The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 150 - 139: Admitting Mistakes

Chapter 150: Chapter 139: Admitting Mistakes

Manbao pursed her lips and stretched out her hand, "Hand it over!"

Zhou Silang was reluctant, Zhou Wulang rushed over to block the door, and Zhou Liulang, Datou, and Daya glared fiercely at Zhou Silang.

He felt somewhat aggrieved; everyone had money in their hands, and he was the only one without any, even unable to buy a bun when visiting the county town—only able to look on hungrily.

Zhou Silang’s eyes reddened with distress; he wiped his eyes and fished out the copper coins from his pocket, slapping them into Manbao’s hand. There were so many that the coins clinked and scattered onto the floor. He hadn’t emptied his pocket completely and had to reach in three times before getting them all out.

Datou, Daya, Second Son, and Erya immediately knelt down to pick them up.

Zhou Silang crouched on the ground, wiping away tears, overcome with misery.

Manbao squatted opposite him, "Silang, if you do something wrong, you must be punished. We agreed on this earlier; you can’t break your word."

Zhou Silang pursed his lips and didn’t speak, feeling a bit guilty, but... apologizing seemed so humiliating.

He fiddled with the soil on the ground and remained silent.

Manbao continued to prattle on, "How could you keep the money for yourself? Whenever Wulang goes to the county town, he brings back exactly how much money he should, and you still owe a debt to our family. Doesn’t that make you anxious? Dad saved his private money for many years and it isn’t as much as you’ve just retained..."

Zhou Silang felt less uncomfortable amid her chatter, and Datou and the others placed the gathered coins on the bed to show Manbao.

And true, there was quite a lot. Daya whispered to Manbao, "There are eighty-six copper coins."

Manbao glanced at her guilt-ridden brother, put all the money into a cloth bag, and then made him take it back to their mother.

Zhou Silang dawdled, "You could take it over. What would I say if I did?"

"If you’re embarrassed, just say you forgot. As long as Mom knows in her heart, it’s fine."

Zhou Silang: ...

He was reluctant to go, feeling far too embarrassed, too humiliated.

Manbao pushed the money into his hand and then led him by the hand towards the legitimate wife’s quarters.

Ms. Qian’s cash box was still not put away, seemingly waiting for them.

Zhou Silang was incredibly nervous, hanging his head low, unwilling to lift it. He shuffled up to his mother’s side and sheepishly handed over the money bag, face flushed, "Mom, this is what I forgot earlier."

Ms. Qian’s mouth twitched slightly as she received the money bag, counted it, and her smile faded a bit. She had suspected her son might keep some money for himself, but she hadn’t expected him to keep so much.

She took a string and threaded each copper coin onto it, neither speaking nor letting the two kids leave; even Manbao couldn’t help but sweat from her forehead.

Let alone Zhou Silang, his entire body sweated profusely, with fine beads of sweat quickly soaking his hair. Compared to his father, he actually feared his mother more.

Ms. Qian strung the eighty-six coins together with the previous loose change to make one hundred coins, tied a knot, and placed it in the box. Then, she counted out ten coins from the remaining loose change, thought for a moment, put back five of them, and handed five coins to Zhou Silang, "You need to go into town every day to sell goods; it’s not good to be without any money on you. Your sister-in-law has to go to the school to cook now and can’t prepare your food anymore. Five has his own money, so there’s no need to worry about him. You should keep a few coins on you. If you get hungry, you can buy a bun in the county town."

Zhou Silang’s eyes lit up, and he joyfully accepted the money, grinning again, "Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll sell all the ginger in my field and even get a good price for it."

Ms. Qian nodded with a smile, "Alright, go on then. Once you’ve paid off the family debt, there will be enough money for you to get married. You can keep the rest but you can’t be so careless with money after you’ve started your own family."

Zhou Silang eagerly agreed, made faces at Manbao, and then left.

Manbao wiped the sweat from her forehead and heaved a long sigh of relief as she leaned beside her mother, watching her.

Ms. Qian fondly touched her small face and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Mom, is this what they call ’a carrot and a stick’?"

Ms. Qian was momentarily stunned and then chuckled as she stroked her head, nodding, "Yes, your Silang is thick-skinned; he neither remembers what he’s eaten nor cares about his beatings. It seems he does remember food a bit more, but we can’t spoil him too much."

Ms. Qian, touching her daughter’s head, felt a tinge of worry. Manbao was becoming smarter and smarter, especially since she started studying, growing more intelligent by the day. Being clever was a good thing, but it also had its downsides.

There were some lessons she had learned through countless setbacks, not understanding them until she was much older. Manbao, at her young age, already understood these things. It would help her to avoid some detours in life, but it also meant that she would face even more challenging problems in the future.

"Mom, let’s make a little notebook for Silang and Wulang to use for accounting," Manbao suggested.

Ms. Qian laughed, "They won’t know how to keep records."

"They will, they will. Although Wulang doesn’t know many characters, he can write numbers. They just need to record the weight sold and the total money received—that’s what a ledger is. When they come back, we’ll check it and know if any money is missing," Manbao insisted.

Ms. Qian pondered, "That’s not a bad idea, but writing materials are expensive, and it’s not convenient for them to carry it around everywhere."

Manbao also thought deeply before her eyes suddenly lit up. She dashed out of the room. The remaining money of Datou and the others had just been taken by their parents, which they had intended to save for snacks. They had given the larger sums to their little aunt for safekeeping, but hadn’t expected that even the small change wouldn’t be spared and was directly confiscated.

So now, they were channeling their frustration into energy, using sticks to practice writing fiercely on the ground.

Manbao ran up just in time to see Daya using a fire poker to write in the ground, leaving slightly black letters. She had already noticed that Daya and Erya liked writing with burnt sticks, as they felt the letters came out clearer, and recently everyone had adopted this method for writing.

Manbao liked the idea and took a piece of paper, using Daya’s fire poker to write on it. The letters were black, but too large, ruining the paper.

She felt a bit regretful, "If only the fire poker was smaller, just the size of a brush tip."

Daya and Erya approached and asked, "What are you up to, little aunt?"

Manbao shared her plan with them, "When it’s time, we can give Wulang a piece of charcoal to directly record transactions on paper."

"That’s easy, just burn a thinner stick, or split the big one. But it’s too dirty to handle," Erya said with some disdain. "If Fifth Uncle carries charcoal in his clothes, I don’t want to wash them."

Daya agreed, "Neither do I."

Manbao proposed, "What about wrapping it in something?"

"Let’s use cloth scraps," suggested Daya, whispering. "I know my mom has some in her chest. We could take a small piece."

Erya thought this was a good idea, and Manbao found it workable too.

Keke couldn’t resist adding, "Host, you could try using bamboo."

Manbao blinked, "Bamboo?"

Keke opened the marketplace for her, showing her a variety of pens, "Although in the future, e-books are very popular, and even signing documents can be done electronically, handwriting remains an essential tradition for training children’s abilities. Therefore, the marketplace has all sorts of beautiful pens. Of course, I don’t suggest the host buy and use them openly, but you can take them as a reference."

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