The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 726 - 715: Granting Favor

Chapter 726: Chapter 715: Granting Favor

Gao Clan gave a wry smile, "We don’t have that kind of money."

"Then earn it," Manbao said smoothly, "That’s why I came here, to bring it up with Second Brother Chen and the others."

"Fourth Brother Zhou is very grateful to Second Brother Chen and the others for saving him," Bai Shan interjected, "He’s been thinking these past few days about how to repay you all, knowing that now is the slack season in farming and you’ve just divided up the land and moved homes, probably at the time when you most need work."

Gao Clan and the two sisters-in-law couldn’t help but brighten up, nodding repeatedly.

Bai Shan smiled and said, "As it happens, Fourth Brother Zhou transports grain for the County Governmental Office, so he’s planning to hire you all to transport the wheat bought by the office, you can earn at least two or three hundred wen for a trip."

The eyes of the three members of the Gao Clan shone even brighter, their faces becoming somewhat excited.

They were a little anxious, "Such an important task, can they handle it?"

Manbao glanced at Bai Shan and reassured them, "It’s just driving the cart and moving things, it’s not complicated."

She paused before adding, "As for the robbery, you don’t need to worry about that either, County Magistrate Tang is already investigating it. The wheat seeds were for transport to the County Governmental Office, and even if we were willing to let it go, Lord Tang would find those people, so there’s no need to worry about such things happening on the road again."

Such major decisions, the three women of the Gao Clan couldn’t make on their own, they needed to wait for Chen Erlang and the others to return.

But they were tempted, and naturally inclined to speak on behalf of Manbao and her associates.

Gao Clan felt it wasn’t appropriate to sit at the entrance, so she invited Manbao and the others to come inside to talk, and then she stayed back to entertain the two guests, while the two sisters-in-law ran out to find people, to share the good news with them.

There weren’t a few people who went to chop wood with Chen Erlang; that’s why they went so far to chop wood and happened to stumble upon Zhou SiLang.

Today, the three brothers wanted to take care of the wheat in the field, to cover it with some warm straw and the like.

This straw was found by themselves, actually sneaked, a handful stolen from this family’s pile, a handful from another, and little by little, it was enough.

After all, they didn’t have land in the past, let alone rice paddies.

Having just laid the straw over the field, they went to find some of the less desirable branches to cut, stripped them of leaves, and took them home to dry.

The weather was about to get colder, and once winter arrived, the price of firewood would rise slightly—by then all these would be something to sell.

Since returning from fleeing last year, they had relied on chopping wood, working for others, and doing odd jobs during busy farming seasons to earn some food and pocket money.

But knowing they were refugees, their wages were always pressed very low.

In Yizhou City, the price for a laborer ranged from forty-five to fifty-five wen, but when it came to them, the foremen and shopkeepers would only be willing to give thirty wen at most.

Some people even pressed the price to fifteen or twenty wen.

That was just about enough for the daily food and drink for their family, leaving barely any surplus.

All things considered, Chen Erlang and his brothers still liked winter the best—at least the income from chopping wood was higher.

But they also hated winter the most, it was too cold, they lacked thick clothes, and the quilts were stiff; without moving during the day they would be cold, and once they moved they would quickly become hungry, and at night lying in bed, there wasn’t a hint of warmth.

However, Chen Erlang and his brothers felt that life wasn’t too bad at the moment, at least they had new houses and land, didn’t they? Another half year of enduring, once the new wheat was harvested, life would surely get a bit better.

While they were thinking this way, the children from home came running, having heard that people from Zhou Family had come. The three brothers immediately carried their firewood home and on their way back, met their wives who had come out to find people.

After hearing the explanation from the two women, Chen Erlang and his companions exchanged glances and asked, "Are they really asking us to transport grain?"

"They certainly are," Chen Sanlang’s wife exclaimed excitedly, "Although the two who spoke look young, didn’t you guys say that the little doctor is quite impressive? So what she says should count, right?"

Chen Erlang pondered for a moment and said, "Let’s go, let’s get back and see."

"Second Uncle," Chen Sanlang’s wife quickly asked, "Are you accepting or not?"

"Of course we’re accepting, why wouldn’t we agree to such a good job opportunity?"

Chen Sanlang’s wife breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "I was afraid you felt it wasn’t right to ask for help while having someone’s favor over us."

"What’s not right about it? Being able to survive is a success; having a good life is even better," Chen Sanlang said.

Chen Erlang also nodded, so if the Zhou Family was to give them anything, they would certainly not refuse, they’d take it all.

Naturally, they would not decline the job opportunity that was offered to them, and indeed, they were very grateful.

Especially when Chen Erlang saw the medicinal herbs for Gao Clan among the gifts brought by Manbao, he immediately dropped to his knees in front of her.

Manbao immediately reached out to help him up but missed, and could only look towards Bai Shan.

Bai Shan stepped forward to assist, and together with Manbao, they helped him up, smiling, "The illness of Second Sister-in-law was supposed to get better with just a couple more weeks of medicine; Manbao has had it on her mind too, so no need for such gestures, Second Brother Chen."

Chen Erlang said, "I know, Doctor Zhou is a person of good heart, my wife mentioned it earlier. Of all the doctors in the many tents, you’re the only one who was willing to keep providing follow-up consults and acupuncture."

Not to mention that even after the free clinic ended, she gave free acupuncture to Gao Clan.

Chen Erlang said excitedly, "Doctor Zhou, rest assured, the three of us brothers will definitely guard the grains well."

Manbao laughed and said, "I’m naturally confident about that, by the way, the others who were with you that day were...?"

"Oh, they’re all our brothers. We’re somewhat related from the upper and lower villages. When times of strife came, we fled together, and when we returned, we did so collectively. By chance, Lord Tang allocated us to the same village during the division, so we often go to chop wood together."

Manbao then laughed and said, "What my Fourth Brother means is that you should call all these people together, we have nothing more to offer, only to find some work for you to do. If you make a name for yourselves, you might even find better jobs in the city later."

Chen Erlang immediately bowed to give thanks, "Many thanks to Doctor Zhou and Master Zhou Si for thinking of us."

"Please, don’t be like that, we should be thanking you for saving my Fourth Brother. Besides, we’ve brought some rice and flour, it’s a little token from my Fourth Brother. You distribute it to each household. It’s getting late, we won’t go and meet them now."

Chen Erlang hadn’t expected them to leave so soon and wanted to invite them to stay for a meal, but looking around he realized they couldn’t really provide a decent meal and so he could only see them out.

Only then did Manbao say to Gao Clan, "There should be a place in the city that specializes in selling sheep’s milk, later I can ask around for you. Even if you can’t buy a whole sheep, it’s still possible to buy a bamboo tube of sheep’s milk daily."

Gao Clan hadn’t expected her to still remember this, and repeatedly thanked her.

Chen Erlang didn’t understand their conversation, but he didn’t ask, just waiting until they drove far away before inquiring about it.

The two who had gotten into the cart glanced at each other, both bursting into laughter.

Manbao laughed and said, "You’re quite the benefactor."

Bai Shan laughed and replied, "You’re pretty good at accepting favors too, aren’t you?"