A RECORD OF A MORTAL'S JOURNEY TO IMMORTALITY

Chapter 1 - The Village by the Forest

"Second Fool" opened his eyes and stared at the mud and thatch roof over his head. The quilt covering his body was a deep yellow color and had a musty smell, but it was so old that its original color couldn't be distinguished anymore.

Next to him lay his second brother, Han Zhu, who appeared to be in a deep slumber. Sounds of snoring intermittently floated over as he slept.

Five feet away from the bed was an earthen wall that had suffered from numerous cracks due to passage of time. From the other side of the wall came the nagging voice of his mother and occasionally the deep breathing of his father, who was smoking his pipe.

Second Fool slowly closed his eye, trying to force himself to sleep. He knew that if he didn't go to sleep now, he wouldn't be able to wake up early the following day, and if woke up late, he wouldn't be able to go up to the mountains with his good friends to gather firewood.

Second Fool's real name was Han Li. This elegant name was not given to him by his parents. When he was born, his parents had offered two pieces of cornbread to the village's Elder Zhang in return for giving the baby Han Li a second name.

(TL: "Second Fool" in Mandarin has a pleasing sound despite of its meaning)

When Uncle Zhang was young, he had attended school with the wealthy children from the city. He was the only one in the village to know how to read a few words, so more than half of the children in the village were named by him.

Han Li was called "Second Fool" by those in the village. Despite of his name, he wasn't stupid looking or foolish; on the contrary, he was actually the smartest person in the village. But just like the other children, aside from when they were home, nobody called him by his official name "Han Li". Instead, they called him by his pet name "Second Fool"

The reason why he was nicknamed "Second Fool" was due to the fact that there was already someone named "Fool" in the village.

But this type of nickname was nothing. There were children in the village named "Doggy" and "Dumb Egg". These names weren't nearly as pleasant-sounding as "Second Fool".

Because of this, Han Li had some consolation even though though he was not very fond of his nickname.

Physically, Han Li was very ordinary. He was tan and matched the generic descriptions of a child born in a farming community. Deep in his heart, however, he had matured faster than others of the same age. Ever since he was young, he had yearned that one day, he would be able to walk away from his small village and explore the fertile lands of the outside world that Uncle Zhang had always talked about.

Han Li had never dared to speak of his dreams to anyone else in the village because they would be deeply shocked. After all. leaving this place was a notion that even adults didn't easily think about, let alone a small child. Children around his age only knew how to chase chickens and pet dogs. They had never entertained the strange notion of leaving the village.

Han Li's family had a total of seven members., including two older brothers, one older sister, and one younger sister. He was the fourth eldest in his family and had turned ten this year. Together, they lived a hard yet honest lifestyle. Very rarely did they get to eat meat and fish, but the entire family was content with living with what meager resources they had.

At this moment, Han Li was hovering between a state of sleep and consciousness. As he slowly drifted to sleep, only one thought was on his mind: While in the mountains, he had to picked more red berries for him younger sister whom he doted the most!

The next morning, at noon, Han Li was shielding himself from the scorching sun overhead with the shade cast by a pile of lumber on his back. Wrapped around his chest was a pouch filled to the brim with red berries that bounced with each step as he walked home. He had no idea that at this moment, there was a guest in his home, a guest that that would change his destiny forever.