A Time-Traveling Mishap: I Became an Ancient Nobleman

Chapter 87 is a good prospect.

Jia Yi felt a little relieved, and his heart leaped with joy at the thought of seeing Jiang Xinyi tomorrow.

Back in the house, I started picking out clothes.

Normally, Jiang Xinyi would prepare all his clothes for him, but now she had taken them all back for fear of affecting his reputation, and he couldn't find a decent piece of clothing no matter how hard he looked.

"I should have known better than to try to be tough in front of her," Jia Yi lamented. "Now I can't even find a decent piece of clothing in the house."

Jiang Xinyi was the same. Knowing that she was poor, she still insisted on taking the things back. She didn't even know to secretly leave some behind. Besides, even if she didn't leave the things behind, she should at least leave some money so that they could get through these days.

He casually told her he would sell his calligraphy and paintings to marry her, but calligraphy and paintings are not so easy to sell. Besides, he knew his own skill level. Even if he gave his calligraphy and paintings away, it was not certain that anyone would be interested in them.

He has now set up a book stall at the market entrance to copy books and letters for people, earning only about ten coins a day at most.

When we get to Zuixianlou, we should have a good talk with her. Even if we can't meet before the wedding, we can't let her future husband starve to death before we get married, can we?

If word gets out that she's a jinx to her husbands, it will be Jiang Xinyi who suffers the consequences.

Thinking of this, Jia Yi decided not to even look for clothes and planned to wear the old clothes full of holes to see Jiang Xinyi, so that she could see what kind of life he had been living these days.

Why is it that she can stay at home like a pampered young lady, eating and drinking well, while her husband has to eat coarse food every day?

Li Xianda returned to Tianan Academy a day early and told the dean that because he and Zhou Hanzhang had entered the academy, his grandmother had booked the entire Zuixianlou restaurant and asked him to invite all the teachers and fellow students of the academy to have a good meal.

Upon hearing of such a good thing, Mo Xuan naturally agreed, and his smile deepened as he looked at Li Xianda.

Although Li Xianda is average in other aspects, no student in the academy can match his ability to gather information.

He could have entered the academy even without donating money, but now that his family has poured so much money into it, Mo Xuan found it difficult to refuse and had no choice but to accept.

"Alright, you're quite filial, kid. You know how to respect your teacher and share with your fellow disciples. You're truly a good child, a product of the Li family's century-old tradition... cough, a good child indeed."

Mo Xuan was so frightened that he quickly changed his words. Although he felt that Mo Xuan was a spendthrift, he knew that Mo Xuan was not wasting the academy's money, so he couldn't say that about him.

But Mo Xuan didn't know that Li Xianda's spendthrift nature wasn't limited to the Li family. He had already planned what good resources would be available for him after he made a name for himself at the academy.

If Mo Xuan knew what he was thinking, he would definitely kick him out immediately.

"Then Dean..." Li Xianda hesitated, wanting to say something more.

"Get to the point!"

Mo Xuan thought that if the request wasn't too unreasonable, he would agree to it, after all, this was their academy's lucky charm.

"Exactly, I know the Dean gave out two jade pendants, Hanzhang and Mingyun. Could I have one too?"

Fearing he might refuse, Li Xianda quickly added, "Don't worry, Dean, I won't neglect my studies. It's just that I have some family business that I need to manage."

Moreover, Hanzhang recently gave me a pattern of shoes suitable for running, and I'm planning to make a batch so that you, your fellow students, and all your fellow disciples can each try two pairs.

However, I need to find some of the materials for these shoes myself…”

Upon hearing this good news, Mo Xuan, regardless of whether he was at the academy or not, simply tossed him a jade pendant that allowed him passage.

“It’s alright. Your family business is important, and your family’s business skills are top-notch. If possible, it would be great to invite your grandfather to give a lecture to the students.”

Mo Xuan didn't follow the traditional ranking system of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. In his eyes, anyone who made achievements in a particular field was a great talent.

In fact, he had invited Li's grandfather to come and teach him long ago, but Li's family business was too big and Li's grandfather simply couldn't find the time, so he gave up.

Li Xianda hurriedly put away the jade pendant, but dared not agree to the dean's request on behalf of his grandfather, "My grandfather is too busy on weekdays and doesn't have much time."

Mo Xuan knew this, of course, but it was just a casual remark, and he didn't care whether it worked out or not.

"Then you can go down now. When will the shoes arrive?"

“Some materials are hard to find. I thought since this is the first time I’m making it, I should make it for the academy and make it as good as possible. So I’ll spend more time on it so that the teachers and students at the academy can wear it comfortably.”

Mo Xuan nodded. "Alright then, you can go ahead and do your thing. But even if you don't have class, you still need to catch up on your studies in your spare time. Otherwise, if you fail the exam, I won't be able to keep you here any longer."

Li Xianda quickly agreed, took the jade pendant, and hurriedly took his leave.

Mo Xuan watched Li Xianda's departing figure and thought, "He's a good prospect."

Seeing that Li Xianda had walked away and that there was no one else around, he suddenly clenched his fist and punched the sky twice, then jumped up, "Great! Another batch of sponsorships!"

Seeing someone approaching from afar, he reverted to his usual inscrutable demeanor.

The next morning, Zhou Hanzhang and his group picked up Cui Niang and Bao Zi and brought them to Zui Xian Lou.

Although Baozi is now clean, Li Xianda still has a strong aversion to him and dares not approach him at all.

However, he was dressed more casually today, unlike yesterday when he was adorned with gold and silver.

He thought about it for a long time after returning home yesterday, and finally figured out why the child insisted on jumping on him.

It must have been that her dazzling jewelry caught the eye of that clueless child.

After all, according to the information he found out, this family were all money-grubbing types.

Today, the three of them all wore simple clothes in perfect unison. When Baozi saw that their clothes were completely different from yesterday's, she was no longer as enthusiastic as she had been yesterday.

Seeing that Li Xianda had stopped calling him "father," he realized that Li Xianda had stopped calling him "father."

However, once they arrived at Zuixianlou, Cui Niang and Bao Zi's eyes darted around. After Zhou Hanzhang led them into the private room, Bao Zi immediately jumped down from Cui Niang's arms.

He touched this and that in the private room, and finally even pulled a string of beads off the curtain, making the others' eyes twitch.

Li Xianda and Zhou Hanzhang exchanged a glance, both seeing speechlessness in each other's eyes.

“That’s the Pearl of the East China Sea. It’s small, but it’s very valuable!” Li Xianda whispered to Zhou Hanzhang.

"Forget it, just bear with it. For Xinyi's happiness, let's just forget about this little bit of money." Zhou Hanzhang also wanted to shed tears.

"Then we definitely mustn't let this kid out, otherwise he'll cause trouble for us!"

Without waiting for Zhou Hanzhang's reply, Li Xianda quickly went out and instructed his men to guard the door and prevent the little devil from leaving.

However, Baozi didn't seem to have much desire to go out; this one private room was enough for him to have fun.