The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 530 - 519 Journey to Yizhou

Chapter 530: Chapter 519 Journey to Yizhou

Farmers grow a lot of beans in their fields, which can be used for cooking vegetables and making bean rice. Of course, most of the time, they are sold to grain merchants.

Beans are a very important feed, loved by both cattle and horses, especially horses. Good fodder usually includes some beans.

That’s why the beans from Old Zhou’s family were mostly sold to grain merchants in the past.

However, ever since Junior Ms. Qian learned how to make tofu, the family seldom sold their beans. Additionally, villagers would occasionally exchange beans for tofu with them, so their home never lacked beans.

Originally, having Zhou Erlang sell tofu in the town made for good business. Now, with a shop directly opened in town, making tofu became even more convenient. Moreover, Junior Ms. Qian learned several tofu recipes from Manbao and modified some on her own, resulting in a variety of tofu dishes that became a specialty of Qian’s Restaurant.

Beans are inexpensive, and aside from requiring labor and time, making tofu is more cost-effective than other dishes.

But what the Zhou family doesn’t lack now is labor and time.

After a while, Zhou Dalang noticed that the shop needed a large amount of tofu and bean flower daily, so he decided to buy a stone mill to place in the backyard of the shop. Early in the morning, he and Zhou Liulang could take turns grinding the beans.

Occasionally, if they ran out of tofu after lunch, they could make more in the afternoon. This was more convenient than carrying the beans to the mill at the end of the street and having to pay for it.

County Magistrate Yang really liked their family’s tofu and various kinds of tofu. As a result, Qian’s Restaurant gradually established a reputation in the county town.

The customer flow gradually stabilized.

Junior Ms. Qian and Zhou Xi grew increasingly adept at running the shop. When Zhou Dalang returned home for the busy farming season, Junior Ms. Qian and Zhou Xi, along with Zhou Liulang, were able to keep the shop afloat.

Plus, Datou and the older kids would occasionally help out during their breaks, which made the shop less busy.

Speaking seriously, the busiest might actually be Mr. Zhuang and Bai Shanbao in the entirety of Qili Village.

Mr. Zhuang is now busy with new students and increasing Bai Shanbao’s workload.

Manbao is also busy, but her busyness is less visible. Though Mr. Zhuang still assigns her the same coursework as Bai Shanbao, he doesn’t give her as much homework, so she appears relaxed on the surface.

Unfortunately, Teacher Mo assigns her a lot of homework.

In the past, she would find half an hour to attend classes in the teaching room before sleeping, and reviewing medical books during the day was enough, with the homework being done as she wished or not done at all.

But for some reason, Teacher Mo suddenly accelerated her pace. Being assigned homework by the teacher, she would feel guilty if she didn’t do it,

Manbao sighed and learned medical arts, also extremely busy.

By the end of the year, Datou, Daya, Second Son, and Erya formally graduated from school. They had learned to use the abacus and simple bookkeeping at school.

Old Zhou felt they had learned enough to be useful, and Datou and the others felt the same, mainly because the teacher had mentioned that they had finished the Classic of Poetry and needed to consider studying The Great Learning next year. They had flipped through their little aunt’s textbook and felt dizzy listening to her talk about what they needed to learn for The Great Learning. All four firmly agreed with Grandpa.

Therefore, the four of them formally graduated from school, joined by a few classmates who had also studied for four or five years. Without aspirations for the imperial examination, the knowledge they had acquired over the years was sufficient for their needs.

Old Zhou called his grandchildren together. After watching them operate the abacus, he stroked his beard in satisfaction and had them take turns helping out in the shop, mainly with collecting money and bookkeeping.

Especially Datou and Second Son, he said, "Once you get the hang of it in our own shop, go find work in accounting. After spending two years, at least you’ve learned a trade to establish yourselves in life."

Erya excitedly asked, "What about us, Grandpa?"

"You girls can help your mother manage the household accounts," he replied.

Hearing this while learning to make a bunny with Second Brother, Manbao immediately spoke up, "Dad, Erya could help Mother with the accounts."

Old Zhou waved his hand and said, "That’s not necessary, you’re still here, aren’t you?"

"But I’m going to Yizhou after the spring. The family will have a lot of expenses then, and if I’m not home, can Mother keep the accounts straight?"

Old Zhou almost choked on his smoke, "What, you’re going to Yizhou?"

"Yes," Manbao replied, "After the spring, Teacher will take Shanbao to Yizhou to take the academy exam."

She said excitedly, "Teacher mentioned that he’d take me and Bai Er to see the world too."

"Why didn’t you tell me sooner?"

"The teacher just told me today, and I was planning to tell you tonight." Manbao brought up the subject back to the accounts and said, "Dad, although there will be more expenses after the spring, there’s also a substantial amount of money coming in every month from my Sister-in-law’s place, so it’d be better to keep track of it. Let Erya help Mother with that."

"Alright," Old Zhou didn’t pay much attention to this matter; he was concerned about his daughter going to Yizhou and felt worried, "Yizhou is so far away, there’s no need to go there just to see the world, is there?"

Ms. Qian came out of the house upon hearing this; she had overheard the conversation and glanced at Old Zhou before asking Manbao, "How long will this trip take?"

"I don’t know. The teacher said the academy exam is in April, and we will leave in March to get accustomed to the place beforehand. After the exams, we plan to travel around and probably won’t return until the autumn," Manbao answered.

"That long? I can’t be at ease with you going alone," Ms. Qian said.

Zhou Liulang immediately raised his hand, "Dad, Dad, let me go with her."

Old Zhou glared at him, "Stay put. You’re coming back to get married. If you go off with your sister for half a year, are you still planning on getting married?"

"I’m only seventeen, there’s no rush."

"After the New Year, you’ll be eighteen!"

Zhou Liulang: "...Dad, my birthday is just a few days after Manbao’s; can’t we not add a year before turning?"

Old Zhou snorted, "You’ll get back to the county town tomorrow to help your elder sister. You see, your heart grows in strange ways. Fifth Brother was already thinking of saving money for a wife at thirteen or fourteen, but you, nearly eighteen or nineteen, still don’t want to find a wife..."

"Dad, you just said I’ll be eighteen after the New Year, so how come I’m nineteen now?"

"Nominal age, do you know what that is?"

Zhou Liulang, who had just turned seventeen less than two months ago: ...He hated nominal ages the most.

Manbao giggled with joy.

Old Zhou looked at her earnestly and said, "Manbao, you’re not young anymore, you can’t run around like you used to. Maybe you should skip this trip to Yizhou."

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