The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 531 - 520: Regrets (Added content for all readers, including ’SiQingLanYu’, who contributed to the alliance leader)

Chapter 531: Chapter 520: Regrets (Added content for all readers, including ’SiQingLanYu’, who contributed to the alliance leader)

Manbao said, "Dad, it’s precisely because I’m not young anymore that I want to go out and see the world. I’m all grown up now, so please don’t worry."

She comforted her father, "This time I will have a tutor, Bai Shanbao, Bai Erlang, and Daji accompanying me, so there won’t be any problems on the road."

Old Zhou fretted, "How much money will this trip cost? A poor family has to have enough money for the road, and we must ensure that you have enough money to take with you."

"Dad, just be at ease, I have money."

Seeing her not being frugal with money, Old Zhou immediately found another excuse, "That won’t do either. I don’t feel at ease with you, a young girl, following them around everywhere."

Zhou Liulang just gazed at Manbao expectantly.

Manbao pointed at him and said, "Let Sixth Brother go with me."

"That won’t do, we can’t delay Sixth Brother’s marriage."

"There’s also me," Zhou Silang was eager to try, "Dad, let me go and look after Manbao."

Old Zhou gave him a stern look. Sixth could be excused for his youth and inconstancy, but he was already a father. How could he still be so reckless?

Old Zhou snorted disdainfully, "If you left, what if your mother and I fell ill and needed to be treated?"

"We have old doctor," said Manbao. "I just saw old doctor the day before yesterday, and he’s still quite vigorous."

After Lu Zhi entered their life, Manbao had copied their family’s two thin medical books, keeping one for herself and returning the original with a copy to their family.

During her exchanges with old doctor, Manbao generously copied her own medical books and presented a copy to old doctor as well.

The library in the academy would print them according to the typesetting and text of this world whenever they were copied for a fee.

It was just a pity that her Keke wasn’t a system for collecting books; otherwise, she could have had Keke collect all the books in this world and print them through the system. As long as she had the points, she could have as many copies as she wanted.

Just thinking about it was exciting.

The old doctor, upon receiving the books, seemed to rejuvenate by five years. The man who looked as though he was on his deathbed suddenly got his appetite back, became spirited, and moved with more agility.

So Manbao figured there wouldn’t be a problem at all for her family to consult old doctor if they got sick.

Because in the matter of treating illnesses, she might not be better than old doctor, even though she seemed to have read more medical books and seen more diseases in them.

Old Zhou came up with many reasons but finally sighed in exasperation when he couldn’t persuade his daughter to stay.

At night, Ms. Qian quietly asked him, "Did you agree to let the child go?"

Old Zhou was very sorrowful, "Do I have a choice not to agree?"

Ms. Qian didn’t speak.

Old Zhou sighed and said, "In the past, I always thought that since the child is well-behaved, I would indulge her in everything. Later, because she was smart and then because she took care of every big and small issue in the house, we continued to indulge her. Now, she’s very assertive. If I say she can’t go, would she listen to me?"

If it were any other child, they probably wouldn’t have been able to leave his control, but Manbao was not only smart, she also had money, and a lot of it. Where couldn’t she go if she decided to?

Thinking this, Old Zhou immediately asked Ms. Qian, "Has Manbao told you how much money she has?"

"No, what’s the matter?"

"You should ask her," Old Zhou said, frowning, "I’ve been thinking, this trip will cost two people’s money. The child has always been a big spender, and she just bought a shop last year. I’m afraid she doesn’t have that much money, so should we give her some?"

Old Zhou wasn’t good at math, but Ms. Qian was. She didn’t calculate anything else, just how much money Manbao had contributed to the family this year, and knew how much she must have earned herself.

By calculating the more expensive things she bought, like books, ink, flutes, and so on, one could tell how much money she would have left by the end of the year.

Ms. Qian felt that the amount of money in her hands couldn’t be much less than what they, the old couple, had.

But she didn’t tell Old Zhou that.

After thinking for a long while, Old Zhou finally said, "Let Four go with her. Sixth is too young and might not be able to hold his own while traveling. We can’t manage without Eldest and Two at home, Three is too honest, and Five, well, his wife is pregnant. After consideration, Four is the most suitable choice."

Ms. Qian nodded in agreement.

Having decided who would accompany her, Old Zhou reluctantly closed his eyes and said, "Let’s take out twenty taels from our names to give them to take along and tell them to spend it frugally. Right, you must remind Four that he should not let Manbao spend all the money when they’re out. He should also bring some money of his own..."

Ms. Qian made note of each item and laughed, "Don’t worry, Four is not a child anymore, he knows what to do."

Relieved, Old Zhou let Manbao happily run off to tell Bai Shanbao and the others the good news.

Ms. Qian then remembered to ask, "What about the school, now that Mr. Zhuang is gone?"

"Old Master Bai has hired a teacher to fill in; the teacher said his friend has good knowledge and the annual salary will remain the same. He told Three and the others to continue attending classes as usual." Manbao had her regrets too: "It’s a pity the teacher will take away all the books from the small courtyard, and we won’t be able to go there to read and do homework anymore."

The new teacher, surnamed Liu, happened to share the surname with Old Madam Bai. He arrived early, coming on the seventeenth day of the first month, right after the new year. Mr. Zhuang then familiarized him with the children in school, and once he was fully capable of taking over, Mr. Zhuang devoted all his attention to teaching Bai Shanbao and the two others.

Especially Bai Shanbao, who had to read so many books and write so much homework every day, that it nearly made him question his existence.

Previously he thought he had read quite a few books, but when Mr. Zhuang listed a catalog of books for him and he gathered them from his home’s library or the bookshops in the county, he realized how many books he hadn’t read after seeing their unfamiliar content.

Manbao read along with him.

So before the New Year had passed, Manbao’s money was spent, turning into books that filled the shelves in her room.

In the past three or four years, Manbao had added quite a few books to her shelf, and Zhou ErLang made her two new four-tiered bamboo shelves, which could be placed directly alongside each other.

As a result, the bamboo screen in the room became unnecessary. The shelves themselves divided the inner and outer chamber.

For Bai Shanbao, learning was now a mixture of joy and suffering. For Manbao, it was simply joy because she didn’t have to write many essays after reading nor did she have to memorize everything word for word; she just noted the main points and cast aside the rest.

With her as a contrast, and Bai Erlang nearby, who could even slack off in the study, Bai Shanbao was terribly miserable.

At night, he couldn’t help wiping his eyes before sleep, regretting his decision to agree to the tutor’s proposition of taking the prefectural school’s exam this year. He had originally said he could wait until he was fourteen, and he’s only twelve now. Why was he in such a hurry to take the exam?

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