Chapter 36: So Good-Looking, Yet So Poor…

As soon as Fu Mingze finished speaking and turned to leave, Shen Mo’er stood there holding the rattan suitcase, frowning as she watched his back. She muttered inwardly, “So strange…”

Since he didn’t want it, Shen Mo’er naturally wasn’t going to insist. So she carried the suitcase back into the house.

She had originally thought that she and her father didn’t have many belongings, and one suitcase would be enough to manage. Now that Fu Mingze didn’t want one, it worked out perfectly — she and her father could each have a suitcase, no need to cram everything into one.

After putting the suitcase away, Shen Mo’er went to close the courtyard gate.

Though it was broad daylight, their home was in a secluded spot. When it wasn’t farming season, there wasn’t a soul nearby during the day. If anything happened, there’d be no one around to call for help.

She kicked away the stone propping the gate open. Suddenly, a spark of inspiration struck, and she stared at that seemingly ordinary stone for a few seconds.

She couldn’t help but feel that ever since she started using that stone to hold the gate open, Comrade Fu had been in a bit of a mood.

Thinking again about what he’d said — something about “perhaps it’s better to maintain some distance from others” — Shen Mo’er blinked. Could it be what I think it is?

She wasn’t entirely sure. She’d have to observe a little longer.

There was nothing to do that afternoon, so Shen Mo’er cut some paper and used it to paste over the windows in the new house. Curtains would have been ideal, but fabric was just too hard to come by. This would have to do for now.

Otherwise, those glass windows were completely see-through, both from the inside out and the outside in. Living like that wasn’t reassuring at all. Fortunately, the windows were installed high up, so she only needed to cover the bottom row — the top could be left alone.

Once she finished pasting the windows, she reorganized the house, putting anything of even slight value into the suitcase.

When that was done, Shen Mo’er entered the treasure vault to do a bit of sorting.

The gold, silver, jewelry, calligraphy, paintings, and jade in the vault had all been collected by her father over the years. There was an inventory for these items, though she wasn’t too familiar with it — but her father had a clear grasp.

However, after the rebel army surrounded the city, their servants had hastily gathered up what they could, so she and her father didn’t really know everything that had been brought in.

The treasure vault was vast, shelves stacked upon shelves, and chests piled upon chests. They had never had time to go through it all thoroughly. So whenever she had a bit of free time, Shen Mo’er would come in and “hunt for treasure.”

Every time she opened a chest, it was like a blind box — she never had any idea what would be inside. If that wasn’t treasure hunting, what was?

Of course, not every box held a pleasant surprise. Sometimes she’d open one full of anticipation, only to find something utterly ridiculous.

Like the last time — she opened a heavy agarwood chest, expecting some priceless treasure inside. And sure enough, it wasn’t not valuable: land deeds and property deeds for estates around the capital of Daliang, plus deeds for shops and residences in capitals of surrounding nations. If they hadn’t traveled through time, it would’ve been an immense fortune. But in this world, just like the banknotes that used to be universally accepted across nations, they were all worthless scraps of paper.

Because most of the items in the vault were of no practical use in the present world, Shen Mo’er wasn’t exactly obsessed with treasure hunting. She only came in to dig around when she had time to kill.

But today, her luck was good. She opened one box to find it filled with neatly arranged fabric. Not the rare, luxurious types her father had collected, but more everyday kinds — likely bought by the household to make clothes for the maids.

Unfortunately, it was mostly silk, and the colors were a bit gaudy — very eye-catching if taken outside.

Shen Mo’er thought for a moment, closed that box, and moved it aside to pull out the two boxes underneath. She opened those as well.

This time, it was a major surprise. One box contained more silk, but in plain colors — white, black, blue, brown. The other box held cotton — pure white cotton!

Shen Mo’er was absolutely delighted, more so than if she had found a chest of precious treasures.

Though the cotton cloth looked a bit different from what was sold at this world’s supply and marketing cooperatives, the difference was only in the weaving process. Unless someone looked very closely, it would be hard to notice.

The key point was: Huaguo had countless textile factories of all sizes, and each had slightly different production techniques. In a time when fabric was so scarce, no one would bother nitpicking such differences. These fabrics were completely usable.

Overjoyed, Shen Mo’er searched around the area and, sure enough, found several more boxes filled with fabric.

That was to be expected. After all, hers was a princely household, and the amount of stored materials was immense. If it hadn’t been for the panic at the time, and if more had been gathered, the vault might not have been big enough to hold it all.

In fact, the palace had stocked a lot of rice, flour, grains, oils, meat, and eggs. But when her father dismissed the servants, he gave all the food to them. With the city under siege, food was the most important thing of all.

She and her father didn’t hide food in the treasure vault — there was no way to cook in there, so food would’ve been useless. Besides, even though they hid inside the vault, they had already mentally prepared to die for their country.

They only stored some dry rations and pastries in there, which were eventually eaten over time.

If she had known they would time travel to a world so lacking in food and clothing, she would’ve stuffed the vault with hundreds — no, thousands — of bushels of grain.

Alas, you can’t buy foresight with a thousand gold pieces!

Shen Mo’er sighed quietly to herself, but her mood quickly lifted again. Finding this much fabric was practically as good as finding food. In this world, fabric was practically “hard currency.”

In high spirits, she took out a stack of cotton cloth, then neatly closed and re-stacked the boxes. She didn’t continue her treasure hunt — she just hugged the fabric and prepared to leave.

Just then, a loud clang rang out behind her. Shen Mo’er turned around and saw a leather suitcase tumbling from a high shelf.

It must have been dislodged when she was moving boxes around earlier. Since it had been placed up high and not quite securely, it had fallen.

The box itself was sturdy and hadn’t broken or burst open. Shen Mo’er, now curious, went ahead and opened it — and found it full of rare delicacies: bird’s nest, sea cucumber, fish maw… Her eyes lit up at once.

Glancing at where it had fallen from, she quickly dragged down another box and opened it — whoa, it was full of medicinal herbs.

She brought down another wooden chest — whoa again, this one was neatly packed with cured hams!

One chest after another, she ended up uncovering several full of food and medicinal supplies.

Shen Mo’er stood there in a daze, staring at the chests in front of her. She thought back to when the rebel army had besieged the city and everything was in chaos. Her father had dismissed the household staff so they could return to their families, but the old steward, Uncle Fu, had led a group of people and managed to send several cartloads of supplies into the treasure vault before finally leaving in tears.

Now that she thought about it, that loyal old steward had truly packed away everything he could think of — everything he believed might be of use.

And who would have thought that the very things he had gathered so dutifully, things he might have never imagined would actually come in handy, would now be incredibly useful to her and her father?

Shen Mo’er spent quite a bit of time organizing all the items, then left the vault carrying a bundle of cotton fabric and a cured ham.

When she came out, it was almost time to start preparing dinner. She put the fabric away into one of the rattan suitcases, then took the ham into the kitchen and began chopping it up with a cleaver.

Having just bought two rattan suitcases, Shen Mo’er moved the contents of the old wooden chest into them. After cleaning the old chest, she decided to use it for storing rice, flour, and cured meat.

Perhaps the original father and daughter had been so poor that they hadn’t even stored any food. Since her time traveling here, Shen Mo’er hadn’t seen a single mouse in the house. But she couldn’t count on that lasting forever — it was still safer to keep food in sealed containers.

Of course, it would be even better to have a proper cupboard in the kitchen. That way, bowls and chopsticks wouldn’t have to be placed in an enamel basin like they were now.

Moments like these always made Shen Mo’er sigh — this home really was completely bare and impoverished.

She couldn’t understand how the original father and daughter, both perfectly capable laborers, had managed to let their lives fall into such disrepair.

Shen Mo’er felt like everything needed rebuilding from the ground up. Furniture-wise, aside from a cupboard, they also needed a proper dining table, taller stools, a desk for writing, and some shelves to store boxes… Ideally, even a five-drawer dresser for storage.

But she couldn’t have everything made at once. Not only could they not afford that much all at once, but it wouldn’t be wise — they’d already attracted enough attention by building a new house.

She decided that a square Eight Immortals table and a writing desk were the top priorities. Eating and writing — those were the most urgent needs.

As she thought this through, she went ahead and made dinner.

She cooked a pot of mixed grain rice and made two dishes: stir-fried cured meat with long beans, and scrambled eggs with chives. It might sound simple, but with just these two dishes, the standard of their meals was probably among the best in the entire Yangliu Brigade.

As soon as the food was ready, Shen Shaoyuan returned. After walking half the day, he was already starving. He fetched some water to wash up and then sat down, picked up his chopsticks, and began eating.

When he saw the stir-fried green beans with cured pork, his chopsticks paused mid-air. Surprised, he asked, “Did you buy this today from Sparrow Market?”

Shen Mo’er chuckled. “Nope. You’ll never guess.”

Shen Shaoyuan glanced at her, picked up a thin slice of the cured meat, put it in his mouth, chewed, and immediately raised his eyebrows in surprise. “This is the tribute ham from Wuzhou!”

Shen Mo’er nodded with a smile. “Found it in the treasure vault.”

Her father wasn’t good at much, but he truly had a knack for food, drink, and entertainment. Because of this, her imperial uncle would always send some of the tribute goods he received to the prince’s residence, as if afraid his younger brother might go hungry.

Shen Shaoyuan thought for a moment and sighed, “Uncle Fu really was thoughtful.”

Father and daughter both fell silent for a moment.

Although they were lucky enough to escape calamity by coming to this different time and space, they had also left behind the world they were familiar with—forever separated from the friends and family they once knew.

They didn’t even know whether the capital had fallen, or if the people they once knew were still safe.

Shen Shaoyuan soon adjusted his emotions and changed the subject. “You met that Zhang Junliang today, right? What kind of person is he?”

Shen Mo’er told him everything about running into Zhang and his mother at Sparrow Market, and then about meeting him again later. Shen Shaoyuan frowned slightly, clearly dissatisfied. “Even if he doesn’t live with his mother-in-law in the future, that kind of difficult, unreasonable woman is bound to cause conflict sooner or later. Zhang Junliang is not a suitable match.”

Shen Mo’er was confident that even if she had to deal with an unreasonable mother-in-law, she wouldn’t suffer any losses. But Shen Shaoyuan, as a father, didn’t want his daughter to be wronged even the slightest bit.

She thought for a moment and said, “Zhang Junliang himself seems to be polite and courteous.”

Shen Shaoyuan raised an eyebrow. “Is he good-looking?”

Shen Mo’er shook her head. “His looks are just average.”

Shen Shaoyuan replied, “Then he’s even less suitable.”

His daughter liked handsome men. If Zhang Junliang had been exceptionally good-looking, maybe he could’ve been considered. But with such plain looks, there was really no need to entertain the idea.

Shen Shaoyuan frowned. He knew that in their current situation, it was impossible to choose a son-in-law from among the distinguished and handsome young men like they did back in Daliang. Still, he didn’t want his daughter to settle for someone just for the sake of it.

“If it doesn’t work out, we just won’t bring a son-in-law into the family. Worst case, I’ll find a way to live near your husband’s family when you marry,” Shen Shaoyuan said.

Shen Mo’er hadn’t thought that far ahead. She just felt that Zhang Junliang’s character seemed acceptable. She’d never believed in deciding on marriage after just one meeting, so she was originally thinking of seeing him again, giving him another chance—especially since she was genuinely interested in the idea of going to the movies. That’s why she hadn’t directly turned down his invitation.

Of course, things had changed. She’d recently had a moment of sudden clarity and had already decided not to meet Zhang Junliang again. Now, seeing her father so clearly dissatisfied, she said, “Then you can let Section Chief Xu know to decline the invitation.”

Shen Shaoyuan nodded. With that, the father and daughter reached a consensus and put the matter to rest.

Shen Mo’er suddenly remembered something and asked if a teacher from the commune’s elementary school had come looking for him today. Shen Shaoyuan frowned as soon as he heard her mention it and said, “There’s no one left in the commune’s propaganda office, but the higher-ups keep organizing one event after another—it’s endless. I originally turned those two people down, but they went and talked to Xu Weiguo. After much pleading, they convinced me to take on a few students. They said I wouldn’t even need to go to the school specifically to teach—just take them along during regular work hours like apprentices.”

Xu Weiguo had always treated him well and had been helping him with the matter of getting officially hired, so this was a favor Shen Shaoyuan felt he had to return.

Shen Mo’er’s eyes lit up and she smiled. “Then bring up a request when you talk to them next time. Ask them to give our brigade elementary school a few spots in that competition of theirs. The higher-ups didn’t require brigade schools to participate, probably thinking they don’t have the capability. If we take the initiative to sign up, they’ll definitely allow it.”

Shen Shaoyuan thought it over, then nodded and smiled. “That’s a good idea.”

There had been some villagers who didn’t understand the purpose of setting up art classes at the elementary school. If the children could participate in a provincial-level competition, there would be a lot less gossip.

After that, the father and daughter didn’t talk anymore. They quietly finished dinner, and Shen Shaoyuan took the initiative to wash the dishes. Shen Mo’er went to fetch water and boiled some hot water. Since it was already autumn, cold water was no longer suitable for bathing.

After washing the dishes, Shen Shaoyuan lit a bundle of mugwort to fumigate the house and repel mosquitoes.

When the hot water was ready, the two of them took turns washing up in their newly built bathroom. By then, the mugwort had nearly finished burning. Shen Shaoyuan took the old enamel basin used for burning it outside, checked all the doors and windows, and then they each returned to their rooms to rest.

There wasn’t much to do at night, and lighting the lamp used up precious oil. More importantly, Shen Shaoyuan left early and returned late every day, walking back and forth, utterly exhausted. Naturally, the earlier he could rest, the better.

Shen Mo’er lay in bed for a long time unable to fall asleep. She called out, “Dad.”

She heard Shen Shaoyuan respond from the outer room.

So she said, “Let’s try to find a way to get a bicycle ticket. Walking every day is really too tiring for you.”

Shen Shaoyuan’s voice came from the outer room, “Buying a bicycle draws too much attention.”

Shen Mo’er naturally understood that a bicycle would attract envy. Still, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for her father—he had probably never endured this kind of hardship in his life. She figured if they couldn’t buy one, they’d have to find some other solution.

After all, they really couldn’t afford to reveal even the tiniest bit of wealth.

Unlike Zheng Jiamin, who carried large packages around all the time and wasn’t the least bit afraid of others getting jealous and targeting him.

Thinking of pretending to be poor, Shen Mo’er couldn’t help but recall someone who was genuinely poor. He couldn’t even afford a chest for his belongings—someone had stolen most of his soap just because it was left out. She’d gone out of her way to buy him a storage chest, and he had even refused to take it.

“Dad, actually, I’ve been thinking about it. I still prefer someone who’s good-looking. Also, whether his family is well-off or not doesn’t really matter. Whether he’s a worker or not isn’t that important either. Weren’t we originally afraid of showing off our wealth anyway? It might be better to just find someone poor—it’s more peaceful that way.”

Shen Shaoyuan was probably already drifting off. His voice was weak and distracted as he mumbled, “So you’re saying you want someone who’s both good-looking and poor? There are plenty of poor folks, but the good-looking ones… not so easy to find…”

As he spoke, his voice gradually faded. He had likely fallen asleep.

Shen Mo’er stared into the pitch-black void, murmuring to herself, “What do you mean not easy to find? Isn’t there one right in front of me?”

So handsome, and so poor.

—

The next day, Shen Mo’er went to school and gave the students a “pop quiz.” She had picked up this method from Cheng Tao—it was pretty effective. Holding the students’ drawings done on all kinds of random paper, she quickly sorted out a few students who seemed more naturally gifted.

After picking them out, she didn’t say much. When Cheng Tao asked about it, she only said she wanted to see how everyone was doing with their learning.

And then Shen Lingling started mocking her again: “You really think you’re teaching some critically important subject or something? Giving pop quizzes? That’s hilarious. I’ve heard of pop quizzes for Chinese, and for math, sure—but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of a pop quiz for art.”

Shen Mo’er didn’t hold back, retorting, “There wasn’t an art class before. So isn’t it perfectly normal to give an art pop quiz now that we have one? Oh, by the way, I’ve been busy lately and forgot to check in—has Second Aunt come out from the police station yet?”

A classic face slap, right on point.

Shen Lingling was so furious she shoved her chair back and stormed off.

Honestly, the fact that her mother had been locked up at the police station for half a month had already become the village’s running joke. On top of that, the day her mother got out, she had gotten into another fight with her younger sister—yelling, shoving, and even ripping her clothes.

And that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was that her cousin, Wang Jinbao, was also released that day—and immediately got beaten up in the alley behind the commune office, face swollen like a pig’s head. Her aunt Tian Cui nearly went mad and insisted that it was their family taking revenge. She had already come to their house to cause a scene several times.

The house had been in total chaos lately, and Shen Lingling’s reputation had taken a hit. A teacher from the commune elementary school had once said he wanted to introduce her to someone, but after hearing about her family’s mess, he had completely disappeared.

Now, whenever someone brought it up, Shen Lingling didn’t even want to say a single word.

Shen Mo’er raised her eyebrows slightly as she tidied up the colorful stack of drawings in her hands.

Cheng Tao, who had been quietly observing the whole scene, couldn’t help but chuckle and say, “A lot of folks in the village say your personality has changed. Seems like it’s true. But that’s not a bad thing—people who always tolerate things quietly are easy to bully.”

No matter how others judged Shen Lingling, Cheng Tao had worked with her long enough to have his own take. At the very least, he knew that Shen Lingling was not nearly as gentle and kind as she appeared to be.

And with Shen Mo’er’s previous personality, she really had been easy to push around.

Shen Mo’er understood what he meant and smiled gratefully. “Thank you, Principal Cheng.”

—

That morning before leaving, Shen Mo’er had left a pot of mung bean soup simmering on the stove. By the time she got home at noon, it was done. She ladled the soup into an enamel jar, rekindled the fire, and made two egg pancakes.

After the pancakes were done, she ate one with the mung bean soup. Just as she finished washing the dishes, someone knocked on the courtyard gate.

It was Fu Mingze, along with the grandsons of Auntie Chen and Auntie Cai—one nicknamed Maomao, the other Shun’er.

The two little rascals looked a bit sluggish. It was easy to guess why—being dragged over to do homework in the middle of the day was something no kid would be happy about.

Shen Mo’er served three small bowls of mung bean soup. The moment Maomao and Shun’er saw food, their eyes lit up. They gulped it down eagerly, and before long, their bowls were empty. Wiping their mouths, they sighed:

“Mo’er-jiejie, your mung bean soup is so sweet!”

“Yeah! And you put in so many mung beans. Not like at my house—ours is practically just water.”

Shen Mo’er couldn’t help but laugh. “Then come over for more next time.”

Actually, the mung beans she used were traded from Auntie Chen. Auntie Cai’s family probably had some too, but both were very frugal families with lots of mouths to feed. Naturally, they used fewer mung beans and less sugar when cooking—so their soup was more like plain water.

Fu Mingze also finished his bowl and took it to the kitchen to wash it without being told. Shen Mo’er glanced at him but couldn’t read anything from his expressionless face.

So she didn’t bother with him for now. She brought out a small table and stools for the two kids and had them sit down to do their homework.

Cheng Tao usually assigned the day’s homework in the morning. This way, some kids could use their free time to finish it early, without delaying the chores they had to help with at home in the evening.

That was just how it was. Rural kids were considered laborers by the time they were in elementary school. Many had to help out with small tasks at home. If school ever interfered too much with their responsibilities, some families might just stop sending their kids altogether.

Sure enough, the two boys took out their arithmetic books from the little bamboo baskets they brought, along with some wrinkled notebooks. Then each pulled out a stubby pencil from their pockets—barely as long as a finger—and began doing homework with their heads down.

They were pretty well-behaved.

Shen Mo’er brought out two patched-up chairs that Zhao Zhengyang had fixed and set them under the eaves, a bit away from the kids. That way, they could see each other but not easily overhear one another.

Fu Mingze came out after washing the bowls. Glancing around, he silently walked over and sat on one of the empty chairs.

“Need me to explain from the beginning?” he asked.

Shen Mo’er shook her head. “No need. Just help explain the parts I don’t understand.”

She opened the textbook, pointed to the first section she was confused about, and said, “Here. This paragraph…”

As she spoke, she turned to look at Fu Mingze—only to meet his deep, focused gaze directly. Shen Mo’er blinked, then asked casually, “Can you explain this part?”

Fu Mingze gave a dry cough to cover his reaction and averted his eyes, focusing on the textbook. “Mm. This paragraph means…”

Once he finished explaining a section, Shen Mo’er reviewed the example questions in the textbook to better understand the content. Under the noon sunlight, her eyes lowered slightly, and her long eyelashes fluttered gently—like soft brushes sweeping across Fu Mingze’s heart, making him feel unexpectedly restless.

Fu Mingze sighed inwardly, then couldn’t help but speak up.

“Comrade Shen Mo’er… about yesterday… I want to apologize to you.”

His voice was low, almost like he was pleading.