The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 776 - 765: Lost

Chapter 776: Chapter 765: Lost

Bai Shan hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye to Manbao before he was surrounded by people and taken home. Manbao was also pulled back home by the newly arrived Junior Ms. Qian, "In the cold of winter, why aren’t you going home after coming back? It’s so cold outside."

The noodles were ready to be cooked when she arrived, but there was still no sign of her.

Junior Ms. Qian pulled Manbao all the way home, saying, "I added two eggs to your noodles because you came back late, and all the meat dishes at home were already finished..."

"As long as it’s made by my sister-in-law, even plain noodles are delicious."

Junior Ms. Qian couldn’t help but laugh, touched her nose, and said with a smile, "The older you get, the sweeter your words become."

As soon as she arrived home, her family came to greet her. Ms. Qian touched her hands and found they were warm, then smiled, "Go wash your hands and eat some noodles."

Manbao answered and sat down at the table before remembering, "Where are Lijun and Zhou Si?"

Junior Ms. Qian, sitting beside her, laughed, "Lijun was pulled away by your Second Sister-in-law. She should be inside washing up. Your Zhou Si is still at the entrance of the village, you go ahead and eat first."

Zhou SiLang was surrounded by people, and he was happy to be so until his wife, Ms. Fang, called out to him several times from outside the crowd before he heard her.

Standing on tiptoe and looking out, he saw his wife holding his son, glaring angrily at him.

Zhou SiLang shivered and immediately handed the bag he was holding to a young man nearby, saying, "Here, you distribute this for me."

Then he squeezed through the crowd and slipped away, leaving the young man holding the bag surrounded by people instantaneously.

The bewildered young man yelled, "Zhou Si, where are you running off to?"

Of course, Zhou SiLang went to his wife’s side. He gave her a flattering smile, took his son into his arms, and said, "Wife, you go home first. I’ll deliver the carriage to the Bai Family and then head right back home."

Ms. Fang was finally satisfied, "Hurry up then, your sister-in-law cooked noodles. If you don’t return soon, they’ll become gooey."

Zhou SiLang promised, delivered the carriage to the Bai Family, and ignoring the commotion at the village entrance, hurried home.

The items were all in the Bai Family’s carriage. Since everything was mixed together, the three families were not in a rush to separate them and planned to do it the next day.

The Zhou Family were all sitting together, and after Manbao finished her noodles, she started to chat with them.

Ms. Qian, concerned, asked, "After the New Year, will you still go to Yizhou City?"

Manbao nodded, "Yes, we will go after the Lantern Festival. Mom, do you want to come with us to Yizhou City for fun? Yizhou City is much more lively than our county town."

Zhou SiLang, finding a moment, added, "Yeah, Mom, why don’t we spend the Lantern Festival in Yizhou City? I’ve rented a place there. If we squeeze a bit, we can all fit."

Old Zhou snorted disdainfully, "I’m not going. Is it as comfortable outside as it is at home?"

"Isn’t it for the sake of enjoying the festivities?"

"To spend so much money and go through all that trouble just for a day of festivities, are you full and have nothing better to do?" Anyway, Old Zhou just wouldn’t agree.

Zhou SiLang huffed, "If you don’t go, afterwards, I’ll take my wife and son."

Third and Fourth Brother immediately came closer, saying, "Uncle Si, we want to join in the fun too, please take us along."

"Go, go, go," Old Zhou waved his grandsons to the side and told Zhou SiLang, "We need to have a reunion dinner on Lantern Festival. If you can, split yourself in half, with one half going to Yizhou City for fun and the other at home for dinner. Otherwise, you’re not allowed to go."

Zhou SiLang then compromised, "Fine, I won’t go to Yizhou City. Is it alright if I go to the county town?"

Old Zhou finally grunted in agreement.

The children at home, including Manbao, immediately raised their hands and said, "Me, me, me, I want to go too."

Old Zhou waved them off with disgust, "Go ahead, go."

Manbao glanced at her Zhou Si, and seeing him urgently winking at her, she pushed further, "Dad, we want to go in the evening."

Old Zhou glared, "How will you go at night?"

Manbao, "After dinner it’s still not dark yet. We’ll go then, and when we reach the county town, the lanterns will just be lit."

Datou and the others nodded again and again, looking at Old Zhou with faces full of expectation.

They had never spent the Lantern Festival in the county town before, and they had heard that the town was particularly lively at night during the festival.

Old Zhou couldn’t resist their looks and involuntarily glanced at Ms.Qian.

Ms.Qian smiled and said, "If you want to go, go ahead."

Everyone immediately cheered, and Fifth Brother couldn’t help but throw himself into Manbao’s arms, cooing in a childish voice, "It’s so good that little aunt is back."

Datou picked him up and said, "You’re the clever one."

Ms.Qian asked about Manbao’s studies, and Manbao replied somewhat dejectedly, "I didn’t do very well in this exam, quite a bit worse than Bai Shan."

Manbao’s papers were corrected even faster than Bai Shan’s, after all, Mr. Zhuang only graded hers. Almost as soon as she finished, Mr. Zhuang would have corrected them.

It was just that he didn’t show her, not until Bai Shan got his grades and papers from the academy, then Mr. Zhuang returned her papers to her.

Bai Shan had achieved nineteenth place, marking substantial progress, just making it into the top class by ranking second from the bottom.

However, Bai Shan said he didn’t want to change his tutor again, so he decided to stay in the third top class.

Comparing her papers with Bai Shan’s, Manbao found she was falling behind by quite a margin, and as to how she would be ranked in the academy, she guessed she would have to wait until she was back and compared her papers with those of Wei Ting and others.

But after looking over her papers, Bai Shan estimated she would probably rank beyond fiftieth.

For Manbao, this was a considerable blow because, in her view, the two of them had always been matched evenly.

In the past, Bai Shan was only slightly smarter than her, the smartest person within a hundred miles, and in their studies, the two had always been neck and neck. Could it be that he had now evolved to be so much smarter than her?

So whenever the topic of grades came up, Manbao grew despondent and didn’t want to talk anymore.

Seeing her hang her head and seem unhappy, Ms.Qian touched her head and said, "Alright, now that you’re back, let’s not think about these things. Go wash up, get a good night’s sleep, and tomorrow Fifth Brother will take you to fish by the river, how about that?"

Manbao obediently nodded, washed up, and then returned to her room where she lay on the bed, sighing.

Seeing that Keke ignored her, Manbao sighed again.

Keke: ...

"Keke, do you think I’m smarter now, or is Bai Shan smarter?"

Keke: "Host, this is the eighty-seventh time you’ve asked me on the way, you two are about the same now."

Manbao felt even more heartbroken, "So is it really that I’ve been slacking off, and that’s why I did worse than him?"

Keke said, "Host, you still have to study medicine."

"But he has to learn horsemanship, archery, music... He’s learning a lot more things than me, and that takes up a lot more of his time," lamented Manbao, saddened because she had carefully calculated that in reality, the time they had both spent on their main courses was about the same.

This comparison only included the subjects they both studied; other subjects like horsemanship, archery, and music that Manbao didn’t learn were not taken into account.

Keke realized it hadn’t comforted its host properly and instead had made her more upset.

It was the first time Keke encountered its host like this, and it couldn’t help but glitch for a moment as it searched the encyclopedia for what to do when the host is saddened by poor grades?

Many entries flashed by, each with different subjects, but "saddened by poor grades" was a fixed term.

Keke clicked on an entry titled "What to do if your daughter is saddened by poor grades," which had many responses, the most popular of which was pinned on the homepage, suggesting buying her toys, pretty clothes, shoes, jewelry, taking her out to play...

Keke selected each suggestion that didn’t fit the conditions and then popped up a marketplace in Manbao’s mind, searching for various beautiful ornaments that barely fit the crafts of the era, and said, "Host, let’s buy some jewelry."

Manbao intended to refuse, but upon seeing the beautiful ornaments that popped up in the marketplace, she couldn’t resist and exclaimed, "Wow, they’re so beautiful, why haven’t I seen these before?"

"These pieces of jewelry are less popular and require specific search criteria."

Manbao looked over each item, instantly perking up, her disappointment over poor grades forgotten as if it had been thrown all the way to Java while she eagerly discussed the marketplace items with Keke.