Chapter 118

The meal was still prepared by Mrs. Zhou. Actually, Shen Cui didn’t want Mrs. Zhou to be busy.

Celebrating Mu Yunchuan’s success in passing the imperial examination was a grander occasion than the last time they moved, with more dishes and more complexity.

It would have been the same to hire someone to prepare a table. But Mrs. Zhou refused.

She said, “After these few days of cooking, I don’t know when I’ll have time to cook for you again. Besides, Madam from the Cui family praised my cooking last time. She eats outside food regularly, and our rustic meals are considered fresh. Moreover, there are other students who only return home in the evening. If we buy food from outside, we’ll have to prepare meals for them at night as well. It’s better if I cook everything at noon and we can reheat it in the evening.”

She was becoming more resolute, and Shen Cui let her be.

The feast was enjoyable, and in the afternoon, Mrs. Zhou had to get busy again, so she prepared to take her leave.

Although Cui Fei didn’t show much, the brother and sister understood each other, and Mrs. Cui knew he’s brother was happy today. Before leaving, she asked if Cui Fei wanted to stay and play a little longer.

Leaving her younger brother in someone else’s home, she would naturally be a little worried.

If she left him at Cuiwei Academy, she was pleased with Shen Cui, and Mu Yunchuan was his good friend, so she wouldn’t have to worry.

Cui Fei was somewhat tempted, but in the end, he shook his head and said he would go home together.

Because Mu Yunchuan was leaving for the capital in a few days, and Mu Er Pang still had classes in the afternoon, he didn’t want to disturb them.

So the siblings from the Cui family left after having a cup of tea after the meal, allowing Shen Cui and the others to relax a bit and not bother with seeing them off.

After they left, Shen Cui rolled up her sleeves and helped Mrs. Zhou tidy up the table.

Mu Er Pang didn’t go to the classroom either; he eagerly came to help.

After finishing the work, he was attentive, saying, “Mother must be tired after entertaining guests for half a day. Let me help you to rest.”

The main house was a large room formed by merging three small rooms. The middle one was used for entertaining guests and eating, the one on the west was Shen Cui’s study, and the one on the east was Shen Cui’s bedroom.

So when Shen Cui returned to her room, she only had to pass through half of a room and then go around the screen, just a few steps away.

But even for these few steps, Mu Er Pang insisted on helping her.

When they were alone in the inner room, Shen Cui didn’t hurry to lie down on the bed.

She leaned against the recliner and said, “Hurry up, what’s the matter?”

“If I’m not mistaken, Mother is wise and understands me, right?” Mu Er Pang smiled, “If I were a little dog, wagging my tail, Mother would know that I need to go to the bathroom…”

Shen Cui laughed and covered his mouth, “Stop saying these things to make me laugh, especially right after eating!”

Mu Er Pang stopped beating around the bush and said that he had promised to occasionally invite Cui Fei over for meals in the future.

Whether it was the academy or their own small home, the ones in charge were his mother, so he naturally needed to get her approval.

Actually, after Mrs. Cui finished talking about Cui Fei’s strange experience, Shen Cui had wondered if it was another trick of the dimensional rules.

If the rules set him as excessively fat, they wouldn’t let him slim down. In that case, things produced by the system could help, as they were beyond the constraints of dimensional rules.

Of course, there was also the possibility that Cui Fei had some hidden condition that couldn’t be diagnosed with current medical methods.

If that were the case, it wouldn’t be as simple as eating food from the system to lose weight; he would also need to take medication from the system.

Like when Wei Xi removed the root of the cough, the medication had to be taken for over a month, and he had to maintain his identity as a student of Cui Wei Academy during that time.

This meant upgrading the academy again and getting a student slot for Cui Fei.

Upgrading the academy again would require 3000 shopping points, but fortunately, she hadn’t touched any of the rewards after the examination tasks.

She had saved them all.

However, the amount was huge, and it wouldn’t be wise to spend it all without investigating first.

Moreover, she hadn’t known Mrs. Cui for long, but she could tell that Mrs. Cui cherished her younger brother a lot.

It was one thing to leave him at home for a day or two, but leaving him at Cui Wei for an extended period would definitely worry Mrs. Cui.

But since her chubby son had already promised someone else, Shen Cui nodded and said, “If it can help him, then it’s good.”

Anyway, apart from her chubby son, everyone else in the academy could be replaced at any time.

When the time came, she would let Cui Fei come over to experience it and take a look at his various data to assess his physical condition and determine if he only needed to eat or if he needed a student slot.

“Then let me thank Mother on behalf of Ah Fei Ge! Mother is really beautiful and kind.”

He was quick to flatter, and Shen Cui pushed him away with a smile, then asked strangely, “The other day, when you were leaving the classroom, didn’t you call him ‘Big Brother Cui’? How come you’re calling him ‘Ah Fei Ge’ now? Are you two especially close?”

Mu Er Pang said yes.

Earlier, Shen Cui had let the three of them go out and relax, and this little master took the lead in leading them out.

But in fact, Mu Er Pang knew in his heart that Cui Fei was about the same age as Mu Yunchuan, several years older than him, and they had been good friends for several years, so he might not be able to join their conversation later.

But unexpectedly, after he started chatting with Cui Fei, they got along particularly well—even Mu Er Pang had the rare feeling of being an elder brother, especially when Cui Fei broke his bowstring.

With his chubby hands tightly gripping the small bow and his shoulders hunched in embarrassment.

And later, when they played 24 points, his big brother intentionally let him win after winning several times.

But Cui Fei didn’t know how to do that. When he was having fun, he didn’t think about whether to let the other win or not, nor did he treat Mu Er Pang as a younger brother in need of care.

Of course, the people in the academy, like Wei Xu, Wei Xi, and Mei Ruochu, were all very nice to Mu Er Pang, but even Wei Xi, who treated him as a younger brother, was several years older than him and usually pampered him like a younger brother.

This feeling was also very good, but suddenly having an ‘peer’ around him made Mu Er Pang feel particularly fresh.

So before going back to the main house for dinner, the two exchanged their full names.

Cui Fei called him ‘Cold Mountain’ like everyone else, and he told Mu Er Pang to just call him ‘Ah Fei’, and since Mu Er Pang was younger, he added ‘Ge’ at the end.

Shen Cui still encouraged Mu Er Pang to make more friends, especially after meeting Cui Fei today, she could sense his genuinely kind nature.

After finishing speaking, Mu Er Pang was about to return to the classroom for class.

He had just prepared to leave when he heard Mu Yunchuan’s voice coming from outside, asking if it was convenient to come in; he had something to say.

Shen Cui asked him to wait for a moment, then put on her shoes, got up, and sat down at the small round table.

Turning to see Mu Er Pang, who had just raised his butt to leave, sit back down again, she chuckled and said, “Your big brother seems to be ready to leave and just came to bid farewell to me. You should go first.”

Mu Er Pang hesitated, after all, during this time, with the deliberate operation of him and others, Shen Cui had not been alone with Mu Yunchuan.

Therefore, they could maintain a harmonious relationship.

But Shen Cui knew in her heart that Mu Yunchuan must have something to say to her alone.

Otherwise, with his personality, he wouldn’t come into her room to talk; he would just say it outside.

In the end, Mu Er Pang still stood up, hesitated, and then moved to go out. Finally, he didn’t forget to lower his voice and instruct, “I’ll be outside, Mother. If you speak loudly, I’ll come in.”

Shen Cui nodded repeatedly with a smile and answered him in a lowered voice, “Got it, Little Steward.”

As he spoke, he went out and met Mu Yunchuan waiting outside. He asked, “Big Brother, did you come to bid farewell to Mother?”

Mu Yunchuan smiled and nodded, and then Shen Cui inside said to let him in.

Mu Yunchuan stepped into the inner room, and both he and Shen Cui instinctively removed the smiles from their faces.

“Please sit down.” Shen Cui pointed to the round stool at the other end of the round table and then poured herself a glass of water from the teapot on the table.

She also poured him a glass and asked, “Leaving tomorrow?”

Mu Yunchuan fiddled with the coarse porcelain cup, made a low ‘mm’ sound.

Then Shen Cui didn’t say much, just took small sips of water from her glass, waiting to hear what he had to say.

As she waited, Shen Cui slowly drank three cups of water, feeling a bit drowsy because she had eaten too much for lunch and the room was too quiet.

Mu Yunchuan then spoke in a normal tone, “Mother, have you heard of a saying from the Buddhist tradition, used to advise evil people, ‘Put down the butcher’s knife and become a Buddha on the spot’?”

Shen Cui’s spirits lifted, thinking, Here it comes!

But Mu Yunchuan definitely didn’t come to talk about Buddhism with her, so Shen Cui didn’t venture to say more and just nodded to indicate that she had heard of it.

Mu Yunchuan then continued, “Since Mother has heard of it, what do you think of this saying?”

Shen Cui took the opportunity to open his panel data, observing his mood without changing her expression, and said, “I think this saying is a bit exaggerated. If an evil person turns good and can immediately become a Buddha, then it’s unfair to those who have always done good deeds but can’t immediately become a Buddha.”

Mu Yunchuan’s mood didn’t change at all. Instead, he raised his eyebrows with some interest.

Shen Cui continued, “But we should definitely encourage the act of abandoning evil and embracing good; after all, this is ultimately a good thing. Of course, as the old saying goes, ‘It’s easy to change the course of a river, but it’s hard to change one’s nature.’ So it might be better to observe and see if this ‘evil person’ has truly put down the butcher’s knife. Instead of immediately becoming a Buddha, at least give them a chance to repent and reform.”

Seeing that the other party didn’t interrupt, Shen Cui paused for a moment before continuing, “And I’ve also heard another saying. It goes like this: if there is an evil person, even if it’s difficult for them to change their nature, if they can pretend to be a good person for their whole life, then can’t they be considered a good person?”

Mu Yunchuan still had a calm expression, curling his fingers up and down lightly on the table as if his soul were wandering in the heavens.

Shen Cui couldn’t help but feel that after not seeing him for three years, she couldn’t quite figure him out anymore.

Now that he was no longer restraining his edge, his demeanor was far beyond what it used to be, and that indescribable sense of oppression hit her like a wave.

However, Shen Cui didn’t feel so nervous anymore because she felt she was no longer in the wrong.

Moreover, she knew this was a good sign. At least Mu Yunchuan was willing to come and discuss things with her now, which meant that after his “observations” over the past few days, he didn’t seem to be dissatisfied with her actions over the past few years.

Otherwise, as before, they would have been at odds with each other, both wearing masks, and there would have been no opportunity to sit down and talk like this.

So she didn’t rush him, continuing to drink her water at a leisurely pace, waiting to hear what he had to say next.

After a long while, Mu Yunchuan finally said, “Alright, let’s give this ‘evil person’ a chance.”