“Oh, I see,” Shen Cui comforted him, “I’ll tell grandma not to buy them next time.”

Shen Cui was about to warn him not to spit it out, but before she could come up with an excuse, she heard a loud “gulp.” Mu Er Pang, dissatisfied with the taste of the “sugar pill,” had already swallowed it.

Well, the child might not be very talented, but he was tough and easy to fool! If it were a smarter child, or someone like Mu Yunchuan, Shen Cui would have had to come up with a whole set of explanations to deceive them.

For the rest of the time, Shen Cui waited quietly for the pill to take effect, while also genuinely worried about any adverse reactions.

The mother and son stared at each other with wide eyes.

They exchanged looks for a long time until Mu Er Pang got tired of being stared at, and the matter came to an end.

Shen Cui asked the system again and learned that the efficacy of the pill was determined by the individual’s constitution, lasting anywhere from half an hour to a day. She didn’t keep staring at Mu Er Pang and turned to do her own thing.

The house was so dirty that there was nowhere to step. The only thing visible was the tables and stools in the hall that Li Shi had helped clean.

She went to the yard to fetch well water and found tools like a broom that the original owner had casually thrown in a corner, and started cleaning.

Shen Cui was accustomed to thinking while working. She thought about her current situation—

Although the Mu family’s house couldn’t compare to those in later generations, the several tile-roofed houses were newly built, and the household items were complete. The large iron pot in the kitchen alone was a symbol of a well-off family in the village.

Her cheap husband, Mu Cheng, was currently missing. In the original book’s plot, he didn’t appear again later, so he must have really met with foul play.

Although the original owner was born a farmer’s daughter, she didn’t do any productive work and didn’t know how to farm or raise chickens. She had always relied on Mu Cheng to support the family.

With no income coming in now, but fortunately, there was still some silver at hand—after deducting the part spent on seeing a doctor and taking medicine, as well as the two taels of silver and several dozen copper coins sent to Mu Yunchuan and the five taels returned to her family, there was still more than five taels left.

The original owner was a frugal person. Based on her previous standard of living with Mu Er Pang, seven or eight taels of silver a year were enough.

Short-term food and drink were not a problem.

But the difficulty lay in the fact that the task issued by the system now was on the path of studying.

Studying in this era was no different from burning money.

Like the original male lead Mu Yunchuan, who was favored by his teachers as soon as he entered school and had his tuition fees waived, but even so, the annual cost of studying would be at least five taels of silver.

As for Mu Er Pang, who had contrasting talents, naturally, he couldn’t compare with his older brother. The cost… Shen Cui dared not think about it now!

But this expense couldn’t be cut. It was not only because of the existence of the system but also for her own life safety!

Oh right, the main task also gave a set of introductory reading materials.

Shen Cui took a look.

[Item Name: Introductory Reading Materials]

[Item Description: Children’s enlightenment reading materials of this world, including “Three Character Classic,” “Thousand Character Classic,” and “Hundred Family Surnames.” After reading, there is a slight random increase in IQ, EQ, imagination, memory, or charm.]

Another genuinely good thing, but it also had a random gain.

With a thought, Shen Cui switched to the store page again.

Sure enough, there was also an option for [Advanced Enlightenment Reading Materials] in the store, which could significantly increase IQ and memory. However, the price was completely unaffordable for her now.

Shen Cui understood the system’s nature a bit now. The rewards it gave were undoubtedly generous.

But along with the generosity, it cunningly gave randomness.

If you want to steadily develop enhanced attributes, okay, you have to spend money to buy them!

Money is the system’s shopping points, so you have to do tasks to get them!

Thinking like this, Shen Cui simply browsed through the system store, which looked very much like an orange shopping app.

She only had two hundred shopping points now, and most of the items in the store were dim, with only a few items showing up brightly that could be purchased.

The items that could be purchased were inconspicuous things like rice, noodles, seasonings, cloth, needles, and threads.

The dim, unaffordable items at the back were diverse and included all kinds of things, such as books necessary for studying, writing materials, scholar’s attire, folding fans… which made her dazzled.

The only commonality among these items was that they could all increase attributes.

Although she couldn’t afford them now, Shen Cui couldn’t help but smile as she looked at them.

Because these things had another benefit, no need for silver!

She would definitely do the tasks, she really had no silver, but now she knew that she could use shopping points to solve their mother and son’s daily life!

[System Prompt: Accompanying study partner No. 1 has been upgraded, IQ +20, EQ +20, imagination +20, memory +20, charm +20.]

!!!

She wouldn’t curse the system for being cunning anymore. This randomness was too good!