The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 207 - 196: Bamboo Ball

Chapter 207: Chapter 196: Bamboo Ball

Manbao had acquired a box full of novel toys, and Bai Shanbao helped her carry the box back home.

Junior Ms. Qian and her two sisters-in-law were making tofu, and with the New Year, there were more people exchanging for tofu recently, so she was basically making tofu every day, and with each batch, she would send some to the Bai Family.

While she was cutting the tofu, she looked up to see the young master of the Bai Family and Manbao carrying her precious box inside. After greeting them, she headed towards the adjacent courtyard, but stopped them and called out, "What are you carrying?"

Manbao replied, "Carrying my treasure box, sister-in-law, today we are competing to see whose toys are the most, and the most fun."

Realizing it was just a child’s game, Junior Ms. Qian lost interest. She smiled at the young master of the Bai Family and said, "Little Master, we made tofu today. Later, please take some back with you and let your grandmother and mother taste it."

Bai Shanbao nodded, since the Zhou Family would send tofu to his place every now and then, he was used to it.

The two carried the box back to Manbao’s room. It wasn’t Bai Shanbao’s first time in Manbao’s boudoir, but he still couldn’t help looking around curiously, as her room was different every time.

The differences were mostly due to the items, particularly those Zhou Erlang had given her.

For example, there was originally a single three-tier bamboo bookshelf, and now there was a new four-tier one next to it. It had no books on it, as Manbao only had a few books, so the single bookshelf was enough.

The top of the new bookshelf was adorned with a bamboo-woven vase-like container holding a handful of wild grass.

Bai Shanbao: ...

Seeing Bai Shanbao looking at her vase, Manbao said, "Do you like it? My Second Brother helped me weave it."

She felt somewhat proud. She had seen it while browsing the city mall, but the points needed to obtain it were expensive, so Manbao simply drew it out and asked Second Brother to make it for her.

She once thought about selling the vase to Keke, as long as Keke would give her half of the points from the city mall.

However, Keke said it didn’t have that function, the city mall was only open one-way as a benefit for the host. If she wanted to become a merchant, just the cost of transporting the goods would be something she couldn’t afford.

Manbao half understood and didn’t understand, but she did grasp one thing: apart from being able to send objects to the encyclopedia, she couldn’t give things to others, otherwise just the transportation cost would be a lot.

So, Manbao could only regretfully place the bamboo vase made by Second Brother in her own room.

On the shelf below, there was a big bamboo sphere, another item Manbao had seen in the city mall and then asked Second Brother to make for her.

Ever since she discovered she could find many beautiful bamboo wares in the city mall, Manbao liked to search there, and whenever she saw something pretty and liked it, she would draw it out for Second Brother to make.

Zhou Erlang found making bamboo spheres easier than vases, so he enthusiastically made several of them for her.

Manbao placed the largest on the bookshelf, while a smaller, more frequently used one went into her toy box, and now it had been bought by Bai Erlang.

At that moment, Bai Shanbao was staring at the large bamboo sphere, coveting it immensely.

However, Manbao was not selling it, because she also liked the ball a lot.

But holding to the principle of sharing good things with good friends, she was willing to lend the bamboo sphere to him to play with.

Beneath that sat a bamboo basket shaped like a lotus flower, containing various trinkets. This, too, was something Manbao had seen in the city mall and asked Second Brother to make.

Bai Shanbao couldn’t help but express his admiration, "Your Second Brother’s craftsmanship is really good."

Manbao replied proudly, "Of course, Second Brother says there’s nothing in this world he can’t make with bamboo."

It’s a pity that not many people nowadays appreciate these things as much as future folks. Since the bamboo wares in the city mall are sold at high prices, Manbao also had Fifth Brother and the others take the bamboo wares made by Second Brother to the county town to sell. However, the way the goods were brought there was exactly how they returned unsold.

Clearly, compared to bamboo vases and spheres, bamboo baskets and sieves were more popular.

Bai Shanbao expressed that those people simply didn’t recognize a good thing, stating that at least he really liked the bamboo sphere, especially since this one was big.

He then expressed his desire to purchase one to Manbao, "I’ll pay, can you let Second Brother make me a bamboo sphere as big as this one?"

"How much will you pay?" Manbao asked.

"You sold a bamboo sphere to Bai Er for ten coins, so I’ll pay twelve, okay?" Bai Shanbao replied.

Manbao thought for a moment and then nodded, "Alright, it’s a deal."

Zhou Erlang wasn’t particularly busy at the time, and a business deal delivered to his door, no matter how small, was welcome.

Making bamboo spheres wasn’t difficult, and with his experience, Zhou Erlang immediately went to the thatched hut where the bamboo strips were stored and dragged out some bamboo strips as soon as Manbao mentioned it.

Ever since Zhou Silang and his family moved into their new house, the thatched hut they previously occupied became vacant.

As the room was quite spacious, Zhou Erlang decided to clean it up and moved all his treasured bamboo in there. When the weather was cold, he no longer worked on his bamboo crafts in the yard but inside the hut instead.

Well, although the thatched hut wasn’t much warmer, it was surely better than working in the cold wind of the yard, right?

Zhou Silang busied himself for a while and quickly fashioned a bamboo sphere that was almost as big as the one on Manbao’s bookshelf, and handed it to her, "Tell the young master of the Bai Family that in the future, he doesn’t have to pay for these small bamboo crafts. If he likes them, just tell me, and I’ll make them for him."

Since Manbao had already collected the money this time, it wouldn’t be right to give it back.

Manbao insisted, "Business is business, Second Brother; you must take the money. Who knows, maybe many, many people will want to buy bamboo spheres from you in the future."

Zhou Erlang just laughed heartily, "These things are only for children to play with; who would spend money to buy them? Besides, you’ve set the price so high, twelve coins."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the next day Bai Erlang rushed to the Zhou Family with money in hand, demanding that Zhou Erlang make him a sphere as big as that—if not bigger, it would be even better.

Manbao asked him, "Don’t you already have one?"

He couldn’t help but complain when reminded, "Yours was too small, and even though you have a big one, you wouldn’t sell it to me. Humph, I won’t do business with you ever again."

Manbao: "..."

Bai Erlang kept pestering Zhou Erlang to make him a bamboo sphere.

Manbao stepped up to block in front of Zhou Erlang, "Humph, if you’re not doing business with me, then I’m not doing business with you either. I’ll tell Second Brother not to make it for you."

Zhou Erlang: ...

In the end, Zhou Erlang still took Bai Erlang’s money and made him a large bamboo sphere.

The next day, several children gathered outside the Zhou Family home, all holding money to buy bamboo spheres.

While making them, Zhou Erlang asked, "Did your parents know you’re buying spheres with this money?"

He thought that if Second Son and the others dared to spend money on these unnecessary items, he would definitely give them a good beating.

The children declared righteously that it was their New Year’s money.

Zhou Erlang had no words, but these were students from the school with well-off families, who obviously didn’t care about the twelve coins.

In the following days, Zhou Erlang received some orders, not only from children in their village wanting bamboo spheres but also from children in Dali Village and some neighboring villages, either coming themselves or asking children from his village to place orders on their behalf.

This surprised Zhou Erlang, who decided to make a batch and sell them in the market. Strangely though, none of the bamboo spheres sold there.

In the end, he brought them back home, and other village children helped purchase them on behalf of their peers, and that’s how he sold out that batch of spheres.

It wasn’t just Zhou Erlang who found this phenomenon weird - even Manbao thought it was strange.