Super System in the Early Tang Dynasty

After breakfast, Wang Xiucai led the two men to the main study, while Li Xingzhi led some craftsmen and a group of strong servants that Wang Xiucai had hired straight to the backyard, thinking that since there was nothing to do these past few days, he was going to tidy up the backyard.

The backyard was large, but there were even more houses, one after another, and hardly anyone lived there, making it gloomy and eerie, so much so that even the servants dared not go there. Li Xingzhi simply went all out and ordered the craftsmen to demolish all the houses he didn't like.

He himself, accompanied by a group of strong servants, prepared to clean the two small lakes in the backyard.

The two lakes in the backyard are not large, one is oval and the other is long and thin like a crescent moon. The two lakes are connected by a waterway about 10 feet wide and more than 30 feet long from the tip of the crescent moon, and there is a bridge over it.

The cold winter had just passed, and the lakeside was covered with withered, tall grass and piles of silt. From the outside, all one could see were two pitiful little puddles. It was a complete mess, so it's no wonder that Li Xingzhi was in such a hurry to clean it up.

Looking at the grass growing all over the lake, Kennu, who had thought he could rest for a day without having to do his daily training, started to wail inwardly.

However, under Li Xingzhi's urging, they all started pulling weeds. As Li Xingzhi said, their task for the next two days was to clear the weeds around the lake. If they failed to complete the task, their training would be doubled, and if they completed it ahead of time, they could rest earlier.

The servants, who were initially somewhat reluctant, burst forth with immense passion and potential under the immense pressure and motivation.

Li Xingzhi nodded in agreement. People are forced to do things! Thus, before the servants knew it, their tragic fate was already sealed.

Looking at the lake, Li Xingzhi wanted to expand it further, digging deeper around it, building up the shore with large stones, and covering it with sand and gravel.

If it were in later generations, Li Xingzhi's plan would be perfectly fine; it would just be a matter of renting and carrying excavators and getting a few truckloads of sand and stones. However, in the Tang Dynasty, when productivity was low, it would have required an enormous amount of manpower and resources and caused a huge uproar. This wasn't like building a palace; it would have been too troublesome to make such a big fuss over it, and it might have even created some complications.

Just when Li Xingzhi was feeling troubled, he saw the timber that had been removed from the demolished house and a plan came to him!

Just as Li Xingzhi was pondering this, Aunt Wu came over, bowed to him, and moved her lips as if she had something to say.

Not only did Aunt Wu and Old Man Wu share the same surname, they were also related – they were from the same village and had some blood relation. The entire village was implicated by the rebels and demoted to lowly status, but the two of them were sold to the south.

Aunt Wu had no children of her own and treated Wu Laoliu like a son. She was a kind and gentle person, but she had one flaw: she was a devout Buddhist, which, perhaps related to her tragic past, sometimes made her a bit eccentric. Even so, she was efficient and meticulous in her work. Li Xingzhi entrusted her with looking after Hu Qing'er, mainly taking care of the young girl's daily life, as the girl didn't seem capable of living independently.

"Has something happened to that little girl?" Aunt Wu had never come to him before, and there was nothing at the Li residence that required his attention.

"That young lady is alright except for her strange temper, but today..." His voice trailed off, as if he hesitated.

"What happened today?"

"The young lady suddenly asked me where I could find any poison in my house. I was afraid she might be thinking something drastic again," said Aunt Wu.

Li Xingzhi found it somewhat amusing; after all, he was completely out of touch with worldly affairs, how could he possibly ask someone for poison?

Actually, this can't be blamed on Hu Qing'er. She grew up in that bandit stronghold as a little girl, without her mother by her side, and she didn't interact much with others. Although she didn't have any major problems with her intelligence, her emotional intelligence might not be as good as that of a child a few years old.

Of course, if Li Xingzhi knew that the poison Hu Qing'er had prepared was intended for him, he probably wouldn't be able to laugh anymore.

Actually, to be honest, Hu Qing'er didn't really have any hatred towards Li Xingzhi.

When she was a child, her mother instilled in her many ideas, such as "stay away from bandits and cherish life." As a result, she was not very close to her father, who was a bandit, and they might not see each other more than a few times a month.

However, as time went by, some feelings inevitably developed.

It wasn't until the entire bandit gang was killed that she felt lost and helpless, and then she remembered some things from those biographies and anecdotes: "The hatred for the murderer of one's father is irreconcilable!" She thought of avenging her father who had cheated her.

However, thinking of his father's ruthless killing, he hesitated again.

If Li Xingzhi hadn't answered that way, Hu Qing'er wouldn't have faced the trouble that followed, and the girl's true identity might have been buried forever with the death of that bandit leader.

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Li Xingzhi was free of anything, but he was worried that the little girl might be reckless and run off to the street asking for poison, which would be troublesome.

The courtyard where Hu Qing'er lived was arranged by Wang Xiucai. It was located in the northwest, far from Li Xingzhi's residence, and in a remote place. However, the environment was quite nice. There was a large elm tree in the courtyard, which had already sprouted tender pink leaves. From a distance, the tree was full of fresh and tender leaves, bringing a touch of life to this otherwise somewhat gloomy place.

At this moment, Li Xingzhi was no longer in a hurry. He carefully looked at the elm tree in front of him and thought of the saying, "The newly opened elm seeds are as beautiful as coins." So that's how it is. Although there are many elm trees in the city and along the roadside, he usually only glanced at them from afar. It wasn't until today, when he had some free time, that he finally saw the true face of the elm seeds, which would become famous in later generations but are rarely seen again!

Suddenly, a strong wind blew, knocking a few pieces of the herb down. Li Xingzhi looked at them, picked up a few pieces from the ground, put them in his mouth and chewed them. He found them to be light, sweet, and juicy. But after chewing them more carefully, he noticed a slightly astringent taste.

He had long heard of the fame of elm seeds, and when he looked at recipes from various dynasties, he found that many folk snacks were made with these tiny elm seeds. The best time to pick elm seeds is in the last half month of late spring, when they are the freshest and plumpest on the tree, and that's when they taste the best.

Li Xingzhi fell in love with the elm tree at first sight and wondered why such a wonderful thing had disappeared in later generations. For thousands of years, he had been a "guardian of pedestrians".

When Aunt Wu saw Li Xingzhi acting like this, she assumed that a rich person wanted to try something new, so she stood aside and didn't dare to make a sound to disturb him.

Li Xingzhi came to his senses, looked at Aunt Wu who was still waiting beside him, and didn't say anything, but just told her to go and call the little girl out.

Although he didn't know much about ancient etiquette, he did know things like "a man and a woman alone" and "one should not touch another person." Even in modern times, most conservative girls wouldn't let a man into their bedroom.

Hu Qing'er had already come out. She didn't know anything about etiquette or rules, and she sat down casually on the stone bench under the tree, looking at Li Xingzhi with a question mark in her eyes.

Seeing this, Aunt Wu felt a slight pang in her heart, thinking to herself: "Luckily, she met such a good man as my husband." She was also thinking about when to teach the young lady some basic etiquette, so that she wouldn't suffer any losses in the future.

Li Xingzhi didn't mind at all; he was a person who was used to being casual.

Li Xingzhi looked at the young girl in front of him. She was dressed the same way he had when they first met: a green dress with a cinched waist, a silver whip wrapped around her waist, and upturned eyebrows. Although she was not as dashing as she had been before, she still had a certain air of being a woman who was not inferior to men.

"What do you need poison for?"

Upon hearing this, the little girl suddenly turned deathly pale, thinking that he had discovered her secret.

Seeing the pale face and vacant eyes of the girl in front of him, Li Xingzhi wondered what illness she had contracted and dared not tease her any further. He simply said, "You haven't even found your enemy yet, so why do you need poison? Besides, where would I sell the things I use to harm people?"

The little girl's understanding was still stuck in the bandit's den; she only knew that everyone should hide a few weapons and that the streets were full of poison sellers—poor child, poisoned by those unofficial histories and those bandits.

"But I know where my enemy is..." the little girl said weakly.

"You...you know? Who is it?"

The little girl pursed her lips and remained silent.

Li Xingzhi looked at the stubborn little girl in front of him, realizing he had no way to deal with her, sighed softly, and got up to leave.

"Wait a moment."

"What else?"

"Do you have poison...?" The little girl's voice trailed off.

Upon hearing this, Li Xingzhi mentally summoned all sorts of deities, including the Jade Emperor, Buddha, Laozi, and that Western girl. Tears streamed down his face. "Are you even my own sister? Do you think I'm buying cabbage?"

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Ugh~ It's been a month already. I'm off the new book list this afternoon, so I need to work hard now.