The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 151 - 140: Charcoal (Bonus - for 95000 votes recommended by Yun Qi)

Chapter 151: Chapter 140: Charcoal (Bonus Chapter for 95000 votes recommended by Yun Qi)

Daya and Erya busied themselves, starting a fire in the kitchen to burn some sticks, while Manbao squatted on the ground, delving into the system to study the pens she had searched for.

She couldn’t chat with the sellers in the marketplace, but the product pages were very detailed. If she only looked at these pen barrels, she wouldn’t have thought to make them from bamboo, but Keke had mentioned it, hadn’t she? Now, with another look at these pen barrels, she roughly knew how to make them.

The one thing the Zhou Family wasn’t short of was bamboo. They had strips of it, freshly cut, as well as some that had been dried, everything one could need.

Manbao, carrying Datou and Second Son, rushed into the firewood shed to find suitable bamboo. In no time, they had chopped several sections.

When Junior Ms. Qian and the others returned from the vegetable garden, the kids were all covered in soot—on their hands, faces, and bodies. Junior Ms. Qian had just called Manbao’s name when the children all looked up in unison towards the doorway.

Then, the four middle-aged women in the house fell silent for a moment before three of them charged at them, sticks in hand, ready to swat.

Zhou Xi, left behind: ...

Manbao was terrified. Seeing her sister-in-law reach to spank her, she immediately dropped her things and leapt up, turning to flee into the house.

Soon, Ms. Qian’s scolding resounded from inside the house, followed by Manbao’s wailing.

After beating the children, Junior Ms. Qian and the two sisters-in-law still had to boil water for their baths.

With so many children, of course, it wasn’t possible to bathe them one by one. Since they had already been washed once, they simply bathed the boys in one group and the girls in another, wiped their faces and limbs clean, and then changed their clothes.

There weren’t many clothes in the house, and it was only because these were children that there were an extra two sets. The clothes would wear out faster the more they were washed, so Junior Ms. Qian’s face was sour.

Feeling guilty, Manbao quietly told her sister-in-law that they had been making pens, not just fooling around. Junior Ms. Qian’s expression lightened a bit before she said, "Next time something like this happens wait for your brothers to come back and let them handle it. You really are brave, handling the knives yourselves. What if you had cut your hands?"

After speaking to Manbao, Junior Ms. Qian went to find Zhou Si, Zhou Wu, and Zhou Liu to scold them, saying, "When the adults are not home and mother is unwell, you three should have kept an eye on the children instead of letting them play with knives..."

Zhou Si, who had been happily gripping his five coins and lying on the bed: ...

Zhou Wu, too tired and already snuggling with his quilt to sleep, looked bewilderedly at his sister-in-law, while Zhou Liu hadn’t even been home at the time, having gone out to play with his friends.

Zhou Dalang and the others had collected the remaining money from the children after dinner and went out to cut bamboo. When they returned and heard the kids had not only handled knives but also made fire at home, they immediately said "serves them right."

But, Erlang still helped them make what they called charcoal pens. He was always dexterous, even more skilled than the female members of the family.

He also burned many spare charcoal sticks for them. Because the children had been playing with charcoal sticks and gotten dirty, he even carved a slightly larger hollow bamboo to cover the tips of the charcoal pens. They could just slide it open when needed, much like using a stopper.

He put the remaining charcoal sticks in a cloth bag and handed them to Manbao before asking, "What do you need these for? Have you run out of pen and ink?"

"This isn’t for me. It’s for Fifth Brother." Manbao took out a sheet of white paper to write on and found that although the writing was still a bit large, it was much better than before.

Erlang also thought that the large writing was a waste of paper, so he carefully sharpened the charcoal stick a bit more. By tilting it slightly, the writing could be made much smaller.

Manbao was delighted and ran to find Zhou Wu to teach him how to keep accounts.

Zhou Si, who had already been on the bed ready to fall asleep, couldn’t help but get up when he heard this. He asked, "Are you going to keep track of my accounts?"

"Yes," Manbao said matter-of-factly, "Not only your accounts, but we’ll also record all expenses for Fifth Brother and Big Sister. When they return, they’re supposed to share the money with us."

"Oh." Zhou Si lay back down. He remembered that Big Sister’s ginger crop had been Manbao’s investment and that Five and the others had also contributed effort, seeming to recall an agreement about sharing the profits.

Feeling fairly treated, he lay back down contentedly and almost drifted off to sleep again but was pulled up by Manbao, who said, "Fourth Brother, you should listen too. If Fifth Brother doesn’t know how to write some words, you can teach him."

Zhou Si was exasperated, "If Fifth Brother can’t write, I certainly can’t either."

Zhou Wu laughed heartily and told Manbao, "Don’t push Fourth Brother too hard. He never revisits his lessons after returning to the room; he just lays down and sleeps. He doesn’t know as many characters as I do."

Manbao gave Zhou Si a disdainful look before continuing to teach Zhou Wu, even writing a sample entry for reference, instructing him to write like that the next day.

Zhou Wu assured there was no problem—he knew how to write the numbers, as well as the characters for "jin" (斤) and "wen" (文). He thought everything would be fine.

Manbao then hurried back to her room, took out four large sheets of paper from a box, folded them into four sections, cut them with a knife, and took them to Junior Ms. Qian for a few stitches, and thus a small account book was born.

Manbao handed the account book to Zhou Wu. Just then, Zhou Xi came looking for them, wanting them to help carry a basket of ginger to sell the next day. Even if they couldn’t retail it, selling it cheaply to the grocery store would be good.

Manbao, however, encouraged Zhou Xi, "Big Sister, why don’t you go with them? There isn’t much farm work at home anyway, and going out could broaden your horizons."

Zhou Xi hesitated, "Would that be okay?"

"What’s wrong with that? You’ll have Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother looking out for you."

Zhou Si perked up at that idea, climbing out of bed to cheer her on, "Big Sister, you should come with us. You don’t know, some households are very particular. When we knock on their doors, they’re reluctant to open up if they see we’re just half-grown lads. It’s different for you. You’re a woman, and when you knock, people will be less suspicious."

"Yes, yes," Manbao chimed in, enticing her, "Big Sister, you could sell it to the grocery store for thirty-five wen per jin, but you can get forty-seven wen by selling it individually—that’s twelve more wen per jin."

Sure enough, the thought of the extra money tugged at Zhou Xi’s heartstrings. "Alright, I’ll go with you guys tomorrow."

Manbao grinned broadly, and told Zhou Wu, "Fifth Brother, make sure to keep a separate account for Big Sister."

Zhou Xi was confused, "What account?"

"The account for selling ginger. By writing it down, when we compare it later, we’ll know if the money is correct and exactly how much profit we have."

Zhou Xi smiled, "My little sister knows so much. Since I can’t read, let Fifth Brother keep the records then."

Manbao said, "Big Sister, why don’t you learn to read with us? I’ll teach you how to write your own name."

"At my age, I should still learn to read?"

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