Nunu

"The Four Great Classics and other Ming and Qing novels had the greatest influence; they could best enhance my literary reputation and make the most money. But first, they were too long; second, the market needed cultivating; third, some of their contents were things I had never encountered, so I would need to buy related books as cover. Therefore, the most suitable works for now are those medium and short Tang Legendary Fiction stories, which connect seamlessly with this era. Once Tang Legendary Fiction cultivates some readers, I can write those long masterpieces. Later on, I can turn future history into novels, making it much easier to use poetry, allusions, and classical references."

After pondering it over and over, Fang Yun set his sights on The Story of Yingying, the most influential of Tang Legendary Fiction. The famous Yuan drama The Western Wing had been adapted from this novel, and its historical and literary status were both extremely high. Once it appeared, it would certainly cause a sensation across the present Saint Origin Continent.

The famous Qing Dynasty writer and literary critic Jin Shengtan had once selected the "Six Talented Scholars' Books," placing The Western Wing on equal footing with Water Margin, Records of the Historian, Du Fu's regulated verse, and the like.

"However, the original The Story of Yingying is too short, only a little over three thousand characters. It cannot make a book and won't fetch a good price. This short story ends in tragedy, and its plot does not suit the tastes of Saint Origin Continent readers."

"The adapted The Western Wing ends in a grand reunion. Since The Western Wing has the greatest influence and a stronger story than The Story of Yingying, I should use The Western Wing as the foundation. However, anything unsuitable for the Saint Origin Continent cannot be retained," Fang Yun thought.

Thus, Fang Yun began searching Strange Book World for novels or Yuan dramas related to The Story of Yingying and The Western Wing, then slowly pieced together a new novel himself.

The full text of The Western Wing was over fifty thousand characters long, but it was, after all, a Yuan drama. Turning it into a novel required cutting much of it.

Books in this era had only one hundred and sixty characters per side, and a page held merely three hundred and twenty characters. Fang Yun decided to compress it to around thirty thousand characters and make it one hundred pages long. In this era, that already counted as a long novel.

After an hour of busy work, Fang Yun took the essence from books such as The Story of Yingying and The Western Wing, removing or changing elements that did not fit the Saint Origin Continent, and thus wrote a new The Western Wing.

This story resembled the original The Western Wing, yet differed from it. It told of Cui Yingying, the daughter of an official, who was forced to marry the Left Prime Minister's son in order to save her father. Before the wedding, however, she met a poor scholar from a Cold Gate family, and the two fell in love. Later, the poor scholar passed the imperial examination as Zhuangyuan, competed against the Left Prime Minister's son in War Poetry, won in the end, and married Cui Yingying.

"A good-for-nothing taking down a tall, rich, handsome man and winning over a fair, rich beauty really is an eternal theme, from ancient times to the present, at home and abroad. Should I write an ancient-costume Titanic? Forget it."

Fang Yun could not help laughing softly.

A new copy of The Western Wing was stored in Strange Book World, and Fang Yun began grinding ink and writing.

Fang Yun named the poor scholar in The Western Wing "Fang Zhiyun." Cui Yingying's name remained unchanged, but the Left Prime Minister's son became "Liu Zizheng." Whenever he thought of Liu Zicheng's expression upon seeing this book, he wanted to laugh.

That way, without Fang Yun needing to explain too much, everyone would speculate that Fang Yun had suffered Liu Zicheng's oppression and humiliation, harbored resentment in his heart, and written this strange book based on his own experiences.

The entire book was in Strange Book World, so Fang Yun did not need to think at all. He simply kept writing on the paper.

Books of this era had no punctuation. For the first time, Fang Yun added commas, periods, and colons to a book. He did not add any other punctuation marks. In addition, he divided it into paragraphs, making the reading experience much better.

"To move people with the plot and astonish them with punctuation—if this book doesn't become popular, I'll eat my hat! The Confucian School here is far more open-minded than that of ancient Earth. Once they discover that this punctuation is more convenient than sentence divisions, they will certainly adopt it quickly, especially the military. Punctuation can minimize misreading and ambiguity, preventing problems with military orders. A novel does not contain much Literary Qi, but this book should at least be Prefecture-Reaching! Once it has circulated for a long time, it will surely become State-Ringing. Still, I must store the original manuscript properly this time."

Fang Yun wrote at lightning speed. Before he knew it, night had arrived. He hurriedly ate dinner, asked Yang Yuhuan to save him a late-night snack, and continued writing.

The night was already dark, but he possessed Night Vision. Darkness had no effect on him at all, and he still wrote swiftly.

Fang Daniu went to sleep before him, while Little Fox never woke up.

Late at night, Fang Yun finished his midnight snack and continued writing until dawn. He had written for a full twelve hours. Only when his arms ached so badly that he truly could not write anymore did he go to sleep.

After sleeping only three hours, he got up, ate breakfast, and continued writing.

Near noon, the fragrance of cooking filled the room. Fang Yun rubbed his sore, swollen wrist and set down his brush to rest.

Writing with a brush nonstop was exhausting. If Literary Qi had not been constantly nourishing his body these past few days, and if he had not been eating so well, he might have worked himself sick.

"Ying..."

Fang Yun looked toward the sound and saw that Little Fox in the bamboo basket had awakened. Her glossy black eyes watched Fang Yun, and she wore an innocent, adorable expression, looking foolishly cute.

Little Fox twitched her nose and kept sniffing. She turned her head toward the door, where a fragrant smell drifted in from outside.

Fang Yun smiled slightly. "You're awake? Don't tell me you woke up because you were hungry?"

Little Fox immediately looked embarrassed. She gently lowered her head, too ashamed to look at Fang Yun.

Fang Yun was astonished. Could this little fox understand human speech?

"Come on, I'll carry you to eat." Fang Yun spoke as he walked over.

Who would have thought that Little Fox would struggle desperately to run? Yet her limbs were like feet treading on cotton, utterly powerless. In the end, she could only curl up, looking at Fang Yun with frightened, pleading eyes, as if begging him not to hurt her.

Fang Yun slowly extended his hand and placed it before her without touching her.

Feeling that Fang Yun bore no ill will, the terror in Little Fox's eyes faded, though the pleading remained.

"If I wanted to hurt you, you would have died outside the city long ago. Could you still be alive now?" Fang Yun said.

Little Fox immediately showed a thoughtful expression, and the pleading in her eyes gradually faded.

Fang Yun reached out and patted her head. She looked unwilling yet helpless.

"Let's go." Fang Yun reached out to pick her up.

Little Fox did not like being held by Fang Yun and struggled with all her strength. Unfortunately, she was too small. Fang Yun could stop her struggles with one hand.

"If you keep moving, I'll throw you outside the city and let the demon chasing you eat you."

Little Fox's body suddenly trembled. She truly stopped struggling, then looked up at Fang Yun pitifully, tears actually glimmering in her eyes.

"If you behave, I'll let you stay here. Once your injuries heal, whether you leave or stay will be up to you. How about it?" Fang Yun asked.

Little Fox nodded instinctively.

Fang Yun asked with a smile, "Can you understand the words of our Human Race?"

Little Fox froze for a moment. Her dark, bright eyes rolled lightly once, then she firmly shook her head again and again, as if saying she could not understand.

Fang Yun burst into laughter at the foolish fox.

Little Fox instead looked confused, as though saying, I already shook my head. Why don't you believe me?

"From now on, I'll call you Little Silly Fox," Fang Yun said with a laugh.

To his surprise, Little Fox's expression changed at once. She angrily cried out twice, objecting to the name.

"You won't tell me your name, so who can you blame? Little Silly Fox."

Little Fox grew anxious and hurriedly cried, "Nunu! Nunu!"

"Your name is Nunu?" Fang Yun found it strange that a fox would have such a name, though it did sound rather pleasant.

Little Fox immediately nodded happily, even looking a little proud.

"Nunu, let's go eat."

Nunu nodded vigorously. Her two eyes shone exceptionally brightly.

Fang Yun supported Nunu in his left hand and reached for the door with his right. Who would have thought that Nunu suddenly gave a soft cry?

Fang Yun looked down and saw that Nunu had become shy again. The snowy white fur on her face seemed to have turned slightly pink, and she covered her face with both little paws.

Fang Yun could not understand why Nunu was embarrassed. After taking two steps, he realized that his left hand felt warm and seemed to be supporting Nunu's belly.

"Could she be embarrassed because of this?" Fang Yun immediately moved his fingers, rubbing her belly.

"Ying ying..." Nunu's voice was both shy and urgent, with a trace of grievance.

Fang Yun gave a light cough and stopped teasing Nunu as he headed toward the main room.

The layouts of ordinary homes in this era were basically identical. The houses were divided into east and west wing rooms, and both wing rooms had earthen heated beds.

Between the two wing rooms stood the main room. Near the gate were two stoves, one on either side. They could be used for cooking and frying food, as well as heating the house in winter. At the innermost end of the main room stood the dining table and other furnishings, serving as both sitting room and dining room. It was rather cramped.

Fang Yun guessed that this Fragrant Fox was not an ordinary animal, but likely a demon. However, since the Temple of Sages in Dayuan Prefecture had not suppressed her, that proved she was harmless, so he brought her to eat without worry.

Yang Yuhuan was very happy to see that Little Fox had awakened. She said to Fang Yun, "You stayed up late last night, and you have been writing all morning. I was afraid you would not eat enough, so I specially stewed an extra chicken. Ever since becoming a Licentiate, your appetite has grown too. I could not judge how much you needed."

Nunu looked curiously at Yang Yuhuan, then surveyed the main room, her gaze carrying a hint of wariness.

"Thank you, Sister Yuhuan," Fang Yun said.

"Why thank your own family?" Yang Yuhuan said.

When Nunu saw the clay pot holding two chickens, her eyes lit up, and her gaze seemed glued to it.

"Let's all eat together. Aunt Jiang, prepare a small bowl for Nunu. From now on, it will be hers alone," Fang Yun said.

"Alright."

Fang Yun set Nunu on the ground, then placed an empty little bowl in front of her.

Nunu obediently sat before the little bowl and looked up at Fang Yun like a child, though there seemed to be a trace of drool at the corner of her mouth.

The four of them took their seats one after another. Yang Yuhuan first placed a chicken leg in Fang Yun's bowl and said, "All four chicken legs are for you."

Although Fang Yun's status had changed, he did not look down on Mother Jiang or Fang Daniu. In his eyes, the two were still relatives and neighbors. In the future, they might no longer dare eat at the same table as him, but since they were sharing a table now, he would treat them as guests.

"One chicken leg each—not too many, not too few, just right. Sister Yuhuan, divide them up," Fang Yun said.

"Alright." Yang Yuhuan distributed chicken legs to the other two.

"Young Master truly is a great benevolent man." Mother Jiang smiled so widely that she could not close her mouth.

"Hehe." Fang Daniu grinned foolishly.

Yesterday, neither of them had dared eat much meat. They had only picked up a few bites with their chopsticks and kept eating vegetables.

Ji County was ultimately a poor county. Grain was plentiful enough, but meat remained rather extravagant.