Tian Long, oh Tian Long, you have left me quite the burden, i still hope that all that was happening to be just a dream or a fantasy scenario, i had created in mind or something like that, this world wasn't something a normal person like me can even dream about coping up with .
I involuntarily looked at the bed of straws that i currently sat on, the shabby looking hut actually didn't look that much different from the apartment i used to live in before being kicked out, other than the fact that he lacked of every human necessities and had a hole almost bigger than my head where a family of rodents were currently nesting in it, i'm already at odds with that Deacon Lu, irreconcilable, it wasn't bad, sigh .
I wasn't wealthy or anything before i come to this world or this timeline, in fact i was quite broke, my name before this happening was Ian Vertizal, i was 24 years old, 10 years older than the current Tian Long, i dropped out of high school after my parents died ironically in a car accident, they too were hit by a speeding truck .
I was orphaned early on in my life, i dropped out of school to be able to support myself after being given the right to choose from either showing that i'm able to take care of myself or get thrown into an adoption center,i chose the first option due to already aware of the things that happened in those centers, you see i was allergic to touching, so i ended up working from young age instead of finishing school .
My parents were lonely souls that came from a messed up family situations and backgrounds, so i didn't have relatives or anyone that my responsibility could fall upon or at least be able get some help from .
My parents left me enough money to buy myself some time, not much but at least enough to hold me up from begging on the street for sometime, but instead of cherishing that amount of money, i decided to use it on gambling due to being taunted by the quick gains and the profit that i could be able to amass if i were to win that is .
But i didn't and as if i caught a disease the first time i lost, i became addicted to gambling, vowing to regain all the money i lost, then i vowed to get half, then i began praying for even the opportunity to gain a quarter of my original money, then in two days, all i had left was the rent money of this month, i disciplined myself every time i felt my hand itching to use that money to gamble, soon and luckily i get rid of that habit, then a friend of my father contacted me .
Offering me a job in the company, he and my father worked in, offering me a job that was meant to be given to guys with special circumstances like myself, the wage was meager, but it was constant at least, but there was a condition to keeping that job, i need to what i was told while looking like i wasn't even in the room and don't even respond if someone were to talk to me .
I thought about what kind of a job that was, then only after accepting the offer, did i understand what special circumstances actually meant, i thought that it meant people like me whose parents died, but he meant a whole another level of special circumstances, i was a janitor or more like a mascot that made the company look good, the reason he set before was him wanting to keep his job while giving me one .
Even though i felt somewhat down about this, the almost 17 years old me thought that i might as well try, what the worst thing that could happen even if they were to discover that i was faking it for the job, i agreed and he took care of everything that was needed .
For 7 years, i kept on doing that job for 7 years straight, the man who contacted me got promoted twice and i got my salary boosted as well, so everything was doing okay, until a woman that worked in the reception caught my attention and interest, i was able to get her number and contacted her from an unknown number to show my interest in her .
After 1 year of talking on the phone, she suggested that we meet up and go on a date, i was so happy about this that i completely lost my mind and agreed to do so, her shocked face when she saw me coming towards her was priceless, at first she didn't even recognize me, but after reminding her of who i was, she just nodded her head and suggested that we start the date .
We had fun that day, at least that was what i interpreted the expression on her face to be saying, but all that was her acting nicely towards a colleague, i even stupidly told her about the fact that i was completely sane in mind, she laughed it out at first, but after she confirmed that i was really sane, she decided to finish our date with a dramatic end and she told me that it was better for both of us to not contact each other again .
I remembered that i cried myself a river that night, even though i was 23 years old at that time, that was my first time falling in love, yet it ended in ruin, the next day i was approached by the police due to her telling on me, luckily no lawsuit or a charge was put against me in court, but the incident was highlighted by the press .
Resulting in my social life dying before it even existed, i was then given a few offers to do a few interviews, but even though they offered to pay me handsomely for these interviews, the reason was simple actually, i know that what i did was wrong and that i should have done better, but i didn't have someone to teach me how to do so .
So i just decided to take responsibility for my actions and didn't agree to do those interviews, but the influence of that incident kept coming after me, forcing me to be fired from over 13 jobs that year alone .
The incident with the truck happened after i got fired from my job for the 14th time, i might have saved those guys from death, but maybe i too was saved from suffering anymore by that truck hitting me, i hope that incident will also help in clearing my public image a bit .
After being reminded of my dark past, i couldn't help but shook my head at the fate of both me and the previous owner of this body, we both really were unfortunate souls, at least he was somehow excepted from dealing with what i was forced to deal with in the last year back in my old world, i guess that meant more suffering for me, yay .
But i couldn't help but find it a bit hard to believe that he was actually being plotted against and almost got killed for 4 taels of silver, what made it even worse was the fact that he had already decided to hand those 4 taels of silver up, that Deacon Lu was truly a vicious person, i might tell on him to the Law Enforcement Elder tomorrow .
That guy even sent his lackeys to come and get rid of me while i was recuperating, no dying seemed to be more fitting, i now understood why my body was hurting all over just now, those 40 lashes were even given to me with even a little bit of mercy .
The guy who was tasked with giving the lashes was an instructor of martial arts, the one who was responsible for training us in Martial arts by the order of the Family, if a few good seedlings were found, they would be given the chance to join the ranks of the guards, bidding the life of servitude goodbyes, luckily i seem to have caught his eyes while he was training us, at least the original Tian Long seemed to have did so .
Out of pity, he still adjusted the lashes to do the least amount of damage without raising any suspicions from the people present, his name was Lu San, for that alone i'm deeply indebted to him, so the death of the original Tian Long and me appearing here still completely fall on that Deacon Lu .
At me reaching that conclusion, i saw that my vision suddenly turned red, then a second later it returned back to normal, but i found that mysteriously i was now actually gritting my teeth, i was spooked out due to thinking that even after my reconciliation with the fact that this was my new life from now on, i was actually not in control of my body, i began to think that my body was haunted by the ghost of the latebTian Long .
I sensed sweat forming on my back and forehead at the thought of Tian Long changing his mind and wanting his body back, but 5 seconds, 10 seconds later, half an incense stick later, nothing happened, i exhaled a long breath of relief, after calming myself down, i then began to think what exactly happened just now .
I felt a mix of negative emotions washing over me like waves, Sadness, Frustration, Dissatisfaction, Resentment, all were suddenly released the moment i mentioned that Deacon Lu .
It just happened again, it was really related to him, i should refrain from doing so until i make sense of what was going on here, now unto a more serious, i first ate the little piece of jerky that was left, even though the rodent had probably contaminated it with germs, from the memories i had in mind, it was either eating this risking to get sick, or staying hungry for who knows how much .
Poverty really stripped people out of their privilege to choose, i eat the jerky and almost felt as if i was chewing a shoe made of leather, this alone gave me a clear idea about how long was this piece of jerky being kept for .
I then bent down and caught the taels of silver that were now on the floor and put them back in the cloth pouch and held it in my hand, for some reason i now felt like i was holding a heavy mountain in my hand, those 4 taels of silver was the base that i would be building a new life for myself in this world on .
Those 4 silver taels would allow me to leave this Family and start my new life here as a free person, being a slave was something that i just couldn't accept, just as this thought crossed my mind, i again felt my vision began to darken exactly like before, then another thought surfaced out of nowhere and appeared on my mind .
That thought was accompanied by the will and the intent of the late Tian Long, apperantly what i had inherited wasn't just some memories, but his intentions and plans for what was he going to do with those 4 taels of silver, he had the intention of using those 4 taels to join a Martial arts Dojo that was suggested to him by the instructor Lu San, the Solid Rock Fist Dojo .
I involuntarily let out a chuckle at the childish thoughts of this little guy, he wanted to be a Martial artist for what to be the hero who saved the beauty, wow i'm really beginning to understand what most of these terms meant, i kept hearing them back in my old world, sometimes i was forced to sleep in the streets and was forced to see some lfe actions where they were using such terms to ridicule one another, i thought they were complimenting each other before .
I also saw one or two of those swindlers wannabe martial artists who were tricking people out of there money by showing them Martial Arts manuals and swearing that once a person able to understand the Martial arts inside those books, that person will be able to stand unparalleled in the world, i know because i was one of their victims .
At the lowest point of my life, i was looking for any way to get my life back together, so i bought one of those Martial arts manuals, a book that had the title Smashing Stars, Eating The Sea .
The title intrigued me, but then he offered to teach me how to master this Martial arts, he instructed me on what to do, we were still in the open and people were passing by us doing weird movements, some began to take pictures and some began to take a video of it, remembering how they looked at me, my body was shaking from discomfort .
But i still was intent on doing what he instructed me to do, but just as i did as he told me to, i farted, a loud one that shocked all the people in the park, i secured a place to sleep in for that night at the police station, after what had happened, i beat the swindler silly, too much that he would at least need 4 or 5 days to recover from his injuries, he didn't even have a shred of martial arts in him, i confirmed that when i was beating him without him even able to block even one punch from me .
Later i was released the next day, due to him dropping the charges, otherwise he might be caught by the police himself for fraudulently .
Solid Rock Fist Dojo, there was no way that the people at this dojo weren't swindlers, swindling people for money, there was no way possible that i will spend all the money that i had left to barley be able to secure a life for myself, investing in a thing as useless as this .
The Lu Family had a rule that those who want to get out of the family, must buy their freedom, the price was 3 silver taels for anyone that hadn't spent more than two years in the family, those who had spent less were asked to pay 2 silver taels, it was also quite a simple procedure, pay the money and take your things and leave through the front gate .
Even though the memories i inherited about all of this were somewhat a bit fuzzy, i can tell that i hadn't spent more than a year in this family, meaning that i would be able to buy my freedom and also and still have two silver taels to spare, even though i hadn't finished school, i can tell that this was the right decision to make, but what with the nagging feeling i currently had in my head .