After chatting with the fruit seller for quite a while, Jing Zhi still didn't buy the Feizi Xiao lychees. Instead, she spent two taels of silver on about ten pounds of sand pears, apples, and other common fruits like jujubes.
As she put it, no one at home liked lychees.
Beside her, Lu Mingyuan only smiled faintly and said nothing. This girl was already learning to manage a household frugally.
After paying, they took the fruit and clasped hands.
Then they walked side by side toward the restaurant, swinging their joined hands.
Halfway there, two boys in pale blue robes came toward them. They looked about fifteen or sixteen.
"Hey, Wang Yi, have you done your problems today?"
"Not yet. My dad said weekends are half off, so I only have to study hard for ten minutes tonight. I'll finish the problems, then go to bed."
"Lucky you! I can't do that. It's still ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes at night for me. If I hadn't just taken a nap, my brain would still be full of 'how many animals are in the cage?'"
"Hey, Lin Xuan, Uncle Lin is really strict with you."
"Can't be helped. My dad's counting on me to become a master and fulfill his dream.
"It's one thing when there wasn't an opportunity, but now there is, he wishes I'd stay home and do problems every day.
"If the teacher hadn't said we need to balance work and rest, I might not have been allowed out at all."
The two boys walked farther and farther away, but their conversation left Lu Mingyuan baffled.
Doing problems?
How did they do that?
Was it like the problem marathons from his previous life?
Wait, weren't there not that many problems here? And wasn't "doing problems" not even a thing?
Then... what was going on?
As he wondered, a guess suddenly flashed through Lu Mingyuan's mind.
Could this be because of him?
He turned to Jing Zhi and asked, "A-Zhi, what did those two mean by 'doing problems'? I've never heard of that before."
"Doing problems?"
Jing Zhi paused, then realized what he meant. "Oh, they're solving problems over and over in the Chicken-Rabbit Cage Divine Ability's illusion. I don't know why, but people suddenly started calling it 'doing problems.'"
"I see!"
Lu Mingyuan hadn't expected it really was his doing.
So he'd brought the problem-marathon culture from his previous life into this one. He wondered if people would hate him for it someday.
Most students loathed problem marathons. If they found out he, Lu Mingyuan, had brought them here, wouldn't they come pounding on his doors and windows every day?
The thought sent a chill through him. Thank goodness he hadn't been exposed.
Jing Zhi had no idea how many thoughts had crossed her fiancé's mind in such a short time. "You didn't know? Didn't I tell you? Once people realized it could quickly improve their Talent Qi, the divine ability spread like wildfire. By now, just about everyone knows about it."
"You did tell me. I just didn't expect it to spread to the students so quickly."
"Hey, it's been over half a month. That's plenty of time for the students' parents and the academy teachers to figure it out."
"True. Oh, right, A-Zhi, have people at our bookshop been asked to teach those arithmetic problems?"
"Don't worry. Xiaoxing and the others are still young, so they're not suited to doing problem marathons. But last time, I tried explaining a few simple arithmetic problems, and it went pretty well."
As she spoke, Jing Zhi smiled, as if she'd thought of something pleasant.
Seeing that, Lu Mingyuan stopped worrying.
He'd been afraid that the parents of his students would also demand that they use the divine ability to do problem after problem, but neither he nor Jing Zhi had learned that divine ability.
Thankfully, that hadn't happened.
The rear courtyard of the Jing Family Restaurant.
After exchanging pleasantries, Lu Mingyuan and Jing Zhi told Jing Zhi's parents that the divine ability required Qi Luck Points.
Lu Mingyuan also took the opportunity to explain the Agricultural School divine ability he was about to create and its prospects, so the older couple wouldn't worry.
"The divine ability sounds pretty good. It should have a decent market."
Jing Zhi's father was named Jing Hu. He was a broad-minded, sturdy man.
After listening to Lu Mingyuan's explanation, he nodded with a smile. He was even more pleased with his future son-in-law. At least his daughter wouldn't have to live on coarse grain after marrying him.
Jing Hu had once been a skilled farmer himself, so he knew just how large the market for this divine ability could be.
Then, as if something had occurred to him, Jing Hu frowned. "Mingyuan, no one has ever created a divine ability that can provide so many tools. You're the first.
"But I can say for certain that this market will be enormous. Once your divine ability is released, there'll be plenty of knockoffs. Have you made any plans for that?"
Jing Hu fixed his gaze on his son-in-law, who had been full of ideas since childhood, wanting to see what he had in mind.
Lu Mingyuan didn't hide anything. "Uncle, once I've created the divine ability, I plan to join the Agricultural School. Then it'll be covered by the Hundred Schools Protection Decree, which should protect it for a while."
Jing Hu knew about the Hundred Schools Protection Decree. It was an agreement proposed and upheld by the Hundred Schools of the human race.
Once a divine ability was protected by the decree, no individual or faction could plagiarize or imitate it for a set period. Anyone who violated the rule would face the united wrath of all.
Throughout history, many factions had paid dearly for breaking this rule.
Later, under pressure, the three imperial houses and the various clans and factions joined one by one.
By now, the protection decree had become a covenant everyone in the human race was required to follow.
There was one problem, though: only the Hundred Schools and the factions that joined later were protected by it. Individuals weren't.
So Lu Mingyuan was right to plan to join the Agricultural School.
Otherwise, once his divine ability came out, all it would take was a little fame for knockoffs to come swarming. Just like Anonymous's Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage.
Of course, the profits from Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage were so huge that unless Anonymous shared them, there was no way he could keep others from copying it.
After thinking it through, Jing Hu nodded with a smile. "That's a good plan.
"But given the circumstances, the protection might only last ten days or half a month at most. You should prepare yourself."
Lu Mingyuan knew that. The market was simply too vast; the other factions wouldn't let him monopolize it for long.
It might not even last ten days.
He'd been mentally prepared for that for a long time.
"Uncle, I know. But I'll be satisfied with earning a few hundred thousand or a million. I couldn't hold on to much more than that anyway."
"Good. I'm glad you can see it that way."
Jing Hu said no more.
That was what he admired most about his son-in-law: he wasn't greedy and knew his own limits. People like that could find greater happiness.
"Right, I'll go prepare the Earth Luck Points for you. I'll be back in a bit."
With that, Jing Hu strode out.
Although he'd retired years ago and later become a chef, opening a restaurant, he was still as decisive and brisk as ever. When he decided to do something, he did it without dragging his feet.
"Mingyuan, come on, have some fruit first. We'll wait here at home. Your uncle's gone to the Tax Bureau to exchange for some Earth Luck Points. He'll be back soon."
Once Jing Hu had left, Jing Zhi's mother, who'd been quietly listening nearby, hurried to pick up the fruit platter on the table and warmly attend to her son-in-law.
Mothers-in-law always liked their sons-in-law more the longer they looked at them.
"Auntie, there's no need. I can help myself."
When he saw his mother-in-law bringing over the fruit platter, Lu Mingyuan hurried to his feet to refuse. He wasn't really a guest; how could he let an elder wait on him?
A little later, Jing Zhi's mother brought out the big guns and began recounting all of Jing Zhi's embarrassing childhood stories.
For instance, when she was little, she'd climbed a tree and gotten stuck. She couldn't get down, so she just kept crying.
And when she was little, she'd liked describing all kinds of scary scenes, like someone cooking in a graveyard, smoke rising from the grave.
Lu Mingyuan was left gaping. He'd never imagined Jing Zhi had had such a colorful childhood. It was nothing like her current gentle, poised self.
Beside him, Jing Zhi kept her head lowered the whole time, trying not to laugh. Every now and then, she also looked curious.
It seemed she hadn't known she'd been like that as a child.
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