The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 204 - 193: Wealth Competition

Chapter 204: Chapter 193: Wealth Competition

And yet, the Zhou Family’s financial situation was quite apparent; the gifts Ms.Qian could afford to send were very limited.

The next day, Ms.Qian had Junior Ms.Qian make some tofu, and then sent two portions over to the Bai Family.

Junior Ms.Qian and her two sisters-in-law were very skilled at making tofu. Ever since she had learned to make it, she would make it every few days. Not only could their family eat it, but villagers would also bring beans to exchange with her.

Whenever Zhou Erlang went to the big market to sell his bamboo wares, he would also take some tofu to sell there.

After all, with scarce vegetables in the winter, tofu was indeed a fine dish.

Of course, it was impossible to make money from it; it was essentially an exchange of beans for tofu, one jin of beans for two jin of tofu.

As for what to do with the surplus beans at home, the natural choice was to take them to sell at the grain shops in the county town.

However, due to the reluctance to trek the mountainous roads, the beans at home had not been taken to town yet and were just piling up in the room unused.

So, if you were to say what the Qian Family was least short of at the moment, that would be beans.

After sending tofu for one day, the next day Ms.Qian selected some decent yams to give to Bai Shanbao to take back, and on the third day, she made a good amount of sesame candy to send to the Bai Family.

The Bai Family received gifts for three consecutive days, and although Ms.Liu thought nothing of it, Mrs. Bai couldn’t help but ask, "Does the Zhou matriarch need a favor from us?"

Mrs. Bai was thinking the same.

Ms.Liu just laughed, "I guess she saw the New Year’s money we gave to Manbao. The Zhou matriarch is good in every other way; she’s just too courteous."

Only then did Mrs. Bai remember this matter and couldn’t help laughing, "Our second young master also received New Year’s money from their family, and I must say it was not a small amount."

Mrs. Bai also laughed, "That’s right, a whole eight."

Those who were married had to give New Year’s money to the children. The Zhou’s were required to give, neither too much nor too little, just eight.

Once Zhou Silang was married, next year it would be ten.

Although each red envelope contained only six wen, eight together was quite a sum.

Especially since everyone in the Bai Family knew that the villagers gave only one wen in their red envelopes for New Year, regardless of how close they were. The Zhou Family’s red envelopes for Bai Erlang contained six wen each, clearly specially packed, which was quite a lot.

Naturally, the Bai Family would not expect the Zhou Family to give out red envelopes of the same value as theirs, considering the financial situation.

However...

Mrs. Bai was curious, "It’s already the ninth day of the New Year, how come the Zhou matriarch has only just found out? Doesn’t she keep the children’s red envelopes?"

Although Bai Er was favored and the Bai’s were wealthy, the red envelopes for Bai Er were still managed by Mrs. Bai; he didn’t carry much money on him.

So when it came to how many red envelopes he had collected, Mrs. Bai had an accurate count.

Ms.Liu laughed, "Their little daughter is different; I heard she has been managing her own red envelopes since she was very young."

It was because of this, last year Bai Shanbao no longer wanted Ms.Zheng to hold onto the large red envelopes for him. He threw a tantrum to hold onto them himself.

Including the money he earned selling ginger to the family this year, Ms.Liu guessed he must have saved quite a bit of money, after all, he didn’t buy meat like Manbao did.

But Ms.Liu was more than happy to let him manage his own finances.

Mrs. Bai, upon hearing this, also became excited and quietly mentioned it to Old Master Bai that evening. She wanted to let Bai Erlang try managing his own New Year’s money, "You always say how clever and capable Shanbao and the little girl from the Zhou Family are; why not let Erlang manage his own New Year’s money as a trial?"

Old Master Bai said, "Give it to him? He’ll probably spend it all on candy, believe me or not?"

Mrs. Bai countered, "There’s nowhere in the village to buy candy. I think you’re worrying too much. Let him learn from Shanbao, to save money, so he too can go to the county town to buy books and stationery in the future."

After all, Auntie said that Shanbao is very considerate; he spends most of the money he saves on books.

Of course, Mrs. Bai wished her own youngest son would be as thoughtful.

Old Master Bai was indifferent and perfunctorily nodded, "As you wish."

So the next day, Bai Er welcomed the first spring of his life: his mother actually returned all the New Year’s money he had received this year.

Holding the box, Bai Er couldn’t help but give his mother an excited hug and then ran off with the box, leaving Mrs. Bai, who had many heartfelt words to say to him, unable to catch him in time.

Well, she would talk to him when he got back from playing.

Was Bai Erlang’s New Year’s money a lot?

It definitely was, at least more than that of Bai Shanbao.

Not only did he have his maternal grandparents’ home in Luojiang County, but his father had many friends. When going out during the New Year, he would collect so much in New Year’s money that his hands would go soft.

Both Old Master Bai and Mrs. Bai would give him New Year’s money, although they would take it back afterward to manage it for him, but now, that money was all in his hands.

Although there was nothing to spend money on in the village, Bai Er still excitedly grabbed a handful of coins to take with him.

He wanted to show off to his little friends, especially those two paupers Bai Shanbao and Manbao.

That’s right, in his view, Bai Shanbao and Manbao were paupers; after all, they were the ones who had to pick Indian pennywort in the summer and sell ginger chunks in the autumn.

Therefore, at the crossroads not far from the school, Bai Er poured out all the money from his purse to show Bai Shanbao and Manbao, boasting, "How about that, do you have money?"

Manbao was not at all envious, "I have money too."

She managed her own New Year’s money. Apart from those five beautifully minted coins, the rest were copper coins, which amounted to quite a bit.

In the village, every household that was married, either older than her or of the same generation, had given her a wen as New Year’s money. This included the money from her own family and what she got from visiting her uncle...

Manbao took out her purse from her usual bag without even pouring out the coins, a shake indicated she had more than what Bai Er had brought with him.

Only Bai Shanbao, who hadn’t brought any money with him, silently watched the two: ...

Unconvinced, Bai Er said, "I have silver coins too. Wait for me; I’ll bring my money box over."

With that, he turned and ran off.

Bai Shanbao, hearing this, also said, "I have money too."

He was about to pull Manbao to run back to his house, and said to Bai Er, "Bring your money box to my house to compare."

Upon hearing this, Manbao said, "I have a money box too."

Keke immediately stopped her, "Host, you can’t take your money box out like this; your bag can’t fit your money box."

Thus, she couldn’t pretend to take the money box out of her bag; Bai Er might be a fool, but Bai Shanbao was not.

Manbao let go of Bai Shanbao’s hand and turned to run back to her house, "Just wait, I’m going to get my money box."

In the end, the five beautifully minted coins Manbao had were not tricked away by Old Zhou. She truly cherished those good-looking coins; she couldn’t even bear to give them to her mother, let alone to her father.

Manbao went back to her room, took the money box from Keke, and as she was about to run out, she saw the five beautiful minted coins hanging by the bed. She quickly climbed up to take them down and then ran out.

So the three kids gathered in Bai Shanbao’s study room, each pushing their money box forward to begin showing off their wealth!