The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 222 - 211: Personal Experience

Chapter 222: Chapter 211: Personal Experience

"Buy it." Despite the hardships faced by people outside, her expenses hadn’t reduced, and she still had the money to buy sugar.

Moreover, being trapped at home, this was one of her few joys.

Manbao took out a large bag of sugar wrapped in oiled paper for her, and naturally, Fu Wenyun wouldn’t count it. Qiuyue gave her a string of coins and then saw her to the door, "If you have time to come to the county town, you must come see me."

Manbao nodded vigorously and also said, "My Second Brother might set up a stall on that street in South City that specializes in selling farm produce, and if you want to write to me, you can go find my Second Brother through Qiuyue."

Fu Wenyun expressed her understanding.

The two friends waved goodbye to one another.

The area was inhabited by the families of the Assistant County Magistrate, the County Captain, the Chief Registrar, and other official families. Zhou Liulang was well-acquainted with the area and led them directly to knock on doors.

Perhaps due to the issue with refugees, people would first ask who it was, open a crack to make sure they knew the person, and then fully open the door.

Zhou Silang led them to a diverse customer base they had developed, ranging from old ladies in their sixties or seventies to children five or six years old.

Of course, the latter were mainly the customers of Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang.

The children in this area particularly loved the sugar they sold.

Hearing Zhou Liulang’s voice, the children inside ran out one after another, crowding at the door to see Zhou Liulang, "Do you have sugar to sell today?"

Zhou Liulang nodded, "Yes, how many do you want?"

"I want ten pieces!"

"I want five pieces!"

"My eldest sister has money; I’ll go call her."

"Right, have elder sister buy more."

An older girl was escorted out surrounded by a group. Their family only had two servants, one of whom was busy working in the kitchen, and the other one stood by the door, watching them and not allowing them to run outside.

The little girl who arrived seemed quite familiar with Zhou Liulang as well and even asked, "Did you go to the Assistant County Magistrate’s house already?"

"Yes, we did."

"Did you see Second Miss Fu?"

Zhou Liulang was about to speak when Manbao discreetly tugged at his sleeve and leaned out from behind him, saying, "We saw Sister Qiuyue."

"Oh," the interest of the elder sister waned a bit as she looked at the sugar they were selling to her younger siblings and asked, "Is the sugar you sold to Second Miss Fu the same as this?"

Manbao nodded, "Exactly the same."

The elder sister was satisfied, nodding her head, "Give me as much as Second Miss Fu bought."

Manbao ungraciously reached into the cloth bag and took out a bundle of candies wrapped by Keke for her, "One bundle has a hundred pieces."

The girl’s face stiffened slightly— a hundred pieces meant a hundred coins. Although her father was the Chief Registrar, a string of coins was a significant amount for her.

But since she had spoken, she couldn’t take it back. She accepted the bundle of candies, her face stiff as she said, "Wait here, I’ll go get the money."

Zhou Liulang went to check Manbao’s cloth bag, "I thought this bag could only hold two bundles of sugar, but it can fit three?"

Manbao nodded proudly, she could fit as much as she wanted.

While the girl went to get the money, Manbao had Daya twist several flower baskets and handed them out to these young customers, "Thank you for your continued support of our family business. These flower baskets are gifts for you."

The young customers exclaimed in surprise, happily accepting the gifts. It didn’t matter if the flower baskets were not attractive; the mere joy of receiving an unexpected present was delightful.

Moreover, these flower baskets were indeed beautiful.

Two girls about Manbao’s age felt that the flower baskets were more valuable than the sugar they bought, so they were embarrassed to accept them.

Manbao, however, was generous, waving her small hand, "If it’s a gift for you, just take it."

One of the young customers asked, "Will you come again tomorrow?"

Manbao said, "If you want to eat sugar, come over."

"Then come, I’ll ask my dad for money tonight, so I can buy sugar again tomorrow."

The girl took quite a while to fetch the money, but Manbao didn’t feel bored at all. She was a chatterbox and could strike up a conversation with anyone.

When the young girl came back with a string of coins, her brothers and cousins were chatting with Manbao on the doorstep. Not only did Manbao learn how many people were in their family, but she also found out which village their mother came from, so she naturally knew that this was the house of their county’s Chief Registrar.

Manbao also took a careful look inside and felt that although the house was attractive, it was smaller than theirs.

The girl had no idea and handed the money to Manbao, who also gave her a flower basket in return.

The girl, who had initially been a bit upset about spending the money, was now pleased upon receiving the gift, casting aside any prejudice, "Did you make these? They’re really pretty."

The group of four continued knocking on doors to sell sugar and giving away flower baskets.

Even if a child from a house didn’t buy any, Manbao still gave them a flower basket—after all, they had patronized their business for a long time, hadn’t they?

And as they went along, many small bamboo baskets and flowers were given away, making Zhou Liulang and Datou feel much lighter.

Thus, the two were the most eager to give these items away.

After finishing giving out flower baskets and selling the individual candy bundles, they dusted off their hands, satisfied, and went back to find Zhou Erlang.

Of course, before returning, Manbao led them to buy steamed buns.

Having been out for quite a while, they were indeed a bit hungry.

Thinking of the need for money at home, Manbao reluctantly refrained from choosing meat buns and said to the vendor, "I want ten plain buns."

The vendor took a dried large leaf, quickly separated and picked out ten buns for her—two bundles, five in each.

Manbao counted out ten coins for him. The vendor hesitated, glanced at Manbao, found her unfamiliar, then looked askance and recognized Zhou Liulang, "It’s you, young brother. How long has it been since you’ve been up to the county town?"

Seeing that he hadn’t taken the money, Zhou Liulang replied, "It’s been a while, why do you ask?"

Manbao also came to her senses and, recalling what the vendor next door had said in the morning about the rise in rice prices, she couldn’t help asking, "Have prices gone up?"

The vendor replied with a touch of embarrassment as he wiped his hands, "Indeed, with the skyrocketing grain prices in the granary, I would have to raise the price or else I wouldn’t be able to keep the business going."

"So, how much is a plain bun now?"

"Two coins each."

Manbao let out a sigh of relief; despite the increase, it was still within her budget.

Manbao counted out another ten coins for him.

The vendor then took the money, looked around, and whispered to Zhou Liulang, "It’s two coins now, but after a while, it might go up another coin."

With a worried sigh, he said, "The grain price this morning was thirty coins per bushel. By noon, people going to buy rice said it had risen to thirty-two coins."

Not only Manbao but also Zhou Liulang was stunned, "Isn’t that too quick of an increase?"

"Exactly, it’s rising too fast."

The excitement of having earned three hundred coins dropped, and Manbao, feeling dejected, followed Zhou Liulang back home.

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