Chapter 3: Starting Anew
A few days had passed since Fan Ling died and transmigrated into the only daughter of the almighty Duke of the First Rank, Fan De. At first, she was wary of her surroundings and cautious of everything around her whilst trying to fit in with the new environment. However, as time passed, she realized that she really loved this place - a lot more than the modern era in which she was born.
Although trying to fit in with the ancient environment was still hard, Fan Ling was starting to adapt to the new sights and knowledge that she was learning.
According to Zhang Xiu, her mother, she never really liked learning and would always try to find a way to run away from her tutors. This was even worse when she chanced upon the son of the General of the First Rank, who was famously known for his handsome appearance and reputation as an undefeatable general of this generation.
Instead of trying to absorb knowledge about the world and improve herself, she was always busy doing her best to look beautiful in front of the man despite the fact that he never paid her any attention. As her mother, Zhang Xiu was extremely embarrassed.
However, Fan De was always giving way to Fan Ling and spoiling her while also saying, "This is just a phase. She'll forget about him soon. It's just a childhood crush."
Only now, did Zhang Xiu regret listening to the words of her husband and not keeping a tighter rein on her daughter. Zhang Xiu did not want to be too strict on her daughter for she always knew that not everyone could follow the ways of the book. With the accident of Fan Ling though, she was beginning to understand that her daughter should at the very least gain more knowledge in understanding the heart of people.
Of course, Zhang Xiu had long given up and still did not force Fan Ling to learn anything as she had just started to recover from her injury.
However, Fan Ling surprised her when she asked, "Mother, can I get a teacher to teach me how to read and write?"
Naturally, Zhang Xiu agreed. After all, what parent would not want the best for their child? Thus, she went to her husband and requested him to invite Scholar Yuan, the same teacher as last time.
While Zhang Xiu told her husband though, she was also praying internally, 'Hopefully, Scholar Yuan won't hold onto grudges and decide to not teach Xiao Ling. If Xiao Ling has no teacher, she'll be an idiot for life.'
Thankfully, for whatever reason, Scholar Yuan accepted the request to teach Fan Ling once again and he soon appeared a few days later. With that, a tea ceremony was conducted to have Fan Ling accept Scholar Yuan as her mentor and she started learning how to write and speak traditional Chinese.
Due to her hard work, Fan Ling began to show a steady increase in her knowledge of the world and language.
Although they were all Chinese, most parts of modern China spoke Mandarin or Cantonese. On the other hand, traditional Chinese was almost or all wiped out with only a few old people left that still retained knowledge of that old language.
This was probably why Zhang Xiu thought that her daughter would remain an idiot for a lifetime with no person by her side to take care of her. In modern China, Fan Ling was famed as an intellectual, knowing multiple languages and having won the Nobel Peace award. However, in this ancient age, her most academic and formal Chinese would still be simplified Chinese and sound absolutely strange to the rest of the people belonging to this world.
Thankfully, Fan Ling was a fast learner and she was soon able to read books without the help of Scholar Yuan soon after starting lessons with him. At the same time, she no longer spoke in short sentences nor did she say words that practically did not exist in their ancient language.
With the new knowledge that Fan Ling gained from learning traditional Chinese, she finally started trying to go back to what she loved: plants.
The hall that belonged to Fan Ling was very big and there were many empty spots full of grass that were basically given basic and minimum care. Fan Ling, the previous soul, did not seem to have a love for flowers or plants as much as the normal person and had just told her servants to clear the area, leaving many empty plots.
To Fan Ling, this was a very good thing because this made her job of creating a new garden or farm easier for her. However, this also made her job harder because she did not know what plants were common at this time and what plants existed in this time period.
Even though Fan Ling had ventured through the entirety of the estate, she had yet to leave the estate. At first, she felt very curious about the outside and wanted to leave, but Zhang Xiu did not let her take a stroll outside because her mother felt that with her injury, she should not be walking around.
In the end, Fan Ling was unable to satisfy her curiosity about plants in this ancient world and could only ask Scholar Yuan for books on plants.
Except, his response to her request, gave her a tiny bit of a surprise, "If you want knowledge on plants, you should ask Physician Jia."
"Physician Jia?" Fan Ling asked with a tilt of her head at the time.
Scholar Yuan nodded and then left the study room soon after making his statement.
While still thinking about the recommendation from Scholar Yuan, Fan Ping entered her study.
When Fan Ping saw her in deep contemplation, he gave her a pat on the head and asked, "What is Xiao Ling thinking about?"
Being forcibly pulled out of her thinking space, Fan Ling saw her big brother and answered, "I asked Teacher Yuan to give me some books on plants, but he said that it's better if I ask Physician Jia instead. Da-ge, do you think you can ask Physician Jia to lend me some books?"
After the accident, Fan Ling suddenly turned incredibly obedient and also seemed to become smarter overnight. At first, the three brothers were suspicious of her. After all, she had a record for creating chaos.
Once Fan Ling turned twelve years old and started wreaking havoc just to gain the attention of the son of the general, she also wrecked their close relations as siblings. However, with this accident causing her to become more understanding and have more humility, the brothers became close to her again. After all, they were family - they could always forgive each other as long as they did not cause each other too much harm as there are always limits to how negative a person can be.
With this, Fan Ping was more than willing to ask Physician Jia for some books on plants.
However, this also got Fan Ping curious, "Why does Xiao Ling want to read about books on plants?"
"I want to grow a garden, Da-ge. But, I don't know what plants are good and how to take care of the plants," Fan Ling answered, although she was half lying and half telling the truth.
Fan Ling was half lying because she knew how to take care of all plants on earth. Even if she had never seen them before, due to her very strong observing skills, she was able to tell what plants needed and how they differed from others. At the same time, she was telling the truth because she really did not know what plants were able to grow in this climate, and she needed to know the environmental requirement before throwing a plant on the ground.
"Xiao Ling, you can just have the gardeners do the work. That's what they're here for," Fan Ping told her, though he was not really trying to undermine her wish.
In fact, Fan Ping was happy that his sister was trying to be productive after all the years of being an idiot. However, she was after all a spoiled girl; would she really know how to raise plants?
"Da-ge, there's no satisfaction in seeing plants raised by others. I'll be much happier if I'm able to see plants that I personally raised be able to bloom during their flowering season," Fan Ling stated with a shake of her head while speaking in a tone that seemed to be as though she was trying to teach a lesson.
"Alright, alright, whatever Xiao Ling says, brother will do," Fan Ping gave a wry smile and patted her on the head.
"But, what is Da-ge doing here?" Fan Ling asked with a tilt of her head, looking incredibly cute to her brother.
"Physician Jia just told mother and father that you have recovered well. I remember that you've been wanting to go out of the estate. Brother will be visiting a store belonging to our family. Would you like to come also?" Fan Ping asked with a gentle smile on his face as he stared at her.
'Going outside? Of course, I'll come!' Fan Ling internally exclaimed. 'How can I not after being stuck in the same place every day!?'
Naturally, Fan Ping was able to see the excitement on her face, so he said, "Alright, get ready then. We'll leave in an hour."
With that, Fan Ping left her study whereas Fan Ling ran to her bedroom to get ready to go out with her brother.
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