The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 116 - 105: Retail

Chapter 116: Chapter 105: Retail

The idea of sharing the money was destined to be just that, an idea, because ever since she had returned to school after her break, the money that Zhou Wulang and the others had earned, she only had a countable share of it. After calculating the amount that needed to be contributed to the public fund, the remainder was to be split evenly between Third Sister-in-law, Zhou Wulang, and Zhou Liulang.

With Zhou Silang joining the partnership, the profit was now split four ways.

Of course, having added one more person, their earnings also grew more and more.

Not to say anything else, the daily sales of baked buns and steamed bread were substantial, and the daily return of wheat and rice gradually increased from half a sack to a full large sack.

Of course, they only shared the money, not the grain, which was instead converted into copper coins for distribution.

Every day, Manbao could take a hefty amount of money from Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother to keep for them, so she didn’t notice anything amiss at all.

Until one day, when she was feeling greedy again and hand in hand with Erya, went to Zhou Hu’s house at the edge of the village to buy a chicken, Keke suddenly said, "Host, you only have sixty wen left. After buying this chicken, you will only have enough money left to buy a few pieces of candy."

Manbao was stunned; only then did she sink her consciousness to inspect the several piles of money stored within the system, and that was when she saw that Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother had accumulated quite a sum, while her own money had become the smallest pile.

Manbao couldn’t believe it, "How can this be?"

"Why would you make money without doing any work?" Keke asked her, "Are you still buying the chicken?"

Manbao looked through the gaps in Zhou Hu’s fence at the chickens pecking at their feed and salivated, "Buy it."

She decided she would earn money on her days off too!

In the end, Manbao did buy a chicken from Zhou Hu’s house, and that night, the Zhou family enjoyed chicken meat. As usual, there were two large drumsticks in Manbao’s bowl. She said to Zhou Wulang, "Fifth Brother, you earn money but don’t share it with me."

Zhou Wulang replied matter-of-factly, "You’re going to school, aren’t you? Since you’re not selling soup and steamed bread with us, why should we share with you?"

Manbao sighed sadly and turned to her father, "Dad, I’m out of money."

Old Zhou continued eating, responding nonchalantly, and was pleased that her money had run out at last, finally having spent his little daughter’s savings.

Feeling his appetite improving, Old Zhou decided to eat an extra half bowl of rice tonight.

Manbao felt like she should have lost her appetite, but miraculously, she too felt quite hungry. She said to her father, "Dad, we’re going to town on our day off."

"What for?"

"To make money," Manbao declared, "Without earning money, there’s no meat to eat. I want goose meat."

Finally, Old Zhou looked up at his little daughter, "Chicken’s no longer enough to satisfy you?"

Manbao drooled, "Goose meat is delicious."

"That’s because the chef they hired made it delicious," Old Zhou said, "Not everyone else can make it that tasty."

"Then we’ll hire a chef too," declared Manbao, generous when it came to satisfying her appetite.

Ms. Qian handed her a chopstick of cabbage, "Eat up. When you earn the money, then you can talk about hiring a chef."

Manbao reiterated, "I’m going to town when we have a break."

But all the adults at home were busy; who had the time to take her?

Zhou Dalang and his wife partnered up with Zhou Erlang and his wife to run a stall, bringing home over three hundred wen of copper coins and a sack of grain each day; Zhou Wulang, Zhou Liulang, and Third Sister-in-law also partnered up to run a stall, earning slightly more money daily than Zhou Erlang and his group.

Combined, the two stalls could earn six hundred wen a day for the family, so no one wanted to waste time taking Manbao to town.

With a sigh, Manbao had no choice but to turn to Bai Shanbao, who now had a regular servant following him, Daji.

Daji, twenty years old and already a father of two, was steady and capable, well-regarded by Old Madam Bai. The family even provided a cart for Bai Shanbao, and although it was a donkey cart, he could now travel around the local area with ease.

Manbao invited Bai Shanbao to go to town with her.

Bai Shanbao had already arranged to go lotus pond digging with other classmates that day, so he wasn’t very keen on going to town, "What’s so interesting in town?"

Manbao thought hard and didn’t find the town to be more interesting than the village, but, "There are lots of things in town. It’s so cold and New Year’s is coming. Aren’t you going to buy something for your grandmother and mother?"

"My grandmother and mother don’t need anything."

"But you should still buy something. It’s your filial duty," said Manbao, somewhat envious of his grandmother and mother, "I also want to buy something for my mother."

Upon reflection, Bai Shanbao found her reasoning sound and agreed, "Alright, let’s go to town together then."

"That’s great! I’m also going to take my nieces and nephews with us. The more people we have, the less likely we’ll be bullied," Manbao said.

Bai Shanbao expressed no objection.

But Manbao turned to Datou and Daya to say something quite different, "Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother earn money without including us; we’ll also earn our own money and leave them out."

Datou then asked, "Little Aunt, what can we sell to make money?"

"Candy, of course. We don’t know how to cook, so we can only sell candy," Manbao said, "I’ve collected lots and lots of candy, this time we’ll sell more."

Datou and the others had no problem with this.

On the day off, everyone dressed neatly, with Datou and Daya each carrying a small basket on their back, filled with candies wrapped in well-cut oil paper, fifty pieces per pack, not too many or too few.

Daji drove the donkey cart to the village entrance where everyone clambered aboard. To keep the children from getting cold, the Bai Family provided a blanket for Bai Shanbao.

At that time, six kids squeezed and leaned against each other, sitting in the middle of the cart, surrounded by the blanket, cozy and warm.

Daji drove the cart with the six passengers to town, and after a refreshing nap, the sleepy children rubbed their eyes and disembarked. Manbao waved her hand excitedly, "Let’s head to the County Governmental Office first!"

Daji couldn’t help but glance at Manbao.

Bai Shanbao, still yawning, followed her and asked, "What are you going to do after selling the candy?"

"Buy stuff for mother."

It had been a while since the Fu Family gatekeeper had seen the children from the Zhou Family. The little girl from the back yard had come over a few times to ask, and upon seeing them now, she immediately sent someone to inform the back yard.

It wasn’t long before Daya, Second Miss’s attendant, came out and upon seeing Manbao, complained somewhat unhappily, "Your family really is something. You agreed to come every other day, then just sent a word that you had matters to attend to at home and just stopped coming. What issue could detain you for so long without a visit?"

Manbao explained, "The county magistrate required corvée labor, and my brother had to go. There was so much to do at home, and Fifth Brother couldn’t leave. We’re too young to come out, please forgive us sister."

She continued, "It’s difficult for us to come out now, that’s why I’ve brought a lot of candy this time. Would you like to buy some more?"

Manbao pitched, "New Year’s is almost here. Don’t you want to buy some extra to entertain your guests?"

The little servant girl hesitated for a moment, "How much did you bring?"

Datou and Daya immediately set down their baskets for her to see the candies neatly wrapped inside. Manbao also said, "If you buy more, I’m willing to sell a bag for five wen less. This bag has fifty pieces."

The little servant girl became tempted, knowing that her mistress certainly didn’t care about those five wen, but she did.

She said, "Wait here, I will go ask the mistress."