The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 500 - 489: I Leave it to You

Chapter 500: Chapter 489: I Leave it to You

All three brothers planned to follow Manbao’s suggestion to send their children to school, and Old Zhou naturally wouldn’t object.

Although he was the head of the family, if all his children made the same decision, he wouldn’t be too opposed to it.

He just didn’t want to pay for it himself.

However, he might not have contributed financially, but he agreed with Ms. Qian’s idea to divide the money within the family again.

Last night, not only did Zhou Dalang and his wife have a meeting, but Old Zhou and his wife also quietly talked for half the night.

The importance of education was clear just by looking at Manbao.

Before, did they recognize Ligusticum chuanxiong, or understand yams? Did they know how to plant ginger?

Not to mention selling wheat at a high price to Old Master Bai as seed.

Previously, they thought education could lead to becoming an official, a teacher, or an accountant, but they hadn’t realized it could have so many other benefits.

So deep down, Old Zhou also wanted to send the children in the family to school.

But there were just too many children in the family!

Not to mention those already present, they would have more, and he had two sons who weren’t wed yet.

If they set a precedent now, would they send the children born later?

If all were to go, the family didn’t have enough money for that.

Despite having nearly four hundred taels of silver, that amount was trivial when actually spent on education.

Besides, the number of children each had was different, and while there were no conflicts among them now, disputes could arise in the future, bringing up past grievances.

Even the smallest issues could lead to blows.

Ms. Qian also felt that it wasn’t right for the public funds to cover the expenses, so after discussing it with Old Zhou, she said, "Each household will have more expenses in the future; they can’t always take money from us. My idea is, this time we divide some money among them and then change the family rules a bit. From now on, aside from the agricultural output, each house keeps half of the money they earn and submits the other half."

After thinking it over, Old Zhou nodded in agreement.

So the next day, the entire Zhou Family heard the good news.

Manbao was so excited she could hardly contain herself and happily asked, "Dad, how much money will I get?"

"With all your money, why are you so happy?"

"I have a lot of money, but I like money too, everybody’s happy when they have more, right?"

Old Zhou thought about it and said, "Last night, your mother and I discussed it, and we’ll do it like last time: fifteen taels for each family of the eldest, Erlang, and Third, ten for Four, and five taels for each of you."

Everyone was thrilled.

Old Zhou cautioned, "Even though there’s money now, don’t spend it recklessly. There will be many expenses for the children’s schooling. You don’t need to buy books; let Manbao copy a few, and you can make do with those. However, you’ll need brushes, ink, and paper, and as for inkstones, two people can share one..."

Manbao interjected, "...Dad, with Datou and Daya also going to school, it will take me a long time to copy."

"What’s there to fear? The teacher won’t start lessons until after the Lantern Festival; there’s still more than ten days, right? You try first, and see how many books you can copy."

Manbao felt that her earlier thought about her father being generous was utterly wrong. How could she have thought that when he was clearly as stingy as ever?

She hmphed, turned her head away, and then said to Zhou Dalang and the others, "Big Brother, if you go to the county town, just buy the brushes and ink. I’ll buy the paper."

Manbao always bought her paper from the trading market—cheap and of good use, vastly more economical than buying from bookshops.

Therefore, she could always use paper as she wished.

After thinking it over, Zhou Dalang and the others said, "We might as well give you the money, and you take our nieces and nephews to buy it; we don’t understand this stuff."

Old Zhou immediately said, "Right, you take them, aren’t you familiar with the bookshop owner? Ask him to give you a discount; our family is buying so many things."

All of Manbao’s learning materials, except for the first time when Zhou Erlang carried them to the bookshop, were bought by her on her own subsequent visits.

Sometimes accompanied by Zhou SiLang, sometimes by Zhou WuLang and Zhou LiuLang, or she went with Bai Shanbao, but the choice of books, brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones was always hers to make.

So the Zhou Family had great confidence in her discernment and her ability to bargain in this regard.

It was mainly because the bookshop owner was always a learned man, and facing him, they couldn’t help feeling intimidated, weakening their ability to bargain by a third.

So, it was indeed better to be educated.

With education, no matter who you encountered, you could bargain with confidence.

Manbao herself didn’t mind the arrangement and when she received the money from her brothers and sisters-in-law, her eyes gleamed with an idea.

The next day, she took a stack of paper and a string of copper coins to find Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang, bursting with excitement as she asked them, "Do you want to copy books to sell?"

They were both very interested, "What books will we copy?"

"Just simple ones like the Thousand Character Classic and The Analects," Manbao said, "I’ve brought paper and money."

Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang didn’t lack money, but they were very intrigued by the prospect of earning money by copying books.

Manbao chuckled with delight, placing the paper on the desk, and said, "Twenty wen per book."

Bai Erlang nodded repeatedly, already snatching the paper, while Bai Shanbao knew how much a copy of the Thousand Character Classic sold for in the bookshop.

The cheapest hand-copied version sold for a hundred wen, not to mention those that looked printed; the best paper versions could go for three hundred wen.

Whether it was the former or the latter, Manbao’s price was almost as low as cabbages.

Bai Shanbao wasn’t happy, "That’s too little."

"It’s not too little; I don’t mind if there are ink spots in your books, nor if they’re not very neat, just as long as there aren’t any wrong characters."

Bai Shanbao reconsidered; from that perspective, the requirements did seem quite low.

Manbao, having inquired about the bookshop owner’s rules and prices for copying books, confidently told her two friends, "The bookshops have strict standards; the books can’t have any errors or ink spots, the layout has to be neat, and the handwriting good-looking..."

Manbao had once proudly copied several books for Mr. Zhuang and had wanted to take on some copying tasks from the bookshop for fun, but after seeing her handwriting, the bookshop owner ruthlessly turned her down.

In her own estimation, when it came to copying books, she was ahead of Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang, yet even she couldn’t get copying work from the owner—so they certainly would not.

Only she would use the books they copied.

However, she had her standards, "These are books for teaching and educating; you must copy them well, with no mistakes or omissions."

Bai Shanbao was persuaded and nodded, "Don’t worry, if there are any mistakes, we’ll just recopy them."

After all, they would copy page by page; if any page had errors, they could just discard it.

Manbao became excited and took out pens and ink from her own book box as well, "I’ll copy with you."

Bai Shanbao was curious, "What do you want with so many books?"

"For my nieces and nephews; they’re also going to attend school."

Bai Erlang couldn’t help but be surprised, "Isn’t that going to add another dozen people to that school?"

"Not so many, Five and Six can’t go, so it’s only about ’seven’."