The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 92 - 81: Teaching

Chapter 92: Chapter 81: Teaching

The system searched and said, "Historically, there was a regulation that allowed substitution of labor with silver; as long as you had money, you didn’t have to go."

Manbao’s eyes lit up, and she shared this great idea with her parents.

Old Zhou and Ms. Qian didn’t understand how she learned about this after just one sleep.

However, Old Zhou thought the child was always clever and assumed it was her own idea, so he said, "We don’t have that much silver at home. Can a family like ours afford to substitute labor with silver? Even the village head has to perform labor."

Ms. Qian was even more meticulous with Manbao, carefully explaining, "I’ve heard substituting just one labor service could cost enough money to marry off a daughter. For a family like ours, it would take at least four or five years to save that amount—and that’s only if we have many family members to save up the money. In your grandfather’s generation, marrying off your father took half a lifetime’s savings."

Manbao’s attention was diverted immediately, and she smiled, "Dad, so marrying mom used up all of grandpa and grandma’s money, huh."

Manbao never met her grandparents, but during festivals, especially on Tomb-Sweeping Day, her parents often mentioned them. In her father’s words, this was remembering one’s ancestors; one must remember their roots in order not to forget their origins.

Keke said that this was honoring ancestors.

In wealthy families, the deeds of ancestors are recorded in the family register, and descendants just need to read the register to trace their ancestors. Most families, however, pass down ancestral stories through oral tradition.

There aren’t many families that can record their deeds in a clan or family register.

When Manbao listened at that time, she secretly resolved that once she learned more characters, she would record her parents’ stories in the family register, so her parents would become the first generation of ancestors in their family with recorded deeds.

Manbao loved hearing stories about her ancestors, so she looked at her parents with eager anticipation.

Seeing the sparkle in her eyes, Ms. Qian couldn’t help but tap her nose and laughed, "Yes, indeed. Even the dowry wasn’t much. When I entered your father’s family, I had to endure hard times right away."

Old Zhou turned his head and gave her a pleading smile.

Ms. Qian, seeing Manbao’s bright and shiny eyes, was also stirred by memories and said wistfully, "Actually, life was manageable at first, but we were unlucky. I was only a few months pregnant with your eldest brother when our family was selected for conscription. It began with your grandfather being conscripted, but when he fell ill, your father took over. The timing determined by the county magistrate was even worse—it coincided with the busy spring season. Your grandfather was sick, your father was not at home, and I, with my big belly, had to work the fields with your grandmother. We struggled, but managed to plant our family’s land."

Old Zhou couldn’t help but interject, "Back then, most of those conscripted risked losing half of their lives. That county magistrate..."

Manbao was very curious, "Dad, what exactly did you have to do when you were conscripted?"

"Digging earth, repairing waterworks, reinforcing embankments."

She was somewhat puzzled, "Is that harder than farming?"

"How could it be the same?" Old Zhou said, "When you work your own land, you can rest if you’re tired, eat something when you’re hungry, take refuge in the shade when the sun’s too hot, and go back to the fields when it lessens. At home, no matter how poor we are, we at least have water to drink and food to eat. But with conscription, it’s not as you please."

Old Zhou added, "You have to start working early in the morning, and you can’t spare your strength. If you’re seen shirking, the officials’ whips will come down on you."

"The morning meal is usually just a small piece of cake. It wouldn’t be enough for adults who do hard labor, let alone a child like you. Everyone has to bring their own provisions, and we eat what little we have together. But some families are so poor they can’t afford enough, and have to ration their food. Many people collapse on the embankments just from that saving."

To Old Zhou, the constant deaths during conscription were partly due to the grueling labor, but people also worked hard at other times. He didn’t need to elaborate about the exhaustion from racing against the clock for spring planting and autumn harvesting.

At the heart of it, the issues were the lack of rest and insufficient food.

Even when racing against the weather, they would avoid the hottest part of the day, and those who worked the fields were given sufficient food and water at home.

After speaking, Old Zhou looked down at his innocent-eyed daughter and felt that he had said things to the child that he shouldn’t have.

So he patted her little head and said, "This is adult business; you should just go to school."

Manbao, with her small book box on her back, was somewhat downcast as she went to school, feeling that the county magistrate was very unreasonable—who does work without providing enough to eat?

Whenever her brothers built houses for villagers, they were always provided with enough food.

Bai Shanbao had taken a full day off yesterday and was overjoyed; his mother even made him some tasty pastries, and he specifically saved two pieces for Manbao.

As he offered the pastries to Manbao, he said, "The sugar from your family is very tasty too."

Then, he looked at her expectantly.

Manbao took the pastries and ate them, but because she was preoccupied, she didn’t catch the hidden meaning in his words and absentmindedly nodded her head.

Unhappy with her reaction, Bai Shanbao couldn’t bring himself to ask Manbao directly for sugar, so he instead asked, "What are you thinking about? Aren’t you happy on your day off?"

Manbao sighed like an adult and said, "My Third Brother has to go for conscription."

Bai Shan didn’t know what conscription was. Although he knew more and had read more than Manbao, he truly didn’t understand what conscription involved.

Upon asking and learning that conscription was an obligation of all families, he scratched his head and said, "So does my family also have to perform conscription?"

Manbao took it for granted and responded, "Of course. How many able-bodied men does your family have?"

Bai Shan said, "Just me."

Manbao then looked at him sympathetically, "Then you’re unfortunate, you’ll have to go for conscription too."

Bai Shan’s anxiety mingled with a hint of excitement, partly feeling like he was a grown-up, yet also feeling the fear of the unknown.

Bai Shan said, "I have to go back and ask my grandmother about this."

Manbao expressed her disdain, "That will take a long time, let’s ask our teacher. The teacher knows a lot of things."

So the two children went to ask Mr. Zhuang.

Mr. Zhuang hadn’t expected the two children to be so widely concerned about labor services and was surprised to find they were already paying attention to conscription. After some thought, he decided to send them back to their studies and promised to provide an answer by the lunchtime.

The two children ran back to their studies.

At lunchtime, Mr. Zhuang brought the two kids into the yard to eat while he started a small stove.

To talk about labor service, one must discuss taxes, national construction, and even the performance evaluations of county magistrates...

Of course, as the children were still young, Mr. Zhuang didn’t give them a formal lecture; instead, he used examples to explain, "The country is like a large family, and you are also members of this large family. When you eat, drink, dress, and live in your main house, doesn’t someone have to work to produce the rice you eat, the water you drink, the clothes you wear, and the house you live in?"

This concept was simple enough, and the two children nodded in agreement.

Mr. Zhuang stroked his beard with a smile and asked, "Shouldn’t the people who do this work be paid?"

The children continued to nod; this principle made sense to them too.

Mr. Zhuang then said, "That’s right, it’s the same for the country. It needs people to work and must pay them. To pay them, it needs money first, which is why we pay taxes. The country also redistributes resources; for example, if the eldest son’s family experiences disaster while the second son’s family has abundant grain, then as a mother, she would take some grain from the second son to help the eldest son get through this hardship..."

Mr. Zhuang started with a simple explanation of the country’s institutions, glossing over most details until he elaborated more on the role of the county magistrate, and so he discussed taxes and labor service.

Manbao and Bai Shan listened with great interest, quickly losing track of time.

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