Chapter 35

Due to the delay caused by the visit from the Wei family and the time spent on naming and writing, it was already well past morning.

Afterwards, Shen Cui didn’t delay the children’s studies and set off for the city with the written characters.

Upon entering the city, Shen Cui didn’t rush to find a shop to make the plaque. Instead, she paid a visit to the Qingzhu Academy.

With the internal agreement among the four of them regarding the establishment of the academy, it was now time to deal with external factors. While Madam Zhou could arrange for the loan of the house, any necessary modifications would require the consent of Mu Yunchuan, the owner of the property.

Since she was already in the city, there was no need to relay messages through Madam Zhou. Moreover, the sight of Madam Zhou’s troubled expression earlier in the morning had made Shen Cui feel a bit sorry for her.

Feeling embarrassed to arrive empty-handed, Shen Cui bought some simple fruits from a street vendor before arriving outside the academy.

Instead of going in immediately, Shen Cui opened up the system panel.

Thanks to the system treating Mu Yunchuan as a potential cultivatable subject, his status could still be checked.

Mood Value: 70

Huh? It seemed like his mood was still pretty good?

…

At this moment, Mu Yunchuan was talking to Wei Shu.

Although Wei Shu had left the Mu family residence with a huff, he now spoke about Wei Er with a smile when he mentioned him to Mu Yunchuan.

“That brat always had a gloomy face at home, and when I asked him what was wrong, he wouldn’t say. Today, when I went to see him at your place, he was smiling despite his misfortune. He had followed Lao Buyu to Shuiyun Village and sprained his foot falling into a pit, but he just laughed when he saw me. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him smile like that.”

As he spoke, Wei Shu seemed to recall the half-smiling face of Wei Er peering out from the window and shook his head helplessly. “Oh well, let him be. He’s talented, and with so many years of studying, even if he takes the exam now, he’ll have a title under his belt. We didn’t really expect him to take the hard road anyway. If he’s willing to stay there, let him. If he ever gets tired of it, I’ll figure out a way to get him into the academy again. By then, I’ll trouble you to put in a good word with the Headmaster.”

Mu Yunchuan waved his hand, saying it was no trouble. “You’ve helped me a lot. It’s just a matter of saying a few words. It’s not a big deal.”

Wei Shu patted him on the shoulder with a smile but still looked a bit worried. “It’s just your stepmother… I’m not trying to badmouth her behind her back, but what she did to you in the past makes me a little concerned.”

However, Mu Yunchuan shook his head again. As long as Shen Cui continued to focus on cultivating Er Pang and putting her efforts into it, she wouldn’t do anything too outrageous.

Recent events, whether it was the news told to him by Madam Zhou or Shen Cui’s role in convincing Lao Buyu to accept Wei Er, showed that she was indeed starting to focus on cultivating Er Pang.

Moreover, Shen Cui had always loved money, and the Wei family happened to be wealthy. Even if Shen Cui was as foolish as she was before, she would know to support Er Pang.

Madam Zhou had also told him that although Shen Cui would visit Er Pang once or twice a day, she didn’t interfere in Lao Buyu’s teaching affairs.

Despite Lao Buyu’s somewhat unreliable personality, Madam Zhou had heard him teaching seriously when she went to the old house to hang clothes. Even Er Pang would repeat what he had learned before going to bed or having dinner, which made Mu Yunchuan realize that proper classes were indeed being conducted at home.

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Some things he didn’t want to tell Wei Shu, but Wei Shu didn’t ask much either. He had natural trust in his good friend of many years.

If Mu Yunchuan said he couldn’t do it, then he really couldn’t.

Mu Yunchuan was going to retire next month, although everyone, including the abbot and Wei Shu, was sure he wouldn’t encounter any problems.

But Mu Yunchuan was still very serious, still engrossed in his studies.

Wei Shu didn’t bother him anymore and went back to his own quarters.

Meanwhile, outside the academy, Shen Cui, after observing Mu Yunchuan’s mood for a quarter of an hour, finally confirmed that his mood was indeed good and stable, so she asked someone to pass on a message.

When Mu Yunchuan heard that his family was coming to visit, he instinctively thought it was Zhou’s family again.

Seeing it was Shen Cui, although Mu Yunchuan was surprised, he didn’t show it on his face and respectfully called her “Mother”.

Shen Cui waved off his courtesy and quickly said, “I know you work hard every day, so I didn’t come to disturb you on purpose today. I just want to discuss something with you. Since our family has Wei Xi now, and the Wei family has given us a lot of money, I want to tidy up the old house, put up a plaque, clean it up, and make it into a study so that Wei Xi can study there peacefully.”

It was another unexpected matter, but having experienced several such “surprises” before, Mu Yunchuan remained calm and said, “Second brother and I have not separated our households. Mother is in charge of all household affairs, so there is no need to inform me.”

When Shen Cui spoke to him, she still cautiously observed his mood, which remained stable, indicating that he indeed didn’t care much about that old house.

It made sense. If he really cared about the house, Zhou’s family wouldn’t have dared to lend that old house to Luo Buyu for residence and teaching.

Shen Cui forced a smile as well, thinking, Isn’t this just to prevent you from holding grudges? Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had to make this trip.

After discussing this matter, Shen Cui gave him three taels of silver.

When she came over, the Mu family had just over ten taels of silver left.

Although there was a portion of the original owner’s family providing some support, there was also some silver left by Mu Cheng.

Shen Cui didn’t want to think too much about it. Anyway, a few taels of silver wasn’t a big deal for her now that she had a stable income. So, she split the ten taels equally between the two brothers. By giving him this money now, she wouldn’t owe him anything anymore.

“I heard from your wife that you will continue your studies in the capital in the future, and there are many places that require money. You probably know about our family’s finances. Take these three taels of silver. From now on, you’ll have to rely on yourself.”

Since there were no outsiders present, Mu Yunchuan didn’t refuse and accepted the small silver ingot with some surprise.

Looking at his stepmother in front of him, with her raised eyebrows and thin lips—a face that was beautiful yet cold.

It seemed like there was no change at all, yet everything seemed different from before.

“Thank you, Mother, for your concern,” he said with a faint smile to Shen Cui. “As you said, there will indeed be many expenses in the future. However, after the provincial examination, I can enter the government school for further studies. If I am fortunate enough to become a Jinshi, I will receive money and food allowances, and won’t need the family’s money anymore.”

Mu Yunchuan and Shen Cui didn’t have many direct interactions. Hearing his gentle words now, Shen Cui thought that her efforts during this period hadn’t been in vain, at least making him believe that she hadn’t caused any trouble recently. It was a slight easing of the tense relationship.

She couldn’t help but relax her expression. “You can rest assured to focus on your studies.”

“She came over today and said that Mother treats her very well.”

“She is diligent and likable, but I didn’t treat her particularly well.”

“What about the others at home? How far has Er Pang progressed in his studies these days?”

“Luo Buyu said he has already explained ‘Three Character Classic’ and ‘Thousand Character Classic’ to him over the past two nights. Today, he’ll probably move on to ‘Youxue Qionglin’.”

The two of them weren’t particularly close, so having a calm conversation about daily life was already pushing their limits.

Shen Cui only took up half a quarter of an hour of his time. After discussing matters, giving him the silver, and handing him the fruits she had bought, she bid farewell and left.

Mu Yunchuan stood in place for a while longer, his gaze falling on the two bags of fruits in his hands, with a hint of inquiry in his eyes.

…

With both internal and external factors resolved, Shen Cui first went to the bank to exchange the ten taels of silver bill, then went to find a shop that made plaques.

Plaques required engraving and craftsmanship. If one wanted good material and gold paint, the price would be even higher.

Shen Cui didn’t seek extravagance. She chose the most common wood and didn’t opt for gold paint. She only thought about the system’s mention of releasing the task of constructing a study within ten days. So, she added some extra money to urge the craftsmen to work quickly, spending another one or two taels of silver.

Afterward, she went to Tea Pot Alley again to talk to Zheng Shi about tidying up the old house.

Thanks to Luo Buyu’s help in planning, Shen Cui said that their family had taken in Wei Xi, this little treasure, to make him more comfortable and to ease the minds of the Wei family. Thus, this plan came about.

Zheng Shi was even more insightful than her on this matter. Without hesitation, she agreed and suggested that Shen Da and Shen Er should take a day off the next day to help tidy up the Water Cloud Village. She also urged Shen Cui not to be stingy with money anymore, as only by taking good care of Wei Xi, the God of Wealth, could they have a continuous stream of income in the future.

The next day, the system officially released the task of “Constructing a Study”.

[Task Time Limit: 10 days.]

Due to the thorough preparation work in the early stage, three days later, the plaque was made first. Later, with the help of the Shen family, the outer walls and roof of the old house were repaired, some clutter in the courtyard was removed, the usage of each room was determined, and the Cuiwei Study was officially completed.

On the day the study plaque was hung, all the Shen family members were present. Together with the few people already in the study, the old house became unusually lively.

Naturally, the completion of the study also required a decent opening ceremony. It was said that when Qingzhu Study was completed, the abbot invited all the literati in the city, and even the county magistrate personally attended to congratulate them.

Shen Cui naturally didn’t hold such a grand ceremony. Instead, she hung a long string of firecrackers, bought some food, and everyone had a meal together, which counted as holding the ceremony.

After setting off the firecrackers, Zheng Shi took her two daughters-in-law and Zhou Shi into the kitchen. Shen Cui wanted to help but was met with everyone’s changed expressions and shoving her out.

Feeling bored, she absentmindedly touched her nose and went back to her room to focus on reading the system announcement after completing the task.

[System Prompt: Construction of the Study Task Completed.]

[Task Reward: 400 shopping points. Exclusive interface for the study, exclusive tasks for the study.]

The task reward of shopping points was 100 more than before, so Shen Cui roughly knew that her task progress had moved forward again.

Nowadays, after a few busy days, she no longer felt lazy or reluctant, truly breaking free from the constraints of the original owner’s settings and being able to be herself completely!

Feeling relieved, Shen Cui casually opened the exclusive interface for the study.

The entire old house turned into a scaled-down map in proportion, unfolding before her eyes.

At this moment, Luo Buyu, Mu Er Pang, and Wei Xi in the study turned into chibi characters.

Chibi Mu Er Pang and Wei Xi were sitting at their respective desks studying earnestly, while chibi Luo Buyu was shuttling between the two, sometimes giving pointers and sometimes teaching them something.

Above each person’s head were two rectangular health bars.

Shen Cui clicked to check. The red bar above represented health, and the green one below represented mood.

Just as she was looking, the study displayed today’s random enhancement: “Calm and Focused”.

As Shen Cui was outside the study, naturally, she couldn’t feel this enhancement directly. The most direct feeling was that the already high mood values of the two kids surged even higher!

“Big Brother Tongzi did a good job this time! The reward is really good!” Shen Cui praised the system, intending to continue with some rainbow farts. Just then, the exclusive study task refreshed:

“Please invite the abbot to cook a delicious meal for the teacher and students.”

Shen Cui: …