The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 436 - 425: Making a Fortune

Chapter 436: Chapter 425: Making a Fortune

But does Old Master Bai know how to weigh?

Of course, he doesn’t. He has to use a dou measure!

Still immersed in excitement, Manbao had yet to notice the problem and was happily calling her brothers to bring out the chairs, stools, and the table. She was going to do the accounts in a moment.

Naturally, she was to do it with two little friends.

Old Zhou and Eldest Uncle Qian and the others understood immediately, but they didn’t feel too sorry. After all, Manbao had mentioned from the start that it was one hundred and fifty wen per dou.

They had no idea that Manbao had originally talked to Old Master Bai about weighing by the jin; if they knew, they would’ve been extremely upset.

As elders who paid tribute to the imperial court every year, they might be illiterate and not so good at arithmetic, but they knew the difference between measure by the dou and weighing by the jin.

In Manbao and Bai Shanbao’s eyes, calculating by the dou was much easier than by weight. Perhaps it’s because the numbers were smaller?

Anyway, it didn’t matter. The two of them sat there with their counting rods, working through the numbers reported to them, bewildering not only people like Qian Dalang, but also Zhou Dalang and the others.

A single thought crossed their minds, "Our Manbao has really made something of herself..."

Old Zhou peered over for a while and didn’t understand, but he could read Mr. Zhuang’s expressions. Seeing his gratified look, he knew his daughter hadn’t made a mistake.

He glanced at Manbao, then turned to look at the accountant sitting on the other side. Old Zhou’s tears almost started to fall.

Being an accountant, that was what her father had wanted for her.

Zhou Dalang didn’t think as much, since his younger uncle, who was younger than him, had many dreams as a kid, changing them almost daily and at the very least every other day. How could he remember them all?

However, he quite liked the idea of his son becoming an accountant. So, he nudged Datou and his two brothers forward, instructing them to carefully watch Manbao use the counting rods and whispering, "Take a good look, when your aunt teaches you later, learn it well. When you’re grown up, you can become an accountant."

The Zhou family’s wheat harvest really wasn’t much, even with the twenty-eight bags of wheat chosen by the Qian family; it still wasn’t a lot.

More so, the bags of wheat brought by the Qian family were smaller, which made the measuring even quicker.

Manbao and Bai Shanbao quickly added up the total, with Manbao saying, "The total comes to one hundred and eighty thousand, two thousand eight hundred and eighty wen."

Old Zhou’s pipe almost flew out of his hand.

Old Master Bai had just looked over the wheat seeds provided by the Zhou family and saw that they were all pretty good. Each dou they measured, and each dou they poured into the bags, while quick, appeared full and plump to his experienced eyes in the grain business.

Moreover, he had carefully compared the new wheat variety with what they were currently growing. He found the new wheat to be slightly rounder. On its own, it wasn’t noticeable, and no one would see the difference right away when putting them together, but after a close comparison, it was evident.

Having looked over many, and paying close attention, he would not mistake them.

Assured that the Zhou family had provided good quality new wheat without deception, Old Master Bai smiled and nodded, asking Manbao, "So how much silver should I give you?"

Meanwhile, his accountant had already figured out the silver, clearly just waiting for her response. Once both parties confirmed the figures were correct, they could sign and settle the accounts.

Manbao smiled pleasingly at Mr. Zhuang and then presented the counting rods to him.

Old Zhou was taken aback and quietly asked Manbao, "Why don’t you do the calculations yourself?"

"Dad, I haven’t learned that yet."

Old Zhou nodded and advised her, "Then you work hard at learning," he lowered his voice, "Learn all the skills from Mr. Zhuang. Even if you can’t become an accountant, you can still be a lady boss."

Manbao nodded in agreement, "Dad, when the time comes, I’ll let you be the boss!"

Old Zhou: "...No, there’s no need for that. Let your husband do it, instead."

Manbao was confused, "Who’s my husband?"

Old Zhou: ...He regretted a bit. Why did he bring up this topic?

Old Zhou turned around, saw Zhou Xi, and immediately called out, "Xi, come and take your sister away." That way, he also resolved the tricky question.

Mr. Zhuang had finished the calculation, smiling as he said, "One hundred and fifty-two taels, with a balance of four hundred and forty-four wen."

The servants brought the silver over, and the eyes of Old Zhou, Eldest Uncle Qian, and the others nearly popped out. They had lived for so long and yet this was the first time they had seen so much money.

This was only from growing one season’s wheat; how could it bring in so much money?

Everyone swallowed hard, and by the time they came back to their senses, Manbao had already sent Old Master Bai and the others out, with the Bai family’s servants carrying all the grain piled in the courtyard onto the mules and ox carts to take away.

It was lunchtime, when the sun was at its highest. Old Master Bai didn’t want to stand under the sun a moment longer, so he shielded his eyes from the sun with one hand, while waving goodbye to Manbao with the other.

Villagers passing by saw them and stood aside, curious. Then they asked Manbao, whom they knew well, "What’s going on with your family here?"

Manbao replied cheerfully, "We’re selling wheat seeds."

"Oh," said the villager with a knowing wink, "did your mother agree to the exchange?"

Manbao just smiled without responding; her mother had said that when you don’t want to answer a question, just smile.

Taking that as understanding, the villager happily went home, thinking it was too hot to stay out and better to have something to eat and drink. They’d come out in the evening when it was cooler to chat.

Manbao, too, said goodbye to Bai Shanbao, "I’ll head back first. You and Bai Er count the silver and I’ll come find you this afternoon."

"Sure, go ahead."

Manbao happily ran back home.

Old Zhou and the rest were fretting over the silver when they saw Manbao enter and immediately waved her over, "Manbao, come quickly, we don’t know how much each family’s share is, how should we divide this?"

Manbao replied, "I know!"

She picked out the bags that didn’t belong to her family and had each family claim their own.

Eldest Uncle Qian scraped together twelve bags, eyes fixed hopefully on Manbao.

For convenience in remembering, Old Zhou and the others had deliberately placed each family’s bags together. Only after the wheat for one family was weighed did Zhou Silang and the others carry the next family’s bags forward.

Therefore, Manbao only needed to glance at the number of bags to know which figure belonged to which family just by counting from the back.

Last in line was Third Uncle’s family. He had brought seven bags. Manbao simply added the last seven figures, summing up the amount at the end.

Manbao said, "Third Uncle’s is nine thousand four hundred and fifty wen. For the silver, let me do the calculation..."

She wasn’t too good at dividing such large numbers, but she could first subtract one thousand two hundred wen, jot down a one on paper, then subtract one thousand two hundred wen again, write another one...

Until it could no longer be subtracted by one thousand two hundred wen, what remained was the copper coins and the converted silver.

Though intricate, her method was accurate.

Manbao announced, "That would be seven taels, with a balance of one thousand and fifty wen."

Third Uncle Qian felt something was amiss, "Nine thousand, isn’t that nine diao of money? That should be nine taels, right?"

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