The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 768 - 757: Helping Out

Chapter 768: Chapter 757: Helping Out

Don’t say that Bai Shan and Bai Erlang had been pampered since childhood, even Manbao was raised with utmost care. Although since arriving in Yizhou City they had learned to do laundry, start a fire, and cook some simple dishes, and even started helping with cleaning...

But sweeping the streets, especially such a large-scale street sweeping, was still a first for all three of them.

The fatigue from sweeping trash was one thing, but getting used to the dirtiness from shoveling and dumping it took them quite a while.

But what they were least accustomed to was being watched by onlookers.

Before three days had even passed, everyone on the street knew that they were being punished by their teacher for causing trouble.

Every person who saw them would greet them, "Young Master Bai, you’ve been punished again today?"

"Young Lady Zhou, your teacher is still angry, isn’t he?"

The three felt very ashamed, and their faces were blushing with embarrassment during the first few days going out.

When one is ashamed, one tends to favor speed over precision in their work, and they left many places unclean. Consequently, Mr. Zhuang punished them by having them write in small characters, two pages per person per day.

Manbao lay sprawled on the bed, looking sadly at the canopy above, feeling truly remorseful. She shouldn’t have impulsively struck Bai Ning at that time.

At least she should not have hit her in the face...

No, that’s not it, if every fight results in punishment, then it’s a loss that is not worth the cost.

Apart from fighting, there must be other, better ways to teach the other party a lesson.

Bai Shan, also exhausted, lay on his bed pondering the same issue and sighed deeply, "A gentleman can wait ten years to settle a score, why did we have to fight at that moment?"

Bai Erlang complained, "It was all because you started it first, then Manbao fought the most fiercely. All I did was help hold down the arms and legs, yet I got punished the same as you."

"Let’s see if you don’t join us next time," Bai Shan huffed, "Our teacher asked us to reflect, not for you to shirk responsibility."

Bai Erlang stretched out his limbs and shouted from behind the screen, "But sweeping the streets is really tiring and it’s embarrassing!"

Bai Shan and Manbao also felt the embarrassment, but one’s thickness of skin is something that can be cultivated over time.

You might feel embarrassed sweeping the streets for a day or two, and meeting people on the third or fourth day might make you feel guilty, but if you sweep for seven or eight days and always encounter roughly the same people and hear similar jokes, then even the thinnest face will toughen up.

Within a few days, when the three of them took up their brooms and pushed their carts onto the main street again, they were already able to wave and greet people on both sides of the road.

Occasionally they would even help dispose of the garbage from people’s homes enthusiastically.

The people from this half of the street also enjoyed standing at the roadside to chat with them, and sometimes they would even bring them homemade sesame candies and toffees.

After all, it was nearing the end of the year, and many households had begun making snacks for children to enjoy.

Manbao and the others didn’t accept just anything; they generally took these small snacks and would put them in their pouches or pockets.

Then they would push the cart and start sweeping trash along the street.

Wei Ting and a few others sneakily watched from behind the cart for a long while, filled with confusion, "Weren’t they supposed to be punished? How come they seem to be enjoying it?"

"Is it about making the best of a bad situation?"

"Making the best of what? Just look at how much stuff they’ve collected. Does that look like suffering to you? Come on, let’s go and talk to them."

So Wei Ting led a group who rushed out en masse, quickly surrounding the three, and asked, "I just heard you were punished by your teacher to sweep the streets. I didn’t believe it, but it turns out to be true. What bad things did you do to be punished like this?"

Wei Ting looked around and then asked in a lowered voice, "Was it because you sneaked into the academy to read the books without permission, and your teacher found out?"

The three of them: ...No, you’re overthinking it. This was actually something our teacher suggested we do.

Manbao, holding her broom, waved her hand, "Are you here to help? If not, step aside. If we don’t finish before sunset, we’ll have to work in the dark."

Wei Ting glanced at the brooms in their hands, then at the dilapidated cart, and finally at the long street before reluctantly stepping back and shaking his head repeatedly.

The others also stepped back a bit.

Manbao sighed, "No loyalty!"

"It’s not that. You should at least tell us why you were punished, right?"

Bai Shan gestured for them to move aside so he could sweep, saying, "Being punished is not something to be proud of, and since you’re not helping, why should we tell you? We won’t say!"

Bai Erlang nodded in agreement, "Exactly, exactly."

Since the crowd was large, and everyone was laughing and chatting, Wei Ting and the others didn’t feel embarrassed. After walking with them for a while, perhaps out of sympathy, or just curiosity about the reasons for their punishment, they rolled up their sleeves and began helping with shoveling trash and pushing the cart.

With their help, the cleaning was done much faster today. When they reached the last section, Bai Shan clapped his hands and said, "Alright, to thank you all, I’ll treat you to some flatbread."

"Forget it, we don’t like your flatbread. Just tell us why you were punished, and that will be enough."

Seven or eight youths squatted on the curb to talk.

Of course, Bai Shan wasn’t going to tell them about Bai Ning’s scheme against Manbao and simply said, "It’s nothing much. Just the three of us had a fight with someone, and our teacher punished us."

"With whom? Did you lose or win?"

Bai Erlang: "Isn’t that a silly question? How could we three lose to one?"

"I got it, you must have fought too fiercely and hurt the person badly."

"If we had hurt someone that bad, we would be getting our butts beaten and kneeling in the ancestral hall."

"Would you rather be spanked or sweep the streets?"

After thinking carefully, the person replied, "I would rather get my butt spanked and kneel in the ancestral hall. Your teacher’s punishment is quite unique, actually punishing you to sweep the streets."

Manbao clarified, "We didn’t hurt anyone that badly, it was just some minor bruises. Our teacher punished us because we shouldn’t have resorted to fighting."

Wei Ting, driven by curiosity, asked, "Who did you fight? It was three against one?"

This was not a secret; once Wei Ting and his group found out about the incident, they could easily inquire and find out the details, so Bai Shan candidly replied, "It was the Second Young Master Bai Ning from the Bai Residence next door."

"Eh, isn’t he supposed to be your kinsman?"

In Yizhou City, such relationships couldn’t remain a secret.

Some of the Wei Family had attended the winter solstice banquet, so it didn’t take long after for Wei Ting to learn that the newly arrived Cavalry Attendant-in-Ordinary was Bai Shan’s kinsman and elder cousin.

Of course, such relationships spread quickly, so most of the students at the academy were also aware of this.

Understanding these connections was also part of the curriculum for the academy students, though it was never formally listed; knowing about these few households was considered one of the mandatory lessons to be learned on the side.

This was also why Mr. Zhuang was so well-versed in the powers of Yizhou City; he spent nearly ten years studying this ’course’ three decades ago.

Bai Shan wasn’t surprised they knew; feeling a bit hungry, he signaled Daji to buy some flatbread to eat, then answered, "Who says kinsmen can’t fight? Even fellow disciples and siblings get into fights sometimes, don’t they?"

Manbao and Bai Erlang nodded vigorously in agreement.

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