??29: Chapter 18: Flower Basket
29: Chapter 18: Flower Basket
Zhou Family never let Manbao get close to the river, this was her first ti coming into such close contact with the river water.
She happily soaked her hands, playing delightedly.
Glancing to the side, she saw Erya busily scrubbing clothes.
She pulled over a piece of clothing and imitated her scrubbing it, then put it into the water to stir, before trying to wring it out like everyone else.
Erya watched silently.
After Manbao was done, she re-washed the clothes quickly and then dragged the young girl back ho, prepared for the beating that awaited her upon their return.
Manbao was still in high spirits, “The river water is so refreshing, so much fun.
Erya, I’ll co with you to wash clothes from now on.”
“No,” Erya refused, “Little aunt, not only can you not wash them clean, but if granny finds out, I’ll get a beating, and you should just play with Second Son at ho.”
“No, I want to play in the water,” said Manbao, “I have already agreed with Second Sister-in-law, I’ll teach you how to read, and then you have to take
to wash clothes.”
Erya hesitated a bit, “My mom agreed?”
“Of course,” Manbao said proudly, “I begged for a long ti.”
Erya half-doubted, but as soon as she returned ho, she dragged little aunt to the kitchen to find her mom.
Ms.
Feng was making breakfast, she saw Erya and had her co over to help with the fire, telling Manbao to go out and not to smoke up the kitchen.
While going to make the fire, Erya asked, “Mom, did little aunt say you agreed to let
learn to read?”
Ms.
Feng glanced at Manbao who was standing there with her chest puffed up, proudly looking at her, and coaxed, “Yes, yes, as long as you can earn money with reading, I agree.”
When Erya heard there was this condition, her whole face soured.
Seeing her nearly about to cry, Manbao couldn’t help but drag her outside, and said to Ms.
Feng, “Second Sister-in-law, Erya hasn’t hung the laundry yet, I’ll help her with the drying.”
“Hey,” was all Ms.
Feng managed to say before Manbao had already dragged Erya far away.
Ms.
Feng could do nothing but sigh and go back to tending the fire herself.
Manbao pulled Erya into the yard and whispered, “Are you silly?
It was said that you have to earn money by reading, so how can you earn if you don’t learn to read?”
Tears glistened in Erya’s eyes as she began to process the aning of those words.
After blinking away her tears, she asked with a sniffle, “Can it really work like that?”
“It was a promise straight from the mouth of Second Sister-in-law.”
Erya thought for a mont, finding it unreliable, “What if, after a while of learning, I still can’t make money, and my mom tells
to stop learning?”
Manbao said seriously, “That would an you didn’t learn well enough or deeply enough, which is why you couldn’t earn money.
So, to earn money, you must continue learning.”
Erya nodded thoughtfully, “Little aunt, I think you’re right.”
Erya perked up again and went to hang the clothes.
Manbao, being short, simply handed her the clothes.
Second Son, dripping with sweat, ran in from outside.
Seeing Manbao standing under the drying rack, he rushed up to ask, “Little aunt, where did you go just now?
I searched everywhere for you.”
“You really are dumb, I was by the river.”
Second Son made an “Oh” sound, then leapt up as if rembering sothing and exclaid, “Granny told you not to go to the river, oh, Second Sister you…
waaa.”
Erya covered his mouth in a flash, while Manbao threatened him, “If you dare to blurt this out, I won’t give you any candy.”
Second Son felt terribly wronged, If you don’t want
to tell, then you shouldn’t have told
in the first place!
Tears welled up in Second Son’s eyes, but he changed his tune, “Little aunt, I have found all your manuscripts for you, you should go back and take a look.”
Manbao: “There’s no hurry, let’s go pick wildflowers, I’ve already thought of a way to make money.”
Second Son and Erya felt it was unreliable, but what could they do?
This was what their little aunt wanted, and Ms.
Qian had also said, “After breakfast, you all go together to clear the fields, and take good care of your little aunt.”
So everyone once again ran off to the foot of the mountain, Zhou SiLang had been clearing there for two days straight, and the plot of land looked much better.
It was about an acre, most of the wild grass had been cut, but the vines and shrubs were tough to remove.
So had roots too deep, and Zhou SiLang alone could barely uproot three in one day.
At this mont, his hands were scraped up and he crouched on the ground staring at a stubborn stump that wouldn’t budge.
Manbao crouched down too, “Is it that hard to hoe?”
Zhou SiLang looked at her with red eyes, “So why did you ask
to clear the land?”
Manbao confidently responded, “Who told you to gamble?”
Zhou SiLang, left speechless, hung his head in sorrow, “The hoe is dull, it can’t dig anything out.”
“It must be the wrong approach,” Manbao, reminded by Keke, snorted and pulled him aside, letting Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother take a crack at it.
Zhou Wulang, holding the hoe, asked, “To dig that far?”
Manbao waved her hand grandly, “Just listen to !”
Zhou Wulang had no choice but to do as told.
He hoed the soil away to one side, slowly digging a big hole toward the direction of the roots, and then Liulang yanked them right out with force.
Everyone fell silent.
Manbao humd proudly, told Zhou SiLang to keep digging at the roots, while she and Datou went up the mountain to look for pretty flowers.
She ntioned her plan on the way, “Have Second Brother help us make so nice baskets, we’ll arrange them with flowers like yesterday, then sell the baskets off, and that’s it.”
“Isn’t that still selling baskets?” Second Son said, “The baskets are made by my dad, the money from selling them definitely goes to him, he won’t give it to us.”
Manbao replied, “Not those big baskets, but the small ones Second Brother made for .”
Daya said, “You can’t carry much in those small baskets; no one will buy them, right?”
“When Second Brother made one for
last ti, didn’t you all like it very much?”
The kids started to debate, “We liked them, but adults won’t buy them.”
Erya added, “Kids don’t have money.”
“Then we’ll find kids who do have money.”
The others felt it was impossible, “How could kids have money?”
They didn’t have any, and so they thought all kids around the world were the sa.
Likewise, Manbao said, “How could that be?
I have money, so there must be other kids with money like , maybe even more than .
We’ll find them.”
That’s when Manbao revealed her ultimate goal, “When the ti cos, we’ll put candy in the baskets to sell.”
Upon hearing there was candy in the baskets, everyone felt a bit more confident and began to search for wildflowers.
Although it was autumn, the mountain wasn’t short on wildflowers.
In no ti, everyone had gathered an armful of them.
With Manbao there, even Datou and Daya felt emboldened.
They left their three diligently working brothers behind, cheerfully heading ho.
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang looked on with envy, regretting only that they were a few years too old to take advantage of their youngest sister’s favors.
But then, glancing at Zhou SiLang, who was still cutting grass, they felt much better.
At least they could go to town tomorrow, while he was stuck clearing the land.
Manbao ran ho to look for Zhou Erlang, only to find out he and Zhou Dalang had gone to the fields.
The busy farming season might have passed, but the land still needed so tending, to rest for half a year so it would be ready for planting in the coming spring.
With Zhou Erlang absent, Manbao had no choice but to turn to her father, “Dad, can you make
so small baskets, just like the ones Second Brother made for ?”
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