Chapter 007: Swearing Brotherhood in Ningxue Peach Garden, Not Sharing a Single Incense Stick at Wagang
Name: Zhang Min
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Occupation: Actress
Note: By the time you grow up, she will have grown old too.
Who needs your reminders, what a lousy system.
He always felt the daily explanations were somewhat unreliable.
He still had basic common sense.
In this country, men come of age at eighteen, but the legal marriage age is twenty-two.
By the time he’s old enough to marry, this stunning beauty will be in her forties.
In ancient times, girls married in their teens; by forty, they were practically grandmothers.
Zhang Min was chatting with friends when she suddenly noticed a delicate little child, eyes brimming with tears.
At twenty or thirty years old, few normal women could resist an adorable child.
Curious, she crouched down and asked, “Where are your parents? Why are you crying? Don’t cry, don’t cry, auntie will buy you candy.”
“I’m not crying. The wind and sand are too strong—it’s just irritating my eyes,” Liu Jing explained. Although his Mandarin was a bit rough, it didn’t stop him from understanding.
Zhang Min pursed her lips, what an amusing child—you certainly have a flair for drama.
Aunt Liu hurried over, “Hello, I’m Liu Xiaoli, this is my son, Liu Jing. I’ve seen you in ‘Fight Back to School’; you’re even more beautiful in person than on TV.”
“I’ve seen it too,” Liu Jing added. Last year, the welfare center played that movie often. Back then, he was dazed and barely paid attention.
“Hello, hello, you’re very pretty too,” Zhang Min said, not as a compliment, but genuinely surprised.
Aunt Liu’s social skills were top-notch, far better than Teacher An’s.
In no time, they were chatting and laughing as if old friends.
Liu Jing squinted, lost in thought.
This so-called artistic atmosphere seems to require acting after all.
Being a child comes with many inconveniences, Sister Li...
The three of them came along, though it wasn’t really a visit to the set. As soon as the break ended, they had to leave.
Nobody dared to speak to Zhou Xingxing; he seemed as if someone owed him money—who would dare approach?
On the way, the young aunt whispered mysteriously, “Wood, you owe me a red envelope. Their crew is recruiting child actors to play Su Can’s children. Soon I’ll bring you there. Aren’t you curious about filming? This time, you’ll get a real taste of it—seize your screen debut.”
“The fee covers that,” Liu Jing said with his hands behind his back, walking between the two.
“Haha...” Aunt Liu laughed heartily.
---
The two of them took Liu Jing shopping again—asking prices without bargaining, trying on clothes without buying—until nightfall, when they finally found a place to eat.
The next morning, before the alarm even rang, Liu Jing’s internal clock had already awakened him.
The two aunts had stayed up chatting late and were still sound asleep.
Liu Jing got out of bed, dressed himself, roughly washed his face, and began practicing standing posture.
As the alarm sounded, the two sleeping beauties woke up.
“Does he do this every day?” the young aunt yawned. She’d only heard about it before, but now she’d witnessed it firsthand.
“Rain or shine, never misses a day,” Aunt Liu said without surprise.
“Sis, if every child were like Wood, raising kids would be so much easier,” the young aunt sighed with envy.
“Easier, yes, but it loses a lot of joy. When you have children, you’ll understand,” Aunt Liu shook her head with a sigh.
After the sisters finished getting ready, the young aunt suddenly noticed Liu Jing engrossed in a hefty volume of *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*.
His earnest focus didn’t seem fake.
“Brother Yi’s sworn brother Zhang Fei was killed; Brother Xue was furious and led troops,” the young aunt sat beside Liu Jing, reading the chapter title, and couldn’t help but ask, “Wood, do you understand what you’re reading?”
“Sort of,” Liu Jing replied nonchalantly.
The young aunt didn’t believe him. “It’s full of archaic characters; you probably don’t really read it, just enjoying the story.”
“That’s you. This is already in vernacular,” Liu Jing said disdainfully. Was it true that beautiful women were generally less educated?
The young aunt was offended, feeling looked down upon.
She pointed with slender fingers, “How do you pronounce this character in ‘the mission’s edict’?”
“‘Ji’—means to give or deliver,” Liu Jing said, staring at her vividly painted red nails—quite flashy indeed.
“Eh...” The young aunt persisted, flipping two pages and pointing again, “What’s this ‘Ling Ying’?”
“Yiling Camp, it’s Yiling,” Liu Jing avoided answering further, hoping it would end.
But the young aunt wasn’t done; she snatched the book and began reading every character carefully. She hadn’t been so attentive even when reading *Dream of the Red Chamber*.
Being stumped by a three-year-old bruised her pride.
Soon she found a character she didn’t recognize. “Wood, what about this ‘Dan’ in ‘vanguard Pan Zhang’?”
“Don’t know,” Liu Jing said without looking, fearing the conversation would drag on endlessly.
He’d checked the dictionary before but only to compare ancient and modern forms. He didn’t recognize many ancient characters, let alone now’s.
Modern script had far more characters than the pre-Qin era.
The young aunt was unlucky; the few words she picked just happened to be ones he knew.
Feeling triumphant, she said, “Ha ha, you don’t even know these characters and still say you understand.”
“Not knowing a few characters doesn’t stop me from understanding,” Liu Jing’s gaze seemed to regard her as foolish.
---
The young aunt’s mouth dropped open; her laughter abruptly stopped, her lips unable to close.
Aunt Liu was tidying up, shaking her head, wondering who the real child was.
Unable to save face, the young aunt placed her delicate hand on the page and asked, “What’s this chapter about?”
“You don’t recognize the characters? The title is quite clear,” Liu Jing frowned. Women were troublesome—whether grown-ups or little ones. In his memory, many women clung to the prodigal heir, only discussing transactions, not feelings.
“I...” The young aunt clenched her teeth. “Wood, I’m giving you a chance to rephrase.”
Liu Jing hoped she would take him to various film crews. If he visited sets like *King of Martial Arts: Su Qi’er* and a couple more, the system might upgrade.
With 5,000 points of artistic energy, he could tour the *Three Kingdoms* crew, then return to *Su Qi’er* for a cameo—sure to level up.
You scratch my back, I scratch yours.
With this in mind, he sighed, “Guan Yu died, Zhang Fei wanted to avenge his sworn brother, and he died too. Liu Bei mobilized the whole nation to avenge his brothers.”
“That’s it?” The young aunt had never read *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*; of the Four Great Classics, she had only read *Dream of the Red Chamber*.
“That’s it,” Liu Jing confirmed.
“Then why do you sigh when you read? Isn’t avenging normal?” The young aunt looked disdainful. After all, he was just a kid and didn’t understand.
“Liu Bei, as an emperor, was wrong to do that. But as an elder brother, it was very fitting,” Liu Jing said with complex feelings. The prodigal heir had sworn brothers too, some of whom might have stabbed him in the back.
“You little brat, what do you know? Better to learn about the Peach Garden Oath than the Wa Gang incense ritual,” the young aunt thought, surprised. This kid was truly extraordinary—most adults wouldn’t think that deep.
“Wa Gang?” Liu Jing was puzzled.
“Ha ha, I’ll tell you. During the Sui and Tang dynasties...” The young aunt beamed, finally getting a chance to show off her storytelling skills, the result of listening to countless tales.
By the time Aunt Liu finished tidying up, the young aunt was still eager.
Liu Jing sighed inwardly: novels are more exciting than history, but reality surpasses novels.
“Wood, you have quite the gift for language. A three-year-old reading *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*—why not let Professor An teach you French?” The young aunt stretched lazily, unconcerned about revealing too much skin.
“No time.”
“Hehe, Wood, if you call me ‘aunt’ one more time, I’ll teach you English. English is the world’s universal language; once you learn it, you’ll fear nothing traveling the world,” she said with a smile.
“I’m not interested in foreign dialects,” Liu Jing refused.
“You don’t know anything. Japanese is just a dialect. If you want to learn Japanese, that’s fine. When you’re a teenager, watching films...”
“Zhou Wenqiong...” Aunt Liu interrupted sharply.
The young aunt stuck out her tongue, cheeks flushed.
Why did chatting with this little guy always make her forget his age?