Su Tang heard what he said and smiled politely. "Thank you for your praises, sir. I hope teacher can look after my brother in the future."
Zheng Zhong nodded and replied, "You're too polite. I am currently the teacher of Class A, I also hope to see your brother in my class as soon as possible."
Su Tang politely gave him a bow as befitting his status as the future teacher of her little brother. Zheng Zhong wanted to say something more, but just then he saw the teacher for Class B coming around to collect his students, including Su Nuo. Zheng Zhong looked around and noticed that all the students had already finished their examinations and the teachers were collecting them. Of course, most of them were following the teacher from Class C or Class D.
Zheng Zhong closed his mouth and just watched as all the students left with their teachers. However, his eyes lingered on Su Tang and Su Nuo as they left. There was an unreadable expression on his face, and it was unclear what he was thinking about.
"What are you looking at? Don't you feel cold standing out in this hallway?" While he was still dazing off, Zheng Zhong suddenly heard a voice from the side. Looking to his left, there was a middle-aged man with a scholarly disposition standing there.
"Father… didn't you think that that Su Yongnuo was a little strange?" As it turned out, this middle-aged man was actually the head of the academy and also Zheng Zhong's father.
When Zheng Zhong had been interviewing Su Nuo just now, he could tell that the little guy didn't have a particularly deep or wide range of knowledge, but his grasp over the things he did know was very solid. Somehow he seemed quite different from the ordinary children Zheng Zhong usually met, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what the difference was.
"What strange? It should just be that he has a teacher outside that has taught him before. Although that child has only learned the Three Character Classic and the Thousand Character Classic, he seems to be very flexible in understanding and using them. It seems he's reached some degree of mastery over the two texts." As an experienced educator, Zheng Zhong's father was instantly able to point out the incongruity that his son had sensed.
In this era, although there was more emphasis on education and children were more likely to study, most of them still only learned through rote memorization. Thus, most children only have extremely basic foundational knowledge that they had memorized without much understanding of the content. However, Su Nuo was different. He could properly understand the things he memorized, and he was already at the level where he could apply and use his memorized knowledge flexibly. This was all because Su Tang had never encouraged him to just memorize things blindly, rather, she had always explained things to him carefully little by little alongside specific illustrating examples.
This kind of education, coupled with the little guy's ability to learn quickly, his ability to remember things well, and his meticulous personality which ensured that he rarely made mistakes, all led to him having a great deal more flexibility in his thinking compared to other students his age. Therefore, it was only natural that he seemed different from other children in Zheng Zhong's eyes.
After his father pointed it out to him, Zheng Zhong also quickly understood. He clapped his hands and nodded in agreement, "You're right father, that's exactly how it is. However, when I asked him Su Yongnuo told me that he had only been taught by his sister, perhaps she…"
Seeing his son getting so excited, Zheng Li shook his head wryly before replying, "His sister is no more than an ordinary little girl. His knowledge should just be a coincidence."
"Father, you should also know that the biggest difference between the students from our small academy and the students from the bigger academies is our students' inability to flexibly use the knowledge we impart. Otherwise, why would it already be so many years without a single Advanced Scholar appearing from Qinghe Town? Even if we want to, it's not something our academy can teach."
"Because of this, many of the students from our academy end up trapped after passing the Child Student exam for all of their lives, and even those few able to break through and pass the Student Member exams are very rare."
"Meanwhile, students taught by those big academies all learn better and can apply their knowledge more flexibly. Even the emperor's Imperial Preceptor, Zhong Wen, is said to value his students having more flexibility in their thinking."
"Father, you've already been the master of this backwater academy for so many years, and I know you've always hoped to cultivate better students. I think that maybe this Su Yongnuo's learning method may be an opportunity for us and for the academy."
Although the headmasters of the academies in Qihuang Kingdom were not officials, they were subordinate to and managed by the Imperial College, so their position carried a certain amount of weight and prestige. That being the case, how could there be no sense of rivalry and competition among them?
If a remote academy could manage to raise an Advanced Scholar, that would reflect well on the headmaster overseeing the academy. Not only that, but it would also draw in more students and more skilled teachers and, with the snowball effect, the teaching environment would improve, which would, in turn, produce even more accomplished students, and so on and so forth. Inevitably, grooming excellent students would ultimately lead to the academies that groomed them improving as well.
The teachers and headmasters at these academies were merely scholars, but even if they never had the opportunity to become powerful officials, so long as they were to be recognized through such channels, they would at least feel that their years of study weren't in vain.
Zheng Zhong knew that his father also dreamed of being able to raise more excellent students from their academy, so after talking to Su Nuo today he had immediately become intrigued. That was why he was so curious about Su Tang. After all, if Su Nuo's knowledge was really taught by Su Tang, then she should have some amazing teaching methods that their academy could reference.
However, Zheng Li only sighed when he heard his son's wild speculations, "I understand what you want to accomplish, but Su Yongnuo's sister is just a little girl. How could she have any sort of special teaching methods? Don't waste your time thinking about this sort of thing. So long as you study hard, you will be able to pass the Recommended Man exam, and our Qinghe Town Academy will be able to gain some reputation."
Zheng Li didn't believe that Su Nuo was really taught by Su Tang. And even if Su Nuo really was taught by her, Zheng Li didn't believe that a nine-year-old girl would have any special method she could impart, rather it should just be a coincidence. For instance, perhaps Su Nuo was just a born genius. After all, there truly were children out there that were born exceptionally smart and able to learn, probably Su Nuo was just one of those.
Zheng Zhong could only fall silent. He knew that his father had already been disappointed too many times over the years, so he had lost his drive and willingness to take these sorts of risks. However, as he looked in the direction where Su Tang and her brother disappeared, he couldn't help but feel a stir of hope in his heart despite his father's pessimism. Why not just ask her and see? Maybe that small girl really had some secret methods up her sleeves?
Meanwhile, Su Tang followed the Class B teacher over to his classroom. Although Qinghe Town was a bit backward as a whole, the environment in the academy was still pretty good. The room was being warmed by a charcoal stove, so it wasn't cold, and there were a few students already in the room studying diligently.
Having finally arrived at his classroom, Su Nuo sent his sister a final reluctant look before following the teacher inside with his small bookbag. He had promised his sister that he would study hard and take the examinations until he could become a big official, so he knew that he couldn't try to cling to her here. He could only face forward bravely.
As Su Tang watched Su Nuo reluctantly disappearing into the classroom, she also inexplicably felt a vague sense of disquiet in her heart. After a moment she shook her head and smirked. This novel feeling, like she was an old mother sending her child off to kindergarten for the first time, made her feel a bit amused.
At this moment the orange cat finally returned. When he arrived, he happened to see the half-laughing Su Tang, and was stunned to realize that his master also had a silly side. He hmphed.
Hearing that, Su Tang immediately wiped the smirk off her face and looked over with an expression that screamed: 'Is there a Divine Beast around that's looking for a beating?'
The orange cat immediately turned timid and began to report, 'That Teacher Zheng just now…' He quickly told Su Tang all about the conversation between Zheng Li and Zheng Zhong just now.
Su Tang had felt that it was a little strange how Zheng Zhong had come over to talk to her just now, but she didn't know what the other party was thinking. Thus, she had sent the orange cat over to take a look while she took her brother off to his classroom.
As a result, now she understood that Zheng Zhong was thinking of asking her for her 'special teaching methods'. Su Tang really didn't know whether to laugh or to cry when she heard this. Obviously, this Zheng Zhong was just thinking too much. After all, she hadn't thought too much about it when she had been teaching Su Nuo, and there definitely weren't any 'secret methods'. She had just relayed some of the simple teaching methods her own teachers had used when she was a child. Wasn't it just common sense that you couldn't expect anything good from forcing small children to learn by rote memorization?
Even Song Yi hadn't tried such a method. Of course, after discovering that she was a 'genius' he had completely changed the format of their lessons until they were more like discussions where she would learn by directly exchanging views with him, but even before that, it wasn't as if he had tried to have her learn by rote. Obviously, if a teacher wanted to succeed they would need to approach their students according to each individual student's aptitude and be flexible with their teaching methods, right?
Su Tang naturally assumed that all teachers would have this understanding, but unexpectedly this academy seemed to rely entirely on rote memorization?
However, knowing that Zheng Zhong had no other thoughts, Su Tang was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Anyway, so long as Song Yi's existence wasn't exposed, anything else was fine. After all, Song Yi was actually that Imperial Preceptor Zhong Wen who had even taught the emperor!
The orange cat also understood there was no threat from Zheng Zhong, so he casually leaped up onto Su Tang's shoulder. As they walked out of the academy, he suddenly said something else. 'It seems that the imprint I left behind finally had a reaction. From the smell, it should be that two-legged beast called Madam Wu.'
Su Tang took a moment to process what the orange cat was saying, but after a moment, she understood. Back then when Su Tang had run into Su Yongshun's family shortly before the new year, there had been someone stalking her and she had tasked the orange cat with finding out who it was. Now, it seemed she finally had a result.
Back then, when she first noticed the stalker, Su Tang had sent the orange cat to investigate. Shortly after that, she was able to find out that the person stalking her was actually one of her old acquaintances: The man she had met back then in front of Fuxing House! Way back when, Su Tang had wanted to sell fish balls to Fuxing House, but this man had stopped her at the door and humiliated her.
Of course, after that Su Tang just went and found Jiang He and started working with him instead, so she had put the matter aside for the time being. Until now, she had never even been back to that Fuxing House once.
At first, Su Tang had felt quite indignant and hadn't wanted to set the matter down at all. After all, if this were the modern era, she would definitely have left many passionate and scathing reviews online for the restaurant's terrible service. She would have posted whole novels of negativity and refused to take them down until the owner of the restaurant came out to personally apologize to her.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the modern era, so this kind of method was somewhat impossible to implement. However, it was never too late for a dark loli to take revenge, and Su Tang had always kept this matter in mind.
Therefore, with this incident between them, Su Tang was a bit confused when the orange cat told her that it was this same waiter who was following her around. After all, hadn't he been the one who had kicked her and her brother out in the first place back then? Why was he suddenly interested in them now?
After investigating a bit more, the orange cat found out that the waiter's name was Wu Yong, but other than that he wasn't able to find any valuable information, such as why he was following Su Tang or for what purpose. However, when she heard that last name, even though the orange cat couldn't guess, Su Tang immediately had some ideas of her own. After all, it was a name she was very familiar with.
Meanwhile, with the Spring Festival arriving, Fuxing House had shut down for the holiday and Wu Yong had left Qinghe Town, presumably to head back to his hometown. But Su Tang, although she didn't really have any tasks for the orange cat currently, didn't want to have him wandering around outside to follow Wu Yong all the time. For a time, she was in a bit of a dilemma but, fortunately, with the continuous upgrades to the space, the orange cat's ability had also managed to improve a bit.
Therefore, the orange cat had been able to plant a simple spiritual imprint on Wu Yong. This imprint had no powerful functions, but it could record the scents of the people that Wu Yong came into contact with.
Therefore, if this Wu Yong really had something to do with Madam Wu, Su Tang and Su Nuo's stepmother, then he would definitely get Madam Wu's scent on him when he visited her over the holidays. If that were to happen, then Su Tang would finally be able to confirm her conjecture.
And today, the sixth day of the first lunar month, Fuxing House also resumed its operations just like most other businesses in Qinghe Town, which meant that naturally Wu Yong, as a waiter working for Fuxing House, would have to come back to work. Because he was finally back in town, the orange cat was able to confirm through the imprint that the latter really had come into contact with Madam Wu.
"That's interesting. So it was Madam Wu who asked him to stalk me. I wonder what she wants to do?" Su Tang smiled coldly. Though she phrased it like a question, there was no doubt in her heart that Madam Wu was trying to find trouble for her.
But she still wasn't certain about some things. What exactly could be the reason for Madam Wu to send her family members to spy on Su Tang like this? Was she just hoping that he would be able to coincidentally find some of Su Tang's flaws if he followed her around for long enough? Or was there some other purpose?
This kind of little thing was actually really troublesome, and Su Tang frowned. She had a lot of work to do these days, and she didn't have time to deal with her stepmother's small antics. She pondered for a moment before a solution came to her. She turned to the orange cat and asked: 'Do you know who the local ruffians and hooligans in Qinghe Town are? Also, do you know where they would usually be?'
As the orange cat listened to his master's voice, he felt it was light and ethereal as usual, but this time there was an icy chill beneath her words.
A certain Divine Beast inadvertently cowered down a little even as he reaffirmed his strong pledge to never cross this small master of his in this lifetime. After a moment, his large blue eyes blinked and he replied in a flattering tone, 'I've heard of some such people. It's said that there is a man called Pockmarked Zhang who can accomplish any job, so long as there is money.'
Internally, the orange had begun to suspect that there was some fundamental problem with the script when he had crossed over this time. Was this how the heroine who received a powerful golden finger was supposed to behave? But, in the end, he could only sigh and bear with it. At any rate, his master had never had any moral bottom line from the beginning, it was too late for him to start complaining now!
Meanwhile, Su Tang decided to take advantage of the orange cat's love for gossip, and she asked him a few more questions to confirm a few more things.
Once she was done interrogating him, she managed to confirm a suitable candidate. That done, Su Tang quickly began to put her plan into action. She headed over to a clothing store and bought herself a set of men's clothing that fit her and carried it away. Once she reached the edge of town where no one else was around, she abruptly disappeared into her space.
A few moments later, a beautiful young man dressed in man reappeared in the spot where Su Tang had disappeared from, Of course, it was Su Tang herself in disguise!
Seeing her dashing new look, as a good lackey, the orange cat immediately began to fawn on Su Tang and cheer her on, "Wow, master is so great! Master is so handsome! Master is the most handsome in the world!"
See his ingratiating behavior, Su Tang coughed and said in a low voice, "Dog leg!"
The orange cat quickly replied aggrievedly 'I am a Divine Beast, okay? I am not a cat, let alone a dog!' (tl note: so they call people who act overly like lackeys/underlings/henchmen 狗腿 or 'dog leg' in Chinese. Usually, I would localize it a bit but I left it as is here so the orange cat's joke would work.)
Su Tang just smiled and shook her head. Then she put on her best impression of Luo Xingchen and said, 'Anyway, just follow behind this young master.'
The orange cat made a sound of agreement and then jumped onto Su Tang's shoulder. Thus, one person and one cat that no one else could see returned to Qinghe Town together.
The odd pair quickly made their way over to the west side of town and found a certain shack.
"Are you Pockmarked Zhang?" Just as Su Tang was arriving, she happened to meet a man who looked to be in his thirties as he was coming out of the shack. His face covered with pockmarks, and he looked very ferocious.
Su Tang had specially found some red clothes made with fine fabric for her little excursion today. Because the west side of Qinghe Town was basically a slum where all the people on the lowest rungs of society lived, by dressing herself so flamboyantly it would actually make the people there warier of trying anything. After all, when had they ever had such a well-dressed young man visit the area before? They would have to wonder if she was brave and had the backing to protect herself, or if she was just stupid?
Thanks to this uncommon sight, many of the residents were following Su Tang with their eyes, curious to see what she would do. However, when she spoke, Su Tang deliberately lowered her voice and, thanks to her figure, she looked to be just a little boy, so her disguise wasn't exposed even under all the scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Pockmarked Zhang found what looked to be a rich young master standing on his doorstep and asking for him by name, so his bad temper was immediately provoked. He shouted fiercely, "What are you looking for, I, your Grandfather Zhang for? If you're just wasting my time, then quickly get out of here."
Su Tang's eyes narrowed. As she watched the man instantly start cursing out vulgarities and sending spittle flying everywhere, she felt a bit disgusted. She withdrew a step to dodge the spit and then replied, "I happen to have a job for you. Do you want it or not?"
When Pockmarked Zhang heard this, he calmed down a bit and looked over at Su Tang appraisingly. This rich young master looked to be very young, maybe only six or seven years old. In other words, he was just a child. Could a child really have some serious enough business that they needed to look for him?
"What do you mean?" Pockmarked Zhang didn't quite believe it, so he asked doubtfully.
"Word on the street is that you'll do any job if there is enough money involved. I'll pay you three hundred copper coins, and all you have to do is beat a man up for me. You don't have to be too overboard about it, just make it so he can't get out of bed for two or three weeks."
Su Tang directly stated her purpose. As soon as Pockmarked Zhang heard "three hundred copper coins", his eyes lit up with excitement. However, a moment later his rationality returned and he looked suspiciously at Su Tang, "Why do you need someone beaten up?"
"Hmph, who let that lowly person called Wu Yong make this young master feel so unhappy? It's only obvious that someone should teach him a lesson, and if my own servants weren't too weak for the job, then I wouldn't even bother to find you. Anyway, all that aside, what do you say? Do you want the job?"
Su Tang perfectly played the role of a rich dandy while at the same time pressing for an answer. Pockmarked Zhang's eyes narrowed. Although this little brat wasn't very old, his tone really wasn't small at all. Thinking that this was just the behavior of a young master from a rich family, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. After a moment, he countered: "Since the young master wants to teach him a lesson, why don't you give me a silver or two instead, and I'll go break his legs for you?"
"This…" Su Tang was secretly somewhat surprised by Pockmarked Zhang's ruthlessness, but she reacted quickly and put on a show of looking hesitant on the surface.
Sensing weakness, Pockmarked Zhang snorted and said, "What, are you afraid?"
"I have nothing to be afraid of." Su Tang still remembered the persona she was playing, so as she responded she deliberately tilted her head upward arrogantly.
Pockmarked Zhang was originally a ruffian who would dare to do anything for money, and when he found out that this 'job' sprouted from a small conflict between the young master in front of him and some waiter, he was more than willing to take it on. After all, there were no complicated circumstances that could implicate him when the opponent was merely a waiter from Fuxing House.
However, considering that this young master was just a small child, he decided to try to fool some more money out of him, which was why he had quickly jumped to offering to break Wu Yong's legs.
And, after seeing Su Tang's reaction, Pockmarked Zhang felt even more confident. He rolled his eyes and said, "Well, if you're not afraid, then just give me the money and I'll take care of it for you."
Su Tang had known from the start that this sort of ruffian would be difficult to work with. They had barely started, but he was already talking big and acting really unreliable. Listening to him, he sounded less like a professional displaying his skills and more like an adult trying to fool a child. Su Tang couldn't help but sigh internally.
However, Su Tang did need someone to teach Wu Yong a lesson. After all, she knew she was going to be busy setting up the plots of land and the factories soon, so she didn't want to deal with whatever trouble he was trying to create for her. With that thought in mind, she finally decided to take out a few silver taels.
As soon as Pockmarked Zhang saw the flash of silver, he reached out greedily to grab for it. But how could Su Tang just let him snatch her money? She pulled her arm back and looked at Pockmarked Zhang severely, "But if I give you the money now, what will I do if you don't do the job?"
Pockmarked Zhang seemingly didn't expect Su Tang to ask this question because he paused uncertainly. But he was very thick-skinned, so he quickly recovered and replied: "That… how could something like that happen? Young master, you can go to inquire around and find out what kind of person I, Pockmarked Zhang, am. Once I've received the money, I always complete any job well."
However, even with this reassurance, Pockmarked Zhang saw Su Tang seemed to still be hesitating, as if she couldn't decide whether to give him the money or not, and he began to feel worried. Finally, Su Tang said, "To give you two taels of silver before you've even done anything is really too much. What if you take my money, but then don't do the job? How about this. I'll give you a hundred copper coins first, and if you really beat him up and redress my grievances, then I'll come back tomorrow and give you the rest of the money."
Pockmarked Zhang had thought that this little boy would be easy to fool, so he started to feel a bit angry when Su Tang didn't just obediently fork over the money. However, he still tried to curb his ferocious impulse and stepped forward to continue persuading: "If you aren't willing to pay the money, who will work for you?"
Seeing him step forward, Su Tang seemed to be frightened. She put the money away and stepped back while looking over at him alertly. When Pockmarked Zhang saw the silver disappearing, he couldn't help himself and wanted to quickly rush forward to snatch it over. But before he could make a move, Su Tang hurriedly shouted, "Don't come over here. I'll have my father put you in jail!"
Since Su Tang dared to come looking for this ruffian, of course, she had made some preparations and understood what could be used to scare him. After all, as the saying went, the citizens can't fight with the officials.
Su Tang had purposefully been acting like a small child all along. And now, when put in a "dangerous situation" she immediately threw out prison as a threat. This way, Pockmarked Zhang would be forced to consider her background and not do anything too rash.
And sure enough, when Pockmarked Zhang heard that this young master saying something about prison, he really stopped. He didn't know where this young master came from, but if he were really the son of an official, then Pockmarked Zhang knew he couldn't afford to make a move. Plus, this whole time Su Tang had been acting like a willful and unreasonable child, just like a rich young master who was ignorant of the world who had come out to play, so Pockmarked Zhang was mostly convinced of her identity and didn't dare to make a move.
But Su Tang was a bit afraid that if she dragged this out too long, Pockmarked Zhang might change his mind, so she quickly took out the hundred copper coins she had prepared and gave them to Pockmarked Zhang. "This is a deposit, okay? Tomorrow, if you've done a good job, I will not only give you the rest of the money, but I will also ask my father to reward you."
Pockmarked Zhang looked at the hundred copper coins and decided it was good enough.
However, as soon as he lowered his head to accept the money, Su Tang quickly dropped it into his hands and then took the opportunity to run away! Only calling back over her shoulder: "See you tomorrow then!"
Then, after leaving the orange cat to watch over Pockmarked Zhang, Su Tang ran for a while and made some twists and turns, ultimately making a wide circle through Qinghe Town to throw off any pursuit.
Once she reached the woods just outside of town, she quickly jumped into her space and changed back to her normal clothes before coming out again. After all this, she was already exhausted and didn't feel like doing anything more, so she headed straight home.
The next day, she followed her usual daily routine. She made her rounds at the shop in the morning, then went to the Song residence in the afternoon to continue her studies, and finally came home again in the evening. However, even by evening, the orange cat still hadn't come back. But even though he was very late, Su Tang still wasn't too worried about him. After all, no one else could even see the orange cat! Obviously, there was no way he could meet any danger.
Around the same time she was coming back from the Song residence, Su Nuo also came back from the academy. As soon as he saw his sister, the little guy happily trotted over to tell her about his first day: "Today was my first day of class. My teacher praised me, and I also met Su Rui again! He's in Class C."
It was only his first day of class but his teacher was already praising him, so the little guy felt very happy. In the past, he had only had his sister to compare himself to, and he had never been able to beat her at anything, so he had always felt a little doubtful of his own talent. Thus, after being praised by his teacher, he was very happy and had a renewed sense of confidence.
On top of that, not only had he met a few new friends, he also happened to run into an old acquaintance, Su Rui. Su Rui was Su Yongqiang's eldest grandson who had been studying at the academy for a year now, and it turned out he was in Class C.
Of course, when Su Rui found out that he was actually one class lower than Su Nuo, who had just entered school, he felt very depressed. However, after going back to discuss with his parents and grandparents, he channeled that depression into renewed effort and began to study even harder than before.
Seeing the little guy was so happy, Su Tang also felt happy for him. She said: "Oh, really? Then did you enjoy studying at the academy? Did the teacher hit your hands?"
"Everyone else was punished, but I never was." Speaking of this point, the little guy looked very proud.
"Really? It seeds our Xiao Nuo is really great!" Su Tang coaxed him with a smile.
Up until now, he had always been studying alone at home and Su Tang had noticed that, although he always worked very hard, he wasn't as lively these days as he had been before. But now that he had started interacting with some other children his own age, he immediately became lively again. Seeing this, Su Tang realized that no matter how shabby their education standards might be, it was still the right choice to send him to the academy.
Su Nuo expression stayed a little proud, but he still said, "Still worse than my sister."
The odd combination of proud and humble made Su Tang laugh out loud. Seeing his sister laughing like this, the little guy felt a little embarrassed and changed the topic, "If only Dongzi and Huzi could be here…"
In fact, the little guy really did have a good time during his first day at the academy, but when he came back he couldn't help but think of his old friends in Sujia Village. Su Tang was empathetic, but there wasn't much she could do. In the end, she could only say, "Dongzi and Huzi have no money to pay for classes, so they won't be able to come to the academy. But as long as you keep going, you can meet new friends. Don't you want to find new friends and play with them?"
"I do want to, but I just can't help but remember Dongzi and Huzi. Back then we all used to go up the mountain to dig wild vegetables and pick hawthorns together. But now that I'm gone, they will keep playing by themselves, and I can't play with them anymore." The little guy sounded a little upset.
Of course, he knew it was good to meet new friends, but he still wanted to see his old friends too. Su Tang reached out and patted the little guy's head. "When the weather warms up and the new house in Sujia Village has been built, it still won't be too late for us to move back to the village then. Once that happens, you will be able to go and play with them again."
Hearing his sister's reassurance, Su Nuo nodded along, "En. And I'll invite them over to eat the cake, toffees, and even pearl milk tea that we made."
"Good idea!" Su Tang nodded back. Of course, a child's moods came and went like the wind, so it was only a short while later when the little guy rebounded and rushed off to do the homework his teacher had assigned today, confidently saying that he wanted to take first place.
Seeing him rush off so determined to excel in his studies, Su Tang could only sigh helplessly. If only her teacher had decided to accept her brother as a disciple instead. If he had taken Su Nuo as his disciple, he definitely wouldn't have needed to chase the little guy around all the time trying to force him to study the way he had with Su Tang. Would everyone have been happier then?
Meanwhile, Song Yi, who didn't know his little disciple was thinking some unkind thoughts about him, had just finished writing a letter in his study. Once it was sealed, he asked Pengmo to go out and find someone to send it to the capital, and then sat back down and continued to read.
After dinner, Su Tang directly locked the door to the main bedroom while saying that she wanted to rest and that she wasn't to be disturbed. By now Yu Caihe and the other servants were all used to Su Tang's peculiar desire to not have anyone wait on her at night, so when they saw the door closing, they all went back to their own room to practice their needlework and exchange gossip.
Su Nuo was still doing his homework when he heard that his sister had gone to rest, so he waved for Yu Caihe to help him wash up and then he went to rest as well.
Of course, in reality, there was no one inside the locked main bedroom. After locking the door, Su Tang just directly went into her space. By now her space was already Level 18, but she had found that as it got higher and higher level, its rate of leveling up was slowing down. However, according to her estimates, it should only take about another month to reach Level 20. At that time, she would finally unlock those processing plant machines that she had been eyeing. Once she brought those machines out into this ancient era, she wondered if her workers would be very surprised, or if they would be very shocked?
But that was all a long ways off, so for today Su Tang just went around and managed all of her usual daily tasks in the space before taking off her thick clothes and sitting down on the bed in the cabin. Then she casually took down a book from the bookshelf and leaned back against the headboard to slowly flip through it to pass the time.
Around 9 p.m. Su Tang noticed that the orange cat still hadn't come back yet, so she put away her book and decided to get some rest. As soon as she closed her eyes, the omnipresent light that always illuminated the inside of the space suddenly dimmed in a facsimile of nighttime.
Then, in the morning when she opened her eyes again, the space suddenly became bright again, as if it were daylight. Looking around, Su Tang happened to see the moment when the orange cat quietly slipped back inside. He stood still for a moment at the doorway to shake off a thin layer of snowflakes coating his body before sauntering inside.
"Is it snowing again?" Su Tang walked over and leaned against the door of the cabin with a yawn as she asked about the situation outside.
Finished shaking the snowflakes off, the orange cat jumped up to its little cat shelf and replied lazily, "En, it's blizzarding out there again."
"Is the job done?" Su Tang quickly changed the topic. The weather actually didn't matter too much. If it snowed, it snowed. At any rate, it wasn't like their house could collapse again.
The orange cat blinked his big blue eyes at Su Tang, not saying anything. Seeing him like this, Su Tang shook her head wryly and turned around to find a big bowl of fish balls and also a bowl of red jujube milk porridge that she had prepared beforehand, and set it all down in front of the orange cat.
What other cats ate, Su Tang had no idea, but she was painfully aware that her family's cat was quite omnivorous. He was definitely a foodie cat.
Meanwhile, the Foodie Cat saw that there was delicious food in front of him and quickly ate a mouthful of fish balls. Of course, his mouth was full so he couldn't speak, but by using his floating speech bubbles he didn't need to delay his reporting: 'That Pockmarked Zhang…'
The orange cat couldn't be seen by normal people, so he had spent the night following Pockmarked Zhang to see what he would do when he suddenly had a hundred copper coins in his hands. As it turned out, his hands would itch whenever they touched that much money, so Pockmarked Zhang had immediately gone off to gamble.
For a thug like Pockmarked Zhang, he was usually a lazy layabout who had no desire to do any actual work. His favorite thing in the world was when money came into his hands despite him not doing anything at all so, when Su Tang paid him a hundred copper coins as a deposit, in Pockmarked Zhang's eyes, it was basically just picking up money for nothing. He didn't actually have any plans to do the job she had asked him to.
After all, he had no idea who she was. What if he really beat that Wu Yong up, and then that little boy never showed up the next day? Wouldn't he have done all that work for a mere hundred copper coins? Thus, from the start, Pockmarked Zhang had no plans to find trouble with Wu Yong.
And besides, with money in his hands, his only thought was to go and enjoy it right away. All that was to say, Pockmarked Zhang had immediately run off to the gambling house with the hundred copper coins right after Su Tang left.
Pockmarked Zhang had always liked to gamble, but his luck had never been very good, and it could be said that he lost eight out of every ten times he played. But, unexpectedly, he seemed to be on a hot streak after entering the gambling house last night, and he won nearly two taels of silver in no time.
After quickly stumbling into all these winnings, Pockmarked Zhang was already seeing red, so he gambled more and more.
As a result, he lost all of the winnings and the money Su Tang had given him and, by the end of things, he was five taels of silver in debt with the gambling house. When the gambling house discovered that he had no money to pay his debt, they had decided to spare him… only after forcing him to write an IOU with five percent compounding interest.
After seeing his own handprint in black ink on the contract, Pockmarked Zhang had panicked. Even a small-time thug like him knew that the gambling house was not something he could afford to mess with.
Actually, Pockmarked Zhang gambled all the time, but in the past, he had usually been more cautious. After all, he knew the consequences of owing money that he couldn't pay back at a place like the gambling house. Unfortunately, maybe it was how easily the money came to him, but last night his usual caution was nowhere to be found, and this was the result.
Now, when it came to this gambling house, if you didn't give them their money on time, you might find yourself with a broken arm or leg the very next day. And for a small-time thug like Pockmarked Zhang, just the thought of being crippled was enough to scare him half to death.
After being thrown out of the gambling house, he was desperate. He knew he could never pay back this debt on time, and there was no way he could fight the lenders, so it was looking like he was out of options. However, just as he was about to despair, his encounter with Su Tang from earlier in the day suddenly floated to the front of his mind.
Pockmarked Zhang remembered that Su Tang had easily taken out a few taels of silver when they were talking, so it was certain there were at least one or two taels on that little brat.
And, although Su Tang never identified herself, she had casually given him a hundred copper coins on top of the silver she was carrying around. With all these clues, Pockmarked Zhang felt confident that the young master from earlier in the day probably wasn't short of money. At the very least, he should be able to cough up the five taels of silver he owed!
Once that thought arose, Pockmarked Zhang began to have all sorts of other thoughts. For instance: If that young master was worth a lot of money, couldn't he just tie him up and kidnap him? If he pulled that off, how could he be in any shortage of money?!
Pockmarked Zhang's brain moved very quickly and, in the end, he convinced himself that this was a very good opportunity in front of him. Although kidnapping was a dangerous business, he could still skip town afterward.
In comparison, the gambling house could be said to have a huge background, and trying to skip town wouldn't work at all. If he decided not to return the money and instead tried to run away, he would almost certainly be killed. However, if he instead kidnapped that young master, so long as he was careful, he would probably be able to earn enough to pay off his debt entirely, and maybe even a little more.
But as he was drawing up his plans against Su Tang, Pockmarked Zhang quickly hit a stumbling block. After thinking about it in detail, it seemed that he didn't know who Su Tang was at all! If he didn't know who the brat was, who could he find to collect the ransom from? Not wanting all his planning and strategizing to be in vain, Pockmarked Zhang's thoughts whirled and turned back to Wu Yong again.
Wu Yong had offended the young master, so the young master had asked him to clean up Wu Yong. Therefore, Wu Yong should know who the young master was. Even if he didn't know who the young master was, Pockmarked Zhang felt he should still clean him up anyway. That way, if the young master really came back the next day, he could at least say that the job had really been done, and hopefully pressure him into spitting out more money.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt it was reasonable.
Pockmarked Zhang looked around and realized that it was already so late that it would be better to call it the very early part of the morning, which meant that it was nearly time for the waiters at Fuxing House to come over and prepare for the day's business. Thus, he quickly ran over to the town entrance and waited.
When he saw Wu Yong coming down the road just before dawn, Pockmarked Zhang quickly rushed out and attacked. He beat Wu Yong until he fell to the ground and kicked him many times. As he was hitting him, he kept asking Wu Yong if he knew who he had offended by not taking good care of their young master.
Since it was just before dawn, it was still very dark outside, and the suddenly attacked Wu Yong couldn't comprehend this situation at all. Before he realized it, a man had appeared and started beating him up while shouting 'if he knew who he offended'. However, amidst all the pain of the beating, he really couldn't think of anyone he had failed to serve properly or offended.
After all, he worked in Fuxing House, and the people who patronized Fuxing House were basically the richest lords and ladies in town. Thus, he had always been very respectful to these people and dared not show them even the slightest snub, and he was even often get rewarded for his excellent service… so how could such a thing befall him?
Wu Yong simply couldn't remember anyone who he had failed to serve well to the point they would be offended enough to want him beaten up. Pockmarked Zhang interrogated him for a long time, but in the end, the answer never changed and, eventually, his overzealous interrogation caused Wu Yong to fall unconscious.
Pockmarked Zhang was a very ruthless person from the beginning. Before coming out, he had already convinced himself that Wu Yong was his one ray of hope toward finding out Su Tang's identity, but reality gave him a hard slap and it seemed that the waiter really had no idea. Of course, he was also still in a terrible mood from losing all of his money at the gambling house and being forced to sign a debt contract, so when his one hope faded, he snapped.
At that moment, he suddenly felt there was no hope at all to repay his debt, and he channeled all the resentment he was feeling and vented it out on Wu Yong. He had been feeling suffocated and oppressed the whole night, and then even came out to dish out a ferocious beating in hopes of solving his problem, but it had all come to nothing.
In his blind fury, when he saw that Wu Yong had fainted, he went off and found a stick and then really broke both his legs. Then, taking advantage of the dark night and the heavy snow to avoid anyone seeing him, he crept back to his home on the west end of town.
Su Tang really hadn't intended for Pockmarked Zhang to break Wu Yong's legs, and honestly, she hadn't thought the man would have dared to do so. She had thought that a small-time thug like Pockmarked Zhang was a person who only knew how to bully the weak, a person who was mostly just bluster and not much ability. Thus, when the orange cat told her that he had really broken Wu Yong's legs, she felt very shocked.
"You said that Wu Yong's legs were broken?" This really wasn't how Su Tang had expected things to go. She wasn't a killer or anything. Although Wu Yong had been very rude and humiliated her back then, it wasn't as if he deserved to die. In the first place, for a person like her who grew up in the peaceful modern era, she had never had the ability to treat people's lives like grass the way these ancients could.
But how could Su Tang have anticipated that after receiving her deposit Pockmarked Zhang would swiftly lose it in such a way and dig such a deep hole for himself before lashing out wildly like this?
The orange cat saw Su Tang's surprise and shook his head. Although he always complained that the master he had found this time was too black-hearted, in reality, she wasn't actually a vicious or bloodthirsty person. It was all that Pockmarked Zhang. He had really handled this matter too ruthlessly, leaving no leeway at all.
Even though Pockmarked Zhang had decided to break Wu Yong's legs in the end, he still hadn't been sure if Su Tang would really find him and give him money the next day. Thus, in order to leave himself a way out, he had emphasized that he was actually working for someone else before leaving the scene.
Knowing what Su Tang was worried about, the orange cat calmly fielded all of her questions and then continued to tell her about what had happened.
'That two-legged beast called Wu Yong had a sack put over his head and was beaten until both his legs were broken and he couldn't even stand up anymore. If left like that, he could have lost his life, but some people happened to walk by and, when I left, they had found him and were saving him. After that, as you instructed, I went to Pockmarked Zhang's place and tossed him the rest of the money before coming back here.'
From the beginning, Su Tang had only decided to find Pockmarked Zhang and have him temporarily deal with Wu Yong because she knew about the relationship between Wu Yong and Madam Wu. These days Madam Wu had a huge grudge against her, and it had only gotten much worse after how she had provoked the woman with her dark secrets recently over the holiday.
Perhaps Madam Wu hadn't been thinking of killing her and her brother before that, but afterward, she definitely was. After all, she had found out that Su Tang knew her deepest secrets. Now, so long as the two siblings were still alive, Madam Wu would always feel restless. She would definitely try to make a move, it was only a matter of time.
Of course, knowing all this, Su Tang had no plans to let Madam Wu off. However, for the money grubbing Su Tang, compared to trying to find some way to clean up the distant Madam Wu, earning the money in front of her felt like the much more important matter.
Thus, she targeted Madam Wu's helper, Wu Yong, instead. Su Tang had no idea why the man was following her around, but she knew it couldn't be for anything good. Plus, she was pretty confident that if she made it so Wu Yong couldn't come out of his house for a while it would make it much harder for Madam Wu to stir up any storms.
After all, at the end of the day, Madam Wu was already a married woman. There was no way Su Yonggui and Madam Zhao would allow their daughter-in-law to always be going out and running around town, so Su Tang knew that if she made it so Wu Yong couldn't make any more moves it would greatly limit Madam Wu's actions for the short term.
Right now all Su Tang wanted to do was find some suitable pieces of land to buy and arrange some suitable people to work in the factories she planned to build on that land. Her plate was already very full and she didn't have time to deal with whatever small tricks Madam Wu wanted to play. At the same time, she also didn't want to deal with any sudden problems in the middle of setting everything up. Thus, she had decided to have Wu Yong beaten up. It was very simple and crude, but it was the most direct way of shutting down any of Madam Wu's attempts to stir trouble.
On top of all that, Wu Yong had humiliated Su Tang in front of Fuxing House before and, as a dark loli, she was a very vengeful person. It was impossible for her not to take revenge if such a good chance presented itself.
This one move could achieve two of her goals, so she had felt it was a pretty good one. But, unexpectedly, the small time thug Pockmarked Zhang had really decided to break Wu Yong's legs on his own initiative.
Of course, as for what the orange cat said about giving Pockmarked Zhang the money according to Su Tang's instructions, she had really told him to do that. She said that so long as Pockmarked Zhang beat up Wu Yong the way she asked, the orange cat was to pass him the additional two silver taels he had demanded in their negotiations.
This was because Su Tang had no plans to go back and see Pockmarked Zhang a second time from the very beginning. After all, this kind of business wasn't something that should be done too frequently. Going around and showing her face on the west side of town was just too risky. After all, even if she disguised herself to the best of her ability, if someone happened to see through it then things might become very troublesome.
Anyway, moving according to Su Tang's orders, when the orange cat saw that Pockmarked Zhang had really gone out to beat up Wu Yong, even if he went overboard and broke his legs in the end, the orange cat considered the job done and followed him to deliver the rest of the payment. Then, after that, he directly came back to tell Su Tang everything.
After understanding all the ins and outs of the matter, Su Tang felt a little speechless. She just sat there for a while silently before finally saying: "Well, alright."
'Don't feel guilty. If Madam Wu had been the one in your shoes last night, you and your brother would not have survived!' The orange cat comforted.
The orange cat obviously had some feelings for his little master, which was why he spoke up this time. And, in reality, he was completely right. Madam Wu definitely wanted Su Tang's life, so much that she had already enlisted Wu Yong's help to scheme against her, so if she really had been the one hiring thugs there was no way the brother and sister would have been spared.
Even from the very beginning, it had been Madam Wu who had colluded with Madam Zhang and had the siblings thrown into the Qing River. If not for Su Tang transmigrating over with her space, then the two of them would have already died at that woman's hands long ago.
Su Tang understood that the orange cat was comforting her and, of course, she also knew that what he was saying was the truth.
This was why the orange cat was able to coldly watch from the side when Pockmarked Zhang was breaking Wu Yong's legs. Although Su Tang often said he was a Foodie Cat who only knew how to eat, he was still at least a genuine Divine Beast. Maybe he didn't have the power to do too much, but if it was just saving one person he could have done it fairly easily.
But the orange cat hadn't done that. Instead, after confirming the situation, he chose to follow Pockmarked Zhang and pass him the two silver taels.
And that was because, as the Divine Beast who was the guardian of her space, he needed to always first think of how to protect Su Tang. Besides Su Tang, the life and death of all other creatures had no meaning to the orange cat.
He felt like Su Tang already understood, but he still wanted to say it out and let her know that she really hadn't done anything wrong.
Then, as if knowing that his master was already in a good mood again, the orange cat buried his head in his plate and continued to eat fish balls. Another dialogue bubble popped up: 'Tut-tut, I really have to say, the way you two-legged beasts love to kill each other is too brutal!'
"I don't think you know much about true brutality!" As those words fell, the orange cat suddenly felt a hand catching him by the scruff of his neck.
He quickly retracted his claws and tried to rub up against Su Tang to please her, 'Of course, master isn't such a two-legged beast! Master is probably the only kind, lovely, and intelligent two-legged beast in the whole world, completely different from those other ones."
Inside, he sighed. Why had he ever chosen this master? After sleeping for hundreds of years he must have gotten water in his brain! In the whole world, which Divine Beast would ever be treated this way? His life was really too difficult.
The orange cat could only spout words of flattery while secretly shedding tears inside. His master this time was just too dark. If he didn't say enough good words he may never be released wuwuwu…
Listening to the 'Divine Beast's' pitiful meowing, Su Tang raised him up so they could look at each other eye to eye and asked, "Are you sure about that?"
"Yes I'm sure, very sure! Master is a rare and outstanding person that can only be born once every a hundred years." New dialogue bubbles flew up from the orange cat's head one after another.
This little flatterer! Su Tang rolled her eyes. But, seeing that the orange cat's eyes were full of nothing but flattery and more flattery, she decided to set him down.
Seeing the delicious fish balls and milk porridge in front of him, the orange cat decided to swallow down his tears. After all, what was pride really worth? His master's cooking was really irresistible ah!
Watching from the side, Su Tang couldn't help but snort. What kind of Divine Beast could so perfectly show the face of a greedy cat? Then she looked over at the clock and noticed that it was nearly dawn outside the space.
"Anyway, this task wasn't completed perfectly. You ended up spending two taels of silver on top of my initial deposit of a hundred copper coins, despite the estimated budget only being three hundred copper coins. This is a serious over-expenditure, so let's start losing weight from today, my meowing Divine Beast!"
"Wait, what?" The orange Cat lifted his big face up from the delicious foods in front of him. Did he just hear that right?
For a dark loli, it could be said that not letting herself suffer was important, and getting revenge was also important, but nothing was more important than making money! Now that a certain Divine Beast had unexpectedly wasted her funds, how could she just let it go?
"You didn't hear me? Do you want me to repeat myself?" The orange cat looked up and saw a certain smile on his master's face, and he could almost see the pair of little black wings flapping behind her back.
"It's getting late, my beautiful and kind master, would you like to get some sleep for now?" He quickly changed the topic. What about a Divine Beast's face? What was that? This living environment was too terrible, it could only quickly change its face to survive!
"You're so sweet. But after you finish eating, you should run two laps around Qinghe Town. Just look at how flabby you are, if I didn't know better I would think you were a meatball.' The dark loli, whose ire had been provoked, pinched the orange cat's ear and spoke in an extremely gentle tone.
Could he refuse? Hadn't his master ever heard of the magnificent large orange cat breed? Could orange cats still be called orange cats if they weren't a little heavy?
A certain Divine Beast decided to admit to being a cat in order to avoid exercise.
