Little Rat: It Turns Out Being Human Is So Difficult

In Ping'an Alley, outside the small courtyard where Chen Xu lived.

A boy with tanned skin was curled up by the door. Beside him sat a pair of baskets, packed to the brim, covered with coarse hemp cloths. From a glance, no one could tell what was inside.

The boy wore a half-new, half-old indigo short suit. Though the collar and cuffs were patched, they were kept neat and clean.

Chen Xu disembarked from the carriage at the alley entrance and, leaning on his cane, approached his home. The moment their eyes met, the boy jumped up from the ground with joy.

"Second Brother!" the boy called out repeatedly, rushing forward with excitement and warmth, only to stop himself just before colliding with Chen Xu.

Then, his gaze fell on Chen Xu's right hand, which held a cane, and his expression changed instantly: "Second Brother, what happened to you?"

Chen Xu sighed inwardly, knowing he couldn't hide it any longer.

The person before him was his third brother in this life, Chen An.

Since coming to the county to study after the New Year, Chen Xu had only sent word back once to his family, telling them he was temporarily staying in Ping'an Alley. He hadn't mentioned his broken leg.

Seeing Chen An's expression change, Chen Xu immediately said, "Don't worry, I just fell. This leg can be healed."

This sentence, "can be healed," managed to somewhat appease Chen An. The boy hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn't press further on Chen Xu's leg injury. Instead, he turned and picked up the two baskets from the ground with his carrying pole.

"Second Brother, today is your birthday. Mother and Father told me to bring you grain and eggs to celebrate. Quick, let's go inside the courtyard."

They entered the courtyard, and Chen Xu turned to close the gate.

Chen An carried the two baskets to the kitchen and set them down. Then, he carefully took out a cloth bag from his clothes.

He poured everything from the cloth bag out. It turned out to be seven or eight pieces of gleaming silver. At first glance, this amounted to at least four or five taels.

Seeing the silver solid in his hands, Chen An let out a breath.

He held the silver with both hands, as if holding a rare treasure, and brought it to Chen Xu, smiling. "Second Brother, look. This is the five taels of silver our family scraped together. Mother said you'll need money for the Courtyard Examination, so she asked me to bring it to you."

This year's Courtyard Examination was scheduled for mid-April. Chen Xu had come to the county in early spring, precisely to prepare for this examination.

This was also the last chance Chen Xu had given himself. He had originally planned that if he couldn't take the exam smoothly this time, he would put aside his pursuit of an official career for a while.

He saw the hardships his family faced every day. A man, born into this world, couldn't let his family support him endlessly just for the possibility of climbing higher.

Chen Xu looked at the small pile of silver fragments in Chen An's palm and sighed softly.

He reached out and pushed Chen An's fingers inward, guiding him to clasp his own palm holding the silver fragments.

"Little An, tell Second Brother honestly, where did this silver come from?"

Chen An startled, a flicker of panic flashing across his face. He said urgently, "Second Brother, what are you talking about? The silver, the silver is just what the family scraped together!"

"You can't fool me," Chen Xu said. "When I left home in the spring, the family already gave me five taels of silver. Tell me the truth, where did this silver really come from? Lying to me won't benefit you at all. On the contrary, your Second Brother's years of study haven't been in vain; I'm still more knowledgeable than you..."

"Second Brother!" Chen An's voice trembled as he spoke, finally unable to hold back, "It's Eldest Brother. Eldest Brother is going to Jun County to dig a canal! Digging the large canal earns three taels of silver from the government."

As his voice fell, the two brothers fell silent, looking at each other.

Chen An's heart pounded fiercely. For some reason, he was afraid of his Second Brother at this moment.

Chen Xu remained silent for about ten breaths. No one knew that while he was silent, the noisy chatter of two rats echoed in his ears again.

"Being human is so difficult. It's pathetic to be short of money."

The little rat clicked its tongue, its voice innocent yet carrying carefree pity.

Ninth Master's aged voice spoke with surprise, "Eh, this scholar's bad luck is gone, truly wondrous. But since the bad luck has passed, just give him some more time. I see with his current Fortune, earning money shouldn't be difficult."

Chen Xu's heart stirred upon hearing this.

He had started studying at the age of seven. When he was young, he was primarily supported by his family.

But once he became familiar with his surroundings, he quickly began to figure out how to earn money himself.

As a man of science and engineering, he actually had no shortage of ways to make a fortune in ancient times. However, earning money was easy, but keeping it was hard. In this era, some overly conspicuous methods were best left unused. Using them when one was weak was simply courting death.

Chen Xu made some quick money through small ventures, like making simple toys such as the Nine-Linked Ring and Tangram puzzles to sell to classmates, or helping classmates solve problems.

In addition, he secretly wrote stories, copied books, and sold calligraphy.

These methods were effective at first. But after Chen Xu's first failed Courtyard Examination, everything changed.

His bad luck manifested in all aspects--

There's no need to elaborate on this matter. Now that Chen Xu had resolved this misfortune, he should naturally have the freedom to soar.

Through the rats' words, he recalled the sum of silver he had lacked during his period of bad luck.

It was before the New Year last year. A story he had written achieved excellent sales throughout Yunjiang Prefecture.

According to the original agreement with BoyaScribe Studio, Chen Xu should have received a ten percent share of the profits.

This was already a very low profit margin. Yet, on that day, when Chen Xu went to collect his due compensation, the shopkeeper of BoyaScribe Studio, relying on his backing, shamelessly refused to pay, citing "stolen silver."

Afterward, the shopkeeper, named Sun Wu, hypocritically said to Chen Xu, "Young Master Chen, it's truly that our entire BoyaScribe Studio has suffered a disaster, what can be done? Of course, Young Master Chen, you can rest assured, whatever is yours will not be shortchanged. Just wait two months. When our employer recovers, we will make up your writing fee even if we have to sell everything we own, won't we?"

One side was powerful, and there was nothing he could do.

At that time, Chen Xu thought that once he passed the Courtyard Examination next year and obtained the Xiucai Scholar title--

Even if it was just the Xiucai Scholar title, this scoundrel of a shopkeeper would surely not dare to bully him again.

Even if he didn't bring it up then, wouldn't Mr. Sun still proactively send him his royalties?

His thoughts at the time couldn't be called naive, but they were a helpless move under the circumstances.

But times have changed.

Now, after a series of fortunate encounters, Chen Xu's entire worldview has undergone earth-shattering changes.

The world is different now; should he still adhere to the rules established by those shackles as he did before?

Rules, from the day they are created, are meant to be broken.

Chen Xu thought about what he was about to do, and for some reason, he felt a thrill of excitement.