The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 448 - 437

Chapter 448: 437

Qili Village is remote, and currently, no grain traders have come here to buy wheat, so Old Zhou has no idea what the current purchase price for wheat in the countryside is.

But he knew how much the grain shops charged because his daughter had just mentioned it to him last night.

Therefore, he thought wheat priced ten Wen less per dou than the grain shops was really cheap; it was a fair price indeed.

So, crossing over his aged wife, he shook Bai Shanbao’s hand with gratitude and said, "It is the young master who is kind-hearted, indeed."

He had originally wanted to ask why Old Master Bai still transported wheat from Longzhou and if it wasn’t their own wheat... but he had forgotten that question.

In Old Zhou’s mind, though Bai Manor and the Bai Family were two separate houses, they were actually one and the same.

Since Old Madam Liu’s side had no adult males, they naturally had to rely on Old Master Bai, so whatever Bai Shanbao said at his home was as if it came from Old Master Bai.

Old Zhou couldn’t help but sigh to himself, feeling that Old Master Bai was indeed a good man, considering they had just made such a large sum of money from him.

With this in mind, Old Zhou immediately said, "Young master, when you go back, tell Old Master Bai that if he still wants to buy our wheat for seeds after the summer harvest, I will give him a better price."

"No way!" Bai Shanbao and Manbao exclaimed in unison.

Both said at the same time, "Father (Uncle), how can you cut the price?"

"What?" Old Zhou was taken aback. He could understand his daughter’s opposition, but why would the young master of the Bai Family also oppose it? Shouldn’t he be on the same side as Old Master Bai?

Ms. Qian glanced at him helplessly. Even now, didn’t he understand that Bai Shan and Old Master Bai were from two different households?

Manbao said, "Dad, if you cut the price, what will happen to our farm? We are family; you can’t do this."

Bai Shanbao nodded in agreement.

Old Zhou looked blankly at Bai Shanbao. He was family with Manbao, but wasn’t the young master family with Old Master Bai?

Wasn’t he doing this to sell Old Master Bai a favor through the young master?

Why would the young master of the Bai Family oppose it?

Even after seeing them out the front door, Old Zhou was still a bit perplexed.

Bai Shanbao even secretly said to Manbao, "We are in this together; your home cannot cut the price."

"Don’t worry," Manbao said: "I’ll make sure to keep an eye on my father. Even when I’m not home, my mother is there."

Bai Shanbao, who had confidence in Manbao, finally waved his hand and took his leave, saying, "Alright then, I’ll be going home. I have class tomorrow; I need to go back and do some preparatory reading."

Manbao straightened up, thinking that in a moment she needed to return to her room to study as well.

After the master and servant had gone far, Old Zhou suddenly remembered a crucial question he hadn’t asked, "Manbao, did you agree with the young master on how many bags of wheat to buy?"

Old Zhou muttered to himself, "Actually, the wheat will be harvested in another month, but if Old Master Bai buys wheat seeds from our family again... that’s actually not bad. Looking at this month, it doesn’t seem like there will be heavy floods. The wheat ears are starting to fill, and a little drought wouldn’t have much impact, especially since it just rained the other day..."

"So at that time, it’ll be okay to buy some grain directly from the villagers," Old Zhou counted on his fingers the days until the summer harvest, not very good at other calculations, but when it came to the family’s food supply, his reaction was much quicker than Manbao’s, and he said, "Mix in some bran, and two hemp bags will be enough..."

Upon hearing this, Manbao immediately shouted, "I don’t want buns mixed with bran!"

Datou and the other children immediately gathered around and also chorused, "Grandpa, Grandpa, I don’t want to eat that either."

The noise was unbearable, like hundreds of chickens clucking right beside his ears, and Old Zhou waved his hands in disgust, "Alright, alright, if you don’t want to eat it, then we’ll buy three hemp bags."

The children were delighted upon hearing this, and so were the adults. With so much money just earned by the family, how could they consider mixing bran?

However, Old Zhou turned to Ms. Qian and asked, "I don’t know if eldest brother and the others want to buy wheat. Since we still have enough freshly-ground flour to last a few days, why don’t we ask when sister-in-law comes over tomorrow?"

Ms. Qian nodded, "Okay."

Old Zhou then looked down at Manbao with a radiant smile and said gently, "Manbao, could you speak to the young master, ask him to hold onto the wheat for us a couple more days without selling it outside? Perhaps our family will buy a few more bags."

Manbao agreed, since in Qili Village, Bai Shanbao’s wheat wouldn’t sell anyway.

If sold to the grain merchants of Luojiang County, it seemed like he would make a loss.

Old Zhou brightened at this, stroking Manbao’s head as he sighed, "Our Manbao is getting more and more capable."

Manbao and the entire Zhou family nodded in agreement, for she felt she was indeed becoming more formidable, and in the future, she would become even more so.

Because from what Mr. Zhuang hinted at today, their studying from now on would probably be as intense as the strong winds of summer and autumn, and the biting cold of winter and spring.

Sigh—

Once inside, Old Zhou had people close the front gate.

Zhou Sanlang and Zhou Silang were bewildered as they shut the gate. The sun was just about to set, and it was still broad daylight. Why were they closing the gate during the day?

With the door closed, Old Zhou, as the head of the household, took his usual place on the threshold of the main house. Whenever there was a family meeting, this spot was essentially his alone.

Ms. Qian didn’t like sitting on the threshold. She preferred sitting on a stool. Manbao dragged a small stool and sat beside her mother.

Even though he had agreed, Old Zhou felt a pang of heartache when the moment came.

But seeing his wife and daughter with shining eyes turned towards him, and the bewildered gazes of his sons and grandchildren below, Old Zhou tapped his smoking pipe authoritatively and announced, "Eldest, go get the silver we just exchanged."

"Oh," Zhou Dalang went into his parents’ room, confused, and saw that the basket he had carried on his back was still placed properly on the ground, with the silver untouched inside.

Zhou Dalang vaguely sensed something was amiss but still carried the basket out.

Old Zhou instructed him to take out the silver wrapped in cloth.

Zhou Dalang obediently placed it in front of his father.

Old Zhou opened the cloth package, revealing a pile of silver ingots that had doubled in number but halved in size.

Old Zhou had exchanged all twelve-tael ingots for five-tael ones.

He felt that his family would rarely need the ten-tael ingots.

Even though they had seen it several times, the Zhou family couldn’t help but be dazzled by the silver, all thinking the same thought: our family is truly wealthy now.

Yet, Old Zhou thought to himself that he would soon be out of money; indeed, money just didn’t stay put in his hands.

No, it was in his wife’s hands that money couldn’t stay put!

Old Zhou mused, "I’ve discussed it with your mother, and there is no point in keeping so much money with us, and you’ve all already established your own households..."

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