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Chapter 35: The Childhood Friend Beats Up Her Soulmate

Mr. Zhuang was teaching the Analects. He had hand-copied a book for Man Bao, who now had two “books” including the previously copied Thousand Character Classic.

Man Bao was delighted, as it was her first time sitting in the classroom with her classmates. She was especially excited, shouting loudly when reading and very actively answering questions.

Mr. Zhuang felt the classroom atmosphere had become much livelier, so he praised Man Bao several times, which made someone even angrier.

He decided to go find bugs with his little friends after class and make the hateful cousin and hateful Man Bao fight each other.

But he didn’t expect that before he could make a move, Man Bao had already started fighting with his cousin.

It was a sunny afternoon, actually it was this afternoon after the evening class.

Since the students came not just from their own village but two nearby villages as well, in order to ensure the children’s safety on their way home, Mr. Zhuang always dismissed class at the proper zhenshi hour.

The students from neighboring villages would hurry home, while the local children could play with friends for a bit before going home for dinner.

Of course Man Bao wouldn’t go home either. She hugged her books and scampered out. The Zhou family always doted on her, so even though the school was in the village, they would definitely send someone to pick her up.

The nine-year-old Da Tou was assigned the pick-up duty today.

As Man Bao ran out, she heard wah-wahing from outside and immediately forgot about finding her nephew to go home, going straight over with her books to join the commotion.

Looking around, she saw her second nephew being pinned down and beaten by someone she didn’t recognize with an angry face.

Man Bao became enraged – how dare an outsider come bully people in their village, even her own nephew? If her uncle could tolerate it, her aunt couldn’t.

So Man Bao put down her books, pounced on the person to pin them down, and wah-wahed back while retaliating on her nephew’s behalf.

Bai Shanbao had just achieved a temporary victory when, caught completely off guard, he was pressed down again.

Bai Shanbao was furious. Before he could look up to see what the shameless sneak attacker looked like, he was slapped across the face.

Bai Shanbao flew into a rage, immediately grabbing the person on top of him and flipping them over, then lashing out to hit them.

Man Bao blocked with her arm, but her opponent was too strong. Feeling she couldn’t win, she grabbed their arm in desperation and bit down.

Man Bao hadn’t even bitten down hard when Bai Shanbao felt the pain, “Wah!” letting out a shrill cry that startled Man Bao into loosening her grip.

Seeing Bai Shanbao scrunch his eyes shut wailing, she couldn’t help loudly saying “Don’t cry, I won’t bite you anymore!”

But Bai Shanbao couldn’t hear her words, only feeling that he’d been bitten and was surely bleeding terribly and in unbearable pain.

He wailed loudly, while on the side Bai Erlang couldn’t help but guffaw, pointing at his face and mocking “How shameful, a grown man can’t even beat a little girl.”

Though Man Bao disliked this chubby kid she’d beaten up, she disliked Bai Erlang’s tone even more, waving her fist at him, “You dare laugh at us? Watch out or I’ll beat you up too!”

Bai Erlang was taken aback before angrily retorting, “You think you can beat me?”

“If I can’t, I’ll have my big nephew do it!”

The two children started bickering back and forth. Bai Shanbao finally came to his senses, opening his teary eyes to glare blurrily at Man Bao as he sniffled and rolled up his sleeve to check for blood. Seeing none, he let out a small relieved sigh.

Then he glared angrily at Man Bao, as if wanting to bite her back.

Man Bao turned her attention back to him, taking the proactive to ask, “Why did you hit my nephew?”

Er Tou tattled first, “Little Aunt, he snatched my rock.”

Bai Shanbao angrily countered, “It was mine first that I saw, you snatched it from me!”

“You’re not from our village, the rocks in our village belong to us, you can’t take rocks from our village.”

Bai Shanbao’s face flushed red. Before he could respond, he saw Er Tou slapped on the head by Man Bao who scolded “So you were the bad one, I won’t be nice to you anymore.”

Er Tou was dumbfounded before aggrievedly saying, “But he really was bullying me.”

“Why did you snatch his rock?” Man Bao reasoned, “An ownerless thing, anyone can take. Once he took it, it became his since it was found in our village. But you snatched it just because of that? Then if you went to the county town, would others be allowed to block you from passing through their villages?”

Bai Shanbao nodded vigorously, “No one would be that unreasonable.”

Man Bao agreed emphatically, “Exactly, exactly.”

The two who had just been fighting each other became allies.

Er Tou looked aggrievedly at his little aunt.

So Man Bao made him return the particularly smooth rock to Bai Shanbao.

Er Tou reluctantly handed it over.

Bai Shanbao accepted it with a hmph, even though Man Bao had stood up for him, he still decided he disliked her for being a bad person.

He glared his big eyes at her.

Man Bao patted her bottom and stood up, calling for Er Tou to go home.

But Bai Shanbao hadn’t gotten an apology yet, so he grabbed her unhappily, “You still haven’t apologized to me.”

Man Bao was perplexed, “Why should I apologize to you?”

“You hit me!”

“That was because you hit my nephew.”

“Your nephew was the one in the wrong.”

Man Bao was bullheaded, “But you still shouldn’t have hit my nephew. I hit you because you hit my nephew, so I’m not apologizing.”

“You’re just a sneak, only good at ambushes!”

“I’m not a sneak, as long as I can win, who cares if I ambushed you.”

Bai Shanbao said, “Either way you were wrong, people who ambush aren’t real men.”

Man Bao replied, “I’m not even a man to begin with, I’m a girl…”

The two argued more and more heatedly until Bai Shanbao dropped the rock, challenging “Do you dare fight me fair and square?”

“What’s there to not dare?” Man Bao reached out to shove him.

Bai Shanbao didn’t expect her to act as soon as she spoke, his anger rising too as he was a bit taller and chubbier than Man Bao. Pushed back two steps, he immediately grabbed and slammed her to the ground, the two instantly rolling around brawling.

Er Tou’s eyes went wide in shock as he hurriedly rolled up his sleeves to help his aunt. If his big brother found out he let his little aunt get into a fight when sent to fetch her, both he and his brother would surely get beaten by their grandparents and parents later.

Though Bai Erlang disliked this cousin who suddenly appeared, he disliked Man Bao even more. Seeing Er Tou try to help her, he joined in too, turning the one-on-one fight into a group melee.

Finally, someone fetched Mr. Zhuang from the school building. Only he could break up the children when he arrived.

Mr. Zhuang was quite angry, checking over the four kids. He found Er Tou and Bai Erlang had some redness on their faces, likely from being scratched by the others, but no other issues.

Meanwhile, the seemingly more intensely fighting Man Bao and Bai Shanbao had no real injuries, just extremely dirty clothes from rolling around on the ground.

Mr. Zhuang took a deep breath. Man Bao’s admission to the school hadn’t been easy, and he didn’t want to make too big of a deal out of this incident. But Bai Erlang getting beaten up couldn’t be covered up.

After some hesitation, Mr. Zhuang brought all four kids back to the school building, then sent students to summon the parents from both families to come. Rather than keeping things obscured, it was better to lay everything out for everyone to speak their grievances and resolve them.

Chapter 34 Teaching a Girl

Man Bao’s attention was instantly diverted. She eagerly nodded, “Open it, open it!”

So the System’s screen turned black but Ke Ke’s voice was still there. “Opening the shopping mall requires some time. Please wait patiently, Host.”

Then even the voice disappeared.

But Man Bao was still very happy, feeling strength fill her body. The most direct manifestation was she was no longer satisfied carrying rocks out one by one. She waved her little hands to directly toss them outside. Unfortunately her strength was lacking so the rocks basically just fell near her feet.

Seeing her scatter all the rocks that Da Tou and the others worked hard piling into one pile, Zhou Si Lang angrily roared, “Man Bao!”

Man Bao was frightened into hopping up. She turned and ran.

Er Ya hurriedly chased after to watch over Little Auntie since it was her turn today.

Er Ya brought the mumbling Man Bao back home then stayed to help out, just sweeping the yard. It was much more relaxed than working in the fields.

Man Bao slipped into the room to tattle to Qian Shi, “Mother, just now Fourth Elder Brother roared at me. He nearly scared me to death.”

Qian Shi asked, “What did you do to anger him?”

“I didn’t do anything. I was helping him,” Man Bao said. “I helped carry the rocks out for him. There were too many so I wanted to directly toss them out to save effort. But he didn’t appreciate me and even yelled at me instead.”

Qian Shi said, “You must have scattered the rocks all over the ground, creating more work for them instead of helping. Serves you right to be yelled at.”

Man Bao dissatisfiedly pursed her lips.

Qian Shi said, “You’re still little. That kind of work isn’t suitable for you. Go to teaching hall instead, study under the teacher, learn more words and numbers. You can help the family in the future.”

Man Bao said, “Sister-in-law hasn’t gone yet.”

“Your sister-in-law has to cook while you’re going to study. Naturally it’s not the same. Look, which student waits for your sister-in-law to finish cooking before going to school?”

Man Bao thought hard but indeed no one did so she shook her head.

Qian Shi said, “There you go. Man Bao, since you already accepted a teacher, you need to study diligently to not disappoint your parents and teacher. Go up the mountain less in the future. Go study after getting up in the morning. I already spoke with your sister-in-law. From now on she’ll make breakfast when you come in the morning so you can eat lunch at school just like the young masters, eating three meals a day.”

Qian Shi looked at Man Bao with profound eyes. “Man Bao, you not only need to be smart and clever but also healthy and safe. Understand?”

“I understand, I understand!” Man Bao nodded her little head. “Mother said it many times already. Nothing compares to being alive and healthy.”

Qian Shi revealed a smile, patting her head with a laugh. “There you go. Alright, hurry to teaching hall and apologize to teacher. Running out so early in the morning, you’re picking up wild habits from following Fifth and Sixth Brother.”

Man Bao stuck out her tongue. At the last minute she added, “Mother, Fifth and Sixth Brother didn’t come back for breakfast today. Tell Sister-in-law not to leave any for them.”

Qian Shi waved her hand. “I know. There wasn’t any made for them anyway. Hurry to teaching hall.”

Man Bao felt Mother’s eyes were very tranquil, seemingly knowing everything. Man Bao shrunk her head and ran outside.

Qian Shi faintly smiled, closing her eyes to chant scriptures.

Her health was already deteriorating. Even walking faster could leave her short of breath so she basically didn’t leave the house. She spent most of her time inside chanting scriptures and praying for blessings.

Man Bao ran to teaching hall. Teacher Zhuang was in the middle of class. Seeing a familiar little head poke out the window, he couldn’t help laughing. Putting down his book, he waved towards that head.

Man Bao trotted inside.

Teacher Zhuang smiled. “Why didn’t you come for morning class today?”

Man Bao lowered her guilty head, softly muttering “sorry”. Then she asked, “Teacher, do I also have to attend morning class everyday like Bai Er lang from now on?”

Teacher Zhuang smiled with a nod. “That’s right. I already accepted you as my disciple and spoke with Elder Master Bai. He agreed for you to join school so it’s best if you attend morning class together with the other students.”

Teacher Zhuang pulled Man Bao to stand before him and introduced her to the students.

Who didn’t recognize Man Bao? Everyone was familiar.

So those close to her made faces at her. Since she was short, the students in front even moved aside a spot for her.

But there were also those who didn’t get along with her. They didn’t dare do anything in front of Teacher but many still made faces at her when Teacher wasn’t paying attention. Bai Er Lang was most angry but Man Bao was quite far from him so he couldn’t even kick her stool.

Why did Bai Er Lang dislike Man Bao so much? Of course because Man Bao really was very annoying!

He first entered teaching hall to study at the beginning of the year. As a seven year old boy, he was at the most mischievous age. He was doted on at home, treasured by his grandmother, loved by his mother, and often praised by his father. Even his elder brother always let him have his way.

How could he possibly sit still after entering teaching hall?

So on the first day of school, he was hit on the palm while being scolded and punished. And right in the middle of him being scolded and punished, Man Bao’s swaying little head rose up outside the window.

Thus, Bai Er Lang’s first impression of her was bad.

But that wasn’t the worst. What was worst was later while studying, he discovered that he couldn’t even keep up with a little girl a year younger than him who could only squat outside the window eavesdropping.

Of course Bai Er Lang didn’t feel he was dumb. He felt Man Bao was disturbing him.

That’s right, disturbing him. She squatted outside the window while he sat in the seat beside it. How could that not affect him?

He tattled many times to his father and teacher for this but it was useless.

Teacher Zhuang’s response was to move him away from the window so he couldn’t threaten Man Bao. But with the distance, not only could he not threaten Man Bao, his grades actually declined instead.

So Teacher Zhuang moved him back. Most irritating was Teacher Zhuang somehow spoke to his father who actually highly approved of Man Bao listening outside the window. His father didn’t stop her at all!

Now it was even more infuriating that she brazenly entered the school.

Bai Er Lang was so angry he didn’t listen all morning. His good friend gave him an idea. “Didn’t you say you have a very annoying cousin who’s also coming to school? Have them fight. Otherwise if you hit Man Bao yourself, Teacher will definitely be angry.”

Another friend also said, “Not bad. Teacher seems to really like Man Bao. And she’s younger than you. If you hit her, you’ll definitely be the one in the wrong. Oh right, how old is your cousin?”

Bai Er Lang felt they proposed a good idea. He indifferently said, “Who cares how old he is. He’s just another annoying brat anyway. Having those two annoying brats fight, best if Teacher catches them both to hit their palms.”

“Then how to make them fight?”

Bai Er Lang’s eyes turned. “After class, let’s go catch bugs together. Tomorrow in class, we’ll put them on Man Bao’s desk and say my cousin did it. Then they’ll fight for sure.”

The other two kids also felt this was a great idea.

Chapter 33 Joyous Tidings Descend from Heaven

The fragrance of chicken soup wafted out from the kitchen. Man Bao didn’t continue chatting with Fourth Elder Brother. She followed on Xiao Qian Shi’s heels, squeezing into the kitchen to watch the lively scene.

Zhou Si Lang also livened up. He didn’t get money but at least he could still eat chicken right?

Although this rooster looked miserable when brought back, it was a very robust and handsome rooster before the cockfight, raised very well.

Therefore, there was quite a bit of meat on it. Xiao Qian Shi specially set aside half to simmer more soup for Mother-In-Law tomorrow.

So tonight, there was only half a chicken.

But Man Bao didn’t know this because no matter who else lacked food, hers would not be lacking.

Xiao Qian Shi first served Mother-In-Law a bowl of soup and picked out some meat pieces for her. Then she gave Man Bao a chicken leg. The other children also each got a piece of meat. There wasn’t much left after that.

But after the adults started eating, they didn’t take any meat. They only ate radishes, but still ate with relish.

The remaining chicken meat of course all entered the children’s stomachs. Four, five, and six each ate several pieces, satisfied as they helped clean up the bowls and chopsticks, savoring the taste.

Man Bao also rarely got to eat chicken. After eating it tonight, she felt it was pretty delicious. So she said to Qian Shi, “Mother, in the future when Man Bao has money, I’ll buy chicken for you to eat everyday.”

Qian Shi laughed. Stroking her little head, she said, “Great. Mother will wait for Man Bao’s chicken.”

Early on, Man Bao climbed into bed. She first secretly slipped into the System’s independent space to peel candy wrappers. After all, she promised Fu Wen Yun a hundred pieces of candy tomorrow.

As she peeled, Man Bao got tired and complained to Ke Ke, “Why do you wrap all your candy in wrappers?”

The System said, “There’s also unwrapped kinds.”

Man Bao immediately said, “What do those look like? Why didn’t you buy that kind?”

“Star Reviews said that kind isn’t as good as this one. I thought Host would prefer this more.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m not the one eating them anyway.” Man Bao had Ke Ke buy her a bag to take a look.

The System glanced at her points and very quickly bought her a large bag. Man Bao tore open the packaging and found white round candies inside. She picked one to taste and nodded. “Delicious!”

The System said, “There are candies of other colors too. Do you want to try them?”

Man Bao asked, “Do the flavors differ?”

System: “They differ.”

“Then buy some to try.”

The System made its selection. It didn’t choose extremely bright colors, but matched the range of possible candy colors and crafts of this world. The only difference was the colors it purchased were better and more consistent.

It knew the candies were seldom eaten by Host herself and would mostly be sold.

The Host was still little and couldn’t consider safety issues so it couldn’t ignore them.

Man Bao didn’t know any of this. Seeing the three bags of candy appear, she tore each one open to taste a piece. She ranked them from most to least delicious in her opinion. Then she took a hundred pieces from the bag she felt was least tasty, planning to have Fifth Elder Brother bring these to sell at the county town tomorrow.

After planning for tomorrow, Man Bao contentedly curled up in her blanket to sleep.

But it wasn’t peaceful in the other rooms. The parents were all coaxing their children to hand over the money. Even Zhou Wu Lang and Zhou Liu Lang were coerced by Elder Zhou into handing over most of theirs.

The original twenty wen was now reduced to only five wen remaining on their persons.

And this was because the two brothers brought up Elder Zhou’s private money. Only then did Elder Zhou let up and allow them to keep that much. Otherwise, they probably couldn’t have kept a single wen.

Elder Zhou handed the thirty wen scraped from his two sons to his wife. Lowering his voice he said, “The children are all grown now and hard to control. Let them keep a bit of money on themselves.”

Qian Shi put away the money and said, “Take this money tomorrow and repay Village Chief’s debt first.”

Elder Zhou grunted in agreement. Qian Shi continued, “I heard Old Master Bai plans to repair his house. Have Eldest and Second Son go take a look tomorrow. If they can get picked, there’s also income. With winter coming, there are still many expenses. These past two years, Man Bao has worn remade clothes from my old ones. They don’t keep warm well. She’s going to teaching hall to study under the teacher. It must be cold there in winter without stove fire. She still needs new clothes so she won’t freeze.”

Elder Zhou heavily grunted again.

After finishing discussing tomorrow’s matters, Elder Zhou took a look at Man Bao in the side room. Seeing she hadn’t kicked off her blanket, he felt assured and went to bed.

Having woken up early these past days, Man Bao actually developed the habit of rising early. As soon as there was activity outside, she woke up. Then she rolled off bed and crawled to the window to peer outside.

Seeing this, Xiao Qian Shi exclaimed. She hurriedly went over to push Man Bao back in and closed the window. Through it she said, “Little auntie, it’s cold in the morning. You aren’t fully dressed yet you stick your head out. What if you catch a chill?”

Qian Shi who had woken up called for Man Bao from inside, “Be good and lie in bed. Mother will dress you shortly.”

Man Bao stuck out her tongue and burrowed back into her blanket to lie properly.

After getting dressed and washing up, Man Bao secretly found Zhou Wu Lang. She wrapped the candies in a large oil paper and gave them to him, whispering, “Don’t tell Father and Mother about this.”

Otherwise she had no way to explain where the candies came from.

Zhou Wu Lang indicated no problem. He also didn’t want to mention it or else Father would take all the earned money.

Zhou Wu Lang and Zhou Liu Lang left without breakfast, heading towards the county town. The adults only assumed they went with Zhou Si Lang for land reclamation and didn’t know they went into town.

Zhou Si Lang was already used to his two younger brothers’ behavior of fishing for three days then sun-drying nets for two. Thinking back, when he was working, as long as he wasn’t pressed down by Father and elder brothers, he acted the same way.

So he shouldered a hoe himself and went to the wasteland.

Da Tou and Da Ya who understood things went to help.

But they only helped cut grass and pick up rocks to stack nicely outside.

Man Bao also followed, very diligently helping to pick up rocks. Just as she was moving enthusiastically, the System sounded *ding ling ling*. “Host, research is complete on the two types of flowers recorded yesterday. Reward points have been deposited into your account. You may check now.”

Man Bao went to look and found the number had become very big.

The System’s voice sounded somewhat cheerful. “Two types of flowers. One called Purple Vine, one called Mountain Red Reflection. Both are primitive species that went extinct on Earth during the Jurassic Period. But the genetic diagram left behind contains their genes. So the Encyclopedia Hall’s scientists could quickly confirm their names. Recording these two plants is tremendously significant so Encyclopedia Hall granted Host a one-time reward of a thousand points. Additionally, Purple Vine’s reward is three hundred and fifty points. Mountain Red Reflection is three hundred and eighty points. Please check receipt.”

Man Bao couldn’t help asking, “Why are there so many points for them when the many flowers and grasses I dug up for you before only gave one or two points each?”

Blister had the most yet was still only fifty.

The System said, “Points are the Encyclopedia Hall’s comprehensive assessment based on the plant’s value, scarcity, influence, and so on. Host is very lucky. These two plants already went extinct on Earth during the Jurassic Period. And Encyclopedia Hall’s scientists wanted to restore them from the leftover genetic diagrams but were unable to. So Host providing recordings of these two plants holds great meaning. Host, you have reached the conditions to unlock the shopping mall. Do you want to Open the shopping mall?”

Chapter 32 Scattering Wealth

While there was still daylight, Man Bao dragged over a bag to pad the ground before pouring out all the copper coins from the cloth bag to count. She also took out the copper coins and silver pieces from her own little pouch.

Everyone’s jaws dropped. Although they knew quite a bit of money was earned, they didn’t expect there to be so much.

Zhou Da Lang and Zhou Er Lang already knew so they weren’t too shocked. But Zhou San Lang and Zhou Si Lang couldn’t help widening their eyes, staring dumbly with their parents at Man Bao squatting on the ground counting money.

Zhou Wu Lang found a string for stringing coins. Then everyone started counting money.

Although Zhou Wu Lang could barely count to one hundred, he would always make mistakes. So he counted in tens, making piles of tens. Then he would count out ten piles which would be one hundred wen.

Man Bao looked down on him very much, making him string coins behind her while she counted.

Da Tou and the others squeezed over to join watching the fun. While following “sixteen, seventeen” with Man Bao, they would secretly try touching the money. Having a lot of money was still nice to touch.

Very quickly, Man Bao calculated the total money.

Including the ten wen deposit from Fu Wen Yun, it was two hundred and seventy wen.

She took out that broken silver corner and had Qian Shi weigh how much it was total.

Qian Shi weighed it and laughed. “Three coins and four fen, so three hundred and forty wen.”

Everyone exclaimed in surprise. Man Bao counted on her fingers until her forehead sweated. No one helped her calculate how much seventy plus forty was and so on.

After a long time, Man Bao finally shouted, “It’s six hundred and ten wen!”

Qian Shi smiled with a nod. “So how much do you have to turn in to the public funds?”

Of course Man Bao couldn’t calculate a percentage out of thin air. She scratched her head and had Da Tou and Er Tou bring over six large rocks and six small rocks.

Arranging the six large rocks in a row, she pointed, “This is one hundred wen. Sixty wen for Mother…”

In front of the large rocks she put down a small rock. “That’s sixty wen.”

“This is also one hundred wen, sixty wen for Mother…” She counted for a bit then patted her hands saying, “Three hundred and sixty wen total. Then six more wen for Mother.”

Man Bao gave the broken silver corner to Qian Shi and counted out twenty-six wen in scattered coins to give her. This counted as handing over to the public funds.

The remaining money was theirs, totaling two hundred and forty-four wen.

Man Bao called over the little partners who helped earn this money. She generously gave each person ten wen.

This included Elder Zhou and Qian Shi who helped weave her bamboo basket. That was already eighty wen.

Considering that Da Ya, Er Ya, Fifth Elder Brother and Sixth Elder Brother went with her today to the county town and contributed greatly, she gave them each ten wen again.

Everyone watched as Man Bao ran all over the place scattering money like a wealth deity’s child. The children would look at their parents before accepting money.

Seeing Man Bao scatter money so freely, Zhou Da Lang and the others unconsciously wanted to reject it, but then they thought, wouldn’t this make the money leave Man Bao’s hands?

So they became happy again and signaled for them to take it.

It was impossible to snatch money from Man Bao, but they could snatch from their own children. They even squeezed in to watch the fun. “Man Bao, we also helped with that bamboo basket. Don’t we get wages?”

Man Bao thought that was reasonable so she also gave the three elder brothers a share. Then she turned and saw her sisters-in-law and felt they were also working hard, so she gave them a share too.

The strung coins scattered again. In the end, only sixty-four wen remained in Man Bao’s hands, but she didn’t mind. She happily stuffed it into her pocket then realized her pocket was too small. She discussed with Xiao Qian Shi, “Sister-in-law, help make the pocket on my clothes a bit bigger so more money can fit.”

He Shi’s needlework was the best. She laughed, “Little auntie, you’re so little. The pocket can’t get much bigger. When we have some scrap fabric later, I’ll make you a cloth bag like a purse.”

Man Bao was happy. “Great, great!” Her eyes turned, “I want to design the style myself.”

He Shi agreed with a smile. She put away the ten wen Man Bao gave her. They had emptied out money from all the rooms last time to repay Fourth Son Zhou’s gambling debt. Now there was finally some income.

Although Man Bao still had a lot of money left, compared to the previous over six hundred, these sixty-four wen were now overlooked by the adults.

They also knew it was impossible to take the money from her hands. So everyone’s sights turned towards their own sons and daughters.

Elder Zhou first looked at Zhou Wu Lang and Zhou Liu Lang, leisurely taking a puff from his pipe, “You two can keep two wen. Let your mother keep the rest for you for getting wives in the future.”

Zhou Da Lang also said to Da Tou and Da Ya, “Let your mother keep it to buy new clothes for you in the future.”

Zhou Er Lang also looked at their two children, coaxing, “Come, let Father keep it for you. I’ll buy candy for you later.”

The children all clutched their copper coins, wanting to cry but not daring to.

The only one present who didn’t receive money was Zhou Si Lang and the three little ones.

Man Bao’s gaze fell upon Fourth Elder Brother. It quickly slid away from him before she took out three wen to divide among San Tou, Si Tou, and San Ya. She generously said, “Little auntie’s giving this to you.”

The three little ones hurriedly accepted it, saying in soft childish voices, “Congratulations to Little Auntie getting rich.”

Man Bao was elated.

Zhou Si Lang squatted at the side, almost crying out. Man Bao squatted next to him with sighs, “Fourth elder brother, you’re still a bad person right now so I can’t give you money.”

Zhou Si Lang asked with red eyes, “Aren’t I your elder brother? How did I become a bad person?”

“All gambling people are bad people,” Man Bao said definitively. “Only people who repent and reform themselves have a chance of gaining favor. Otherwise everyone will dislike you.”

For the first time, Zhou Si Lang lowered his head and silently squatted without speaking. When everyone else had something while he didn’t, he finally perceived the difference in treatment from his gambling. His eyes brimmed red as he softly said, “I, I know my wrongs now.”

“That’s really great. Then keep working hard and show your sincerity to father, mother, elder brothers and sisters-in-law,” Man Bao imitated Second Brother’s actions, patting his shoulder and asking, “How’s the land reclamation going?”

Zhou Si Lang sighed, “Should be done before winter.”

Man Bao then said, “I’ll go help you tomorrow.”

No. Aside from blindly ordering people around, he didn’t see what use she could be. Zhou Si Lang said heavily, “Don’t you have teaching hall tomorrow?”

“I’ll still go. But I can first walk around the fields then go to teaching hall with Sister-in-law.”

Man Bao still didn’t have a student’s awareness. She felt free to come and go as she wished, still thinking she could do as she liked as before.