The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 164 - 153: Money, Money

Chapter 164: Chapter 153: Money, Money

Ms. Liu stood by the window watching the interaction between the two children, a smile involuntarily appearing on her face. She sighed and turned to leave.

Daji followed with his head bowed and hands hanging down.

Ms. Liu stopped in her tracks and, turning her head, said, "Let them be, there’s no need to stop them harshly. As for County Magistrate Fu, there’s no need to bother with him."

Daji complied.

Ms. Liu faced forward again and spoke softly, "What old acquaintance? Out of sight, out of mind. Besides, Qi’er has never had any dealings with him."

There was no need to take it too hard.

Despite saying this, both of the Bai family’s grandmother and grandson were distressed because County Magistrate Fu mentioned Bai Qi; Ms. Liu kept her sorrow in her heart, but Bai Shanbao couldn’t help crying at night.

He had long forgotten his father and didn’t have any memories of him, but he had grown up hearing about him and had been bullied for being fatherless, so even in his young heart, he knew it was good to have a father, a father who would protect him.

Hence, for three days in a row, his little pillow was wet.

Ms. Liu saw it all and did not intervene.

But Bai Shanbao soon had no room in his little head to dream about his father anymore; he decided to dig up his ginger.

His ginger was growing exceptionally well, even better than Manbao’s, plump and with one piece linked to another. He used a small hoe to loosen the soil and then pulled on the leaves to bring up a bunch at a time.

Bai Shanbao was delighted, cradling the ginger and going to exchange it for money with his grandmother.

Ms. Liu gave him a string of coins, and Bai Shanbao was overjoyed, taking the money to find Manbao, "Look, I’ve made a lot of money."

Manbao wasn’t envious at all; she ran back to her own room, took out her bamboo box from Keke, and came out holding it looking for him, "I have more than you."

Old Zhou was sitting on the threshold smoking when he heard this. He knocked on his pipe and stealthily stood up to peek over, unable to see clearly, so he moved a few steps forward.

Manbao crouched in the yard and opened her box to show everyone her money.

There was a small pile of loose copper coins inside and four strings of copper coins tied separately. Manbao counted them out for him to see, saying, "I just need twenty-two more, and I’ll have another string."

Manbao boasted, "When my Fifth Brother comes back from the county town, I’ll definitely have another string."

Bai Shanbao was envious. "How did you make so much?"

"If I didn’t eat meat every day, I could save even more." Bai Shanbao counted on his fingers and said, "My Fifth Brother and the others sell hundreds of coins’ worth of ginger every day; when winter comes, it seems more people eat ginger."

"Eh, didn’t you say we should eat radish in winter and ginger in summer?"

"Yes, that’s what my friend said, but it’s so strange, they all eat it in the winter."

Old Zhou, standing nearby, thought to himself, two fools, ginger is harvested in fall and winter. Who digs it up to eat when it’s not yet fully grown?

He peeked again at the money in Manbao’s red box, making a mental note of it.

The little ones’ money was always held by Manbao. Old Zhou never knew how much they had earned, but he was aware they kept their money separate.

If Manbao said that money was hers, then it was hers.

Five and Sixth had about the same amount of money as Manbao, but those two were stingy, even buying only vegetarian buns when they went to the city for lunch, unlike Four, who would buy meat buns even with only four coins in his hand.

Since Manbao had money, she started buying meat for the household again, either asking Zhou ErLang to purchase some ingredients when he went to the early market or requesting Zhou Wulang to bring some from the county town.

Old Zhou calculated the money Manbao had recently spent and had a clear idea of how much Five and Sixth had earned during this time.

After doing the math, Old Zhou was satisfied and made a special point of discussing in front of Manbao with his wife before going to bed, "Winter’s coming, and Four is nearly done with his service. I think we can start preparing to build a house."

Ms.Qian also nodded, "Let’s start building on the vacant lot next door, extending out from the current structure. We can just open a door in the yard to connect to it."

Old Zhou nodded in agreement, "Since we’re building, I’m thinking of adding two more rooms, just build a seven-room big house."

Ms.Qian looked at her husband in surprise.

Old Zhou habitually pinched his hands and said, "Four is getting married, and Five is almost of age to discuss marriage. They’ll both need their own rooms, so we need to build three. Since Manbao is grown up and a scholar, she should have a room of her own, and since Daji and Daya and the other grandchildren are growing up year by year, I figured we might as well build a few extra rooms for them to live in eventually."

This was different from what they had discussed before, and Ms.Qian frowned.

The house they currently lived in was built the year Manbao turned one. It had cost a fair amount of money to build the six-room stone house, made of rocks and green bricks, which was not to boast about being the best in the village but was certainly commendable.

Before that, they lived in a low and cramped semi-mud and half-thatched house, with small windows. It was so dark that even during the day, little light could be seen inside.

Perhaps Manbao was not used to it or was frail, but she cried a lot, for more than half a year, and that year, there were many rains which caused red rashes to appear on her body, frightening Old Zhou and Ms.Qian terribly, fearing they would lose the child.

It was then that the doctor said it was because the place where they lived was too damp.

That was when Old Zhou gritted his teeth, took out the money he had hidden away, and built this five-room stone house, even purposely enlarging the window in the main room a bit.

In the summertime, he would sleep with Manbao by the window, which was both ventilated and dry, and they could bask in the sun from time to time.

In winter, they would move to the inner rooms.

It wasn’t until these past two years that Manbao had grown up and started to sleep separately.

Previously, they had discussed that since Four had come of age, he would need to marry, so he should have his own room, but Five and Sixth were not urgent, the two brothers could live there first. The extra room built would be for Manbao, and when Five needed to marry, they would just add another room.

But now, Old Zhou suddenly wanted to build seven rooms at once?

Ms.Qian stared at him with an odd look.

Old Zhou coughed lightly and said, "Since we are going to build, let’s do it all at once. Lately, isn’t Four about to finish paying off his money? With what Eldest and the others contribute, it should be enough for the house, right?"

Ms.Qian replied after a moment of silence, "But Four still needs to marry."

Old Zhou also sighed, looking distressed.

Manbao, unable to resist, reached out her little hand to soothe their brows, quickly saying, "Dad, Mom, I have money too. I’ll help you build the house."

Old Zhou immediately scooped her into his embrace, "My good daughter, this house will be where your brothers live. You can lend them the money to build the house and later, Dad will have them pay you back."

Ms.Qian: ... She finally understood what his idea was.

Manbao, unaware, said with an innocent face, "Don’t I have a room too? Of course, I’ll contribute. There’s no need for my brothers to pay me back."

"Not one room, two for you. One to sleep in and another as a study. Later you can also invite Master Bai Qi’er from the Bai family to do homework at our house."

Ms.Qian shot him a glance, "You keep quiet."

With the house not having enough space for everyone, if Manbao occupied two rooms, what would her daughters-in-law think?