Any hope of striking it rich had vanished.
To be honest, you could say these shoes were from last week, or you could say they were from the Kaiyuan era—it's not like anyone expected history to be separated from the present by a mere film, that could tear and suddenly drop a person through.
"I've heard that playing on the computer too much turns people into idiots. You should touch your computer less and get out more."
Xu Wenbin couldn't be bothered with this buffoon, so he got up and left the house.
Using an old straw sandal to claim it's a Tang Dynasty antique, why not say it was weaved by Liu Bei himself?
"Hey, why don't you take another close look?" Xu Qing wasn't giving up, "see if it can be aged or something…"
"Oh, so you can age it and turn it into an antique, look at you—aren't you something. Can't you do something more legitimate?"
Xu Wenbin was so annoyed he pointed at him fiercely with his finger, "Stop pondering the what-ifs and the could've-beens, why don't you learn from Qin Hao, is that too much to ask?
Qin came over for a visit and mentioned that Haozi became a policeman, asked what you were doing, and I was too ashamed to even speak up!"
"Freelancer, I'm a freelancer." Xu Qing put away the straw sandals; he couldn't let Jiang He see these, or else she might think he was a freak.
Toss it, and it's a Tang Dynasty antique; sell it, and it couldn't have been born more than a few months ago, truly headache-inducing.
"Freelancing my ass!"
Xu Wenbin exclaimed loudly, glanced at the door to the utility room, then suddenly lowered his voice, the tone taking a sharp turn.
"If you weren't all grown up, I'd find a stick to give you a proper whipping…"
As he spoke, he scanned around for a stick and, finding none, he casually picked up the broken sword by the sofa, "Still talking about freedom, is freedom all about making fakes with a pair of worn-out shoes? Is this…"
His voice cut off abruptly, and Xu Wenbin stared at the sword in his hands as if he were a duck whose throat had been grabbed.
"It's a toy, a purchased toy!"
Xu Qing snatched it back quickly, laughing it off, "Just for play… There's no antique."
If the sword were to be damaged by the old man, Jiang He would be absolutely livid—it was her bread and butter.
Xu Wenbin took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, then put them back on, never taking his eyes off the sword in Xu Qing's hands.
"… Give it to me."
"Won't give it." Xu Qing shook his head.
"Will you give it or not?!"
"… Fine, fine, I'll let you have a look."
Xu Qing shrugged, feigning calm as he handed the sword back.
It made no sense if the straw sandals weren't antiques that the sword would be.
"It can't really be an antique, can it? Can you estimate its value?"
"…"
Xu Wenbin didn't respond; he examined the sword from hilt to tip seriously, then grasped it firmly and began to slowly draw it from its scabbard.
The blade gradually revealed itself, and Xu Qing couldn't help but hold his breath.
"To hell with this!"
After drawing out a section, Xu Wenbin, annoyed and frustrated, sheathed the sword and handed it back to Xu Qing before storming off.
It was embarrassing, he had almost been fooled by this kid's nonsense.
"Find a proper job, or why don't you take the civil service exam and serve the people?"
Holding the doorknob, he gave a final admonition and glanced once more at Jiang He's room through the door that had opened a crack, then he closed the door and left.
"…"
Xu Qing pulled the sword out quizzically, then sheathed it again, then pulled it out, beginning to understand.
Not a trace of oxidation, definitely a toy.
```
Seeing Jiang He's room door open, he casually threw the sword inside and said, "Keep this safe, don't just take it out."
Once Jiang He had put the sword away and came out, Xu Qing looked her in the eyes with interest and asked, "What were you about to call my dad just now?"
"I don't know what to call him."
"That's my dad, my father, my old man... all mean the same thing, you can just call him uncle, and if one day you meet my mom... oh, that's my mother, my mom, you can call her auntie."
Xu Qing didn't know how they addressed each other in the Tang Dynasty, but father and mother should be correct anyway.
"Uncle, auntie."
Jiang He nodded, indicating she had remembered it, and after a pause, she asked, "Don't you want to practice martial arts anymore?"
"Is there a shortcut to quickly becoming a master? Or are there any powerful techniques?"
"Practice martial arts, is there really a shortcut?"
"..."
Disappointed, Xu Qing had tried standing post for a bit a few days ago; he couldn't last even five minutes, let alone endure two hours—it was practically torture.
In this peaceful society, the cost-effectiveness of practicing martial arts was outrageously low, almost useless other than for showing off; if you hurt someone, you still had to pay compensation...
Practice skills? Practice my ass!
Enduring hardship is for the enjoyment later on, enduring for no return, that must be a sickness.
"Come play some games, we can talk about practicing skills later."
Learning to live starts with the little things, even as kids begin to understand the world, they start with games—
Though it's not quite the same as computer games, Xu Qing felt it was similar enough.
Building blocks, tangram puzzles are games, and so is Jian San; no difference there.
The old man dashed over and only stayed a short while; they still had things to do, and under Xu Qing's guidance, Jiang He played games, starting with creating a character, and without realizing it, an afternoon had passed.
An individual who appeared out of nowhere wanting to make a living could only think of ways over the fictitious internet—through the screen, let alone a person from ancient times, even if a cat turned into a demon and typed away on the keyboard, no one would know.
"How do you make money with this?"
At dinner, Jiang He asked, as she couldn't understand how money was made in this world.
Could it be that everyone just sits at home, playing games on the screen, and people bring them food and drinks? It was really strange.
"When you learn to play for others," said Xu Qing.
"For whom?"
"Hmm... let me think about how to explain this to you."
Faced with Jiang He's eager gaze, Xu Qing chose not to brush her off, mainly afraid that she would lack motivation and suspect him of tricking her.
"It's an entertainment thing, basically when you're full and have nothing to do, you use it as a pastime, like playing with grasshoppers, get it?"
"Hmm, games," Jiang He nodded in understanding.
"Then there are many people, tens of thousands, who play this game together. With so many people, there are always those who don't have time to play, not everyone is free like me... oh, like you. They're too busy to play, so they pay money to find idle people like you to play for them."
"No time to play games, so they spend money to hire someone to play for them?" Jiang He couldn't comprehend such a thing.
"Yeah, I've already paid for the game, and they expect me to spend time playing it too?" Xu Qing laughed, took a bite of his food, and didn't tease her further, but then added, "You're basically like someone who rears grasshoppers for a wealthy landlord. When you've raised them well, they just take them to play with. Understand now?"
As it was her first job that barely qualified as work, he explained very carefully, and Jiang He listened intently.
Being an internet-addicted girl is better than running out in the middle of the night pretending to be a ghost and scaring people, that was what Xu Qing was thinking.
As for the future... understanding how to live comes first before discussing the future.
After dinner, Jiang He continued to explore the world of gaming, while Xu Qing turned on the new TV to watch the news program.
Winter Melon also ate quite well, lazily strolling around the room as if inspecting his territory, and finally stopped in front of the sofa, debated briefly, then jumped onto Jiang He's lap to lie down.
Into the night, the city lit up with the lights of thousands of homes, each one a different life.
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