The afternoon passed by in a flurry of activity.
Fang Er looked at the four grand tutors' chairs and the square table before him, brimming with a sense of accomplishment.
He wondered if this was the first set of tables and chairs from the Tang Dynasty.
At this time, low tables were in use, requiring people to sit cross-legged or kneel. This made Fang Er quite uncomfortable.
"Move this set of tables and chairs to the main hall. From now on, meals and receiving guests will be in the main hall using this set. Handle the old ones as you see fit."
Fang Er, dusting off wood shavings from his hands, said to Uncle Zhang, who was sitting on one of the grand tutors' chairs.
"Young master, since when did you learn such craftsmanship? These chairs are much more comfortable to sit on."
Uncle Zhang exclaimed, stroking the armrest of the chair with his hand.
"There's much more that I know, young master, I just didn't want to reveal it before. Hurry up and move them to the main hall, then have someone prepare food. I'm starving!"
Fang Er walked towards the front courtyard with his hands behind his back, his steps confident.
He hadn't felt it while working, but as soon as he stopped, his stomach began to rumble.
Sitting on the grand tutors' chair placed in the main hall, Fang Er ate the food brought by Xiao Huan.
"This is truly awful."
Pancakes, steamed meat, steamed vegetables, and a bowl of millet porridge.
This was Fang Er's dinner.
He had to admit, the cooking skills were really not up to par.
After hastily filling his stomach, Fang Er returned to his room.
No electricity, no mobile phones, no computers, no nightlife.
Fang Er felt incredibly bored.
He tossed and turned on the bed, unable to sleep.
"Ding! System loading complete! Please view at your leisure!"
Just as Fang Er was about to explode from boredom, the system's voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
Mimicking what he had seen in transmigration novels from his previous life, he silently thought, "Open System!"
A sci-fi panel window appeared before Fang Er's eyes.
The panel had only one option.
The积分商城 (Jīfēn Shāngchéng - Point Mall).
He opened the Point Mall.
In the upper right corner of the mall, there was a question mark.
Clicking on it revealed the explanation of the Point Mall.
Points could be used to redeem corresponding items in the mall.
There were two ways to obtain points: one was through gold exchange, with a ratio of 1:10, meaning one tael of gold exchanged for ten points, and one tael of silver exchanged for one point. The other way was to complete system-generated random missions.
The items in the Point Mall were updated monthly, or could be manually refreshed using one hundred points.
With each refresh, different items would appear in the mall, primarily common goods from later eras, with no prohibited items.
Looking at the items currently displayed in the mall, there were only ten.
Fang Er cursed inwardly.
"These are all things that were worthless in my previous life, things no one would even pick up if thrown on the street."
"Damn it, a corn cob costs ten points!"
"How is this not robbery!"
There were also some daily necessities, such as stainless steel vacuum flasks, plastic combs, toothpicks, and magnifying glasses.
"This is a dollar store!"
"Would it kill you to give me something amazing?
Like a Gatling gun? If no Gatling gun, a Barrett would do!
I want to be like that guy Fang Xing, and have the thrill of sniping enemies with a sniper rifle.
Damn it! Useless system!"
"System prompt: Gatling guns and Barrett rifles are prohibited items and will not appear in this system."
"System warning: The host has insulted the system. This is the first warning; severe punishment will be imposed next time!"
"System retort: You're an eighth-grade fitter, you can't make things yourself, you idiot!"
"Holy cow, is it that awesome?"
"Damn! This system can even curse people?"
"Alright, I surrender to you!"
After buying the mansion, Fang Er only had twenty-five taels of gold left, which could be exchanged for two hundred and fifty points.
"What a divine two hundred and fifty!"
The more he looked, the angrier he became, so Fang Er simply closed the system and went to sleep.
The next morning, dressed with the assistance of Xiao Qing, he looked at the willow branches and salt provided.
Fang Er felt depressed.
"Damn it, Fang Er had been in a daze for the past few days and hadn't noticed these details."
Now, looking at them, he felt extremely uncomfortable.
Fresh willow branches were chewed into a pulp and then dipped in salt to brush his teeth.
After only a couple of motions in his mouth, Fang Er threw the willow branch away.
"Ptooey!"
Spit mixed with blood shot out of his mouth.
Because there were still salt crystals in his mouth, it made Fang Er miserable.
"Zhu Zi!"
Fang Er roared.
Zhu Zi quickly ran over from the front yard.
"Go! Get me some horse mane!"
Zhu Zi looked at the angry Fang Er and dared not ask, so he immediately ran out.
Fang Er went to the backyard and used the leftover wood from yesterday to carve a small wooden strip, about one centimeter wide, half a centimeter thick, and over a dozen centimeters long. Then, he used an awl to drill small holes.
By the time he finished, Zhu Zi had also returned carrying a bundle of horse mane.
Fang Er took the horse mane, and with the wooden strip in his other hand, went to the front yard.
"Xiao Qing, bring a basin of water."
He threw the horse mane into the water and then poured in a lot of salt, which made Xiao Qing wince with heartache.
After all, they normally didn't even get to use salt.
After the horse mane had soaked in the salt water for a while, the grease and dirt slowly detached.
He rinsed it with clean water several times. When there was no more odor, he began threading it onto the wooden strip.
Through two holes, a clump of horse mane was threaded. Soon, a DIY toothbrush was completed.
Dipping it in salt and trying it out a few times.
"Not bad, just that the bristles are too sparse."
Xiao Qing and Zhu Zi watched with great curiosity as Fang Er poked the newly made brush in his mouth.
"Young master, are you making this brush to brush your teeth?"
Xiao Qing asked in a clear voice.
"Yes, it's for brushing teeth. The willow branches are too difficult to use, bitter and hard. This brush is much better."
Fang Er rinsed his mouth with clean water and handed the brush to Xiao Qing.
"Take it and put it away carefully. Don't lose it. Later, Zhu Zi, go to the West Market and see if you can buy a carpenter."
Zhu Zi didn't speak, his gaze fixed on the toothbrush in Xiao Qing's hand.
Fang Er chuckled.
"Stop staring. Buy a carpenter and we'll make one for everyone at home."
Zhu Zi quickly nodded and ran off to get money from the steward.
"Well, toothbrushes, tables, and chairs. Fang Er has found two potential avenues to make money."
"Although there's no technical content, this stuff doesn't exist in this era."
"At least he can earn some money before others imitate him."
"Although the items in the Point Mall are nothing in later eras, they are good things that can improve life in this era."
Fang Er's thoughts were very simple; otherwise, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to become the youngest eighth-grade fitter.
This was a craft that required practice to master.
It also required extraordinary comprehension and perceptual abilities.
Fang Er had also come to terms with it. Since he couldn't go back, he might as well live a leisurely life.
He had no intention of changing history, and probably didn't have the ability to.
This was an era of powerful clans, with the Five Great Clans and Seven Noble Houses, and even Li Shimin had to compromise.
He was just a young man who had transmigrated from a later era. Even though his family was quite well-off now, he didn't have the ability to change anything.
He could only try his best to change his living environment, make himself more comfortable, and incidentally earn some money.
He took a chair from the main hall and placed it in the courtyard.
Fang Er then slumped onto the chair in a relaxed posture.
"Forty-nine days until the Alliance of Wei River."
"Next will be three consecutive years of drought and snow disaster."
"I'll just stay in this city."
"Young master, the esteemed elder is here. He says he wants to see you."
Fang Er was bewildered. Who was this esteemed elder? A bailiff?
"Who did you say?"
"Young master, it's the esteemed elder, Master's elder brother, your uncle."
Uncle Zhang said, bending over in front of Fang Er.
"Your uncle!"
Fang Er was about to curse out loud when suddenly a very lecherous figure flashed in his mind.
"Damn!"
It really was his uncle who had arrived.