Chapter 16

The system fell silent again.

Shen Cui felt a bit embarrassed as she explained, “Look, I now have 370 shopping points. With the calligraphy task Mu Er Pang is working on, that’s 470 points in total. I just owe you 30 points.”

The system: …

How should I put it? Even though the host only took advantage of the system to pay off debts, there was still something odd about it!

During the New Year festival, Shen Cui would take Mu Er Pang back to her house every morning, and in the afternoon, she would return to accompany him in practicing calligraphy.

Before the deadline for the task arrived, Mu Er Pang had already finished writing three copybooks with red ink outlines.

After comparing them himself, he was still a little unsatisfied, “Mother, you were right. After practicing for a few days, my writing has definitely improved a lot!”

In Shen Cui’s mind, she heard the system prompt indicating the completion of the task. 100 shopping points were quickly credited, but they were immediately deducted by the system, leaving the balance still negative.

Similar to the enlightening books before, the calligraphy copybooks provided by the system also had a boosting effect. During the calligraphy practice, Mu Er Pang’s personal attributes also increased.

But just like leveling up in an online game, at first, you might level up after completing one or two tasks, but later on, it takes three or four tasks to level up, and Mu Er Pang’s attribute upgrade noticeably slowed down.

Before, after reading three books, two of which had over a thousand characters, and one with fewer characters like “Hundred Family Surnames,” he gained a total of 8 points in attributes.

This time, after practicing calligraphy for seven or eight days, he only gained 2 points in attributes.

Moreover, they were quite skewed: 1 point was added to emotional intelligence, and 1 point to charm. These weren’t particularly important attributes on the road of scholarly examination.

There was no point arguing about this randomness granted by the system. Shen Cui earnestly turned to look at Mu Er Pang’s calligraphy results.

He wasn’t wrong. In just a few days, his handwriting had changed from illegible scribbles to somewhat readable characters.

Top of Form

Although there was still a stark contrast between Mu Yunchuan’s graceful strokes and Mu Er Pang’s, the progress was genuinely noticeable!

On the day the task was completed, the system issued a new one.

[System Task: The accompanied reader is now well-versed in enlightening books and has learned many characters. Compared to the past, significant progress has been made. It’s time for a little test. The test will include reciting enlightening books and spot-checking writing of learned characters.]

[Task Deadline: Three days from now.]

[Note: This task is a recurring task, to be issued irregularly every month.]

With the system introducing side tasks earlier and now a monthly task, Shen Cui wasn’t surprised.

After all, in schools of future generations, students also have monthly exams. It’s convenient for teachers to monitor children’s learning progress in real-time.

Reviewing the recitation was easy. There were only three books in total, so Shen Cui went through the enlightening books again with Mu Er Pang from the beginning.

In just one day, Mu Er Pang reached the level where he could recite the entire text.

As for writing, the three big copybooks had already been completed.

Mu Er Pang had painstakingly written every stroke and character. Although each page could be used on both sides, Mu Er Pang was reluctant to do so. Instead, he used a brush dipped in water to write on the desk.

Shen Cui watched him, holding a pen in one hand and a cloth in the other, wiping the table clean after writing for a while.

There was no reason to keep asking the system for more paper, and surely there would be times in the future when they needed to practice writing privately. Shen Cui decided to take care of it herself.

She went into town to buy some things.

Most of the shops selling these items were located on Academy Street next to Qingzhu Academy, so it was their first time visiting this place.

It was nearing mid-January, and students from out of town had returned home after the New Year celebrations, gradually returning to the academy to continue their studies.

Academy Street, which had been quiet during the New Year, was once again bustling and lively.

Many of the passersby were scholars and literaty in their teens to early twenties.

Shen Cui asked around and found out about a highly reputable stationery shop.

This shop didn’t just sell stationery from this era; it also sold some handwritten books.

Since Shen Cui was there, she also asked about the prices.

The answers surprised her.

According to the shopkeeper, a book like the “Three Character Classic,” which was an enlightening book, cost five or six silver coins!

And that was considered cheap. If it was a printed book like the ones the system provided, it would add one or two silver coins, which was normal.

Seeing her unfamiliar face, the shopkeeper was afraid she would think they were cheating customers, so he explained, “Madam, you might not know, but copying books is not an easy job. Not only does it require clear and beautiful handwriting, consistent font size, and no mistakes or alterations, but it also takes a lot of effort. For a book like the ‘Three Character Classic,’ even for a fast copyist, it would take at least ten days of careful writing. After deducting the cost of ink, paper, and brushes, the profit is only about two or three silver coins. This profit needs to be shared between our shop and the copyist. It’s not unreasonable to charge a high price.”

This was indeed the truth.

The shopkeeper was genuinely honest, which explained their good reputation.

Shen Cui nodded in understanding and then asked about the prices of brushes, ink, and inkstones.

These items are graded differently, and their prices vary widely.

For the higher-quality ones, even a single pen could cost several taels of silver.

For those used by ordinary students, not seeking particularly high quality, the whole set could still cost four or five taels.

It’s worth noting that one tael of silver could buy two stones of rice in this era! The average wages of city dwellers were only half to one tael, and people like the Shen brothers, who held some authority in the city as minor officials or assistant chefs, earned only two or three taels per month.

No wonder since marrying into the Mu family, starting from Mu Yunchuan’s studies, the days were financially tight—it was no different from burning money to support a scholar at this time.

Shen Cui inwardly thanked the system again; otherwise, if she had to support Mu Er Pang without relying on her family, she definitely couldn’t afford it.

With only five taels left, Shen Cui could only apologetically smile at the shopkeeper and say, “Today the silver coins are not enough. I’ll just buy a stack of paper for now.”

The shopkeeper didn’t mind at all, smiled nonchalantly, and then introduced her to the paper.

Although the paper also had different grades, since Shen Cui had directly mentioned the lack of money, the shopkeeper didn’t promote the expensive ones anymore and showed her the cheapest options.

Shen Cui reached out and felt the slightly thicker type, spending one tael of silver on a stack.

A stack contained one hundred sheets, which came down to one wen per sheet. Compared to other items, it was indeed very affordable.

While Shen Cui was discussing with the shopkeeper, Mu Er Pang stood at the door, too afraid to move.

At first, it was because the shop wasn’t spacious, and he was afraid of crowding his mother.

Later, when he heard the shopkeeper mention the high value of everything here, he became even more hesitant.

The shopkeeper, seeing his demeanor,