Chapter 8

Shen Cui had already exaggerated quite a bit, and the clay pot rice had burnt without her realizing.

She reluctantly used a rice spoon to turn the rice in the clay pot. Luckily, the top layer of rice and vegetables was not burnt, only the rice at the bottom had turned black.

Shen Cui was a bit disheartened. She had read many transmigration novels where the transmigrated female lead could easily impress people with a few dishes, even the people from ancient times.

Yet, she failed twice in a row. She didn’t know what went wrong.

Mu Er Pang beside her had numb legs from squatting for so long. He was now following Shen Cui like a little tail, eagerly waiting to eat.

Shen Cui scooped out the unburnt rice and vegetables, just enough to fill two small bowls.

However, as anyone who has cooked knows, once something burns in a pot, the burnt smell can spread, affecting the taste of the food above.

“Have some to fill your stomach… I mean, to boost your mood,” Shen Cui said awkwardly. “Mom will make something else for you later.”

Mu Er Pang was no longer paying attention to her words. He took the bowl and spoon, found a small stool to sit on, and started eating heartily!

Shen Cui saw his mood value quickly return to full with +5, +5 above his head!

Finishing the last bite in his bowl, Mu Er Pang even licked the sticky rice grains off the spoon, not wanting to waste any bit of it.

“Mom didn’t lie! This is really delicious, something I’ve never tasted before!”

Seeing his satisfied expression, Shen Cui tasted the rice in her own bowl, still skeptical— it tasted burnt! Terrible!

She understood now. This child was just easy to please!

It made sense. After Mu Er Pang was born, the Mu family was essentially run by Shen Cui. Although there was a large iron pot at home, the original Shen Cui was reluctant to use oil for frying, so they usually ate boiled and stewed dishes, with more vegetables than meat, and counted the eggs they ate.

Shen Cui, although she knew she had to be frugal, it was difficult for a modern person to change their habits overnight. Things like putting sausage and cured meat in rice were something the original Shen Cui would only do during Chinese New Year.

So Mu Er Pang had no complaints about her cooking skills; he was happy and satisfied!

Infected by his mood, Shen Cui couldn’t help but smile too.

The slight frustration in her heart dissipated. She put the pots and bowls in the sink and then said, “We’ve eaten. Come on, let’s continue reading for a bit!”

Mu Er Pang: !!!

The smile on his chubby face immediately disappeared, and he looked at her pitifully, silently resisting.

“Okay, just read for a little while. We’ll rest when the sun sets.”

In this era, there were no electric lights. Reading at night required lamps and oil. If one wasn’t careful, they could end up with nearsightedness. And without glasses, eye damage would be a big problem.

Of course, Mu Yunchuan, with his male protagonist halo, didn’t count. He had been reading with lamps and oil for over ten years, and his eyesight was still perfect.

It was only half an hour until evening.

Mu Er Pang now had some concept of time and felt that it would only take a short while. His expression improved.

Soon, as evening approached, Shen Cui put the book away without Mu Er Pang having to say anything.

After putting the book away, the mother and son lay back on the kang together, both clearly quite tired.

Shen Cui wanted to heat some water to wash up, but Mu Er Pang was already asleep, lying on the kang with his eyes closed.

Top of Form

Shen Cui decided to take a hot bath before sleeping. After all, she had been wearing the same clothes for several days without a proper bath. Who could tolerate that?

But then the wind outside picked up, making a whistling sound that was chilling and creepy.

Shen Cui hesitated for a long time but eventually got up to heat a pot of water. She and Mu Er Pang soaked their feet together.

After the foot soak, Mu Er Pang fell asleep, and Shen Cui felt her eyelids getting heavy. She crawled into her own warm bed on the other side of the kang.

In the middle of the night, half-dreaming and half-awake, Shen Cui heard a system prompt.

She slightly opened her eyes and saw a message on the screen, glowing in the dim light.

[System Announcement: Main Quest Initiated, System Upgrade Imminent. Details are as follows…]

Shen Cui was so tired that she could barely keep her eyes open, but she forced herself to read through the message.

In short, because she chose Mu Er Pang as her study buddy, the system gained some energy and was about to upgrade.

The upgrade time could be as short as three days or as long as ten days.

During the upgrade, Shen Cui could still complete tasks and make purchases in the store.

It was just a routine notification from the system.

After reading it, Shen Cui went back to sleep.

The mother and son had agreed to wake up early the next day to continue their studies, but somehow they ended up sleeping until it was bright daylight.

After waking up, Shen Cui looked at Mu Er Pang, and Mu Er Pang looked at her. The two groggy individuals exchanged glances for a few moments, and finally Shen Cui reluctantly got up, wrapped herself in a coat, and went to the kitchen to boil water.

After boiling the water, Mu Er Pang finally got up from the bed to wash up. He then sat at the table, eagerly waiting for breakfast.

Breakfast was, of course, prepared by Shen Cui. Considering the failed attempts with sugar-coated eggs and clay-pot rice, she didn’t challenge herself this time and simply cooked a pot of white porridge, served with the leftover pickled vegetables.

Mu Er Pang didn’t complain either and finished his bowl of porridge cleanly.

After that, they spent the whole day studying. On this day, Shen Cui taught Mu Er Pang “The Hundred Family Surnames,” which was even more catchy than “Three Character Classic.”

By the end of the morning, Shen Cui had completed 2/3 of the system’s task.

On the third day, the system still hadn’t completed the upgrade, but Shen Cui helped Mu Er Pang thoroughly study the final book, “Thousand Character Classic.”

The rewards for the tasks were settled, and this time there were no extraordinary items, only 100 shopping points like the beginner’s tasks.

However, Shen Cui was not dissatisfied because the real reward—attribute growth—had already been obtained during the study process.

After reading the three books, Mu Er Pang had gained a total of 8 attribute points.

Of course, these 8 points were not all added to the most important intelligence and memory, but, as the system said, they were random. Half of them were added to emotional intelligence.

This successfully changed Mu Er Pang’s system evaluation to [ Mentally equivalent to a nine-year-old in this world.]

Mu Er Pang had just turned ten, and his mental level now completely matched his age. This rate of growth made Shen Cui very satisfied!

During the system upgrade period, no new tasks were issued. With the Chinese New Year approaching, the sound of firecrackers outside became more and more frequent, and the New Year atmosphere grew stronger. Shen Cui decided to give the child a break and told him she would take him to the city.

They played around a bit and bought some New Year goods.

Which half-grown child doesn’t love playing?

Shen Cui thought that at this time, Mu Er Pang would surely be ecstatic, but he didn’t react as she expected. He shook his head and said he didn’t want to go.

“It’s so cold outside, and it looks like it’s going to snow. What if you catch a cold? How would that be?” Mu Er Pang lay listlessly on the kang, looking unwell.

Shen Cui thought to herself, “You’re completely overthinking it. With your extraordinary constitution, even if you get sick, you’ll be fine after a nap.”

But seeing him like this, Shen Cui also felt a bit guilty and didn’t say what she was thinking.

These past few days, she had indeed pressured the child too much. Thinking back to when she first started school in her past life, elementary school teachers used fun methods to improve children’s enthusiasm for learning.

Unfortunately, Shen Cui didn’t know how to do that, nor did she know how to make learning fun with books like “Three Hundred Tang Poems.” So, she could only accompany him in the tedious process of learning characters and reading.

Studying like this was naturally boring, so Mu Er Pang’s mood value was not very high for two consecutive days, fluctuating around seventy or eighty.

But just to stabilize this threshold, Shen Cui had almost finished all the food at home for him. So, she suggested going to the city to buy New Year goods.

Shen Cui also wanted to take Mu Er Pang out to have fun and relieve his negative emotions.

“So what do you want to do? Do you want to set off firecrackers? Or do you want to do something else? Mom will accompany you.”

Mu Er Pang still shook his head. “I just want you to make the kang warmer.”

Shen Cui: …

However, Mu Er Pang did get off the kang in the end.

Because the original body’s sister-in-law, Li Shi, came over again.

She had previously said that she would try to persuade her mother-in-law and get back the silver that was supposed to be returned to Shen Cui.

This time, she was a bit embarrassed because Zheng had gone back for a few days and was still upset. She didn’t dare to persuade her.

Li Shi came over this time because Zheng Shi had said at home that it was almost New Year, and it was time to bring Mu Er Pang over to liven things up, without mentioning Shen Cui at all.

Li Shi was running errands, and before leaving, she wanted to go back to her room to get some silver to bring to the Shen family. However, Zheng Shi stared at her as soon as she finished speaking, obviously guessing her intentions.

Li Shi had no choice but to come empty-handed to help pass on the message.

Shen Cui had never planned to go back to her parents’ home for the New Year, so she wasn’t disappointed. She just turned to ask Mu Er Pang what he thought.

After all, she wasn’t a true member of the Shen family, but Mu Er Pang was the real grandson of the Shen family, and Zheng Shi did treat him well, so she didn’t want the child to be involved in adult matters.

However, Shen Cui didn’t expect Mu Er Pang to agree—could a lazy child who wasn’t even interested in going out to play be willing to go to his maternal grandparents’ home?

Shen Cui was surprised again when Mu Er Pang, after hearing about it, only struggled for a moment before slowly getting up on his own.

The little guy wasn’t willing to go out with her but was willing to go to his maternal grandparents’ home. Shen Cui felt… a bit sour for some reason.

Certainly, she had spent a short time with Mu Er Pang, but they had been together day and night, and their fates were tied together by the system. She really did consider Mu Er Pang as her own family.

Mu Er Pang used to hardly get out of bed easily, and he was indeed fat, making it inconvenient for him to move. So, every time he went out, the original body had to help him a lot.

This time, Shen Cui didn’t help him dress, just helped him prepare a set of clean clothes.

Feeling awkward was only one aspect; the other aspect was to train him.

Mu Er Pang, who had grown several years in mental growth, was ready in about fifteen minutes, and Shen Cui also prepared a small parcel for him.

Mu Er Pang slung the small parcel over his shoulder. When he saw his aunt Li Shi waiting for him outside, he immediately walked out of the bedroom.

After taking a few steps outside, Mu Er Pang quickly turned back, squeezed Shen Cui’s finger, and said in his usual lazy tone, “Aunt has always been kind to me. I’ll go and persuade Grandma and aunt so they won’t be angry. Then I’ll come to pick you up to go to grandma’s house. If grandma is still angry, I’ll secretly bring you some food… You stay at home and take care of yourself, okay?”