The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 137 - 126: Doing Homework Together (Extra update for achieving 80000 votes on Yunqi)

Chapter 137: Chapter 126: Doing Homework Together (Extra update for achieving 80000 votes on Yunqi)

It was impossible to get Ms.Qian to give her any money, so in the end it was Manbao who reluctantly took out the money she had made from selling sugar during the Lantern Festival and gave fifty copper coins to Zhou ErLang, saying, "Second Brother, go buy a chicken to eat."

It was only after receiving the money that Zhou ErLang said, "Chicken is too expensive. Let’s buy pork instead. With this amount, we can buy it five times."

Manbao was unhappy, "Pork isn’t as tasty as chicken, and one jin won’t be enough."

Zhou ErLang thought his little sister was being too picky, but since she was the one providing the money, he could not win the argument and could only say, "Alright, then. I’ll go to Zhou Hu’s place and pick out a plumper chicken."

Only then was Manbao satisfied.

When Zhou Hu saw that Manbao’s family came to buy a chicken again, he couldn’t help asking, "You all raise quite a few chickens at home. Why do you keep buying them?"

"We’ve killed almost all the chickens that don’t lay eggs at home. How could we bear to kill those that are laying eggs?"

Since it was the New Year, it was natural that they wouldn’t just eat the meat bought from outside; they had also slaughtered quite a few of their own chickens over the past two months.

Zhou Hu couldn’t help saying, "Your family really spoils Manbao. Last year alone, Manbao came and bought three chickens from us."

Of course, Zhou ErLang couldn’t let his youngest sister have such a reputation, and immediately said, "My sister is stubborn. She occasionally heard a doctor in the city mention that our mother needs to eat more meat for her health, so for the past six months, whenever my mother has trouble breathing, she insists on eating meat."

Zhou Hu was surprised and, after thinking it over, said, "Auntie’s complexion does look better than before. I even saw her heading to the fields just now."

"Exactly, my father is willing to spend so much money on meat because it really does have an effect. Otherwise, we would spend more money on medicine. If eating meat works, of course it’s better to eat meat."

Zhou Hu then quickly caught a chicken for him and said with a smile, "Okay, but I don’t have any more chickens that don’t lay eggs. Next time you come, I won’t have any to sell to you."

Zhou ErLang expressed his understanding and took the chicken home with him.

At dinner that evening, Old Zhou announced, "Tonight we have meat; consider this our New Year’s commencement meal. Tomorrow, everyone is going to work."

Seeing Manbao looking at him with bright, shining eyes, Old Zhou said, "Manbao, you go to school. Datou and Daya, go up the mountain. Second Son and Erya, stay home to look after your younger brothers and sisters and handle some housework. Remember to pick up your little aunt from school as well."

Everyone responded in unison and, once Old Zhou gave Ms.Qian a piece of meat with his chopsticks, everyone quickly started eating.

The next day, the entire Zhou Family was in action: some were digging holes, others went up the mountain to shovel mud, and some swept up fallen leaves. When there weren’t enough leaves, Zhou Wu, along with Sixth and his nephews and nieces, brazenly stripped the leaves right off the trees, resembling a swarm of locusts passing through.

The leaves and soil were carried back separately, and Junior Ms.Qian, along with Zhou Xi and the two sister-in-laws, chopped up the leaves and dry grass and threw them to one side, soon to be directly mixed into the soil and manure to ferment into fertilizer.

The Zhou family’s activity attracted a lot of attention from the village, with many people coming over to watch the excitement. Most were just onlookers, but some lent a hand and then asked Old Zhou, "What are you doing?"

When Manbao returned from school, she saw many people in the village digging holes. She ran past them, and everyone paused to greet her, "Manbao, you’re done with school?"

"Ah, Manbao, study hard."

"Manbao is getting smarter and smarter."

Pleased with all the praise she received along the way, Manbao rushed home, put down her schoolbag, and ran outside. Second Son followed her, asking, "Little aunt, where are you going?"

"I’m going to find Bai Shanbao!"

Bai Shanbao hadn’t returned home yet; he was squatting on the ground playing with insects with a few classmates when Manbao tapped him and he looked up to ask, "What’s up?"

Manbao grabbed his hand, excitedly said, "Come with me."

Manbao took him all over the village, and whenever she saw someone digging a hole, she would approach. Bai Shanbao ran the whole circuit and still didn’t understand what she wanted, utterly confused he asked, "What are we doing?"

"Didn’t you hear it?"

Bai Shanbao listened intently but didn’t hear anything special, so he shook his head honestly, "Hear what?"

"The compliments about me," Manbao said. "Look, so many people are praising me."

Bai Shanbao was quite annoyed and retorted with an exasperated breath, "You dragged me out here just for this? I had already made plans with my classmates to go dig up earthworms."

"Aren’t you happy to hear so many people praising me?" she asked.

"It wasn’t me they were praising, so why should I be happy?" he replied.

Manbao thought about it and realized he was right, but she was still defiant, "I wanted you to experience what it’s like to be praised by so many people."

Bai Shanbao then snorted, "What’s the big deal? I get praised all the time too."

With that, he took her to Bai Erlang’s house—not his own, but Bai Erlang’s. He knocked on the door, and when the servant opened it, he smiled, and the gatekeeper praised him, "The young master is here, please come in. You’re looking very sharp today; did Mr. Zhuang compliment you again?"

Bai Shanbao nodded, grinning, "I haven’t finished my homework, so I came to ask Second Cousin for help."

The servant immediately showed him the way, and along the path, Bai Shanbao ran into countless other servants, each offering him compliments when they saw him.

It continued until he met Mrs.Bai and Bai Shanbao’s mother-in-law, who both praised him upon seeing him. Of course, they praised Manbao too, but they had more compliments for Bai Shanbao.

Manbao: ...

Manbao was still somewhat dazed as Bai Shanbao led her out, and he said, "If I want to hear people praising me, I just go to Bai Er’s place."

Manbao thought he was really impressive and then asked with curiosity, "Why do they praise you?"

"Because I’m smarter than Bai Er. Every time we do homework together, I finish long before he even starts, so he always gets beaten by uncle. Hahahaha... Whenever he picks on me at school, I just take my homework to his house to do it. Hahahaha..."

Manbao thought his idea was brilliant.

Bai Shanbao asked her, "Why do the villagers praise you?"

Manbao had already figured it out and said, "It must be because of the manure. I see they’re all digging holes."

Bai Shanbao asked curiously, "Has your manure fermented yet?"

"My dad says it’s almost ready. When it’s done, I’ll give you a basketful. Do you want to try my manure on your ginger?"

Bai Shanbao hesitated before replying, "Okay, I haven’t been watering it much lately because it’s been growing really fast. It’s already longer than my fingers now."

Manbao boasted, "Mine is as long as my palm, longer than yours."

Having made a deal, Bai Shanbao then invited Manbao, "After dinner, come to my house to do homework."

Manbao spun her eyes and suggested, "Let’s go do homework with Bai Eryi together."

Bai Shanbao asked her, "Did Bai Er bully you?"

"No, I just want to see how he does his homework."

Bai Shanbao couldn’t help but chuckle and assured her, "Sure, come and find me, and I’ll take you there."

Poor Bai Erlang, who knew nothing and was running wild with his friends in the grass: ...