The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 205 - 194: Trading Games

Chapter 205: Chapter 194: Trading Games

Before the new year, Manbao had already managed to save up some money by selling candies in town with Fifth Brother. Although it wasn’t much, it was all in copper coins.

With the lucky money she received for the new year, she couldn’t outdo her two little friends in wealth, but she could certainly surpass them in weight and number.

When she opened her coin box, besides the beautifully adorned five gold nuggets, the rest were all copper coins.

Don’t say it, a pile of seven or eight hundred copper coins is indeed quite impressive.

By comparison, Bai Erlang’s coin box seemed a bit small. However, apart from a limited number of copper coins, his box contained more silver ingots, silver nuggets, and gold nuggets.

But Bai Erlang wasn’t foolish either. Looking at his own coin box and then at Manbao’s, without bothering to count, he simply declared, "I have more money than you."

Then, the two of them turned to look at Bai Shanbao.

Feeling proud, Bai Shanbao gave them a glance before opening his own coin box.

Though his lucky money wasn’t as much as Bai Erlang’s, he had saved up a larger amount. He used to handle his own allowance, and when he was at his old home, he would spend money freely. But since settling down in Qili Village, he had to wait to spend money until he went to town.

Add to that, from the year before last, he insisted on managing his own lucky money. Combined with the money he earned from small business ventures with Manbao, especially from selling ginger pieces, his box was filled with a large heap of silver ingots.

All were quite small, but when piled together, they were not insignificant. On top of the pile was his most recently received lucky money.

Manbao let out a "wow," and even Bai Erlang couldn’t help but join in, envious to the core.

Bai Shanbao became even more smug, "I also have many toys."

He ran to his room and soon dragged out a large box to show them.

Manbao and Bai Erlang leaned in to take a look, marveling at the many toys inside that they had never seen before.

Bai Shanbao, swelling with pride, said, "These were all sent to me by my uncles. Do you guys have any?"

Manbao shook her head, "I have candies."

Bai Erlang, green with envy, reached out to take one, but Bai Shanbao slapped his hand away, "I haven’t even played with them yet, can’t give you any."

Bai Erlang reached out to snatch one, "I want to play with it."

Manbao felt that he was being unreasonable. Given that she was closer to Bai Shanbao than Bai Erlang, she naturally sided with Bai Shanbao. She helped guard the game while loudly protesting, "You’re not a good kid, you can’t steal things."

Bai Erlang felt both angered and wronged, his eyes turning red as he pulled a toy with all his might toward himself.

Being older than both Bai Shanbao and Manbao, Erlang was stronger. Soon he pushed them to the ground and snatched the toy.

If he had run off right then, Bai Shanbao surely wouldn’t have been able to catch him. But after grabbing the toy, greed got the better of him. He glanced at the other toys in the large box and without hesitation reached for other toys that caught his fancy.

Bai Shanbao was furious, scrambling to his feet to shove him.

Manbao was also infuriated and joined Bai Shanbao in pushing Erlang, who fell backward onto the ground. However, he clutched a handful of toys tightly in his arms, refusing to let them go.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bai Shanbao saw Erlang’s coin box lying to the side. He crawled over, dragged it close, and announced, "You steal my toys, I won’t give you your coin box."

Manbao stopped her assault and quickly safeguarded both her own and Bai Shanbao’s coin boxes behind her, then glared at Erlang.

Erlang, still hugging the toys, could barely peek out with his eyes.

He hesitated before saying, "Then I don’t want the money, I want the toys."

Of course, Bai Shanbao wouldn’t agree. Although he liked money, he preferred his toys. As Erlang stubbornly refused to return his toys, Bai Shanbao opened his mouth as if about to cry.

But Manbao thought this was a good idea and quickly persuaded him, "Let’s take out our treasures and trade them, we can use the money to buy them."

Bai Shanbao, while crying, said, "I don’t want to sell my toys."

Manbao whispered in his ear in view of Erlang, "Don’t be afraid, a deal has to be voluntary. If he likes it, you just say it’s not for sale and get him to put the toy down first."

Bai Shanbao thought she was right, so he turned to Erlang and said, "Let’s play a trading game. I’ll display my toys and treasures, and you go back and bring out your treasures. If you want something, you can pay to buy it."

Erlang’s eyes lit up, finding the game to be fun.

He tentatively set down two toys and asked, "Are you serious?"

"I am serious."

Erlang: "Liars are little dogs."

Bai Shanbao hesitated for a moment but finally nodded, "Alright, whoever lies is a little dog."

Erlang then set down all the toys from his arms. Seeing that Bai Shanbao and Manbao, who were seated on the ground, didn’t try to snatch them, he happily said, "Then wait for me here, I’ll go home now and bring back toys."

As soon as he left, Manbao and Bai Shanbao quickly gathered up the toys.

Bai Shanbao closed the box and hesitated, "I don’t want to become a little dog."

Manbao scratched her head, "What should we do then?"

Bai Shanbao looked at his toy box, hesitating for a moment. Finally, with a twirl of his eyes, he said, "I’ll put away my favorite toys, and we can sell the rest."

Manbao thought that, as the child reckoned to be just a smidgen smarter than her in a hundred miles radius, his idea was quite good.

So, the two little friends worked together and put away Bai Shanbao’s favorite toys. After they did, they realized there weren’t many toys left in the box.

After all, the toys had just been sent over before the new year. Bai Shanbao hadn’t played with them for very long and liked virtually every one.

Manbao looked around and asked, "Do you have any old toys?"

Bai Shanbao’s eyes shone, and he nodded vigorously, "Yeah, just wait."

Of course, Manbao couldn’t just wait. She followed him everywhere as they collected various items from the corners of the study, his room, and the yard.

All these items ended up in the toy box.

Among them were even beautiful stones he had found by the river, which, in his eyes, counted as toys.

Manbao certainly shared this view.

As they ran about, the two of them started to laugh, finding it to be a very fun game.

So, Manbao said, "I will also go home and get my toys."

Bai Shanbao, of course, was okay with this. So, he locked the study room door, and the two children ran together back to the Zhou Family to collect Manbao’s toys.

Manbao’s toys were also plentiful, of course, not as refined as Bai Shanbao’s, but she had a variety of different things.

Included were things like various bamboo toys and small boxes made by Zhou Erlang, as well as grass dragonflies made by Zhou Silang, plus things she gathered from outside herself.

Manbao found a larger bamboo box to stash what she considered toys and then carried it with Bai Shanbao back to the Bai Family’s house.

They had just reached the Bai Family’s gate when they encountered Erlang, who was leading two servants carrying two large boxes.

Their paths crossed, and their eyes all brightened.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.