The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 139 - 128: Punished (Additional - for 85 Votes from Yunqi)

Chapter 139: Chapter 128: Punished (Additional Chapter for 85 Votes from Yunqi)

After Junior Ms. Qian finished speaking, she reached out to grab Manbao’s clothes to pull her up. As soon as she touched her, her expression involuntarily changed. She immediately pulled Manbao up for a closer look and asked angrily, "Manbao, did you go play in the water?"

"No," Manbao immediately denied, crying out, "It wasn’t playing in the water, it was the water from the tree that dripped down!"

Junior Ms. Qian wasn’t foolish; she understood as soon as she heard it and was quite angry. She dragged Manbao back to the house to change clothes and, upon coming out, gave Datou and Daya a good beating.

Datou and Daya cried out loudly, not necessarily from much pain, but they wailed extremely loudly. Manbao was so frightened that she rushed out from the house and placed herself in front of them, her eyes brimming with tears, she begged, "Sister-in-law, I was the one who shook the tree, I won’t dare to do it again."

Ms. Qian came out of the house and said, "As punishment, the two of them will go stomp on grass in the field tomorrow. If they dare to let you, their young aunt, do this kind of thing again, it won’t just be stomping on grass; they will have to take over all the household chores."

Datou and Daya weren’t really afraid when they were being beaten; they were just crying loudly. But now, with their grandmother’s words, they truly cried.

Stomping on grass was hard work. Since the Zhou family had plenty of male labor, even their mother didn’t need to do such farm work, let alone them.

Stomping on grass involved picking up the weeds that were raked up from the fields and throwing them out or stamping them into the soil to fertilize it. Now, there were not only pond snails and stones in the field but also grasshoppers.

The two children really cried.

Manbao also wanted to cry, but under her mother’s stern gaze, she dared not utter a word.

Ms. Qian coolly said to Manbao, "Your health is frail. Since you were young, I’ve taught you not to play in water, not to get rained on, not to catch cold, and not to eat all sorts of messy things from outside. If you do it again next time, I will punish the person responsible for taking care of you."

Manbao bowed her head and wiped away tears.

Only then did Ms. Qian turn and go back inside the house.

The three children sat together, forlorn and dejected. Manbao took out two pieces of candy from her pocket and offered them to them, looking at them apologetically, "Datou, Daya, when I get out of school, I’ll go to the fields to help you."

Daya quickly said, "Little aunt, you mustn’t go. If you do, grandmother will punish us even more."

Datou nodded in agreement.

Manbao then felt somewhat sad, thinking that her heart felt a bit bitter, so she stuffed a piece of candy she didn’t particularly like into her own mouth.

Zhou Xi watched this and couldn’t help but ask Ms. Qian, "Mother, since I’ve been home, I’ve seen Manbao always has candy in her hand. Where did she get the candy from?"

Zhou Erlang would bring candy for Manbao every time he came back from the market, but Zhou Xi had noticed that Manbao’s candy wasn’t just those, as even she had been given several pieces before, and that candy was different from what Erlang bought.

Ms. Qian replied, "She’s getting it from Mr. Zhuang. According to what Five and the others say, Manbao bought a lot of candy, and then sold it again in the town."

On saying this, Ms. Qian couldn’t help but smile, "This child probably learned from watching Erlang do business. She naturally knows how to trade goods without being taught. She can’t keep money in her hand, but fortunately, she knows exactly how much to spend."

"You’re just letting her do this?"

"She’s young and loves to eat; there’s no need to constrain her in these matters. Moreover," Ms. Qian paused and her voice lowered a lot, "back when your uncle was involved in these things, we advised him plenty, only to cause him more trouble, and you see if it could be stopped?"

Zhou Xi then fell silent.

"This child is clever, we don’t have to restrict her on these matters."

When Manbao first took out candy from her pocket, the Zhou family was initially shocked, but later concluded that it must be candy given by Mr. Zhuang, and at the time Ms. Qian had sent gifts in return.

The return gifts were trifling, either having Junior Ms. Qian deliver a few radishes, a few vegetables, or helping clean up the yard a bit.

Mr. Zhuang, thinking it was a "bribe" from the Zhou family to let Manbao sit by the window and listen to the lessons, accepted it.

After that, Mr. Zhuang regularly received some small items from the Zhou family, and Manbao was always able to bring back one or two pieces of candy for the house.

It had been over two years, and the Zhou family had long become accustomed to it, so only Zhou Xi, who rarely returned to her maternal home, found it strange.

The candy did indeed comfort Datou and Daya’s hurt feelings somewhat, and the next day they were dug out of bed and taken to the field to stomp on grass.

Of course, Zhou Dalang was reluctant to really have the two children work all day in the fields, allowing them only a symbolic two quarters of an hour in the field until they were sufficiently tired and annoyed, and then he let them sit on the ridges.

After all, they were the eldest grandson and granddaughter, whom Old Zhou doted on greatly, turning a blind eye as if he had not seen anything.

Ms. Qian’s punishment proved to be very effective. Today, Manbao was exceedingly well-behaved. She didn’t play after school, nor did she go to Bai Shanbao’s house to read books. Instead, with the Small book box on her back, she obediently went home to read her own books and waited for Datou and the others to return.

As soon as they came home, she looked at them earnestly. To show comfort and to apologize, Manbao even gave them her favorite candy to eat.

Zhou Silang watched, the corner of his mouth twitching as he exposed the two, "They only went down to the field for two quarters of an hour, then they just sat on the ridges the whole time. Manbao, you’re so worried about them, why don’t you worry about me too?"

"Four, you’re already an adult," Manbao said. "Do you have the nerve to compare yourself to us kids?"

"I absolutely do. Why not? When I was their age, I was already working in the fields. Look at how easy they have it."

Daya was indignant, "Fourth Uncle, we helped clear that land for you."

Datou added, "The yams and ginger were planted with our help too."

Daya muttered, "If you keep talking like this, when it’s time to weed your fields, we definitely won’t help you."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Silang immediately reached into Manbao’s pocket, pulling out all the hidden candy to distribute among them, and said cheerfully, "Fourth Uncle was just joking with you. In fact, when Fourth Uncle was your age, he was just walking around the fields, not even quite up to your standard."

Manbao’s eyes widened.

Zhou Wulang exclaimed, "Shameless!"

Zhou Liulang added, "Despicable!"

Manbao turned and shouted to her father, "Dad, Four is stealing my candy!"

Zhou Silang took off running, with Old Zhou’s shoe closely following as it was thrown after him, and the courtyard was filled with Old Zhou’s scolding, "Four, are you still young, snatching your sister’s candy..."

Zhou Silang was quite annoyed and sat outside the main gate for a good while before going back in. He decided that next time there was weeding to be done in the field, he would definitely bring Manbao along; he couldn’t let her benefit without doing any work.

Both Zhou Si and Zhou Xi had planted ginger in their fields. Zhou Si knew well the prices of ginger and yams, so he paid them much attention. He didn’t have to worry about the farm work at home; he just needed to follow his father’s and brothers’ instructions to work.

But for that patch of wasteland, he was very diligent, practically checking it every day. He kept a mental note of which parts of the yams grew better and which pieces of ginger were less so compared to the ones next to them.

Even Zhou Xi, who was originally not very interested, was influenced to pay the land a couple more visits.

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