When Su Qingluan heard what Mu Xingzhi said, her heart couldn't help but skip a beat: He is indeed a cunning person, and I can't hide it from him. Is his intuition so sharp?
She thought so, but she still wanted to struggle and deceive him, so she thought about drinking tea to cover up her weak heart. However, she was so focused on how to make up her mind that she forgot that the cup of tea in her hand was just poured by Mu Xingzhi. As a result, she took a sip and it burned her tongue and throat.
Seeing Su Qingluan's eyes filled with tears and gasping for breath due to the burns, Mu Xingzhi asked Song Bo to bring her some cold water to relieve the stinging pain caused by the hot water.
Su Qingluan drank a few sips and finally suppressed the uncomfortable feeling. She wanted to cry but couldn't, so she said, "Why do I always make a fool of myself in front of you...ah..."
Forget it. As the saying goes, if you have too many lice, you won’t be afraid of bites. If you embarrass yourself too much, Su Qingluan also thought it through: "Forget it, forget it. I don’t have much image in front of you anymore. This time is not a big deal... Song Bo is the same. Laugh if you want to."
The latter sentence was directed at Song Bo, who was trying hard to keep a straight face but was not good at holding back a smile.
However, Song Bo did not really laugh out loud. However, when he saw that Su Qingluan did not stand up to say goodbye, he knew that she probably had something to discuss with Mu Xingzhi, so he found an excuse to leave.
But Su Qingluan heard a "chi chi" sound coming from outside the door when Song Bo closed it.
...Laugh, laugh, laugh as much as you want. Su Qingluan curled her lips: Who made her so careless and reckless?
Jokes aside, business still needs to be discussed. Sui Qingluan placed the paper in her sleeve on the table and pushed it towards Mu Xingzhi: "Here, your promised thank you gift - this thank you gift is not only for saving my sister, but also for saving my family from those people in the Xie Mansion."
Upon hearing this, Mu Xingzhi put down the teacup in his hand, stretched out two slender fingers and casually picked up the thin piece of paper, teasing with a half-smile: "After all, it's a life-saving favor. I don't say I should repay it with all my heart, but isn't this piece of paper too perfunctory?"
Although he said so, Mu Xingzhi knew that Su Qingluan's attitude was very firm, which meant that the "thank you gift" in her hand must be of considerable weight.
However, when he opened the paper, he was still shocked by the contents inside. The soft smile that originally revealed a hint of ease and playfulness had completely disappeared, replaced by the deep eyes that Su Qingluan had felt when she first met Mu Xingzhi, as if they could see through everything.
Seeing the other party's expression, Su Qingluan silently felt relieved: at least the other party immediately realized the key role these things played in improving military strength - after all, not everyone can accept new things that they have basically never seen before all at once, and even fewer can see through their role at a glance.
Mu Xingzhi's tolerance for new things, novel ideas, and foresight in new theories sometimes made Su Qingluan, a time traveler, feel as if he had also traveled from some other plane of higher civilization.
If it weren't for the fact that many tests had proven that Mu Xingzhi indeed had no knowledge beyond this plane, Su Qingluan would have wanted to ask him which plane he had come from.
While Su Qingluan was lost in her wildest thoughts, Mu Xingzhi asked, "Qingluan, this piece of paper..."
"I've never shown it to anyone else, never told anyone about it, not even a hint of it. You're the first and only one." Before the other person could finish, Su Qingluan automatically added the rest of the answer, then looked at him with a look that said, "Are you stupid?" "You don't think that everyone can accept my wild and unconventional thinking like you do, do you?"
To put it bluntly, even if Su Qingluan talked about something that would be invented in the future and would help improve productivity or make life more convenient, whether or not there was a way to produce it was one thing, but simply how many people would believe it and accept it was hard to say.
After all, the shift from geocentrism to heliocentrism burned many a candle, which shows how difficult it is to change ideology.
Mu Xingzhi laughed when he heard this: "Qingluan thinks highly of me."
"It's not that I look down on you, but I know that you can accept new things rationally and objectively—neither bewildered nor completely rejected. And..."
"And what?" Su Qingluan thought about the right words, so she didn't even look up at Mu Xingzhi. So she didn't notice that he was looking at her intently, as if he wanted to see through her face.
Su Qingluan carefully analyzed the pros and cons: "Look, although I know all this nonsense, it's for use in warfare after all. If ordinary people knew that a peasant girl like me was asking about this kind of thing, it would be fine if they didn't think too much. Otherwise, they might accuse me, or even my entire family, of treason."
"Aren't you afraid that I might think the same thing?"
"Please..." Su Qingluan said speechlessly, "Although I don't know whether you want to be the commander yourself or assist someone, but..."
She glanced outside the door, but didn't speak out loudly. Instead, she lowered her voice and asked softly, "People who don't care about the people but only about ghosts and gods don't deserve to be worshipped by the people, right?"
"Don't ask about the common people, but ask about ghosts and gods... What a great idea! Don't ask about the common people, but ask about ghosts and gods!" Mu Xingzhi recited the meaning of this poem, with a somewhat sarcastic smile on his lips.
"You're different," Su Qingluan spread her hands. "Although I don't know how far you can go, you're someone who can accomplish great things. If you can figure out how to use this kind of thing, it should be yours. But it won't work overnight. You've been in Huaxi Village for six or seven years, so a little more time won't be a problem."
"So, what about Qingluan?" Mu Xingzhi carefully placed the piece of paper in his arms and looked at Su Qingluan. "Qingluan gave me such a great gift. It's really too precious. What does Qingluan want as a thank you?"
Su Qingluan knew that Mu Xingzhi would definitely be able to see through her "wanting something" look - not to mention that she had no intention of hiding it. She couldn't outsmart a smart person even if ten of them were put together, so she simply lay low and let it slide, saying whatever she wanted, at least in exchange for not being suspected.
So she thought for a moment and asked, "I don't think most people can give me the thank-you gift I want, unless it's at that level..." This was a direct questioning of the other person's depth, "Can you make the decision?"
Mu Xingzhi probably didn't expect that Su Qingluan would ask so directly. He was stunned for a moment, then nodded with a smile: "I can." There was no expression of showing off or complacency, but a very calm tone, as if this was just an ordinary sentence without any special meaning.
Su Qingluan raised her eyebrows when she heard this: As expected, the person in front of her is more suitable to be a leader himself than someone's assistant.
So she smiled and said, "Actually, I've already said that."
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