Yan Kuan

"Eeh eeh..."

His chubby little hands strained to push away the face looming close. Since infants could not speak, all he could do at first was wail. Now, at least, he could make a few babbling sounds. At this moment, that was the only way he could express his displeasure.

The child's mother hurriedly shoved away the person trying to get close and kiss him. "You reek of smoke. Don't come near our son. Can't you see he doesn't like you?"

"Is the smell of smoke on me really that obvious?"

"I want to cover my nose. You're not allowed to smoke anymore."

"Okay, okay, okay. I'll quit tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll quit."

"If you can't quit, don't come bothering our son."

As the new parents' conversation entered his ears, the little baby instinctively shook his round little head in agreement. The smell of smoke really was awful, and smoking was bad for one's health, okay?

"Hehe, right, I had someone tell our son's fortune. He said our son would definitely be good at studying in the future, able to get into university and land an iron rice bowl. But for his name, he said it would be best not to include fire. He said our child lacked wood among the five elements."

"What nonsense about lacking wood among the five elements? That's all superstition, okay? This patch on my son's forehead looks like a flame. What's wrong with a name involving fire? His full name can be Yan Yan, and his pet names can be Huo Huo or Little Yan. They all sound great. If that doesn't work, he can take my surname, Xiao."

The little baby had just finished eating and was about to sleep when he heard his mother's words. His whole body jolted. Little Yan, Huo Huo, and even changing his surname to Xiao... The moment he recalled the information in his head, his head began to hurt. Why could he not escape this name? Even the homophone made his skin crawl.

"Eeh eeh..."

The little baby stirred uneasily in his mother's arms, seemingly trying to voice his dissatisfaction. His name had once been Yan Xiao. He had finally managed to live another life, and now she wanted to call him Xiao Yan? Why not simply go with 'Xiao Yan'?

"See? Our son is objecting too. What the master said makes sense. Honey, just listen to me. The master said our son lacks wood among the five elements. A single-character name: Kuan. Yan Kuan. Benevolence and kindness, wealth and abundance."

"Sigh! Fine. You little thing, you started going against your mother the moment you were born, huh?"

The little baby nodded repeatedly upon hearing that name. In the end, his mother naturally agreed. She picked him up and teased him in her arms. "Yan Kuan, Yan Kuan, little Kuan Kuan..."

"Eeya~"

The newly reborn Yan Kuan could only give a perfunctory response so he could sleep sooner, but that response made his parents even happier.

"Look, when I call him little Kuan Kuan, he responds. Our child is so smart."

"He's a baby. Whatever you say to him, he'll respond."

"Hehe, honey, look. The little guy is really lively."

"I think he wants to play again. Look at those little fists. They're so soft when you squeeze them."

If Yan Kuan's eyelids had not still been shut, he would have rolled his eyes by now. These two first-time parents were seriously going too far. Life was hard; the baby sighed. He was only a few days old, yet he was being forced to perform.

The rattle jingled by his ear a few more times. Though he desperately wanted to resist this teasing, he had figured out that these two first-time parents treated him like a toy. Unfortunately, he was too weak and could only let them manipulate him. So annoying.

Amid a stream of babbling sounds, Yan Kuan worked perfunctorily for a while before falling deeply asleep. Before his consciousness sank into chaos, he silently said in his heart, Hello, 1980.

1980, the Gengshen Year. The millennium of the twenty-first century was still twenty years away, while "Beijing Welcomes You" would not come until 2008, even later than the millennium.

"Son, Dad's going to work. Don't miss me too much!"

After the crib swayed, the door quietly closed. Yan Kuan, finally done with another forced performance, silently lowered his head to look at his pitiful little sparrow.

"Good thing it wasn't flicked broken. Otherwise, he can wait for me to pull his oxygen tube when he's older!"

Yan Kuan silently made up his mind. If some delightful scene of a father dying and a son laughing really happened in the future, it definitely would not be his fault. The culprit would be this unscrupulous father of his.

"Little Kuan Kuan, are you hungry again?"

A soft, sweet voice sounded behind him. The door opened again, and Yan Kuan's mother entered the room in a bright red long dress and picked him up. Her hands never stayed still, roaming all over him. She even stuffed his fist into her mouth as if she wanted to eat it.

Yan Kuan's mother was probably in her early twenties. As a first-time mother, she loved to play and enjoyed teasing him in all sorts of ways. She never knew when to stop either, tossing him around so much that he often could not rest. Still, considering that she filled his stomach every time, he decided not to hold it against her.

The red fabric brushing against his body was not very comfortable. Zhonghua had not yet taken off at this time, and conditions in every aspect were relatively poor. Food, clothing, housing, transportation—none of it was particularly good. But compared to earlier years, when even filling one's stomach had been a problem, things were already quite good now.

Yan Kuan's family's circumstances were average. The furniture alone showed that they could only be considered reasonably well-off. Electric fans, radios, thermoses, flashlights... all these things had distinct edges and a metallic sheen, more practical than beautiful.

Yan Kuan could not say he was disappointed with his home environment. After all, being able to live another life was a dream countless people could only wish for.

Once his consciousness had cleared, after a brief period of fear, bewilderment, and confusion, he had become ecstatic inside.

It was the early 1980s. If the events in his memories did not go wrong, then he possessed decades of foresight. Everything in this era was only beginning. Standing at the center of the storm, there were endless opportunities—even pigs could become flying pigs.

Yan Kuan had already imagined himself saying, with great swagger, "I have no interest in money." With his foreknowledge, he was basically cheating. Success should not be difficult for him. As for the problems brought about by all kinds of butterfly effects, he was confident he could resolve them.

Thinking this, Yan Kuan silently touched his forehead. A faint flame-shaped red mark glimmered softly, and a streak of firelight flashed through his eyes.

In this life, he was cheating too. With both foresight and supernatural abilities, even if some butterfly effect caused someone to make a move against him in secret, he could easily handle it. Perhaps his future would become the brilliant life of an urban soldier king.

As Yan Kuan indulged in his wild thoughts, his tiny body was suddenly lifted upward. His mother's voice rang out again. "You child, you're hungry again, aren't you..."

"(▽｀) This mom is a keeper!"

Yan Kuan raised his head. His body's instincts told him that he should eat more nutritious things. In the end, he could only follow his body's wishes and be a greedy little child.