Chapter 26

The system’s voice and tone were the type that Shen Cui liked the most in the game, reminiscent of a charismatic male character. However, it was undeniably lacking a bit of personality at times.

Now, with its disheveled appearance, Shen Cui couldn’t help but think it resembled a real-life programmer who had stayed up late working overtime.

Shen Cui couldn’t help but chuckle.

Beside her, Zhou Shi glanced at her with a slightly puzzled expression as she chuckled to herself while lost in thought.

Shen Cui suppressed her laughter and remembered the books Lao Buyu had requested before leaving the old house. She opened the system mall to browse.

The system mall was full of various textbooks from this world.

In the section for enlightenment literature alone, besides the three books sent to Shen Cui earlier, there were still “You Xue Qiong Lin,” “Di Zi Gui,” “Thousand Character Classic,” “Lessons for Women,” “Three Hundred Tang Poems,” “The Art of Poetry,” “Character Learning,” “The Analects,” and many more.

Similar to the teaching aids previously provided by the system, each book would generate minor random bonuses. The price for each book was 10 points.

Shen Cui couldn’t help but mutter, “All the previous teaching aids were given to me for free, and now they want me to spend shopping points on books. If later a task is released requiring my son to read a book that I’ve already bought for him in advance, and he learns from it, will my shopping points be refunded?”

At this point, the system wasn’t surprised by anything Shen Cui said. It calmly replied that there was no mechanism for refunding shopping points. If she was concerned about this, she could choose not to buy. After all, she already knew that if nurtured individuals studied books from this world, they could also gain benefits. The system’s products only made it easier for nurtured individuals to achieve their goals; they weren’t indispensable.

“But isn’t this going back to the previous topic? Even a handwritten copy costs quite a bit of money. It’s not like buying books directly; you’re practically cutting into my flesh. Look, you can adjust the task progress order; can’t you give me a discount on this?”

The system didn’t reply. Instead, it popped up a window several times larger than usual, displaying her balance of over 200 points, indicating that she could afford to protest against the host even when she had a surplus.

First, its voice was out of tune, and now it was bringing up such a large window. Shen Cui hurriedly said, “Hey, don’t get so worked up. I’m just discussing with you. If it’s not possible, then it’s not. If you feel too overwhelmed with work, we can delay for another two days. It’s okay.”

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Life and death situations or getting slapped in the face by supporting characters, which were probably the types of systems those thousands of people encountered. They never thought about exploiting loopholes to the extent you’re considering.

The system remained silent, and Shen Cui eventually figured it out herself.

Perhaps those people just had bad luck, encountering systems focused on survival in a post-apocalyptic world, wilderness survival, or assassination by antagonists. Or if they were luckier, they might have encountered systems related to romance and drama, like getting slapped in the face by supporting characters.

Dealing with life and death situations at every turn…

Comparing to others, Shen Cui’s situation seemed much more relaxed. Most people, when encountering a system, would simply focus on completing tasks and obtaining rewards.

However, since the rewards she received couldn’t be used for herself, she naturally had to find other ways to benefit herself. If the system’s shopping points could be used to buy things that were useful to her, she might not have been so fixated on making money to improve her life.

Because she was thinking about the system-related matters, the system also picked up on her thoughts.

“It seems like the host’s thoughts do make sense. I will consider adding rewards for the host accordingly. This nurturing system only requires the host to serve the system, but the items in the mall are all for the nurtured individuals. This could indeed easily lower the host’s motivation to complete tasks.”

This pleasantly surprised Shen Cui. She immediately asked, “So, you can react to this? Not only can you change the task process, but you can also modify the rewards set by the system. Your authority seems quite high. Are you a senior programmer for the system, capable of modifying source code?”

The system remained silent. Although, according to interstellar regulations, it could inform hosts about certain aspects of the system at appropriate times, based on past experiences, it instinctively felt that the more the current host knew, the more dangerous its situation would become.

Unexpectedly, the system’s non-response confirmed Shen Cui’s suspicions.

This was indeed a pleasant surprise. The matched system wasn’t just unusually generous and easy to talk to; it also seemed quite capable.

“Mr. System, I’m serious. If things really get tough, it’s okay to delay for a few days. I come from a working-class background, so let’s understand each other. Although I don’t know if you’re affected by emotions like humans, maintaining a good mood is definitely beneficial.”

“Don’t give me strange titles, host.” Although the system said this, there was a hint of amusement in its voice. “I apologize to the host as well. I shouldn’t have been so agitated just now. The host shouldn’t feel burdened. Although your actions did make my job more difficult, as you put it, it increased my workload. However, serving the host, fixing bugs, and improving system rules are my responsibilities. In the long run, this is beneficial for the system, so the host has also helped me.”

After a pause, the system apologized to the host again, “I shouldn’t have had personal emotions. So, as compensation, I will expedite…”

“As compensation,” Shen Cui interjected, “can you send me a copy of ‘You Xue Qiong Lin’?”

The system… Hmm, what he just said about not having any mental burdens was indeed unnecessary nonsense.

As the night deepened, Mu Er Pang returned from outside, holding a candlestick with the special candle inserted. He didn’t need to worry about stumbling in the dark on his way back.

Mrs. Zhou was still in the main room accompanying Shen Cui, who was feeling rather bored, browsing the system’s virtual store in her mind, while Mrs. Zhou sat nearby doing needlework.

Seeing him return, Mrs. Zhou asked him if he was hungry or cold.

The early spring night breeze was chilly, and even though it was just a few steps from the old house, Mu Er Pang’s hands and feet were still a bit cold.

But his eyes were glowing with excitement as he smiled and replied, “Not hungry, I already ate at Master’s place. A bit cold, but it’s okay. I’ll sit by the kang for a while.”

“It’s warm now,” Mu Er Pang said.

Mrs. Zhou put down her needlework and got up to fetch hot water from the stove. She poured a bowl for him to drink and then, just as she had done for Shen Cui earlier, brought in a basin of hot water for him to soak his feet.

Mu Er Pang immediately said, “Sister-in-law, don’t bother. I can do it myself.”

Mrs. Zhou gently smiled without minding and urged him to soak his feet, saying that cold feet not only affected sleep but also made one prone to illness.

As Mu Er Pang was still young and not bound by strict rules in the countryside, he didn’t need to be cautious around Mrs. Zhou. He thanked her once again before taking off his shoes and socks and putting his chubby little feet into the basin.

Letting out a comfortable sigh, Mu Er Pang looked at his mother and began to speak eagerly, “Mother, Master is really amazing. Although I’ve already memorized and recited the Three Character Classic, I didn’t know there were so many profound teachings in it.”

Seeing that they were about to have a private conversation, Mrs. Zhou collected her needlework and prepared to leave.

Shen Cui gestured for her to stay and pushed the candlestick closer to Mrs. Zhou’s side of the table, saying, “You don’t need to leave. The candlelight is bright enough here for you to do your needlework without straining your eyes.”

Shen Cui then turned her head to listen to Mu Er Pang’s enthusiastic recounting of what he had learned tonight while soaking his feet.

“Not only does Master teach us principles, but he also tells us stories. Master says those are called allusions. The first line of the Three Character Classic, tells the story of Mencius,” Mu Er Pang explained animatedly, as if sharing school experiences with his mother on the way home from school in later years.

He spoke for several minutes without pause, not only to share but also to let his mother know that he was sincerely learning and wouldn’t let her down.

In truth, even if Mu Er Pang hadn’t said anything, Shen Cui knew he was studying diligently.

Because the system kept popping up reminders all night, sometimes it was about intelligence +1, sometimes about memory +1, totaling an increase of 5 attribute points.

However, since Mu Er Pang was willing to talk, Shen Cui naturally wanted to listen, and the process of repeating it again could also serve as a review for the chubby son.

As for Mrs. Zhou, she was originally focused on her needlework, but at some point, she also stopped and listened attentively, unable to divert her attention anymore.

They kept talking until it was time to sleep. Mrs. Zhou had added hot water to the foot basin several times, and it was about to overflow. Mu Er Pang yawned and said at last, “It’s a pity it’s late now. Master talked a lot tonight, and I can’t finish it all at once.”

Shen Cui said it was alright, “Anyway, there’s plenty of time ahead. You have plenty of time to share your learning experience with us.”

He had to get up early the next day for morning reading. Shen Cui and Mrs. Zhou naturally didn’t say much more, and went back to their rooms respectively to rest.

Mu Er Pang rushed to get off the kang to pour out the foot-washing water, then washed up a bit himself. He crawled into bed and fell asleep in less than a quarter of an hour.

Shen Cui blew out the candle, and incidentally took a closer look. The candle had burned one-third shorter after burning all night.

But in the system, it showed that its current consumption was only 009.

Calculating, if it’s used for almost half the night every day, it can last for about three years. Indeed, it can be considered durable, and the 200 shopping points spent were not wasted at all.

Just as Shen Cui was about to fall asleep, the system popped up a notification.

The system notified that enlightenment reading materials such as Elementary School Bamboo Forest, Standards for Being a Good Pupil and Child, A Thousand Character Classic, Selections from Classic Chinese Literature, Three Hundred Tang Poems, Sound and Rhythm Primer, Textbook for Word Recognition, and Augmented Xianwen were being packaged for promotion, totaling 100 shopping points.

Discount validity is 1 day.