Lily Spencer’s face showed a thoughtful expression. Because she was still young, the little maid’s brows and eyes had not yet fully formed, and due to the wind and sand of the border town, her small face was dark and rough. Coupled with the slightly yellow, fine hair caused by childhood malnutrition, she really couldn’t be called pretty—not even delicate.

But she had a pair of willow-leaf-shaped eyes, long and slender, with pupils as bright as if carved from ice. Since she rarely showed any obvious emotion, she didn’t look like a pitiful little maid of eleven or twelve, but rather like a mature woman who understood everything and saw through the world with nothing weighing on her heart. This stark contrast between her real age and appearance and the look in her eyes made her seem especially cool and unique.

Adam Spencer knew all of this was just an illusion. In his eyes, the little maid Lily Spencer was a typical simple-minded girl. The two of them had depended on each other for so many years. Because she was used to relying on him to think and handle things, she became lazier about thinking for herself, and the lazier she got, the duller she became. To cover up her clumsiness, she used fewer and fewer words when she spoke, which only made her seem even more silent, cold, mature, and odd.

“It’s not stupidity, it should be clumsiness.” He thought of certain things and silently corrected himself in his heart.

After a long silence, Lily Spencer suddenly looked up, bit her lip, and showed a rare hint of timidity, saying, “I heard... Chang’an is very big, with a lot of people.”

“The capital is prosperous. I heard that by the third year of Tianqi, the population had already exceeded a million. The cost of living is extremely high. Living in Chang’an is no easy thing...”

Adam Spencer sighed. Seeing the nervous look on the little maid’s face, he smiled and comforted her, saying, “There’s nothing to be afraid of with so many people. Just treat Chang’an as a bigger Weicheng. When the time comes, I’ll still be the one dealing with outsiders, and you’ll handle things at home as usual. If you’re really scared, just go out less.”

“How much would it cost to buy meat, vegetables, rice, and grain for a month in the capital?”

Lily Spencer’s willow-leaf eyes widened round, and her small hands tightly gripped the hem of her cloth skirt as she nervously asked, “Would it be more than four taels of silver? That would be double what it costs in Weicheng.”

“If I really get into the Academy, you’ll have to get me some good fabric to make new clothes. Plus, we might have guests at home, like classmates or something. If a teacher takes a liking to your young master, he might come visit, so you’ll at least need to make a new set of clothes for yourself. I did a rough calculation—it’ll take at least ten taels of silver.”

Adam Spencer answered with a frown. In reality, he was just making things up very seriously. He wasn’t really sure—ten taels of silver for the students at the Academy might just be the price of a random banquet at the Tianxiang Restaurant. Just like that famous joke in Hexi: the farm women chatting in the fields always imagine the Eastern Palace consort making meat pies, the Western Palace consort peeling green onions—the meat pies as vast as the sea, the green onions as tall as mountains.

Yet even this obviously understated and incorrect answer far exceeded the little maid’s psychological limit. She frowned and looked at him seriously, suggesting, “That’s too expensive... Adam Spencer, let’s not go to Chang’an. You shouldn’t take the Academy exam, okay?”

“You ignorant thing.” Adam Spencer scolded, “If I get into the Academy, I’ll definitely become an official. By then, even if we spend ten taels of silver a month, I’ll easily earn seventy or eighty taels a month at the yamen. Besides, what’s wrong with Chang’an? There’s no shortage of cosmetics at Chen Jinji’s shop.”

The words “cosmetics” seemed to be the little maid’s weak spot. She pressed her lips tightly together, clearly caught in a fierce internal struggle. After a long time, she replied in a voice as soft as a mosquito, “But what about the years you’re studying at the Academy? My needlework isn’t that good, and people in Chang’an are picky. I might not be able to sell anything.”

“That is a problem. I heard you can’t hunt around Chang’an—the forests all belong to the emperor... How much money do we have left?”

The master and servant exchanged a glance, then walked in perfect sync to the two large elm chests, opened them, and took out a tightly wrapped wooden box from the very bottom.

Inside the box was nothing but scattered bits of silver. The small silver pieces, about the size of a fingernail, clearly bore the marks of being cut. There was only one large silver ingot in the middle. It was obvious this was all saved up bit by bit over time, and the amount wasn’t much.

Looking at the scattered silver in the box, neither of them counted it. Lily Spencer said softly, “As usual, we count every five days. We just counted the night before last—seventy-six taels, three qian, and four fen.”

“Looks like we’ll have to find a way to earn more money after we get to Chang’an.” Adam Spencer said seriously.

“Mm, I’ll try to improve my needlework skills.” Lily Spencer replied with equal seriousness.

At night, Lily Spencer knelt on the kang, tidying up the bedding. Her thin knees moved quickly, her actions swift and deft. With a press of her small palm, she made a curved dip in the middle of the pillow—the exact shape Adam Spencer found most comfortable. Then she picked up her own bedding, jumped off the cold kang, and went to the two large elm chests in the corner to make her own bed.

The lamp went out. Adam Spencer placed the water bowl on the windowsill, slipped into bed by starlight, laid his hands on the quilt, let out a big yawn, then gave a deeply contented sigh and closed his eyes. After a while, he heard from the corner that familiar rustling sound he’d listened to for years.