From Folly to Fortune：I Rewrite My Life After Rebirth!

Chapter 121: Chapter 122: The Difficult Liu Zian (Second Update)

The scholar stared at Mu Shuangshuang for a long time, with a look as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

”Is there something on my face?” Mu Shuangshuang pointed to herself and asked.

”No, gentlemen do not eat food that comes as a gift, I...”

”Haha...” Mu Shuangshuang couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

These ancient scholars are really interesting—better to starve than to lose integrity.

But why does this sound awkward to her? When people are starving, what’s the point of talking about virtue?

”What are you laughing at?” The scholar stiffened his neck, his face turning red, yet he still stared at Mu Shuangshuang intently.

”Nothing to laugh at. Didn’t you say you don’t eat food that comes as charity? The bowls at our house are still unwashed. Do you want to wash them for us? I’ll pay you, and you can use that payment to get some of our bread. How about it?”

Mu Shuangshuang pointed her finger, and the unwashed bowls piled together appeared before the scholar’s eyes.

”Why should I wash dishes for you?” The scholar frowned.

”Then why do you want to eat? Don’t tell me, just because you’re a scholar, you don’t need to work? You think a scholar’s feet never touch the ground? Seeing as you have hands and feet, have you never done any work?”

Doing no work with your limbs, not knowing the difference between grains, having no money, and unwilling to work, do you really think of yourself as an official?

Looks like when I go back, I have to train Xiao Han well, so he doesn’t become a bookworm like this, always feeling superior just because he reads.

”You...” The scholar was poked in the sore spot by Mu Shuangshuang, and his expression turned serious instantly. ”Who said I’ve never worked? I’ll wash the dishes for you.”

With that, the scholar squatted by the wooden basin and began washing the dishes for Shuangshuang. As soon as a bowl was lifted from the basin, it was in his hands for less than a second before it clattered and flew out.

Just as it was about to hit the ground, Lu Yuanfeng stretched out his foot and caught the bowl perfectly.

”Impressive, Lu Yuanfeng, you’re so quick to react,” Mu Shuangshuang marveled.

Just now, watching the bowl fly out, she was already prepared to pay for it, but Lu Yuanfeng ended up catching it. This guy, his skills are really outstanding. She was starting to believe again that this silly boy came from the military camp.

As for the expression on the scholar’s face, it was even more embarrassed now. His surname is Liu, called Liu Zian, from Liu Family Village, sixteen years old, and his parents are farmers.

In recent years, the Liu family parents relied on farming, selling grain, raising pigs, and selling pigs to support Liu Zian’s studies.

Fortunately, Liu Zian did them proud by topping the rank in the children’s examination the first time, becoming a scholar, and is now a student at the county’s school. With the Autumn Examination coming in August, he has no funds for his trip to Qianzhou Prefecture to take the exam.

Liu Zian couldn’t bear to see his parents suffer for his exam travel expenses, so he took out books he no longer needed, hoping to sell them for a good price in town. But being shy, he didn’t dare to shout and hesitated before approaching those he found pleasing to ask if they wanted the books.

The result was predictable; those he found pleasing did not want the books.

Liu Zian hurried out without bringing silver, and now, utterly hungry, he stopped in front of Mu Shuangshuang, but he didn’t expect her mocking words to entirely stir up his fighting spirit.

Liu Zian lowered his head and continued washing dishes, this time being extra careful not to let the bowl fly out. But his dishwashing skills...

In his hands, a bowl didn’t get cleaner; instead, it got dirtier.

”Shuangshuang, who is he?” Lu Yuanfeng placed the bowl into the wooden basin and walked over to Mu Shuangshuang to ask.

”A worker. Help me finish washing the dishes, and I’ll pay him.”

What Mu Shuangshuang said was light and casual, but Liu Zian froze.

Clearly, what Shuangshuang said was different from what he imagined.

He thought the little girl in front of him would mock him.

”Hmm, that’s nice. Are you tired? It’s so hot; should I buy you a bowl of mung bean porridge?” Lu Yuanfeng glanced at the still dirty bowls and then turned his head away.

”No need, I just drank water. If you want to eat, buy it yourself.”

Taking advantage of the break in washing dishes, Liu Zian began observing Mu Shuangshuang. She was wearing a loose gray garment; the color was very dull, with no sense of beauty, and she was skinny, with only bones visible when she stretched out her hand.

Someone like that should be forgettable in a crowd, but she wasn’t that way.

From the moment she stood there, people’s eyes around were naturally drawn to her, always feeling like there’s something different about her compared to others.

This girl is really peculiar!

Liu Zian finished washing a basin of dishes, and half an hour had passed. During that time, Mu Shuangshuang sold six more pieces of bread, leaving only four.

”All done.” Liu Zian walked to Mu Shuangshuang and pointed to the stack of dishes on the ground.

”Hiring a laborer for a day costs six copper coins, and my bread is four copper coins each, paired with a bowl of soup, totaling five. Now you can choose to have a meal and take one copper coin with you, or take five copper coins and go eat noodles elsewhere.” Shuangshuang nodded.

”I don’t want the one copper coin. Give me a bread and two bowls of soup.” Liu Zian swallowed hard, the feeling of hunger was really unbearable.

”Alright!”

Mu Shuangshuang cut the remaining four pieces of bread together, gave one to the scholar, one to herself, and two to Lu Yuanfeng.

Liu Zian ate quickly; in no time, a piece of bread was gone. After eating, he was still a bit unsatisfied, finding it surprising that something made by a village girl could be so delicious.

After Liu Zian was done eating, Mu Shuangshuang started getting to the point.

”Do you understand the laws of the present dynasty?”

Lu Yuanfeng’s eyes had been on Mu Shuangshuang the whole time. He knew that Shuangshuang kept this helpless young man for a reason.

The one who eats feels indebted. Even if Liu Zian earned this meal with labor, he still felt he owes the girl in front of him.

”Yes, what are you asking for?”

”Then tell me, if I write on a piece of paper that you owe me ten thousand taels of silver and then take your hand to press a fingerprint, does that mean you owe me ten thousand taels?”

Mu Shuangshuang didn’t understand ancient laws, but she knew in the modern world, something like this definitely wouldn’t work.

The matter of Mrs. Jin making her father press a fingerprint worried her constantly.

”Of course not, a contract is not child’s play. Without witnesses, how can a single person’s words be taken as fact?”

”What if he was a witness?” Mu Shuangshuang pointed to Lu Yuanfeng, and Liu Zian instantly deflated.

”I... I don’t know.” It’s not in the books.

Now she figured it out; that issue is indeed a hidden pitfall.

When she goes back, she must make her dad retrieve that paper with the fingerprint.

”By the way, do you have any books about the laws of the present dynasty?”

As the girl before him spoke increasingly oddly, Liu Zian looked at Mu Shuangshuang with suspicion. ”What... exactly do you want to do?”

”Why should you care? Do you have it or not?”

”No...” Liu Zian replied honestly. ”But I have it at home.”

”Then it’s definitely too late. How much were you planning to sell those books for before?”