Bird Dude Nie Bufan

Nie Bufan dimension traveled. He dimension traveled to an unknown ancient mountain village. In truth, while it was called a village, only an old man lived there with a couple of fruit trees and a few plots of farm fields. 

No illustrious background, no powerful support, no wealth for him to squander…..even if Nie Bufan transmigrated he was still a luckless small fry. The only thing to feel lucky about was that he inherited the small mountain village from the old man at death’s door——no that didn’t make sense, let’s try that again——from the old man before death’s door——still didn’t make sense, again——from the old man who was close to the end of his lifespan. 

Unfortunately, Nie Bufan knew not a wit about farming. Not only that, he was completely penniless and relied on the old man’s inheritance (300 pounds of rice grains) to survive with difficulty. 

Nie Bufan, this person, was lazy, slightly an idiot, thought quite highly of himself and was a natural airhead. But he had a positive side, and that was never considering himself to be lazy, slightly an idiot, thought quite highly of himself and was a natural airhead. To put it simply, he was a pure optimist.

He thought to himself, since he didn’t know how to farm or plant fruit trees, then he’ll open a chicken coop. That’s right, a ‘chicken coop’ (TN: in Chinese the word for chicken coop sounds the same as a brothel) that specialized in laying eggs, hatching chicks, and continue laying eggs. Then he’ll bring it to every restaurant and wine house to sell, and be a live chicken live (?) egg supplier. It was a good thing he had experience raising a dog (?) before, so raising a couple of chickens wouldn’t be a problem. 

As for the source of the chickens, the truth could no longer be verified. Rumor had it on a certain spring morning, Nie Bufan woke up to a yard full of chickens who looked like they had migrated (?) from an unknown far away place.

Later, Nie Bufan finally found an answer. This small mountain village that could only fit one person and a flock of chickens was in fact a piece of land that had been cursed. Any bird that flew over this village must land and become a chicken. It was not known whether this land had always been so, or becoming so after Nie Bufan’s arrival, anyway the situation was so.

Aside from this, as a transmigrating individual Nie Bufan did have something extraordinary about him (TN: a play on his name ‘bufan’ which means extraordinary in Chinese). He had undergone a certain change. The only use for this kind of change was to have his chaotic life become more chaotic. As for what exactly was the change, we’ll bring that up later. 

With a flock of chickens, Nie Bufan began his chicken raising life. He had a scientific method for raising chickens——free range. Every morning he opened the gates and let them out to find food. In the evening he’ll yell for them to come back. This went on for a few days, and the flock of chickens actually increased in size rather than decrease. 

But soon Nie Bufan discovered a serious problem. The flock had quite a number who were right delinquents. They didn’t know to find food themselves, and specially targeted the old and weak to steal from them. Everyday puffing their chests and strutting around arrogantly. This made Nie Bufan rather unhappy so he decided to pick them out from the flock and fence in another piece of land for them to make trouble in. Occasionally he’ll use dog training methods to drill them so that as they became more valiant they should also be equipped with a soldier’s (?) discipline.

After who knew how long, Nie Bufan’s chickens finally increased in scope, chickens for laying eggs and chickens for chicken meat. In addition, there was also a smaller flock of fighter chickens, their mission was to watch the house and guard the village, preventing wolves and expeling tigers. Because of their shocking fighting strength, Nie Bufan generously exempted them from their egg laying responsibilities——they were roosters, roosters, roosters!

A few months later when there was not much food left, Nie Bufan decided to bring some chickens to the city to expand his business. Before the old man died, he had told him that over the hill there was a Xishan City. But Nie Bufan was not willing to climb over a hill, and did not have much curiosity either, so since his arrival he had not even gone once. In actuality, a straight roadway between the village and Xishan City would only be several hundred meters, only a tall hill with twisty paths separating the two. 

When Nie Bufan arrived at Xishan City it was nearing noon——the sun had been high up before he began his journey, completely lacking in any awareness of his status as a poor farmer. On his back was a basket of chickens and in his hand was a leashed fighter chicken. He walked in an unfamiliar and ancient city, looking around with high interest and examining the buildings and people wearing ancient dress. Of course, he himself was also wearing ancient dress, but just not mainstream for the times, in fact there was a suspicion that he was wearing underclothes only. Not to mention he was walking a chicken on a leash so head turns were 10 out of 10. 

After walking around a bit, he finally recalled that he had business to attend to. At this time, the restaurants were at their busiest and no matter how airheaded he might be Nie Bufan knew that no one would have the time to talk business with him at the front entrance. So he circled to the back and coincidentally met a fat uncle managing a few servants to carry some vegetables inside. 

“Why are you so late today? Don’t you know the restaurant is in a hurry to use the ingredients?” Fat uncle scolded the vegetable farmer on the side. 

“Apologies, apologies, we were held up on the way, there won’t be a next time.” The farmer bowed in apology. 

“Hopefully you keep your promises, if there is a next time we’ll change to another supplier.” 

 “Yes, yes, it definitely wont happen again, definitely.” 

Taking advantage of the lull, Nie Bufan walked over  and said: “Excuse me, don’t know whether your restaurant accept chickens?” 

“Chicken?” Fat uncle paused, examining this young man who wore a common rough cloth shirt like an acrobatics street performer. But his features were rather attractive and charming, skin also quite pale. He completely did not resemble one of poor origins. Only his outfit was too lacking in thought and manners. And also, what was on the leash he was holding? A chicken? 

“You don’t mean this chicken, right?” Fat uncle pointed at the large rooster with a violent gleam in its beady eyes. 

“No, no.” Nie Bufan shook his head and smiled, “this is my bodyguard, not for sale. I want to sell the chickens in the straw basket.” 

“….……”

“……….” 

Nie Bufan saw that everyone was looking at him like they would look at aliens and asked again: “What do you say? Uncle, do you want to look at the goods?”

Fat uncle hesitantly said: “Alright, let me see.” 

Nie Bufan put down the straw basket and lifted the lid, inside there were 5 hens. 

Fat uncle lifted one up to look at, nodding: “En, this chicken is quite sturdy, very good. How many do you have?”

“A large quanitity. I can supply longterm and the price will also have you satisfied.” 

“Oh?” Fat uncle looked at the other chickens and said, “all the chickens are as sturdy and fat as these?”

“Of course, definitely no defective goods.” 

Fat uncle thought for a bit and said: “We have a supplier already but the quality of your chickens are too good. How about this, I will go discuss with my boss. You come in and wait for a bit.”

“Fine.” Nie Bufan followed fat uncle into the backyard. Unlike the noisy entrance, here it was much more tranquil. 

Not long, fat uncle led a man over who appeared to be around 23 or 24 with handsome features and smiling lips, like a graceful and elegant Gongzi (TN: son of an official or nobility). 

“Young man, this is our boss who was coincidentally in the restaurant today. You’re quite lucky.”

“Hello.” Nie Bufan nodded at the person. 

The man raised an eyebrow, likely startled by his strange outfit, and asked after awhile: “How may I refer to little brother?” 

“Nie Bufan. The ‘Nie’ in ‘to whisper news’ (TN: surname that means to whisper), the ‘Bu’ in ‘not of the ordinary’ (TN: bu = no or not), the ‘fan’ in ‘not of the ordinary’ (TN: fan = ordinary, common).”

“……A good name.” The man’s lips seem to have twitched a bit, and said, “I am Zhang Junshi. I heard from uncle Pang that your goods are very superior, may I have a look?” 

Nie Bufan did not much like his genteel and erudite way of talking, and directly lifted the basket in front of him. 

Zhang Junshi looked like a young master of an affluent family but he was completely unafraid of dirty or smelly matters. Rolling up his sleeves he lifted a chicken from the basket. The hens were very discontent for receiving such treatment this many times continuously and began to struggle. On the side the rooster became dissatisfied and let out Ooo Ooo causing the hens to stop. 

Zhang Junshi had a look of astonishment, looking at the rooster he asked: “This is?”

“My pet, lady Flower.” 

“………” Zhang Junshi

“…..…” Uncle Pang 

The rooster shook its colorful feathers, puffed out its chest and looked arrogantly at them. 

“Little brother’s hobbies are quite singular.” Zhang Junshi’s lips twitched again.

“Thanks for the compliment.” Nie Bufan was actually quite pleased with himself. After all, to be able to train a pet dog was nothing, only being able to train a clever fighter chicken could be called ability. 

Zhang Junshi likely realized talking proper business was much more practical so he asked: “Where is little brother’s home located? Is it far from Xishan City?”

“A bit far.” 

Zhang Junshi furrowed his brow. 

“About an hour’s walk.” To someone who drove to work and home, and never took the stairs if there was an elevator like Nie Bufan, it was indeed far. He had not walked a distance this far before. 

“……..” Zhang Junshi looked at Nie Bufan and thought privately, this person was not here to make a sport of him, right? He restrained himself and asked, “how much do you plan to sell your chickens for?”

“It can be 2 coins less than your original supplier’s price.” Nie Bufan didn’t know the actual market price so he replied in that way. Besides, his motive was not to make big money, just enough to support himself. 

“I need you to supply 200 chickens a month, is that doable?” 

Nie Bufan rubbed his chin, shaking his head: “Our village only began raising chickens and the scale isn’t too large. The first month I can only supply 150 but two to three months later the amount can be increased.” 

Zhang Junshi thought for a bit, the several hens he just examined had sturdy frames and shiny feathers. The muscles were also quite firm, it was indeed high quality.

He said: “How about this, you first supply for a month, if the taste and texture made from your chickens are of high quality then in the future we can accept your supply longterm.” 

Nie Bufan nodded in agreement, adding: “Right, our village has no carts, it would be best if you sent people to come pick them up. You’ll arrive after going over that hill, it’s not far.” 

Who just said not long ago that it was ‘a bit far?’ Zhang Junshi’s lips twitched once again. 

“Fine. Tomorrow I will bring people over to have a look, if there’s no problem I will have people go pick up the goods.” 

“Alright, take these 5 first.” Nie Bufan happily patted the basket.

Zhang Junshi nodded and had uncle Pang go bring over the payment, a total of 55 coins, one chicken only worth 11 coins. It was indeed cheap. 

Nie Bufan did not mind too much, playing with the coins of ancient times. 

Zhang Junshi thought this person was quite interesting. He had the appearance of a pampered young master but he was doing business like chicken selling. And wearing…….hai, let’s not mention it.

“Ah, right, do you take eggs? Our village produces a lot of eggs, the price is cheap.” 

Zhang Junshi nodded: “Fine, it is quite convenient. Tomorrow when I have a look I’ll decide on the amount.” 

“You are extremely welcome.” Nie Bufan smiled brighter than the sun. It dazzled Zhang Junshi so much that he had to squint his eyes.

“Hai, right, I have yet to ask, what is your village called?” 

Nie Bufan was silent for awhile before saying solemnly: “Chicken Nest Village.” 

 “………”