The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 371 - 360 - We Must Have Dreams (Part 1)

Chapter 371: Chapter 360 - We Must Have Dreams (Part 1)

Landlord Bai was stingy, but during the busy farming season, he was willing to spend money, so he often paid wages of eighteen or twenty wen.

Before the Zhou Family had started planting ginger and selling vegetables and greens in the county town, Landlord Bai was an important source of income for them.

Working as short-term laborers for Landlord Bai could earn them at least a thousand wen a year, and that was during the leanest times.

Essentially, the money for their mother’s medicine came from there.

Therefore, Manbao subconsciously felt that being a long-term worker would be more profitable than being a short-term one, because they would have work to do more often.

The three long-term workers looked at Manbao with sadness and said, "Miss Man must be joking."

The wages for long-term workers weren’t calculated by the day, but by the month.

Each of them earned three hundred wen per month, including room and board.

During the busy farming season, their meals came from the communal kitchen of the manor, but after that period, the Bai Family would give them some coarse grains to cook whatever amount they needed.

So those who ate less could save some grains for themselves, and those who ate more could use their own wages to buy what they needed.

Manbao did the math and said, "Three hundred wen isn’t too little, how can you not be able to find wives?"

The long-term workers became even more despondent, bowing their heads to munch on their steamed buns, not wanting to speak with Manbao.

Yet Manbao really wanted to understand them; just last night, her father had taught her that to get people to work well, one must feed them well and not mistreat the long-term workers who were working for them.

And this morning, when they were about to leave, Grandma Liu specifically stopped the three of them, telling them to be serious once they got to the fields, and to win over people’s hearts at the end, not to rely on Manor Head Bai for everything.

Manbao felt she didn’t need to win over her brothers and the young men of the village; Manor Head Bai seemed to listen to them very well and treated them nicely, especially Shanbao.

If Shanbao asked for something, Manor Head Bai would certainly not refuse.

So she looked around and squatted down in front of the three long-term workers.

She felt she needed to have a talk about life with them.

Three men doomed to have ’the talk’ about life: ...

The three long-term workers, having no choice but to deal with her persistence, said there was nothing they couldn’t talk about; anyway, it was their rest time at noon, and they had nothing else to do.

Mainly, they doubted whether Manbao, at her age, could understand them. They were not of the opinion that their poverty was too shameful to speak of; after all, the poverty of long-term workers was well known. Their concern was that telling Manbao would be like lighting a lamp for the blind, pointless.

"Last month, I had fifty wen left from my wages. Before the New Year, we’ll receive a month’s pay and a red envelope, which should total around three hundred and fifty wen. I plan to go to the market to buy some meat, and purchase rice and flour from the landlord so I can also have a good year, but then all my money will be gone."

"I caught a cold last month and spent eighty wen on medicine alone. I missed more than ten days of work in the fields, so I only received half my wages. I was hoping to save up to buy some better clothing."

"I spent all my money on alcohol and snacks to go with the drink."

All three looked at Manbao and said, "So, Miss Man, as you see, we don’t have a single wen left. How can we get married?"

Manbao was stunned, "You guys spend so much money. My eldest brother doesn’t even spend a hundred wen in a whole year, and that’s only because he has to pay an entrance fee to the county town, occasionally buy some steamed buns to eat, or sweets and snacks for us, and that’s where most of the money goes..."

So in her view, three hundred wen a month was indeed a lot.

One could save at least two diao a year, right?

With around five diao, a man could marry a wife, so in about three years of hard work, it should be enough.

She didn’t understand why they couldn’t find wives.

Manbao pointed out, "My Second Brother and Silang are the biggest spenders in our family, but even they don’t spend much. Take Second Brother, for instance, during the busy times, he goes to the county town every day to sell things. Each time, our mother gives him twenty wen. But aside from the entrance fee and stall fee, and occasionally spending one or two wen on hot soup, he saves the rest and brings it back for my Second Sister-in-law..."

Of course, Zhou ErLang did this in secret, but when the couple hid the money, they didn’t hide it from the youngest daughter, Sanya.

If Sanya knew, Erya would too, and if Erya knew, so would Manbao.

"And my Silang, he used to spend any money he had on snacks for himself or for us, but ever since he got married to my Fourth Sister-in-law, he’s become so tight-fisted. With any money he gets, he first has to save to buy brown sugar for my Fourth Sister-in-law, or fabric for my future nephew... So even if he goes to the town, he never spends more than ten wen each time. How can you guys spend so much?"

The three long-term workers felt helpless. One of them said indignantly, "If we had a wife, we could save money too."

The other two agreed wholeheartedly.

"But to get a wife, you still need to save money, and just having money isn’t enough. You need to clean yourselves up and look more spirited." Manbao, who had many brothers since she was little, knew from an early age that to get a wife, not only did your family need to have land, a house, and money, but you also needed to be clean and capable.

Seeing the three of them disbelieving, Manbao perked up, her chatterbox trait turned on. She glanced at their dirty hands, didn’t reach out to shake them, but crouched in front of them and spoke earnestly, "You know about us, the Zhou Family, right?"

The three men nodded. Could it be otherwise?

They had been long-term workers for Old Master Bai for three to four years and were very familiar with the villagers of Qili Village. The Zhou Family was well-known there.

"Does our Zhou Family have land?"

The three men nodded.

"Do we have a house?"

The men nodded again.

"Is our reputation good?"

The men glanced at Manbao and nodded slowly.

"But what you don’t know is that my father and mother have always told Silang and the others to be diligent and clean since they were young so that they could get married when they grow up." Manbao said, "My parents used to worry so much, afraid that Silang wouldn’t find a wife. Given our family’s good condition, if that was the case, what chance would you have without land or a house? If you don’t clean up and work harder, why would any girl take a second glance at you?"

One long-term worker said, "Miss Man, we don’t expect any maiden to fancy us, we’ll be content if a widow likes us."

The second worker chimed in, "Indeed, and Miss Man, the reason your parents feared Silang wouldn’t get a wife isn’t because he isn’t clean, but because he has a bad reputation, right?"

The third added, "Exactly, we might not have saved any money, but we don’t gamble."

Manbao looked each of them in the face and shook her head, "If that’s how you think, then you’re doomed. You probably won’t get married in this lifetime, not even to a widow."

"Why?"

"Because you’re ugly. Look at my Silang, how handsome he is!"

The three men turned their heads together to look at Zhou SiLang, who was chatting merrily with someone on a nearby rock, then all averted their gaze.

Continuing, Manbao said, "Although Silang made mistakes, he’s good-looking. He may not be the cleanest, but at least his clothes are clean and neat, his face and head too. Otherwise, how could my Fourth Sister-in-law have been attracted to him? Now, look at yourselves. Oh, you can’t see yourselves, then look at each other; you three all look pretty much the same."

The three men looked at each other then turned away with an expression of disdain.