The Trip Heard 'Round the World

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I was born in 737 in a small village just outside of the great city of Chang'an. Right now it is the year 756 and the city is absolutely gorgeous. There are markets everywhere with beautiful purple silk, lots of food, and rice. The buildings are enormous and elegant. Our government has kept us protected, but I sense trouble brewing in the the office. The new guy, what's his name, An Lushian has just become general and I have a bad feeling about him. Nowadays everything revolves around the monasteries. Growing up my parents were Confucianists, but wanted me to follow the new trend of Buddhism. Anyway, growing up I always wanted to be a scholar official, so my father sent me off to school and I studied so hard for my exam. I passed the first one but failed the second and had to go back home to see the disappointment on my father’s face. In the end, he gave me most of the extra money he had and I became a merchant selling anything and everything from silk to gold. I have become so profitable that I was able to buy my parents a new house and started to travel with luxury goods like necklaces and precious stones. I trade across the newly opened silk, in order to find even more profitable goods. I want to travel throughout the city and possibly open a couple shops in order to get some different materials. So long everyone!

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