood here and talked and kept childe waiting. Will the Young Childe blame me for that?”

Lu Qi shook his head and said, “Don’t worry! He won’t blame you. I will not talk with you more for the time being. You can come to the palace to find me when you are free. I’ll take them to the palace first. The Childe grew up in the South and could not stand the cold in the North.”

Commander Mu moved aside quickly. “This way, please wait for me to have a drink with you.”

Lu Qi laughed and led his horse into the town.

Xu Ran and the other people, who were following behind Lu Qi, felt that Commander Mu was watching them constantly even when they walked far away.

Lu Qi led Xu Ran and the others straight to King Yan’s residence. King Yan’s residence was located in the middle of Yanzhou. It’s not far from anywhere else in the town and the position was excellent.

There were a lot of people passing by at the entrance, and there were only two guards. When Xu Ran and his four carriages stopped at the door, they attracted a lot of people.

The guard was probablynew here. He had never seen Lu Qi before, so he didn’t know him. But he spoke in a polite way.

“Did you stop at the gate to ente the King Yan’s residence? What can I do for you?”

Lu Qi also felt a little strange and said, “Just go in and announce that the master is back. We’ll wait at the door.”

The guard had already known that there was a Master in the King Yan’s palace, but he had never seen him before. Hearing his words, he quickly asked another person to report it.

“Please wait a moment. They’ve already gone to report.”

Lu Qi waved his hand and said, “Alright, just guard your door! I haven’t come back for the past few years. How come the gatekeepers are talking so deliberately?”

The man seemed embarrassed when hearing Lu Qi’s words, but he did not refute him and  he just stood aside.

The people who were watching around started to chatter.

“Hey, Master is back!”

As soon as the man said this, people started to approach Lu Qi. After seeing him clearly, they said, “It is really Master! Master is back.”

Someone started asking if Master had gone out before and why he didn’t come back for a few years.

Some also asked if Master has been married, his son has been waiting for Master.

Xu Ran touched his chin and thought  that Lu Qi might be quite popular in Yanzhou.

He was also very close to the people.

Lu Qi had already been talking with the people of Yanzhou who had come up to him. Some of them were probably his acquaintances, and Lu Qi could even call out many names. Xu Ran and the rest stood beside him and looked at it in amazement

The only person who didn’t care about the crowd was Du Xin. As soon as Du Xin arrived at the front door of King Yan’s residence, he started to look at King Yan’s residence and complimented it from time to time.

Xu Ran and the others didn’t wait for too long before the person who went to report came out. There was also a dignified man following him. You could tell by the pomp and circumstance.

“Alas!” King Yan came out.

“King Yan is out, King Yan is out.”

There was an inexplicable excitement in these people’s voices.

When King Yan walked down the stairs, the people were already kneeling below. “Greetings to King Yan!” They said loudly.

Xu Ran looked back at the people who were kneeling, then he looked at King Yan standing in front of him. With just a glance, Xu Ran was sure that Liu Tong was really King Yan’s brother because they are exactly alike.

Xu Ran did not kneel and salute, neither did Tangtang and Guoguo. Liu Tong and Baozi did not come out of the carriage. Xu Ran only clasped his hands to King Yan and said, “Greetings to King of Yan.”

King Yan looked at Xu Ran for a while and seemed quite satisfied. He nodded and said, “Since we’re here, let’s go in!”

Even his voice sounded like Liu Tong.

After King Yan finished talking to Xu Ran, he turned to the people kneeling on the ground and said, “Get up! There is no need to be so courteous. Everyone, please go ahead to do your own business! ”

What he said was quite effective. These people got up and left one after another. Some of  them passed by behind their carriages.

Lu Qi got up after the people left. King Yan walked over and said, “Finally!”

Lu Qi nodded in excitement.

Lu Qi was talking to King Yan, and by the way, he introduced Gao Quan to King Yan. Xu Ran saw that King Yan had no intention of paying attention to them for the time being, so he called the two children to him.

He asked them, “King Yan does look exactly like your Daddy. What do you think about this?”

The two children tilted their heads and thought seriously. After a while, Tangtang said, “Dad, let’s see how they treat us first. If they treat us well, we will stay here. If not, let’s find another place to live and take a look around the Yanzhou then go back.”

Xu Ran nodded after hearing Tangtang’s words and then looked at Guoguo. “Guoguo, what about you?”

Guoguo said, “Dad, I agree with him, but should we let Daddy and Baozi come down the carriage to have a look?”

After Guoguo said this, Liu Tong pulled back the curtain of the carriage and poked his head out, “Ran, It’s up to you! I’ll do what you say.”

After he said that, he handed Baozi out. Baozi was probably tired from sitting on the carriage. He was very sleepy. So he grabbed Xu Ran’s sleeve and and closed his eyes.

Xu Ran chuckled and touched his nose. Then he held Liu Tong’s hand to help him get out of the carriage.

“Brother, Brother-in-law, are these three my nephew?”

The voice behind them made everyone turn back and raise their heads.

Xu Ran and Tangtang Guoguo had already met King Yan before, so they had no expression. On the contrary, Liu Tong was a little bewildered when he saw the same face as his.

Xu Ran held Baozi in one hand and Liu Tong in the other. He stared at King Yan without saying a word, as if he was waiting for his response.

King Yan was looking at Liu Tong seriously. The dignity of a superior was a little oppressive to them, especially Baozi in Xu Ran’s arms. He couldn’t sleep well.

“King Yan, Baozi is still young,” Xu Ran couldn’t help but reminded him.

King Yan, who was reminded, was stunned and restrained his breath. He said with a smile, “Finally home. I wonder if you’re willing to recognize me as your brother?”

This was obviously said to Liu Tong, but Liu Tong did not answer him. Instead, he lowered his head, probably did not know how to reply.

Xu Ran held Baozi with one hand and he got tired, so he gave Baozi to Tangtang who was standing behind him and pulled Liu Tong into his arms in a protective manner.

Xu Ran said, “Tongtong, lift up your head. Whatever decision you make, we are all behind you.”

Liu Tong raised his head and looked at King Yan, then looked at Xu Ran. He shook his head after a while and said, “Ran, I don’t know. Can you let me think about it?”

Not only did Xu Ran hear this, but King Yan also heard it. A trace of disappointment flashed across his face, but he adjusted it wellquickly.

“Tongtong?Is this your current name? The name Father gave you is Yan Zheng. He called you Zheng, I don’t know if you remember it or not. But it’s fine if you forget it. After all, you were still young at the time, and I will also call you Tongtong! Tongtong, take your time. I won’t force you. We have plenty of time, and you guys must be tired now. Go ahead and have a rest! We’ll talk about it later.”

After talking to himself for a while, King Yan asked someone to take them into his residence.