The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 141 - 130: Touching Ginger

Chapter 141: Chapter 130: Touching Ginger

Mr. Zhuang noticed that Manbao had recently been working especially hard, almost as if she had eaten a big chicken leg, diligently reading every day. Accordingly, she also asked a lot of questions.

It wasn’t that Manbao used to be any less determined, but she was still a child after all. Even though she carefully listened to the lessons, she would still play outside as soon as class ended. If it weren’t for his providing her and Bai Shanbao with a small stove at noon, she probably wouldn’t bother to read any extracurricular books.

But lately, even if he didn’t call her out specifically to use the small stove, she would happily follow behind him.

Bai Shanbao also put in a lot more effort, saying that he absolutely couldn’t let Manbao surpass him.

When Manbao heard Bai Shanbao say that, she was even more excited. Indeed, how could she forget? She had to defeat this person who dared to be as smart as she was.

Keke had said that reading could make a person wise, and intelligence could grow not only with age but also with reading.

Waiting to grow up was too slow, and Bai Shanbao was older than her. As she grew older, he would always be larger than her, but if she read more books than him and knew more than him, then wouldn’t she be smarter than him?

Hmph, Keke clearly said she was the smartest person within a hundred miles. Why should she not be just because he arrived?

Manbao’s fighting spirit was high.

Watching the two children striving to outdo each other, Mr. Zhuang touched his beard contentedly.

But the classmates who studied with them didn’t feel too good; the difference was too much. At first, the older students in the class could dominate the two with their age and years of schooling, but they quickly found themselves overtaken.

But children around ten years old are very open-minded about it. If they are overtaken, then so be it. Anyway, they didn’t study for the sake of becoming officials; once they turned fourteen, they would go out to find work and wouldn’t play with these two little rascals anymore.

The other students could think so laissez-faire, but not Bai Erlang.

Ever since the two of them started working hard, he had been living in deep distress. His father had always been strict but also doting, yet now he seemed displeased with him at every turn, and even his grandmother and mother sometimes couldn’t help sighing as they looked at him.

Bai Erlang was near madness. He had several fights in school with Bai Shanbao and Manbao. At first, of course, he had the upper hand; although it was two against one, his age overpowered them.

But the second time they fought, it turned out to be a draw. Despite taking quite a few hits, he insisted it was a draw.

By the third time, he could no longer beat them. Even so, he still looked for them to fight because other than physically attacking them, he had no other way to strike at them.

Mr. Zhuang, seeing this, always felt his disciple was a bit foolish. But considering his progress, he decided to turn a blind eye, pretending he knew nothing. After all, neither side was suffering much, right?

Because today Bai Erlang had thrown worms at them, Manbao made plans with Bai Shanbao to go to Bai Erlang’s house to do homework.

Bai Erlang seemed aware of this and immediately ran out of the classroom after school, getting home first, and instructed the gatekeeper, "Close the door, don’t let Bai Shan and Zhou Man in!"

The gatekeeper said, "Second Young Master, the Eldest Young Master has come home, and the master and Eldest Young Master are currently in the main hall."

Bai Erlang’s eyes lit up. Carrying his Small book box, he rushed to the main hall, "My elder brother is back, don’t let any outsiders in, understand?"

The gatekeeper’s eyes crinkled with joy, "Rest assured, Second Young Master, the master is in a good mood today, he certainly won’t punish you."

Bai Erlang had already run off without a trace.

Manbao and the others, carrying their Small book boxes, happily followed behind, running towards the house. The gatekeeper smiled even more brilliantly upon seeing them, bending slightly as he spoke to them, "Young Master Shan, Young Lady Zhou, our Eldest Young Master has returned today. I’m afraid the Second Young Master might not have time for homework now."

Manbao felt a twinge of regret.

Bai Shanbao also regretted it, but if someone else didn’t want to do homework, you couldn’t force them, right?

So he turned around and invited Manbao, "Shall we write at my house?"

Manbao shook her head, "If he’s not writing, I’ll write after dinner. I need to check on my ginger and yams first."

Bai Shanbao’s eyes brightened, "I’ll go with you then, to see whether my ginger has grown better than yours."

"Alright."

Bai Shanbao first took his book box home to the gatekeeper before heading back to the Zhou Family’s house with Manbao.

Now that early autumn had arrived, the ginger had grown quite tall. The ones Manbao planted in the vegetable garden were flourishing the most. Initially, she only planted a few pieces but now had a large patch thanks to her generous use of fertilizer, which spawned many more.

But Bai Shanbao insisted, "Yours isn’t as good as mine. Mine are longer."

"Mine are thicker," Manbao said. "And surely my ginger pieces have multiplied more than yours."

Bai Shanbao retorted, "Wait until I separate mine. They’ll grow to fill a whole flower bed. By then, I’ll have even more than you."

Manbao then led him to the field to show him her whole patch of ginger, boasting, "Then you’ll still not have as much as me."

Bai Shanbao, "... " He felt he was missing a plot of land.

Manbao’s patch was situated at the foot of a mountain, where the vicinity was mostly unclaimed wasteland, with cultivated fields a little further away. At the moment, the land was planted with melons and beans, and the fields with rice. The bean leaves had started to yellow and were almost ready to harvest. Farmers were coming to check on their crops, and seeing Manbao and her company by the field, someone chuckled and asked, "Manbao, came to check on your land again? How’s the ginger doing?"

Manbao proudly replied, "It’s great. Once my ginger is ready to harvest, big brother, come buy some from us."

Someone laughed, "It’s not the holiday season. What would we buy that for? We don’t have meat to stew it with."

Now everyone in the village knew that the Zhou Family had planted ginger in the wasteland. Initially, they took it as a joke, but now, seeing the lush green shoots of ginger in the field, nobody dared to mock anymore.

They actually managed to cultivate ginger.

They knew how expensive ginger could be because each family would buy some from the grocery store during the holidays, either to stew with meat or to brew ginger soup. The more refined households would even make tea with it.

All this ginger, no, two patches of it, as Zhou Xi also had more than two parcels of land planted with ginger.

Still, some were concerned for the Zhou Family, "You’ve got so much ginger, can you sell it all?"

Manbao was very optimistic, "If we can’t sell it, we’ll keep planting it. Once it turns into old ginger by winter, we can dig it out and dry it. We can then sell it in spring and summer, it’ll then be dried ginger, even more expensive."

Well, it seemed that either way, it was a fail-safe harvest.

Many envied the two patches of ginger, and some went to Old Zhou to discuss getting some seeds to plant. Old Zhou beamed with joy as he said, "This is the children’s business, and I can’t decide for them. Four has debts due to gambling; this is what he’s growing to pay them back, he’s really precious about it. I can’t even pinch a piece to stir-fry it without his consent, he won’t have it."

This was an unmistakable ’no.’

Some felt a bit displeased, and consequently, Zhou Si witnessed someone secretly digging up several pieces of ginger from the field twice. Fuming, he decided to have his three older brothers build a straw shed by the land where he could sleep and keep watch every day after dinner.

Those villagers tempted to stealthily nab a ginger or two: ...