The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 87 - 76: Same Price

Chapter 87: Chapter 76: Same Price

With the money in hand, Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang wanted to take a look at cotton, cloth, and various seeds. As for the remaining pile of yams, they decided to take them home, wash them clean, and do as Doctor Zheng had suggested: cut them up, dry them in the sun, and then bring them to the medicinal herb shop.

Manbao thought it was too much trouble. Since the manager uncle had said that wealthy families would use them to make medicinal meals, she pulled Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother and insisted on going to the County Governmental Office.

She also waved goodbye to Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang, "Big Brother, Second Brother, take your time shopping, don’t worry about us."

Zhou Dalang knew that Five and Sixth were already familiar with the county town and wasn’t worried about them. After instructing them to take care of the little ones, he left with Zhou Erlang.

Manbao insisted on leaving the cart and the yams behind, curiously following Zhou Wulang to the County Governmental Office.

She had never been to the County Governmental Office in all her life, so she insisted on not going to the side gate of the Fu Family right away, but made Zhou Wulang push her to the front gate of the County Governmental Office first.

Truth be told, Zhou Wulang hadn’t been close to the County Governmental Office either. When he used to come to sell sweets to Second Miss Fu, he would directly head to the side gate.

Two yamen bailiffs stood guard on either side of the County Governmental Office’s main gate, and beside the office was a tall stone wall plastered with many public announcements.

Ever since she started school, Manbao would study any character she saw outside for a long time, let alone seeing so many characters now.

So, ignoring Fifth Brother’s objections, she climbed out of the cart and ran over to take a look.

The two bailiffs at the gate turned their heads to look over, and Zhou Wulang followed after her, begrudgingly muttering, "Manbao, my little ancestor, shall we go home and play? Weren’t you going to find Second Miss Fu?"

Manbao ignored him, stood on tiptoes to read the announcements on the stone wall, and read out loud, haltingly, "In the fifth year of Wenzhi, winter conscription, from the twenty-second of October to the twenty-first of November, totaling thirty days, it is required to repair two water conduits in White Horse Town, and to flatten the road from the town to the county..."

While reading, Manbao realized something was wrong and counted on her fingers, "Isn’t next month October?"

"Yes, what’s wrong?" Zhou Wulang clearly didn’t quite understand.

Manbao then pointed to the last line of text and said, "One person from each household, no mistakes, it’s time for conscription."

Zhou Wulang stared blankly for a moment, glanced at the announcement, then picked up Manbao and left.

Manbao, lying on his shoulder, waved goodbye to the two curious bailiffs at the gate and chatted with her Fifth Brother, "Fifth Brother, who in our family is going for conscription?"

Zhou Wulang replied in a muffled voice, "By the rules, it’s Third Brother’s turn this year."

Zhou Liulang, who was taking care of the cart, didn’t know what they had discussed by the stone wall. Seeing that Fifth Brother looked upset, he quietly asked Manbao, "Did you make Fifth Brother angry?"

"I didn’t," Manbao protested, "I am so well-behaved!"

Zhou Liulang didn’t say anything more and silently pushed the cart toward the rear side gate of the County Governmental Office compound.

Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang had been coming almost every day until recently; now it was every other two or three days. The xiaos at the side gate were already familiar with them.

Zhou Liulang skillfully slipped a few candies to the xiaos, and soon, a girl with a purse came out.

She exclaimed upon seeing Manbao, "How come the little lady of the Zhou Family has come herself this time?"

Manbao, curious, looked at her, and the girl laughed, "Don’t you remember me, little lady? When you bought the flower baskets, I was in the cart with my young lady; my name is Qiuyue."

Immediately, Manbao asked, "Then is there also a sister named Chunhua?"

Qiuyue couldn’t help but laugh, doubling over, "You actually got it right, there is a sister Chunhua in our young lady’s courtyard. What kind of sweets did you bring this time? Just to let you know, we don’t want them if they’re not tasty."

Zhou Wulang then smiled and gave her a candy, whispering, "These are tasty, different from the last ones, it’s new stock."

Qiuyue popped it into her mouth, and while eating, she asked, "Don’t other families have it?"

"No, I came straight here because I thought of Second Miss first since she’s a regular customer and very generous. It’s only right for Second Miss to try it before anyone else."

Zhou Liulang was used to his brother’s slick sales talk, but Datou and Daya were looking at him admiringly, thinking how skillful Fifth Uncle was at telling such tall tales.

Yet Manbao was wholeheartedly in agreement, even presenting a yam to Qiuyue to examine, "Whatever good things we have, of course we think of Second Sister Fu first. After all, we have patronage with others, but with Second Sister Fu, it’s not like that. You see, this is a yam we dug up from climbing a very high mountain. Do you know what a yam is?"

The little girl shook her head; she didn’t know.

Luojiang County wasn’t wealthy; something like yams, which relied purely on wild harvesting and luck, ending up in the Fu Family was yet another stroke of fortune. How could the young girl know about it?

Manbao, capitalizing on her recent learning, told her that a yam is a food ingredient that can be used as medicine, a medicinal ingredient that can be used as food. It is warm, sweet, and excellent for strengthening the spleen and supplementing qi. It’s best consumed by the elderly, women, and children.

"You can ask a doctor if you don’t believe me. Anyway, Manager Zheng of Jishi Hall said it was good. So won’t your family take one?"

In the end, Qiuyue left with two candies and a yam without even getting around to buying any sweets.

When she finally regained her senses walking back to the courtyard, she intended to leave, but Chunhua spotted her, forcing her to enter with a red face and report to her mistress.

Manbao, along with Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother, waited outside the side gate.

Zhou Wulang scolded her, "You should have waited until she bought the sweets before recommending the yams."

"The value of sweets can’t compare to yams. Fifth Brother, do the math: a hundred pieces of candy are worth a hundred copper coins, but a yam is twenty coins per catty."

Zhou Wulang retorted, "That price is for dried yams."

Manbao replied, "Isn’t it all the same?"

"Not at all. Look at Indian pennywort; we pulled out a whole yard full. When it’s fresh, a handful weighs a catty, but once dried, a catty doesn’t even weigh two taels. Can that be the same?"

Zhou Wulang was about to delve deeper into the discussion with his sister when suddenly the side gate opened, and a woman in an apron, with a stern face, came out and demanded, "Who’s selling yams?"

"Me, me!" Manbao quickly raised her little hand, pointing to the yams on the cart.

The woman glanced at her and then looked down at the yams. Noticing that they were similar in quality to what Qiuyue had brought into the kitchen, she nodded, "Okay, we’ll take them all."

Manbao said, "But I want to keep one."

The woman frowned and looked at Zhou Wulang, "If we’re taking them all, won’t it be problematic if you sell to someone else too?"

Zhou Wulang bent down to coax Manbao.

Manbao said, "It’s for my mother, to stew with meat. My mother can maintain good health by eating it."

Zhou Wulang immediately bowed to the woman, smiling ingratiatingly, "Forgive us, madam. My mother is unwell, and my sister is concerned for her. How about this: we consider the yam Qiuyue took inside as a gift from us. We will keep one here, and all the rest can be sold to you, alright?"

The woman looked at Manbao in surprise but didn’t pursue the matter further, as long as the yams were not sold to other families. So, she nodded and asked, "How much?"

Manbao blinked her big eyes at the woman, "Twenty coins per catty."

The woman didn’t hesitate and agreed, "Okay then."

Zhou Wulang and the others were agape. Could it be that the fresh and the dried were priced the same?