The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 410 - 399: Calculating Strategy

Chapter 410: Chapter 399: Calculating Strategy

Mr. Zhuang even rejected the Dragon Boat Festival holiday that Ms. Liu had requested in advance for Bai Shanbao.

Last year, Ms. Liu had planned to take Bai Shanbao to Yizhou for the Dragon Boat Festival because a distant aunt who married into Yizhou was celebrating her birthday.

But Mr. Zhuang refused, he refused!

Bai Shanbao was sad for two days because of this, and what made him even more upset was that his grandmother no longer asked for leave but decided to go to the birthday celebration alone when the time came.

This shows how rare the holiday Mr. Zhuang has now reluctantly granted truly is.

Seeing the two kids rushing in again with their Small book box on their backs, Mr. Zhuang smiled slightly and said, "Let it be tomorrow, just one day’s time."

The two children cheered and ran out hand in hand, but Mr. Zhuang suddenly said, "If you go to find Bai Er, just let him know that if he keeps being sick, I’m going to have class in his house, and let him listen while lying on the lounge chair."

Manbao and Bai Shanbao looked at each other with raised necks, trying hard not to laugh out loud, and could only stifle their laughter as they agreed and dashed off.

Bai Erlang was hiding in the room, eating a sweet melon that his uncle had sent over and that his mother had just brought him.

Hearing the thumping footsteps outside, he got so scared that he immediately stuffed the plate under the blanket and then lay down pretending to have a headache, a handache, a stomach ache, all kinds of aches.

Manbao and Bai Shanbao ran in, saw him moaning like an old man, and said, "Stop faking it, neither your dad nor the teacher has come."

Bai Er ignored them and continued his moaning.

Bai Shanbao slowly said, "The teacher said that we’ll have a day off tomorrow to go shopping in the county town."

Bai Erlang’s voice paused, he opened one eye to look at them, rolled his eyes, and after realizing it was indeed just the three of them in the room, he got up from the bed and asked, "Really? What did the teacher say we’re going to buy?"

"Abacuses, the teacher is going to teach us how to use the abacus."

"Ah?" Bai Erlang wailed, "Isn’t that something we should only learn after turning ten? Why do we have to learn it now?"

Bai Shanbao was about to speak when Manbao pulled at him, and the words at the tip of his tongue immediately changed, "Do you want to come with us to the county town?"

Manbao said, "An abacus will be used for many years, so it’s best to choose one yourself, and pick the one you like."

Bai Erlang said with despair, "But I don’t want to learn the abacus, I’m still sick."

Bai Shanbao said, "The teacher mentioned that if you’re still sick, then he’ll move the classroom to your house, letting you listen while lying down."

Manbao couldn’t help but laugh and asked, "Do you think if the teacher gives lessons here, your dad will also come to listen?"

Tears were truly about to fall from Bai Erlang’s eyes, "I knew it, why did they stop attending school? If they were school kids, why would the teacher just focus on me alone?"

"He’s actually focusing on the three of us," Bai Shanbao said discontentedly. "The teacher spends even more time on us, and we never feigned illness."

"That’s because you two can answer all the questions the teacher asks, can I?" Bai Er said indignantly: "If I could, I wouldn’t have to pretend to be sick."

"Who told you not to study seriously and go off playing in the mud instead?"

"It’s not playing in the mud, it’s playing war. I was a general," Bai Erlang protested. "If you hadn’t wanted to play the game of planting crops on the farm, would I run out of playtime? If I had time to play, would I use the time for studying and doing homework for play? If I didn’t use that time for play, would I be unable to finish homework or answer the teacher’s questions?"

Manbao and Bai Shanbao were stunned to hear someone make such a compelling case for laziness and playfulness for the first time.

Bai Erlang flipped the covers open, took out the fruit plate, and while eating ferociously, said, "Now we must learn the abacus, I will never be able to play again."

Manbao and Bai Shanbao looked on with disgust, "How could you hide the fruit plate in there..."

Bai Erlang glanced at the sweet melon in the fruit plate, then at the two friends grudgingly, and reluctantly pushed it forward, "Want some?"

Both shook their heads.

Bai Erlang pulled it back, "Never mind then, this is sweet melon, normally only available in June or July, I can eat this now only because my uncle is awesome."

Manbao then agreed with them, "Let’s meet at the village entrance tomorrow morning and head to the county town together."

Bai Erlang and Bai Shanbao had no problem with this. Bai Shanbao said, "We’ll go in my family’s horse carriage."

When Old Zhou heard Manbao was going to learn abacus, he couldn’t help but sit up straight and asked, "After you learn abacus, will you be able to become an accountant?"

Ms.Qian said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Have you ever seen a woman being an accountant outside?"

"But once Manbao learns, she can teach Datou and the others," Old Zhou said. "And who says an accountant can’t be a woman? I’ve seen many shops in town where the lady of the house is in charge and does the accounting. Our Manbao will marry into the town in the future and become the lady boss; that’s the way to make use of all the skills she learned."

"The teacher said our farm will have a lot to calculate in the future, so we need to learn abacus, and be able to calculate ourselves when necessary."

Old Zhou immediately told Ms.Qian, "Give money to the girl for buying the abacus."

Manbao’s eyes squinted with joy, "Dad, I have money."

Old Zhou was aware that she hadn’t made much money since spring, he reckoned it was because their regular candy-buying young lady from the former county magistrate’s family had left.

Therefore, Manbao probably didn’t have much money.

Old Zhou smiled tenderly while patting her head, "Your money is for saving, buy some buns to eat in the county town tomorrow; I’ll pay for the abacus."

Manbao didn’t hesitate to nod aggressively.

Old Zhou instructed, "You must study hard, and once you learn well, come back and teach your cousins so they can become accountants when they grow up."

Zhou ErLang squeezed in and said, "Manbao, can Second Brother learn with you too?"

Zhou WuLang immediately raised his hand, "Me too, me too."

Manbao waved her small hand happily, "No problem, I’ll teach you all when the time comes."

Ms.Fang glanced at her husband and couldn’t help but give him a nudge. Zhou SiLang moved his son aside to avoid her hand and whispered, "I’ll not learn; it’s just doing accounts, I can do it myself. Studying all that stuff is a headache."

"You really are lazy."

"It’s not being lazy; it’s unnecessary."

Bai Erlang was also quietly complaining to his mother, trying to make one last argument against learning abacus, "Mom, I’m not lazy; I just think it’s unnecessary. We have an accountant at home, why should I learn abacus?"

"Your father can also use the abacus; you need to learn. What if the accountant cheats you?"

Bai Erlang said, "If the accountant cheats my father, my father won’t know either. Can my father do accounts better than the accountant?"

Mrs.Bai: ...