Tomb Robber: Oops, I think I met a tomb robber.

"Mr. Cotton, Mr. Pudding, please lift up your cute little heads~"

Qiuyue smiled as she looked at the fur balled up in her palm. The two cubs that had been named quickly poked their heads out and sat upright in her hands, looking up at her with their furry heads tilted back. Their perfectly aligned movements really looked like they were from the same litter. Seeing this, Qiuyue couldn't help but say, "You two really are from the same litter. You look like twins, so neatly aligned."

Upon hearing this, Cotton and Pudding looked at each other, but they didn't take it to heart because they were humans and turning into cats was just an accident. Having the same cat body didn't mean anything.

"Okay, Cotton Pudding classmate, I called you because I want to ask you a small question~"

Qiuyue gently put the two little guys back on the table. They jumped off Qiuyue's hands obediently and then sat in a row facing Qiuyue.

"Meow!" Sister, you asked!

"Meow~" We will definitely answer seriously~

Qiuyue heard them bark and asked with a frown, "You really can understand human language, right? If so, meow."

"Mi~" is beep or beep, we understand~

"Meow!" Sister, have you finally realized this!

Hearing the cry she wanted, Qiuyue stretched out four fingers again and asked, "Then Cotton and Pudding tell me, what is this~"

"Meow meow meow meow meow~"

Cotton was the first to chirp four times. Pudding turned his head to look at him, but did not follow his lead. Instead, he raised one of his little paws and began to bloom, one, two, three, four times. Under Qiuyue's gaze, his paw bloomed four times, which was so adorable.

Qiuyue was so touched by the cuteness that she almost couldn't help but suck the cat hard.

"Oh, Cotton Pudding is so smart. Come, sister will teach you something new and interesting~"

Qiuyue reached out and touched their little heads, picked up the brush and began to write and draw on the new paper. Zhang Shouxu walked silently to Qiuyue's side and looked at what she drew with some curiosity.

Qiuyue drew playing cards. This was a sudden idea of ​​hers. She thought that if the cotton puddings could have the same IQ as humans, then she would teach them to recognize playing cards, and then they could play Landlord. If they could be smarter, then she would teach them to play mahjong, and then ask Zhang Shouxu to play with them. This way, she wouldn't be afraid of being bored by drawing talismans all the time. After all, the storybook would not arrive for about a week.

Qiuyue really couldn't draw Chinese paintings, but she had no problem drawing playing cards. After she drew the general patterns and numbers, she pointed to the four rows of playing cards with different patterns and numbers and began to explain to the two little ones, not noticing that Zhang Shouxu next to her was also listening attentively.

Qiuyue was actually telling the story with a give-it-and-see attitude, because she wasn't sure how high the IQs of Cotton and Pudding were. Although it was said that the IQs of some small animals could be as high as those of seven or eight-year-old human children, the two little fur balls in front of her were only two or three-month-old kittens, and their IQs might not even be fully developed yet. So Qiuyue didn't actually have much hope, and preferred to tell them the story just to kill time.

However, Qiuyue probably didn't expect that the two kittens in front of her were actually people who came at the same time as her. Although they were only seven or eight years old, they had seen things like playing cards. So when Qiuyue was talking about these numbers and patterns, they could only pretend that they saw such things for the first time and nodded their heads from time to time to follow her words. Only Zhang Shouxu was really listening carefully.

When Qiuyue mentioned Arabic numerals, Zhang Shouxu was slightly stunned. Looking at the symbols, he suddenly felt that this kind of symbolism was quite convenient for representing numbers. It didn't require so many strokes, and it could be used as a secret code. After all, it seemed that such numerals did not exist in the Tang Dynasty. (Arabic numerals were actually introduced during the Sui and Tang dynasties, but they were not widely used. Few people knew about them, and they seemed to be incomplete at the time. - From Baidu)

After Qiuyue finished her story, Zhang Shouxu considerately brought a cup of scented tea heated with his inner strength. Qiuyue subconsciously said thank you before taking it and moistening her throat, while Cotton Pudding started to meow.

"Mee~" Sister, sister, we understand~

"Meow~" Sister, is this for playing?

Hearing their cries, Qiuyue asked, "Little cotton balls, little puddings, do you understand?"

"Meow!" I understand!

"Meow meow~" Believe us, sister, we understand~

Although Qiuyue didn't understand what they were saying, she knew from looking at their little faces with their heads held high and their chests puffed out that they were responding to her that she understood everything.

"Cotton pudding is awesome. I'll teach you how to make it later."

Qiuyue rubbed the two little fur balls, then turned to look at Zhang Shouxu beside her and said, "Shouxu, do you have any lighter wood boards? I want to make a set of thin wooden signs."

"Of course, sir, do you want to make the card you drew? I'll go get a piece right away."

Zhang Shouxu bowed slightly and responded, then turned around and walked out very neatly. Qiuyue blinked, secretly admiring Zhang Shouxu's decisiveness.

Zhang Shouxu was very fast. After a while, he came back carrying several thin wooden boards that had been cut into the same length in one hand, and a small knife in the other hand. But why did the sheen of the knife look so familiar?

Qiuyue took a closer look and saw that it was black and gold.

Are black gold knives used to carve wooden signs these days?

After putting down a few wooden boards, Zhang Shouxu said, "Sir, please come and take a look at these boards. How thin and how big would you like the wooden sign to be?"

Hearing this, Qiuyue stood up and walked over to his side. Just as she was about to squat down to take a look, Zhang Shouxu had already picked up a piece of wood and handed it to her. Qiuyue used his hand to check the thickness of the wood, then stretched out her hand to measure the approximate thickness, length and width, and said, "Can such a thin piece of wood be made? A total of 54 pieces of wood that are almost the same must be made. If not, I will think of another way."

"Of course, please wait a moment, sir. I will finish it soon."

Zhang Shouxu looked at the person standing very close to him, with a smile on his lips. He bent down again, picked up the other wooden boards, turned around and went out again.

He didn't want to chop wood in the temple, for fear of dirtying the floor and upsetting her.

It didn't take long before Zhang Shouxu came in with a basket of chopped wood chips. When Qiuyue picked up a piece of wood and looked at it, she was immediately shocked.

Not only are these wood chips split very neatly, but almost every chip is of uniform thickness, length and width. The edges and corners are even rounded, so people don't have to worry about being scratched or punctured when handling them. It only takes a moment!

Perhaps knowing Qiuyue's confusion, Zhang Shouxu said, "It happened to be the children's break time just now, so I called them over to help, and it was done quickly."

Qiuyue suddenly understood. She arched her eyebrows and said, "Then I have to thank the children."

"The children are happy to work for you. Lord Linzu, are you going to carve the words next? Please tell me how to do it."

Zhang Shouxu stood beside Qiuyue, so close that he seemed to be able to embrace her with just a stretch of his arm. Qiuyue did not notice this. She took the piece of paper on the table that was just covered with numbers and symbols, pointed at the numbers and symbols on it and said, "Here, you need to carve these on the wooden sign. The place to carve them is here-"

Qiuyue pointed to several spots on the wood. Zhang Shouxu suddenly reached out and vaguely touched Qiuyue's hand. He pointed to the spots she had just mentioned and repeated her words, as if just wanting to confirm whether they were the right ones. Qiuyue didn't think anything was wrong and nodded in confirmation: "Yes, draw numbers in the upper left and lower right corners, and a pattern in the middle."

Gently rubbing the girl's delicate hand, Zhang Shouxu hummed a low, soft voice and said, "Okay, please wait a moment, sir. I will carve a picture for you to review first."

As soon as he finished speaking, he gently took the piece of wood from Qiuyue's hand, picked up the black gold knife again and wanted to go out. Seeing this, Qiuyue reached out and grabbed his clothes, saying, "Just carve it here. Don't worry about dirtying the ground. I have a whitening talisman. You're so tired running around."

The moment his clothes were pulled, Zhang Shouxu even thought of what to name his child in the future, but he quickly came to his senses, responded, turned around and stood next to Qiuyue, holding the black gold knife and began to carve.

Zhang Shouxu carved very quickly. Qiuyue saw him carving quickly on the wood chip with a small knife. As the wood chips fell, numbers and spade patterns soon appeared on the originally flat wood chip. Even the spade was carved very neatly and beautifully, more like a playing card pattern than the slightly crooked pattern she drew.

The cotton puddings that had come over curiously were smeared with sawdust on their faces. The two unlucky little ones immediately ran away sneezing repeatedly, with a lot of debris still on their little faces. Qiuyue looked over at the sound and couldn't help but laugh. She reached out and gently brushed the sawdust off their faces, saying, "Two little fools, why did you come over here at this time? Just look at your short legs. Even if you stand up, you can't see Shou Xu Ke's side."

"Meow!" My sister laughed at us, so naughty!

"Meow!" My sister is so naughty, why don't you coax us quickly!

Qiuyue laughed and scratched their chins with her fingers, saying, "Be good, be good. Stay away from here for now. There will be more sawdust later."

"Meow~" Okay, we are the best babies~

"Meow~" Listen to sister~

The cotton puddings all shook their little ears, rubbed Qiuyue's hands hard and then ran away obediently. Seeing that they had run farther away, Qiuyue looked at the wood piece in Zhang Shouxu's hand again. When she saw it, Qiuyue's eyes suddenly lit up, because Zhang Shouxu had already carved the wood piece.