Chapter 6: Ramblings about the Future

  As the sun sets in the west, the fiery clouds reflected a reddish glow on half of the sky. Zhao Fei dragged his tired body back home with very little spirit.

  When Duan saw Zhao Fei coming, she was very happy and ran over to him with a jump. She grabbed his arm and shook it constantly.

  "Brother... brother... you're finally back. You weren't home today, and I was so miserable. There's no one to play with me, I'm so bored all alone. Now that you're back, you have to play with me." Duer said with pleading eyes, pouting her small mouth to prove just how pitiful she was.

  Looking at the lovely Duor, Zhao Fei was really helpless. A day's training had drained all of Zhao Fei's physical strength, and he himself didn't know how he managed to hold on until the end.

  Looking at Zhao Fei's exhausted appearance, Li was heartbroken and slowly walked to Duo'er's side, gently saying: "Duo'er, don't disturb your brother, you see your brother is very tired now. Let your brother go rest."

  "But..." After listening to Mrs. Li's words, Duo'er looked very unwilling, but she couldn't go against her mother's wishes.

  "Mom, I'm fine." Zhao Fei said stubbornly, forcing out a painful smile that didn't look like a smile at all.

  She glanced at Zhao Fei and then at Li, and Duer could only pout and say: "Okay, brother, you go rest. Duer won't disturb you." After finishing speaking, she took another glance at Zhao Fei, her expression somewhat despondent.

  "Fei'er, how are you? Let's just forget it. Seeing you like this, your mother is heartbroken." Mothers always feel heartache for their children, seeing Zhao Fei in such pain, Li Shi couldn't help but feel the same way and tried to comfort him with great reluctance.

  After listening to Li's advice, Zhao Fei lifted his spirits and said firmly: "Mother, I'm fine. I don't want to be a burden to you and Father. I want to be the man of the house. I will persevere for my own sake as well as to better serve you and Father!"

  Looking at the exhausted Zhao Fei, Li felt heartbroken. But there was nothing she could do, looking at Zhao Fei's determined expression, Li felt both relieved and heartbroken at the same time. She reached out to touch Zhao Fei's pale and thin face. "This child has finally grown up, has his own thoughts now, and is no longer someone who can be swayed by just a few words. It seems that the last time he fainted had a great impact on him."

  Just as Zhao Fei was talking to his mother, his father, Zhao Hu, also walked in from outside, looking weary. He came to Zhao Fei's side and saw how tired he looked, and couldn't help but ask with concern: "How are you, Fei? Can you still manage?"

  He looked at his father, Zhao Hu, and nodded firmly. "Don't worry, Dad, I've grown up now, I will definitely persevere like a man, and I won't give up halfway."

  "Ah, be a man, your dad supports you." Zhao Hu said with a relieved face, patting Zhao Fei's shoulder.

  "Hey, you..." Li cut in.

  "What's wrong with me? My son is right, he has grown up. Once he has his own thoughts, as parents we should support him, do you want to spoil and take care of him for the rest of your life?. If you always spoil him, he will never grow up. Since Fei'er has made up his mind, let's work hard." Zhao Hu said solemnly for once.

  "Don't worry about me, I know what to do." Zhao Fei nodded in response. Since he had already confirmed that he was in a chaotic world, Zhao Fei made up his mind.

  "Alright, go cook first. Fei'er, you go rest for a while, I'll call you when the food is ready." Zhao Hu let Li Shi return to the house to cook, and at the same time, he also let Zhao Fei enter the house to rest. Zhao Fei was indeed tired, nodded slightly, and turned back into the house.

  Because he was really too tired, Zhao Fei lay on the bed and fell into a deep sleep. When Li came to call Zhao Fei for dinner, it was already very dark outside.

  "Fei'er get up and eat. Otherwise, the food will get cold." Li called out softly to Zhao Fei, who was fast asleep, and said to him in a soft voice.

  Zhao Fei rubbed his dry eyes and followed Li out in a daze. On the table, only one set of bowls and chopsticks was left, apparently for Zhao Fei alone.

  Zhao Fei didn't think much and finished his meal hastily. Then Li said to Zhao Fei, "Fei'er, go take a rest."

  Zhao Fei was really confused and tired, so he didn't say much, just nodded and said: "Okay, then I'll go rest first."

  Lying back on his bed again, Zhao Fei felt extremely tired, but he didn't fall asleep immediately. Instead, he fell into deep thought.

  "I've really returned to the end of the Han Dynasty, back to an era of war and strife, where lords vie for power. An era where human life is worth less than a dog's. Isn't this the very era I yearned for? Before, I couldn't stop fantasizing about what it would be like if I were to return to the Three Kingdoms. But now that I'm really here, I don't feel anything. No excitement, no joy, only deep concern."

  "What should I do? Take advantage of the situation and rise to become a warlord? It's indeed tempting, but that thing is too tiring. With my abilities, I don't have military power, intelligence, or charisma. What can I use to rise up? Even Liu Bei relied on his uncle's reputation. What do I have? Besides, I'm not even surnamed Liu. Should I just find a strong general and tell him: 'I think you're great, follow me.' Wouldn't that get me killed?"

  "Or go to rely on a certain lord? But I don't have any remarkable advantages, what can I use to attract people's attention? Should I just rush to Cao Cao and say: 'You will be the northern overlord in the future, take me in!' Wouldn't that make me a madman. And wouldn't I get beaten out by a mob of people?" Zhao Fei thought about it more and more, his head hurt and he became more and more spirited.

  "Now thinking of vying for hegemony among the lords is still a bit far off. Just talking about the imminent Yellow Turban Rebellion, I'm already overwhelmed."

  "It is said that the Yellow Turban Rebellion has spread to eight major provinces, including Qing, Xu, You, Ji, Jing, Yang, Yan and Yu. I should be in Ji Province now, which should be one of the main battlefields. And this is also where the Taiping Sect's power is strongest. It is said that the medicinal water I drank when I was sick won't happen to be from the Taiping Sect, will it? What if I get implicated and suffer as a result?"

  "What should I do? Joining the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is definitely not possible. Joining the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would require several heads to be chopped off. That's not an option. How about taking advantage of the Yellow Turban Rebellion's rise? But what about the capital, my family is just a peasant and doesn't have any wealthy patrons to sponsor us, how can we raise an army? This is very difficult but it's worth trying. After all, I'm also a time-traveler. If this doesn't work out, then I'll have to go and surrender to one of the warlords."

  "It just so happens that I have a Zhao Yun by my side who can be used to great effect." As he thought this, Zhao Fei's plan landed on Zhao Yun. "Who is Zhao Yun? He's my brother, my idol! With him covering for me, everything will be fine and he'll definitely take the lead. Then I'll just slip away quietly. But it seems that this isn't very righteous of me." (This guy actually knows that this isn't very righteous!)

  "It's really frustrating to think about, if only it were as simple as playing a game. Just conquer the vassals and recruit the military generals. Whoever doesn't obey, just send in the troops and wipe them out. But now I'm just a useless cannon fodder. (Are you even considered cannon fodder? I reckon even cannon fodder is stronger than our poor Zhao Fei classmate, at least physically.) In the past when I watched those transmigration stories, why did they make it look so easy to unify the country and kill Cao Cao, with Liu Bei fleeing in disarray?"

  "When I used to play games, I always fantasized about going back to the Three Kingdoms era, returning to that era of hot blood and achievement. I hoped to use my own hands to fight for a world, to establish an empire of my own, and achieve great things. But after really living in the Three Kingdoms for so long, I found that I actually yearn for a peaceful life, free from worries. To be able to live a simple life with my family, watching my little daughter grow up happily. Watching her become a big girl, getting married, finding a good husband for her, and always being carefree. But in reality, I'm just an otaku, what great ambitions can I have? The peaceful era has worn away my passion, worn away my aspirations. But facing the impending chaotic world, where can I find peace and tranquility? How can I bring happiness? As a useless person like me, when chaos really arrives, I won't even be able to protect myself, how can I protect my family, how can I protect Doudou?"

  "There were many natural disasters before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and it seemed like there was a great drought. The thirty households in our village relied on food from outside to survive. If there really is a severe drought and no crops are produced, how can we farmers live? This problem seems even more serious, and it's right in front of us, needing to be solved immediately. We can't just rely on this grain to survive, we need to find other resources. But what else can we find? I'm still a time-traveler, but why did my time-traveling end up being such a failure?"

  "Alas... really so entangled." Zhao Fei tossed and turned on his bed for a long time, unable to fall asleep.

  "Never mind, I'd better not think about it anymore. What's the use of thinking so much here? The sky will fall and someone will hold it up. Let's just take one day at a time. I should focus on what's in front of me first and improve my physical condition. Then I'll go find someone to teach me how to read. Being illiterate is really scary, this is the way to go. The problem is who can teach me? Almost all the villagers in Zhaojia Village are farmers, how many of them can recognize characters? Ah, yes, Old Master Village Chief, isn't he a learned man? Tomorrow I can ask Feng Ge about it, he's been in the army and has seen a lot, maybe he can do it. Hmm, okay, time to sleep."

  Maybe Zhao Fei really didn't think about it anymore, maybe Zhao Fei was really tired after exercising all day. Anyway, Zhao Fei fell asleep in a daze. During this time, Zhao Fei had a dream. He dreamed that he had traveled back to the modern era and returned to his computer. The familiar screen displayed the game interface of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 10". Suddenly, he felt the computer fly away. Zhao Fei quickly got up and chased after it. All he could hear was...

  Plop.

  "Ah~~~" Zhao Fei rolled off the bed in a very pathetic manner.