The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 149 - 138: Dishonesty (Recommended by Yunqi with 95,000 votes)

Chapter 149: Chapter 138: Dishonesty (Recommended by Yunqi with 95,000 votes)

Zhou SiLang threatened Zhou WuLang, "If Mom doesn’t mention it, you aren’t allowed to bring it up, or else watch out, I’ll beat you up."

Zhou WuLang snorted and headed straight home to find Manbao after he got back. He wouldn’t tell Mom, but he could tell Manbao.

In the yard, Manbao was teaching everyone to read. By now, Datou and the others had already recognized many characters and could even do some simple arithmetic.

Manbao felt that Datou and the others seemed a bit smarter than before, and even smarter than the other kids in the village. Keke was right; reading and writing really could make people wiser.

Manbao was very pleased and called out to Fifth Brother as he saw him, "Fifth Brother, come and learn to read quickly. Datou even recognizes more characters than you now."

Zhou WuLang had a headache and hesitated whether to turn around and run. He hated studying and detested reading!

Zhou SiLang had already come in with the money and reported to Ms. Qian, turning in his public share in the process. Zhou WuLang glanced at it, then whispered a few words into Manbao’s ear.

Manbao instructed Zhou LiuLang and the others, "First write down the characters I taught you ten times. I’ll come back later to ask you about them."

After that, she and Zhou WuLang hurried into the room.

Ms. Qian was counting money when she saw Manbao come in and waved her over, "Come, help Mom count the money, and let’s check if your Fourth Brother’s accounts are correct."

Zhou SiLang felt guilty at the sight of Manbao, especially after Zhou WuLang followed in, which made him even more uneasy.

Ms. Qian glanced at him and pulled Manbao over to count the money.

Manbao counted quickly, making a bundle of one hundred wen at a time, and soon had the total counted out.

There were eighteen bundles, and the scattered change was thirty-eight wen.

Ms. Qian had already braced herself when she poured the money out of her purse, but she was still slightly shocked now, murmuring after a moment of thought, "Jiang makes so much money?"

Zhou SiLang spoke softly, "Mom, next time we definitely won’t be able to sell this much, so I think taking twenty jin next time will be about right."

This time, he and Five each carried a basket, with each basket weighing about twenty jin.

The prices today were very high, all between forty-five and forty-eight wen each.

It was precisely because the unit price was not fixed that even Zhou SiLang, the broker, couldn’t calculate exactly how much money they had made, which gave him the courage to embezzle some of it.

Yet Manbao raised her head, looked at him, and asked, "Fourth Brother, at what price did you sell the ginger? Tell me, and I’ll calculate if it’s correct."

Zhou SiLang murmured, "How can I remember that? One household wanted a jin; if they didn’t haggle too much, it would be more expensive, and another wanted three liang; if they haggled hard, it would be cheaper. I can’t recall all that."

Manbao glanced at him and hummed in her heart before turning to Ms. Qian, "Mom, this money is not only Fourth Brother’s; there’s also my share, and that of Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother. We should divide it among us."

Ms. Qian nodded and said, "Alright then, follow the rules—first turn in sixty percent for the public, then divide the rest among yourselves. Use Four’s share to repay debts."

Zhou SiLang hadn’t expected things to end up like this, which was different from how he had brought the money home initially.

He felt it was wrong and began counting on his fingers, sweating profusely as he said, "Mom, this won’t work. If I calculate what’s due for the public contribution, I’ll be left with hardly any money. How long will it take for me to repay the debt? Initially, you and Dad didn’t say this. You said the harvest from the land I cleared would be mine."

The harvest was meant to be divided among them because they had helped: Manbao provided the seeds, while Five, Six, and Datou helped clear the land. They all worked together during the planting, weeding, and fertilizing, so he had no objections to them sharing the harvest, but to give another portion to the household...

Zhou SiLang wasn’t happy about it.

Ms. Qian glanced at him and said, "You don’t have to contribute to the public fund. The land was cleared by all of you, but in two months, your individual fields will be assigned, and whatever is grown there and harvested is communal by default, so rules must be followed."

Zhou SiLang had no objections.

Ms. Qian asked Zhou SiLang, "How do you want to divide this money?"

Manbao raised her little hand and said, "We already discussed how to divide it before planting the ginger: since I provided the seeds, Fourth Brother and I will take an equal share, two and a half portions each, Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother will each take one portion, and two portions will be divided equally between Datou, Daya, Second Son, and Erya. Another portion will be shared by those who made the sale."

Ms. Qian turned to Zhou SiLang with a frown—wasn’t Four’s share too little?

But Zhou SiLang didn’t think the distribution was bad; it was what they had agreed on before they started to cultivate the barren land, and it was because of this commitment that Five and the others had worked so hard during the land-clearing.

Ms. Qian pushed the money to Manbao, saying, "Then you divide it. Let’s see how much your Fourth Brother can get."

Manbao calculated for a moment and said, "Five hundred and fifty-one wen."

Ms. Qian said, "Count it out."

Manbao obediently counted it out, and only then did Ms. Qian confiscate all of Zhou SiLang’s money, saying, "This will count as your repayment to the household."

Manbao happily collected the remaining money, planning to go out and divide it with everyone, but then Ms. Qian turned to them and said, "When people in the household make money, they must turn in sixty percent to the public. Your Fourth Brother is excused because your father and I gave our word in advance, and he also has debts to repay. But that doesn’t apply to you."

Manbao was stunned, and so was the delighted Zhou WuLang; they both stared at Ms. Qian blankly, inexplicably feeling a little heartbroken.

Zhou SiLang couldn’t help but laugh heartily, feeling very happy.

Both Zhou WuLang and Manbao glared at him, and Zhou SiLang covered his mouth, but still couldn’t help giggling.

Ms. Qian looked helplessly at her foolish son. For accounting, they relied on Manbao; for selling goods, they depended on Five and Six. What good did it do him to offend others like this?

But she said nothing.

Reluctantly, Manbao calculated the sixty percent that was due and handed it to Ms. Qian, then took the greatly diminished pot of money and left.

Zhou WuLang followed behind her.

The children in the yard had long since become distracted, knowing the little sister had gone in to count money—could this mean they were about to get their share?

Manbao walked into the yard, waved her hand grandly, and announced, "Let’s go, time to divide the money."

The kids cheered and crowded around her, heading toward the shed beside the woodshed, which was now Zhou WuLang’s living quarters; it was where they usually divided money.

With Manbao present, the money was quickly distributed according to the previously agreed shares.

After dividing the money, Manbao collected what was due to her and then turned to Zhou SiLang, who was watching the excitement from the side.

Zhou WuLang also looked at Fourth Brother.

Zhou SiLang couldn’t help but take a step back and asked, "What, why are you looking at me like that?"

Manbao snorted and pointed at him, "You’re not honest. For merchants, integrity comes first. If you’re dishonest like this, who would want to do business with you or partner with you in the future?"

Zhou SiLang knew Zhou WuLang had told Manbao about the situation, and he rolled his eyes, "I didn’t intend to deceive you guys."

He lowered his voice, "I was going to share the money with you guys. I just anticipated that Mom would make us contribute to the public fund, so I kept some of it. Otherwise, would I have let Five see me?"