The male supporting character was actually myself.

……

"Mu Bai, I've arranged a leisurely yet important task for you. Do a good job, and I'll definitely reward you handsomely!"

"Thank you, Butler!" Lin Mubai felt smug as he watched everyone else being led away by their respective stewards, while he himself followed the butler to the backyard.

Having a high luck value really makes a difference; judging from this arrangement, I guess I'll be serving by Young Master Xue's side.

It would probably involve managing the documents of the government office or something similar?

After all, his position in the Xue family was in the study. Although he didn't have the opportunity to learn to read and write, it seemed safer for an illiterate person to manage those important official documents!

The more Lin Mubai followed the butler, carrying lanterns, into the secluded courtyard, the more certain he became of his idea.

If we could get access to the official secret documents, and once we were more familiar with them, we could easily tamper with them and kill Young Master Xue.

"From now on, you'll be in charge of looking after this place," the new butler's cold voice interrupted his daydream.

Lin Mubai glanced at it and saw that it was a small house that looked a bit like a warehouse, and it was in a very remote location.

The butler took out a key, unlocked the lock and chain, and led him inside.

Lin Mubai walked inside and found that the place looked like it had been newly renovated.

A sturdy gate was tightly closed and locked with a large iron padlock; no one knew what was inside.

Between the two doors was a narrow gap about two meters wide and six meters long. To the left of the entrance was a small door containing a simple bed, bedding, and a table; to the right was a small door leading to a latrine.

"This..." He was about to ask a question when he heard the sound of a door closing and the clanging of chains behind him.

"Crack!"

The heavy iron lock was fastened, and the new butler's cold voice came over, "You will live here and guard the main gate inside. You don't need to worry about anything else. Someone will bring you meals at mealtimes."

During the busy farming season, you'll be given tasks like basket weaving to pass the time.

"Mu Bai, this job is both important and easy. Just wait for your promotion and reward!"

As the butler's footsteps faded into the silence, Lin Mubai stared blankly at the outlines of objects in the simple room, bathed in the light streaming in from outside, feeling utterly helpless and on the verge of tears.

What the hell kind of job is this?!

There wasn't even an oil lamp inside; the only way to get outside was through a square opening about twenty centimeters wide.

It's probably used for delivering meals.

Lin Mubai tried his best to look out from the small hole, but his view was limited.

A white paper lantern hung under the eaves next to the house, casting a dim yellow glow.

The only source of light in the room comes from here.

He searched the room carefully, but the bed was a kang (heated brick bed), and without tools, he couldn't pry up those large blue bricks at all;

The bedding is a thick cotton quilt, but it's not really needed for now;

There wasn't even a chair. The table was very sturdy, and Lin Mubai spent a lot of effort but couldn't remove a single piece of wood.

Ancient furniture was constructed entirely with mortise and tenon joints, without using a single wooden nail, so even if it were disassembled, it would likely be of little use.

Needless to say, the outhouses only contained squat toilets and some toilet paper.

The two small doors were made of a single wooden plank, and the connection to the wall was a stone block. They were the kind of things that couldn't be removed without tools and were useless even if they were removed.

Finally, Lin Mubai pushed the tightly closed door in the dark, but it wouldn't budge.

Without lighting, nothing can be seen clearly.

After exploring for a while, he thought that if he had a wire, he might be able to pry open the lock and see what secrets were inside, just like in the movies.

But wire, it seems, is really hard to find these days...

"Ancient times are so annoying!" Lying on the bed, Lin Mubai helplessly comforted himself. Perhaps things would turn around soon, after all, his luck value was very high now, and his luck would be very good.

For several days in a row, apart from the servants who delivered meals with all sorts of unfamiliar faces, the ambitious Lin Mubai did not see any human figures in the hole in the wall.

"What the hell is the difference between this and imprisonment? It's worse than being in jail every day." He had just taken the food and was about to eat when he suddenly realized that the food was served in a glass bowl!

The servant who delivered the food had already gone far away. He picked up the bowl and looked at it carefully to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Holy crap! How is this possible?!" Lin Mubai was stunned for a while, his heart suddenly pounding rapidly.

Glass did exist in this era.

The Xue residence had exquisite glass lanterns and glass screens, but those were luxury items.

Lin Mubai had this much common sense. The ancient method of making glass was low-temperature lead-barium glass. Due to its chemical composition and firing temperature, it would shatter when exposed to hot water and could not be used as household utensils.

Only when soda-lime glass is fired can it be used as tableware rather than expensive decorative items.

Even in the Xue family mansion, I had never seen a single piece of glassware. Now, in the remote and impoverished Lugu County, a glass bowl has appeared!

Moreover, judging from the transparency and patterns, the craftsmanship is clearly very mature!

This shocked and deeply affected Lin Mubai, shattering his dream of making a fortune by firing glass in the future.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Substituting One Thing for Another

"Oh? Lin Mubai found the glass bowl?"

Jiang Chen, who was busy at the time, frowned slightly when he heard the little white cat's timely report. "It seems that he has stolen a lot of luck points. With his luck turning around and the protagonist's halo, he is about to start causing trouble again."

The little white cat nervously rubbed its paws together. "Host, what should we do? Lin Mubai will definitely become suspicious and try to sneak out after he finds the glass bowl!"

"It is currently the autumn harvest season; and the hydropower station I have planned is at a critical moment of construction."

This morning I received an urgent letter from Fang Anyi, saying that, to his knowledge, the governor is currently inspecting the autumn harvest in various places. This governor enjoys traveling incognito, and following his route by waterway, he may very well arrive here directly.

The pageboy, Han Hong, just reported that Mr. and Mrs. Lin are about to arrive in Lugu County...

Now Lin Mubai is causing trouble again, and the script hasn't been updated yet; all of this happening at once is bound to lead to disaster.

The little dumpling shook its head, feeling a strong sense of crisis. "What if, like in a classic grand finale, everyone comes together to unleash a royal flush?"

I'll do my best to keep a close eye on the protagonist for my host and prevent him from causing any trouble! If necessary, I'll throw him a gadget!

Just as the person and the system were talking in the room, a short, stout figure ran through the small side gate in the backyard.

"Oh no, oh no, that damned servant has made such a big mistake!" The kitchen steward hurriedly ran to a secluded courtyard, muttering to himself.

The young master specifically instructed that the courtyard, which was under complete martial law and where no one was allowed to enter except for those delivering meals, was occupied by the gatekeeper whose food had been misplaced!

It's all because the kitchen was too busy today.

Several of his servants made mistakes in their work; in their haste, they somehow ended up putting the dishes that were supposed to be delivered to the young master's room into the gatekeeper's tray instead!

I need to hurry up and collect the tableware before anyone notices.

That delicate glass bowl is no longer usable.

There are plenty of the same bowls and plates in the kitchen anyway, so just take a new one and put it in the cupboard for the young master's special dishes.

As long as the gatekeeper doesn't say anything and handles it quietly, no one will know about it!

The head of the kitchen was unaware that he could still keep his job.

Therefore, the steward took the initiative to clear the dishes and chopsticks, and ran over all the way.

"Time to clear the dishes, hurry up!"

He tapped on the closed window and urged.

Lin Mubai opened the wooden door, but instead of handing out bowls and chopsticks as usual, he glanced at the other man up and down and smiled, "Why is this gentleman in such a hurry?"

Anyway, I'm bored, let's chat.

"Everyone else is too busy to chat with you," the steward said urgently, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Hurry up and hand over the dishes; I have other things to do after I collect them."

"Oh?" He lazily handed over the rest, glanced at the luck value above the other person's head, and revealed a wicked smile. "I think the bowls used to serve the food today are quite exquisite and beautiful. Please be kind enough to reward me, sir!"

The steward's face fell. "Why all this gossip? Hurry up and hand over the bowl."

"I'm not giving it to you. If you're so capable, come in and take it."

After Lin Mubai finished speaking, he lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed), crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and started dozing off early in the morning.

The steward was in a great hurry but had no choice. Afraid that the guards in the compound would hear him, he stomped his foot in anger and left with the other bowls and chopsticks.

[Creating trouble intentionally has an effect; Luck value +5]

Hearing the system notification, Lin Mubai laughed out loud happily.

His gaze then fell on the glass bowl, and the smile on his face gradually faded. With glass of this exquisite quality now available, his plan to make money by firing glass was clearly doomed to fail.

From poetry to Tai Chi to glassware, what else in this world already exists?

Lin Mubai looked up at the wooden roof, eager to go out and investigate immediately.

But now I'm locked in here, how can I get out?

Just as he was figuring out how to sneak out, the little white cat hopped in, first looking at the glass bowl left on the table and then at Lin Mubai, who was lying on the bed in a daze.

It licked its paws and lay down on the edge of the table, idly playing with its tail and licking its fur. After a while, it found a comfortable position and took a nap.

"Boom!"

No one knows how much time had passed, but suddenly a deafening sound came from afar, startling Lin Mubai and waking the little white cat.

"Oh no! Host!" It stood up, looked back at Lin Mubai peeking out from the small hole, hesitated for a second, and then ran away.

Meanwhile, the short, stout steward was preoccupied with the glass bowl, and even the loud noise didn't distract him for long.

When he noticed the courtyard guard curiously climbing up a ladder to watch the commotion, he quietly slipped into the courtyard, took out a small piece of iron from his pocket, fiddled with the lock a few times, and with a "click," opened the large iron lock.

Alert, Lin Mubai quickly retreated behind the wooden door. When the person who opened the door tiptoed in to get the glass bowl, he knew his chance had come!

We don't know what's going on outside yet, but we have to take a gamble.

He relied on his high luck value, and the fact that the other party was sneaking around to open the door, so that even if something happened, as long as he didn't say anything or he didn't say anything either, there wouldn't be any problems.

Therefore, Lin Mubai quickly made up his mind and pounced on him. Taking advantage of the height difference, he used his arm to strangle the other person's neck, and before he could react, he grabbed his hair and slammed him directly onto the table.

His strikes were steady, accurate, and ruthless; he knocked the other person unconscious in just two or three blows.

Lin Mubai quickly closed the small opening from inside the house, dragged the short, fat man to the bed, covered him with a blanket, and pretended to be sleeping. Then he ran out quickly and used an iron chain to tightly wrap around the large iron lock.

After all, the fat man was skilled at picking locks, and he knew perfectly well that he couldn't.