Su Qingluan picked up the tea bowl and blew on it carefully this time. After making sure it was no longer hot, she carefully took a sip. "I don't ask for anything else, as long as our family can live a stable and peaceful life."
"I thought you would ask for a big house or a huge amount of gold as a reward." Mu Xingzhi looked at Su Qingluan with interest - after all, the woman opposite him didn't look like someone who would be so noble as to "regard money as dirt".
Rather, she was even obsessed with money at times - even Su Qingluan herself had generously admitted this in front of Mu Xingzhi more than once, and she didn't care and was quite proud of it!
Su Qingluan asked, "You should know Hongfu Tower, right?" Without waiting for the man to respond, she said, "Of course I do. After all, the first time I heard of you was when you competed with Master Zhou at Hongfu Tower."
Thinking of the old anecdotes with his friends, Mu Xingzhi smiled slightly.
Su Qingluan said, "Even if I don't have any income, just relying on the share of the menu provided to Hongfulou, I can earn at least thirty to fifty taels of silver every month."
This number is almost equivalent to the food expenses of an ordinary family for ten or even fifteen years.
Speaking of food, Su Qingluan's eyes flashed with a confidence unlike any other time before. "As the saying goes, 'food is the most important thing for people.' Whether you're a wealthy family member or an ordinary person, you can't live without these two meals a day. You can see that I can easily make both those exquisite delicacies and the snacks of the common people."
Mu Xingzhi had no doubts about this. Whether it was the offal soup that only ordinary people could afford, or the fruit jam that could be sold to wealthy families at the "sky-high price" of ten taels of gold, Su Qingluan's hands, as if cast by a Bodhisattva, seemed to be able to transform any food into something magical.
So the man immediately understood what Su Qingluan meant - even if she didn't ask for a mansion or a large sum of money, she would be able to earn back these worldly possessions with her own abilities one day.
"Compared to those small favors that can be seen with the naked eye, the promises of people like you are more precious."
Mu Xingzhi raised his eyebrows: "Do you think this is flattery?"
Su Qingluan shook her head. "If you only flatter me at this critical moment, it would be too unprofitable. Don't you know that as the saying goes, the world is vast, but the debt of gratitude is the greatest?"
"Is there such a saying?" Mu Xingzhi was stunned for a moment - although he had a wide range of knowledge about these street slangs, he was not very proficient in them.
Su Qingluan was amused by the other party's rare confusion and hesitation: "Yes, I just created it!"
Seeing the other person's stunned expression, Su Qingluan laughed so hard that she shrank back on the chair behind her. This stool was a very wide round chair, and Su Qingluan was thin, so even if she curled up on it, she would not feel particularly cramped. This time, she swayed forward and backward and almost fell down.
Mu Xingzhi was now certain that Su Qingluan had no intention of flattering him at all - rather, he had noticed from the very beginning that although the girl in front of him was not a rude or rude person, she would not take things like "status" to heart unless he specifically pointed it out.
For example, now, even though she knew that she might have an extraordinary background and even become the world leader in the future, she didn't seem to care much about it.
Mu Xingzhi is not the kind of person who requires people around him to be respectful to him, but Su Qingluan is the only one he has ever seen in his life who doesn't care about "status" at all and is only interested in money.
"Even if you can earn wealth and glory yourself, wouldn't it be better to get more for free? What's more," Mu Xingzhi tapped the armrest next to the wheelchair, "I understand that you have a younger brother and a younger sister at home, and you don't even help them find a future?"
Su Qingluan shrugged. "Maybe I'm thinking too closely about the present. For me, things like wealth and glory, a bright future, and the like are too far away. Who can predict things that are too far away in the future?"
It was like in her previous life, she had been full of ambitions to become a famous chef, but reality gave her a big blow. Not to mention becoming a famous chef, even her qualification to be a human being was forcibly deprived in advance.
"Whether it's my sister's marriage or my brother's future, it will take more than ten years. Who can say for sure what the situation will be like by then?" Su Qingluan sighed.
Mu Xingzhi looked at her, who looked very young but had a very desolate and distant look in her eyes, and he felt like teasing her. So, even though he knew Su Qingluan didn't mean that, he deliberately said, "You really don't believe that I can accomplish anything great?"
Sure enough, Su Qingluan didn't show any fear: "It has nothing to do with whether you can achieve great things - it's just that children are one way when they are a few years old, and they might be another when they grow up. I am just their elder sister. I have no right to choose their future. I can only ensure that they make more money so that they don't have to suffer."
"But an elder sister is like a mother."
"Forget about being 'like a mother'. Even if she were a real mother, she wouldn't be able to control everything about her children, right? It's not like she's been poisoned by a puppet Gu, where she can just move her fingers and her children will obey."
Mu Xingzhi was amused by Su Qingluan's novel metaphors and statements, and smiled: "Qingluan always comes up with refreshing opinions."
"Isn't it a point of view that makes people gasp in amazement and exclaim, 'What the hell?'" Su Qingluan curled her lips. "Elegant people are always polite when they speak."
After making a joke, Su Qingluan stopped joking and said seriously, "Actually, whether it's my brother or sister, I have no idea what kind of life they want to lead in the future, so I absolutely cannot arbitrarily determine their future lives based on my own preferences and judgment. They can only fight for what they truly want on their own."
"Seeing how concerned you were about your sister that day, I thought you would take charge of it all." Mu Xingzhi sighed.
Su Qingluan asked a seemingly unrelated question: "You know about the butterfly emerging from its cocoon, right? Have you ever tried to help the butterfly tear open the cocoon when it's about to break out?"
Although Mu Xingzhi had never done this experiment, he was a smart man and immediately understood what Su Qingluan meant: "You mean, forcing things to grow faster?"
"That's right," Su Qingluan smiled at the person opposite her, "The butterfly that was helped out of its cocoon will never be able to fly again in its lifetime. It can only freeze and starve to death in the mud."
"My brother wants a bright future, or my sister wants a happy marriage. It's not enough for me to pave the way for them. Whether it's success or happiness, everyone has different standards. Who am I to define them for them?"
"So you actually have nothing to ask of me?" Mu Xingzhi said with a smile.
"How can I not ask for anything!" Su Qingluan sighed, "What I ask for, most people can't easily agree to it!"
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