The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 433 - 422: Measuring Up

Chapter 433: Chapter 422: Measuring Up

After Manbao said goodbye to everyone with her small book box on her back and ran off excitedly, Eldest Uncle Qian finally withdrew his gaze and asked Old Zhou, "What was that farm Erlang just mentioned?"

"Oh, Manbao and her two classmates set it up; our family provided twenty acres of land and a mountain for them to manage." Old Zhou paused and then said, "Young Master Bai from the Bai Family contributed a hundred acres of land."

Eldest Uncle Qian asked, "So was it Manbao who decided on this business of selling wheat seeds?"

Old Zhou nodded but didn’t mention to Eldest Uncle Qian that the three children had also collected all the village’s wheat.

Eldest Uncle Qian couldn’t help but sigh, "This child really resembles her father."

Manbao’s nominal father: ...

Third Uncle Qian, however, said, "She’s much more remarkable than her father. At this age, her father would at most be climbing trees to steal bird eggs or fishing in the river. How could he have managed to secure such a big deal?"

Manbao’s lineage was no secret in Qili Village, nor was it a secret in the Qian Family.

Could their own great-aunt’s pregnancy be unknown to them?

However, no one in Qian Family Village knew about it since Zhou Yin returned so abruptly and for a short period, and the Qian Family hadn’t yet managed to spread the word.

Today, not only were the members of the Zhou Family and Qian Family restless, but the three children were also fidgety as if there were needles under their bottoms.

Sitting in front of their desks, they couldn’t help but stick their heads out to peek outside.

Mr. Zhuang was sitting nearby, engrossed in a book, seemingly unaware of the children’s distraction.

The three children looked at Mr. Zhuang and then looked at him again. Seeing no reaction from their teacher, they all pouted.

Manbao lowered her head to find her words somewhat distorted, making her mood even worse.

She threw aside the smudged characters and sulkily began to grind the ink stick again before picking up her pen to continue practicing her calligraphy.

She wrote several characters that were less than satisfactory, but gradually, her heart calmed down, and she stopped thinking about the wheat seeds.

As her heart settled, her facial expression softened, her eyes became brighter, her movements steadier, and her words improved.

Bai Shanbao was even more unsettled, taking much longer to calm down. Compared to them, Bai Erlang seemed quite normal.

He was always a bit restless, and today was no exception. But after realizing Mr. Zhuang would ignore them as usual, clearly not allowing them to attend early classes or leave if their writing was unsatisfactory, Bai Erlang settled into his practice almost at the usual pace and slowly began to write.

After a while, Mr. Zhuang finally put down his book, nodding non-stop at the three children immersed in their writing.

Not bad, not bad, Mr. Zhuang thought, satisfied as he picked up his book again.

Once the three children had completed their writing task for the day, Mr. Zhuang said, "You may recite your morning lesson now. I’ll check your recitations later. We won’t start any new lessons today. After the morning class, take your paper, pen, and counting rods to Bai Manor. You’ll try to conduct this business with the counting rods today."

The three children stood up in unison to reply, then sat down to pull out their textbooks.

They not only had to preview the text before Mr. Zhuang’s lecture, but also repeatedly read and understand it during the class, complete related assignments afterward, and review it.

So basically, by the end of the class, Bai Shanbao and Manbao could almost memorize the text. Usually after dinner, they would only need to read it a few more times to have it down pat.

Bai Shanbao also made time to read many extracurricular books and occasionally sneaked a peek at the storybooks secretly purchased from the town;

Whereas Manbao spent time before bed in the classroom to study medicine, keeping her schedule fully packed.

But memorization was not difficult for them.

Mr. Zhuang was aware of this, so he usually let them off after a single recitation. By comparison, Bai Er suffered more.

Not only did he have to memorize, but Mr. Zhuang would occasionally interrupt him to extract definitions and wait for his answers before allowing him to continue his recitation.

This was a significant ordeal for Bai Er.

Being interrupted while memorizing a book made it hard to pick up where he left off and keep going!!!

But since the opening of the small classroom, such events happened now and then, and Bai Erlang had gotten used to it.

Although his heart still soared with anxiety whenever he was singled out to stand up, he was no longer as fearful as he was at the beginning.

If he couldn’t answer, then so be it; if he couldn’t memorize, then so be it; if all else failed, he could always cry quietly afterward.

Bai Shanbao and Manbao were sympathetic towards him, so they frequently helped him outside of class and offered many useful tips for quick memorization.

Of course, this was Manbao’s initiative because Bai Shanbao said, "Just read it a few more times and you’ll memorize it."

Although Manbao shared this view, she had Keke with her, and a quick search in the encyclopedia provided many tips on the subject, clearly showing that Bai Erlang wasn’t the only one struggling.

So Manbao thoughtfully spent a few points to borrow this information and then copied it down with her pen.

She felt the content was straightforward and there was no need to purchase a whole book—just a few points would be very expensive.

Bai Shanbao also looked over the various methods for quick memorization that Manbao had copied down, thereby devising several similar or new methods of his own.

After three months of testing together, they found there indeed was a certain effect.

It was unclear if it helped Bai Er, but they felt they could memorize things a bit faster.

Even though the improvement was only slight.

After concluding the (not so) casual check on Bai Er, Mr. Zhuang generously waved his hand and said, "Take your counting rods, let’s go."

The three cheered quietly, packed their textbooks and writing materials into their small book box, and left.

When they arrived at Bai Manor, Old Master Bai was already there ahead of time, and Manor Head Bai was present, too; he was directing two laborers and Bai Family servants to move the wheat out of the house.

Old Master Bai asked the three children, "Are you planning to weigh the wheat or to measure it using a bushel?"

The three children replied in unison, "We will follow your lead."

Old Master Bai smiled and said, "If I were doing business with someone else, I would naturally measure by the bushel, but with you children, alright, I’ll be generous today and do half by weight and half by the bushel; it’s much more convenient."

The three children didn’t understand how this was more convenient.

Bai Erlang was even more confused, "Father, didn’t you say last night that measuring by the bushel was troublesome and agreed to use the scales for us?"

Old Master Bai laughed and said, "Did I? I can’t seem to remember. Is it written in the contract?"

The three children were taken aback; although it wasn’t written in the contract, hadn’t they discussed it just like that the night before?

All three were puzzled; could they have all remembered wrong?

Mr. Zhuang looked at them and said, "This is your first assignment for today. Your contract states twelve and a half wen per catty and also notes that one bushel equals 150 wen, so should you go by the bushel, or should you weigh it?"

The three children scratched their heads, perplexed, and asked, "Is there a difference?"