Chapter 5: Tian Yuan Continent
“Sister Hong Hua, sister Dong Mei, thank you for your troubles.” Looking at the the 18 year old girls, Jian Chen thanked the two quietly.
These two maids were the servants of the Changyang family and were specifically meant to cater to the everyday needs of Jian Chen. Since Jian Chen was always by himself in his room, his mother Bi Yuntian had hired two servant girls to wait upon him.
Hearing Jian Chen, the two girl laughed sweetly and then said, “Fourth master, by all means, don’t be so polite. We are just doing what we are supposed to do.”
“That’s right, fourth master, please refrain from being so courteous in the future. If the elders hear about the treatment you’re giving us, then we may be penalized harshly.” The other servant girl had said.
Jian Chen smiled, “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t talk like this if others were around.” Jian Chen was extraordinarily intelligent, and the Changyang mansion had strict rules regarding statuses. If the fourth master was to be heard saying such words, then it would be sure that the two girls would not be punished lightly.
After washing his face, Jian Chen departed from his room and walked toward his mother’s room as usual. The distance between the two wasn’t far; it was only 20 meters away from his own room.
Shortly after entering the room, Jian Chen saw his mother at the dressing table putting on makeup with the help of her own two servant girls standing next to her.
“Xiang’er, you’re here earlier than usual today.” With a glance at Jian Chen, a gentle smile full of love and adoration could be seen.
Seeing that expression of love on her face, Jian Chen’s own heart became soft. In his previous world, Jian Chen had lost both parents when he was small and thus had never known about motherly love, or even experienced it. But when he had came to this world, he had clearly felt the power of this motherly love. And so because of that, he had started to treasure this feeling of love slowly over time.
Jian Chen walked up to the side of his mother and rubbed his stomach and said with an embarrassed laugh, “Your son is hungry!” After the rigorous exercise from last night, he had been feeling the slight pangs of hunger.
Bi Yuntian placed a gentle hand on top of Jian Chen’s head and laughed, “Then in a moment mother will take you to the dining hall to eat.”
“Yea!” Jian Chen nodded his head, a look of satisfaction on his face. In his heart, he secretly enjoyed the loving concern his mother had shown him.
Pausing for another second, Jian Chen opened his mouth again, “Mother!”
Bi Yuntian looked at Jian Chen warmly and said, “Xiang’er, if you have something you want to say, say it!”
Jian Chen hesitated for a second before recollecting his inner thoughts. Looking at his mother again, he said, “Mother, could you please tell your child what the outside world is like.”
Hearing Jian Chen, Bi Yuntian was clearly shocked by his question. Opening her mouth, she asked, “Xiang’er, could it be you’re interested in the outside world?”
“Your son is only curious!” He answered.
Bi Yuntian laughed, “Xiang’er, the outside world is extremely vast and also extremely complicated. The matters of the outside world could not be made clear through words alone. If you want to learn about it, then it would be best if you went to the library and read a few books on it.” Even as she voiced her answer, Bi Yuntian’s face had looked a little bit helpless. “But Xiang’er, you still don’t know how to read, even if you go to the library, you wouldn’t be able to read any of the words.”
“Mother, then why don’t we bring some people to teach me how to read?” Jian Chen’s voice contained some dissatisfaction.
Giggling, Bi Yuntian said, “Xiang’er, you are only 2 years old. Your mother has never heard or seen a 2 year old child learn how to read before. Even in the entire Tian Yuan continent, this type of situation has never happened before. Generally speaking, the earliest any child has ever started to learn to read was when they were around 4 to 5 years old.”
Jian Chen understood instantly, “Mother, your son wants to learn to read. Could you please find some people to try and teach me still?”
Bi Yuntian was speechless, but a happy smile crept up on her face nonetheless. “Xiang’er, learning to read is an exhausting task as well as being extremely boring. You must understand that there are many different words in the continent. This isn’t something that can be learned quickly, are you sure you want to start learning now?”
Jian Chen nodded his head in confirmation, “I am!”
Hearing Jian Chen’s answer, Bi Yuntian’s smile became even more splendid. With a happy laugh, she said, “If this is what Xiang’er’s request is, then mother will support you entirely.” Turning her head, she called out, “Xiao Liu! In a moment, go to Lore City and hire the most prestigious teacher and bring him to the mansion so he can teach my Xiang’er how to read”!
“Yes, my lady!” The servant girl who was combing Bi Yuntian’s hair agreed respectfully.
“Xiang’er, it’s been a decent amount of time, let us go to the dining halls before the both of us starve.”
The day went by quickly, and when the second day came, the teacher Bi Yuntian had hired arrived at the mansion and began to teach him to read.”
And so from that moment on, Jian Chen would spend his daytime earnestly studying how to read. Since he retained some mental fortitude and knowledge from his memories of the past. Learning the written language of this new world was not all that difficult. Combined with the teacher who was putting his heart and soul in teaching him as well as his amazing memorization capabilities, learning to read was extremely fast and easy for him. In just a short span of three months, he had already mastered the most basic words of the continent.
Jian Chen’s learning rate had made the teacher exclaim in astonishment. Immediately after Bi Yuntian had learned that he had learned most of the written language in three months, she couldn’t believe it. In the end, she had put Jian Chen in a test before she could accept the fact. If one wanted to read and write most of the words used in the continent to the extent Jian Chen had, then one needed to spend at least 2 years. To have Jian Chen accomplish this in 3 months while it took most 2 years, not even any of the geniuses could claim to have accomplished this feat.
This achievement quickly reached the ears of Jian Chen’s father. Changyang Ba had then personally paid a visit to Jian Chen about it.
“Xiang’er, you have endured much in such a short amount of time, it’s time to relax for now. Let your father give you a reward; since you have painstakingly learned to read in these past few months, I don’t know what reward Xiang’er would want though.” Changyang Ba’s face contained a smile as he looked down at Jian Chen as he spoke. Having such a genius for a son, he was extremely proud of himself and cared much more for Jian Chen than any other child automatically.
Hearing this, Jian Chen’s eyes brightened and thought for only a few seconds before responding, “Father, would you allow your son to go to the library and read some of the books there so I can get some experience and learn even more.”
Changyang Ba’s eyes brightened as he looked at Jian Chen with gratification. With a loud laugh, he said, “This is no problem at all, Xiang’er. You have a heart that desires to improve itself, and your father is proud of this. I approve of your request, the library will be free to you whenever you desire.”
“Thank you father!” Jian Chen’s face exuded a happy expression. To be able to enter the library was an achievement that Jian Chen could truly be happy about. After all, he had understood that the library wasn’t a place anyone could walk in freely. One had to be 6 years old or older and had to be directly descended from the Changyang clan in order to enter. Of course, if one received the permission from the clan leader then the requirements could be waived.
Soon after, Changyang Ba began to dote upon Jian Chen for a while before departing from his room. After he had left, Jian Chen wasn’t able to sit in his room any longer. Immediately exiting his room, he headed toward the direction of the library. After studiously learning how to read for 3 months, it all led up to this moment of being able to enter the library and look up information pertaining to the outside world. Even if there wasn’t much details on the outside world in the books, Jian Chen could always go ask his mother. But the books definitely had more details than his mother as well as being quite comprehensive. As a result, Jian Chen had placed more importance on the books.
The location of the library had already been answered for Jian Chen a long time ago; it was in the back of his family’s courtyard in a large pagoda. When Jian Chen entered the courts in the back, he immediately felt the presence of many experts concealed in every directions and were staring at him with viper like eyes.
With his head high and proud, Jian Chen pretended that he didn’t sense the experts and walked further into the tower. If he let other people know that he could sense people that were looking at him from concealed areas, then a series of troublesome questions would follow. He was a 2 year child after all without any knowledge about martial arts.
Changyang Mansion had many direct descendants, but not many people were heading toward the library. So the only people Jian Chen had seen were the guards that protected the area, and almost no other clan member.
Jian Chen quickly reached the doors to the tower before stopping to lift his head up to see the extremely large board hung above the doors of the tower. The words “Book Pavilion” were written in fancy writing, with 2 guards standing below it. When he looked at the two guards, he could tell these guards were definitely not lacking in strength.
Waiting for the gates to open, Jian Chen then walked in directly without being obstructed by the two guards. They were almost like woodcarvings that stood motionlessly on the side with their backs straight. Even when Jian Chen had appeared, the two did not even greet him.
As Jian Chen entered the inner tower, a long and narrow corridor greeted his eyes. It was daytime on the outside, and light shined down beautifully, leaving a sight like none other. On the walls of the corridor, a bright moon pearl was hung and gave off a light to illuminate the hallway.
The length of the corridor was quite long, before finally splitting into two paths. Jian Chen estimated that both paths followed the opposite sides of the tower before finally rejoining again after a distance.
“Fourth master, the clan leader has said you have the authority to access the left side of the tower.” An elderly voice called out. Coming out from the shadows slowly was a tall figure.
Jian Chen turned around after hearing this; although the light in this part of the tower was dim, he could clearly make out the appearance of the figure in the midst of the shadows. It was an elderly figure with white hair and wrinkles all over. Wearing a silver chang pao that was devoid of any other colors, even still he was relatively normal looking, no one would suspect he wasn’t anything more than an ordinary elderly man.
No matter how much Jian Chen looked at the old man, he couldn’t see anything but mediocrity. Although he still didn’t dare underestimate the old man. It was his inner instincts that told him that this old figure was an expert with extraordinary strength. The strongest man he had seen since he had entered this world was his father Changyang Ba, but it was impossible to measure his father to what Jian Chen was feeling from this old man.