The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 411 - 400: Cancellation of City Entry Fee

Chapter 411: Chapter 400: Cancellation of City Entry Fee

Bai Erlang was finally stuffed by Mrs. Bai into the carriage to go to the county town with Bai Shanbao and the others to choose abacuses.

The Bai Family was not short of money, so Mrs. Bai generously gave Bai Erlang a purse and said, "Get a good one, and once you’ve learned how to use it, you can help Mother with the accounts."

Bai Erlang replied sulkingly, but soon after the carriage started moving, he cast this annoyance aside and cheered up.

The three little friends squeezed together in front of the window, watching the flowers, grass, and trees outside.

Although they often saw these sights while walking, the view from the carriage seemed especially different.

Manbao suggested sitting on the shaft of the carriage.

As the coachman, Daji refused.

Miss Manbao sitting out there would surely lead the two young masters to do the same, and this road was not easy to navigate. If they were jolted off, should he save his own young master first, Miss Manbao, or the elder young master?

So, to avoid the dilemma, he thought it best for them to stay inside the carriage.

If the carriage overturned, staying inside would still be the safest option.

The three children all expressed their disappointment, then leaned on the window sill, watching the slowly retreating flora with exclamations of surprise, one saying how pretty the yellow flowers were, another praising the red bushes, and yet another preferring the purple climbing vines...

This time of year was when flowers bloomed at their most splendid, with suitable temperatures and fertile soil—flowers, grass, and trees all competing to blossom.

Unfortunately, Manbao had trampled these flowers before and currently did not see any new varieties emerging.

Of course, there might be some, but perhaps because they were moving faster in the carriage, she hadn’t spotted them.

The three of them jostled their way to the county town and immediately wanted to disembark and enter on foot as soon as they reached the city gate. The county town was so small that it could be navigated quickly by carriage and that was no fun at all.

So, walking seemed the better choice.

The trio climbed down from the carriage, left Daji behind, and went ahead to line up.

Manbao took out a coin from her pocket, and Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang, as usual, clenched a coin in their hands, and soon it was their turn.

The three lined up according to their ages, from youngest to oldest. Hmm, it was also in order of seniority, from eldest to youngest.

Manbao stepped forward, opened her little hand towards the gatekeeper soldier.

The gatekeeper soldier was taken aback, then waved his hand and said, "Go on, get inside."

Manbao’s eyes widened slightly, "You don’t want the money?"

The gatekeeper soldier rolled his eyes and said, "I would like it, but the county magistrate has decreed that the city entry fee is abolished. Unless it’s a major cargo, no entry fee is required."

The gatekeeper soldier glanced over the child in front of him, feeling that he looked familiar but couldn’t immediately recall who it was, then waved his hand and said, "Alright, go ahead. Next one."

Bai Shanbao had already heard and was so delighted that his eyes narrowed to slits. He stepped forward eagerly, eyes gleaming at the gatekeeper soldier.

The gatekeeper soldier took a glance at him and then at Bai Erlang behind him and waved them through, saying, "All right, all right, hurry inside. Next in line, keep it moving! If you don’t have major cargo, come to the front. Don’t dawdle. With so few people here, how long do you plan to delay?"

The three little friends held hands and dashed into the town, shouting joyfully.

Bai Shanbao didn’t even know why he was shouting since he didn’t lack that coin, nor did he care about the entry fee, but seeing Manbao so happy, he couldn’t help but feel elated himself.

Manbao was truly delighted. She said, "When we get back home, I’ll tell Datou and the others the good news. They can come to play in the county town whenever they want."

In the past year, unless they were sure of doing business, Datou and the others would come into the town, since entering required money.

But now that it wasn’t necessary, whether there was business or not, they could come. If there was, great; if not, they wouldn’t lose anything.

Daji entered the town a step behind them, but he wasn’t worried about the three children.

The county town was so small, not only were the three children very familiar with it, but some people in the town also knew them well. If they got lost, someone could point them in the right direction with a simple question.

However, Daji still kept an eye on them to ensure they remained within his line of sight.

Following behind the three children with the horse-drawn carriage, they stopped and went, arriving at a restaurant. The three were gathered around a stall looking at toys. Daji glanced at them, then led the carriage straight to the restaurant door, handed the horse over to the innkeeper, and said, "Feed it good fodder. We’ll come back to eat later and then fetch it."

"Sure thing, rest assured, I’ll take good care of it," the innkeeper replied.

Only then did Daji follow behind the three children, hands in his sleeves, without urging them to go to the bookshop.

As usual, after wandering down the main street of the county town and buying some snacks, the three, chatting and laughing, headed to the bookshop.

Knowing they had come to buy abacuses, the bookshop owner smiled with narrowed eyes, praising the trio, "I didn’t expect the young masters and miss to learn so quickly that they are already studying how to use abacuses."

He ordered his assistant to bring out two of every quality of abacus for them to choose from.

The cheapest was naturally made of wood, and the prices of various wooden abacuses also varied greatly. Among them, the most expensive one was a dark, almost black wooden abacus that felt slick and sturdy to the touch. Manbao couldn’t resist imitating Mr. Zhuang and flicked it a couple of times.

It was slippery and smooth to operate.

Manbao asked, "How much is this one?"

The owner smiled and replied, "Not expensive, five hundred wen."

Manbao was shocked; that was not expensive? No wonder her father said that not just any family could afford education.

Manbao’s gaze then fell on the other abacuses, directly flicked through all the wooden ones, and selected two to ask, "How much are these?"

The smiling owner said, "This one is three hundred wen, and this one is two hundred wen."

He didn’t explain why the prices differed, and Manbao didn’t need an explanation. The reason was simple; they were inherently different, which she could feel by flicking through them.

After hesitating briefly, Manbao eventually chose the two hundred wen wooden abacus and then looked towards Bai Shanbao.

Bai Shanbao was handling a jade abacus and, after inquiring about the price and finding out it cost eight taels of silver, he set it aside. Then he pointed to the black abacus that Manbao had left and said, "I’ll take this one."

Bai Erlang picked up a golden abacus, and with a smile, said, "I want this one."

The owner smiled with his eyes narrowed, "This one costs five taels."

The golden abacus in Bai Erlang’s hands was not made of solid gold but was copper-plated.

There were indeed solid gold abacuses available as well, but they had to be custom-made, and the owner wasn’t foolish enough to create such an item to sit unsold in the shop.

Otherwise, it would be a waste of labor costs, wouldn’t it?

This copper-plated abacus looked just like real gold, both beautiful and opulent, yet it wasn’t expensive.

It cost only five taels of silver.

The three each paid for their selections and entrusted Daji with the wrapped abacuses. Bai Erlang turned to leave, but Manbao and Bai Shanbao proceeded into the bookstore to look for books.

Having already reached the door, Bai Erlang turned back, annoyed that no one followed. In the quiet bookstore, he dared not grumble loudly and could only mutter, "Really, always looking for books, books, when there are already so many at home. Aren’t they enough?"

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