Chapter 91

Not long after Shen Cui upgraded the academy in front, she knew that there would be new members joining, so she thought about taking good care of them and specifically saved some points for shopping. However, she didn’t expect to encounter such a big gap.

Right now, there are less than a thousand points in her account, just enough to buy two items that increase luck.

And one item can only increase luck by 10 points. The things made by a Level 2 female artisan can increase luck by 5 points, and the cost is only seventy to eighty. Calculating it, it’s still more cost-effective to make female artisan products.

Shen Cui definitely wanted to keep the person, so she didn’t buy finished products, but bought female artisan materials and planned to slowly make them for him.

But other things definitely need to be bought, such as the desk and candles bought for Mu Er Pang earlier. At this point, what Shen Cui valued was not the gains given by the system—after all, personally certified by Old Shan Chang Headmaster from Hongle Academy, Mei Ruochu’s talent is not a problem. As long as he can smoothly participate in the exam, success is within his reach.

What Shen Cui values are the system’s products, which are materials from advanced planes and durable!

Like the set of desk and chairs that Mu Er Pang has been using for almost two years now, it still looks brand new, not to mention incidents like chair legs breaking or any wood thorns popping out.

And those specially made candles, not to mention being blown down by the wind, even when it’s windy, the flame doesn’t flicker at all.

First, arrange the commonly used items for him, so he won’t break anything like before. Cui Wei is not like Hongle, she doesn’t have such deep roots and resources. Breaking a few bowls is no big deal, but if the desk and chairs break, or if there’s a fire, it’s not affordable!

Of course, considering Mei Ruo Chu’s luck value at that level, Shen Cui didn’t dare to conclude, so after adding the items to the shopping cart and before paying for them, she also consulted the system.

Top of Form

The system explained: “Let me tell the host like this, low luck value and low aura are simply amplifying the probability of something unfortunate happening. For example, that bowl today, it had indeed been used for a long time and had cracks early on, but in the hands of someone with high luck value like subject number 1, the probability of it cracking tends towards 0, while in the hands of subject number 4, the probability tends towards 100%. The probability of destruction for system output items is originally 0, so regardless of who has it, accidents are impossible to happen.”

Upon receiving this answer, Shen Cui felt somewhat reassured and continued: “So it’s not bad to let Mu Er Pang stay with him. Mei Ruochu has low luck, so the likelihood of accidents is high, while Mu Er Pang has high luck, so the likelihood of accidents is extremely low. It’s a balance between the two, depending on who can handle whom. This child is quite pitiful, with such a low luck value, it’s not easy for him to grow up safely.”

“Hmm, actually, his luck value wasn’t this low initially. The imperial examination requires both real talent and luck, as well as physical fitness. With such a small luck value, repeatedly doing things that require high luck values will only make it lower, right? And his low aura is also because under the rules of this plane, his life is nearing its end, so it’s constantly declining.”

Shen Cui rubbed her forehead with some headache, “He really has me tangled up. This luck value is difficult to improve on its own, but it can decrease by itself? Anyway, it’s always right to speed up and brush it up for him, right? Even if they both average it out now, their luck values are still failing. I don’t know if Mu Er Pang will be influenced by him if they stay together for a long time.”

“The luck value of subject number 1 is very high, theoretically it won’t be affected in the short term. But in the long run, if he keeps getting involved in unlucky things, then it’s hard to say. But doesn’t the host have a better choice? I can…”

He is not a life form of this plane, so he won’t be affected, and even if he encounters a fire, only the data-formed body will be burned. If the host doesn’t want him to use the identity of Mu Cheng, then he can change to another one!”

“Make sure to take good care of subject number 4!” Shen Cui interrupted him before he could finish speaking. “Stop trying to promote yourself at every opportunity. I’m already poor enough. It’s enough if it doesn’t affect Mu Er Pang in the short term. I’ll hurry up and make him a normal person as soon as possible.”

Initially, Shen Cui planned to take care of the new students first and then brush up everyone’s luck values, which weren’t low to begin with, so she could start saving points to buy a “High-level Enlightenment Pill” worth 10,000 points for her chubby son.

Although her son’s overall talent had improved, eating such things again might not add many points, but every little bit counts. After all, he only had a year and a half left.

Now this plan had to be postponed again. First, she had to fill the gap with Mei Ruo Chu, and even if she couldn’t turn him into a lucky child, at least she could make him a normal person and not live in fear.

This time, Shen Cui was sewing a belt that could add 5 points of luck. If worn for more than a month, these 5 points of luck would be permanently added to the attributes.

Starting from making insoles at Level 1, the system would provide diagrams for her to follow. They had to meet the requirements of “normal quality” to be effective.

This belt was no exception. The diagram was detailed, not only specifying the number of stitches needed but also requiring some simple embroidery. Shen Cui stayed up all night and made one in just one night.

In between, she was worried about Mu Er Pang and got up several times to check outside the neighboring room.

Fortunately, nothing happened overnight.

Early the next morning, with panda eyes, Shen Cui went out first. After making sure no one was around, she placed the desk and candles at the entrance of the academy.

When La Bu Yu and the others woke up, Shen Cui said she had gone into the city early in the morning to buy them for Mei Ruo Chu, and asked them to help carry them into the hall to replace the previous ones.

After they finished their tasks, Mu Er Pang and Mei Ruo Chu came over together.

In fact, not only Shen Cui was worried, but La Buyu and the others also felt sympathetic towards Mei Ruo Chu’s situation. However, they had only just met, and there was a difference in closeness. They all somewhat worried about Mu Erpang.

Seeing that both of them looked fine, everyone finally relaxed.

Mei Ruochu couldn’t remember the last time he had slept so soundly.

In the past, whether at the academy or on the road, various small accidents would always happen in the middle of the night, like the wind blowing open the window, sudden rat disturbances, or even the bed collapsing.

In short, it was impossible to sleep through the night without waking up two or three times.

Last night, he and Mu Erpang talked about the “Book of Changes” (Zhou Yi). At first, he thought of making Mu Er0ang tired so he could sneak out and sleep on the floor.

Unexpectedly, Mu Er Pang could endure, and he ended up feeling sleepy himself, while Mu Erpang was still spirited, asking him to sleep first.

After enduring hardships along the way, sleeping outdoors, once Mei Ruochu lay down, he fell into a deep sleep, and when he opened his eyes, it was already Mu Erpang waking him up in the morning.

Shen Cui looked exhausted, her eyes almost unable to open. In the eyes of others, it was inevitable to speculate that she had been troubled and distressed about Mei Ruochu’s affairs all night.

Especially Mei Ruochu, who was particularly concerned about this. Sensing that Shen Cui didn’t look right, he thought a lot more and was about to excuse himself.

However, before he could speak, Mu Er Pang pulled his mother aside to talk.

“Mom, actually…” He rarely hesitated, his meaty fingers twisting uncomfortably, feeling a bit embarrassed to say.

Facing her chubby son, Shen Cui didn’t want to beat around the bush. She cut to the chase, “Hurry up, I need to get some sleep later.”

Sleeping for an hour, then she had to hurry back to do the daily routine for the academy, to utilize the time gain.

“In fact, let’s ask Brother Mei to stay. It wouldn’t be right to really let him go back to the countryside. Plus, he explained the ‘Book of Changes’ to me yesterday, and he did it really well. Although when I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I found that the window had been blown open for some reason, so I closed it. When I came back from the bathroom, I saw a stray cat scratching at the door, so I chased it away… but those are just small things.”

“I wasn’t planning to let him go anyway. My bad complexion isn’t because of this,” Shen Cui said as she took out the belt. “I made this for him… I read in a book that when elders make some needlework for juniors with a blessing in mind, it can bring them good luck. So I made it all night.”

She read a lot of miscellaneous books now, and her ability to fabricate things off the cuff was gradually improving.

Mei Ruochu had initially intended to bid farewell to Shen Cui, so he followed her out. Although he didn’t deliberately approach to eavesdrop on their conversation, the courtyard was small, so he inevitably caught snippets of it.

It turned out that it wasn’t that he had stopped having bad luck, but Mu Er Pang had noticed early and solved those little things.

His heart felt sour, and when he heard Shen Cui say she made a belt for him overnight, his eyes even started to well up.

After the mother and son finished talking, they turned to see him standing at the door. Shen Cui handed the belt to him, “You’re here just in time. Try on this belt, if there’s anything not right, I’ll fix it for you.”

The belt made by Shen Cui was pitch black—black and white fabrics were the cheapest in the system’s shop, and although white looked good, it was considered unlucky to tie a white belt in ancient times, so Shen Cui chose black.

The stitches on it were crooked, just like the insoles before, both branded with the mark of “Centipede Brand”. The embroidered flowers were even more confusing. After looking at it for a while, Mu Er Pang couldn’t figure out what was embroidered.

In front of some particular people, they would definitely be unwilling to wear such an ugly belt on themselves. But Mei Ruochu didn’t hesitate and immediately tied it around his waist.

He was still wearing Wei Shu’s clothes, a sky-blue scholar’s robe, with a pitch-black belt tied around it, which could be described as extremely unsightly.

But Mei Ruo Chu didn’t mind at all. Instead, he sincerely thanked her, “Thank you, Elder, for taking me in, and also for making this needlework for me. Today, I…”

He hadn’t dispelled the idea of leaving yet, but Shen Cui noticed. Although he was not very old, he was very particular about etiquette and rules. As long as she didn’t relent, Mei Ruo Chu wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye.

So she waved her hand, “You’re free to do as you wish today. I’ll go sleep for a while first. If there’s anything, wait until I wake up to discuss. Er Pang, take care of him.”

After saying that, Shen Cui didn’t do morning exercises or have breakfast. She went straight home to catch up on her sleep.

“Mai Big Brother, let’s go, let’s do morning exercises first,” Mu Er Pang took on the role of a little guide, conscientiously familiarizing him with the daily routines of the academy.

Mai Ruochu followed them to do morning exercises together, and then had breakfast together.

Because his luck had improved from a single digit to a double digit, and with Mu Er Pang by his side, nothing unexpected happened except for choking a few bites while eating.

He was really puzzled, so he turned to Wei Shu for some ‘answers’, “Don’t underestimate our academy, it’s actually a treasure trove of Feng Shui! My younger brother was weak since childhood, the doctors all said medicine was ineffective and he couldn’t recover. After staying here for a year, even the most stubborn cough healed without medicine…”

Because Wei Xi was already well, Wei Shu didn’t hide anything, after mentioning Wei Xi, he went on to talk about Mu Yunchuan who mastered the ‘Three Elements’ and Mu Er Pang who suddenly became intelligent and progressed rapidly in his studies…

Anyway, here, anything could happen and it wouldn’t be surprising!

After listening to it for a while, Mai Ruochu couldn’t help but feel his heart beat faster — if this ‘treasure trove of Feng Shui’ could really suppress his bad luck, wouldn’t he finally have a true refuge?