Mundane Life - 379

After a few minutes of silent eating, the old man spoke again.

"So, why did you leave this Yang Lang city?" The old man asked.

"I'm a wanderer. Even Yang Lang city was nothing but a brief stop." Zhou Fan answered.

"I see." The old man nodded. "In that case, I'll have to bother you and ask about your travels some day."

"That's fine." Zhou Fan answered.

Zhou Fan's first workday went well, though there weren't many people who even entered the library.

"It seems that as time passes, fewer and fewer people read books at all, much less come to a library." The old man said at lunch one day.

"Why?" Zhou Fan asked.

"It's just that nobody cares about in-depth knowledge of the mortal world. I bet you this place would be packed if it held martial arts or techniques, but it merely holds mortal knowledge." The old man sighed.

"Even fewer people come at this time of year, when the blue flower sect begins to recruit people." The old man added.

"The blue flower sect?" Zhou Fan asked.

"It is the sect that oversees the surrounding kingdoms. It takes up a third of the entire empire. When the blue flower sect begins recruitment, thousands of young people, from 5 years old to 20, pour over there, hoping to join." The old man explained.

"It's rumored that the sect master of the blue flower sect recently broke into the soul formation realm, but there is no actual evidence. If it is true, then the blue flower sect will not merely span a third of the empire. In fact, it may even begin to oversee more than a single empire." The old man added.

"The girl you met yesterday will soon set off to participate in the selection exam." The old man remembered.

"Will she enter?" Zhou Fan asked.

"This old man doesn't dare to claim I can accurately guess, but in my opinion, she won't." The old man said.

The old man looked Zhou Fan up and down. "You seem pretty young yourself. Do you plan to try and enter the blue flower sect?" The old man asked.

"I'm a bit older than 20." Zhou Fan said.

"I see. I had guessed so." The old man sighed before standing up.

"Time to get back to work." He said as he left.

Zhou Fan got up and began to do his job. When he had nothing to do, he would sit down and read some of the books. He limited himself to a mortal's ability since he planned on staying in the city for a while.

Even after an entire day passed, he had not finished an entire book. A week passed. Nothing changed around Zhou Fan and within the library.

He had been getting paid, though not much, and had needed to find a bank to put his money in.

He did not plan on buying a house or living anywhere for the time being. He would continue to sleep in the small woods.

A month passed, but nothing seemed to change. Zhou Fan had completely settled into his job. 

"Hey. We have a room in the library that's been empty for a while. Since you seem to enjoy your work, I was wondering if you'd want to live there." The old man stopped by and asked one day.

He did not know about Zhou Fan's living situation, but felt that Zhou Fan was worthy of living in the room.

"Sure. How much would it cost?" Zhou Fan asked.

"It's not much. I'll just take it out of your paycheck. It is a completely empty room, so you'll have to bring or buy all the things you want in it." The old man answered.

"Alright, I'll move in tonight." Zhou Fan said.

"Good." The old man smiled before walking back to the first floor.

Zhou Fan left work early in order to purchase items for his room. He bought some carpet, as the floor in the room was concrete, a bed, pillows, blankets, a chair, a desk, and a lamp.

It did not take him long to move in, especially since he paid someone to move his stuff in the room.

The room was on the first floor of the library in the back. It was reachable by going through a storage room, though only people who worked at the library would enter the storage room.

Thus, Zhou Fan spent his first night on a bed in a long time. The next morning, Zhou Fan went to his station early. He had a key to the library now, but he did not plan on opening it early. There was no reason to.

Even at its current opening time, nobody came for nearly 3 hours.

When the old man arrived at work, Zhou Fan was reading a book.

"Up and early I see. Admirable." He chuckled as he walked past the second floor.

The day, the week, and the month went by smoothly and calmly. At some point in that time period, the girl that introduced Zhou Fan to the library returned with dejection.

She had gone to the blue flower sect, but did not pass the examination.

"The blue flower sect mostly consists of girls, with very few boys. Even then, I still failed to get in". She complained to Zhou Fan with her head on the table. Zhou Fan nodded and continued to read.

"Are you even listening? Why are all you nerds like this? Always reading books. Can't you at least comfort me. Offer to take me to dinner or something." She said angrily.

Zhou Fan nodded and continued to read.

"Was that a nod? Do you want to take me to dinner?" She asked excitedly.

Zhou Fan nodded and continued reading.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" She asked.

Zhou Fan nodded and continued reading.

"What? Then why are yo—." She said before pausing.

She got up and smacked the book out of Zhou Fan's hand.

"What was that for?" Zhou Fan asked.

"I've been talking to you." She said.

"Oh. Sorry, I tuned you out." Zhou Fan said before grabbing the book and sitting back down.

The girl angrily went downstairs without even speaking a word.