Chapter 1 Lost the Bet
Xiao Qianshi carried the basket on her back and tiptoed to the kitchen door of the school. She took her sister-in-law out of the basket and placed her on the threshold. She whispered, "Manbao, just sit here. I'll go cook and take you home later."
Manbao nodded obediently, and when her sister-in-law turned and went into the kitchen, she ran towards the classroom next door with her short legs.
The children inside were reading "Thousand Character Classic" under the guidance of their teacher. Manbao dragged a stone under the window as if he knew the place well, then stepped on the stone and looked inside, staring at it with a pair of eyes as bright as stars.
Bai Erlang, who was sitting not far from the window, noticed Manbao's gaze while shaking his head, so he secretly turned around and glared at her fiercely.
Manbao glared back unwillingly and made a face at him.
Bai Erlang's eyes widened in anger. The master happened to walk by and patted him on the head gently, scolding him: "Be more serious."
Manbao couldn't help laughing when he saw it. He was extremely happy. When he saw his husband looking at him, he winked at him mischievously.
The gentleman with gray beard couldn't help shaking his head and sighing. He ignored her and let her lie on the window and listen to them reading.
Teacher: "Today we are learning the last paragraph of the Thousand Character Classic. Mao Shi has a graceful figure, skillfully frowning and smiling. Years pass by, the sun shines brightly... She is ignorant and foolish, and is ridiculed. The auxiliary verb is yan zai hu ye."
The students recited one sentence after another, and Manbao, standing outside the window, also shouted in a baby voice, which was quite loud. The students in the classroom were used to it and followed the teacher, shaking their heads and reciting.
Manbao had been reciting the Thousand Character Classic since he could speak. He had memorized the text long ago. When he saw the teacher put down the book and let the primary school students recite it repeatedly on their own, while he walked to the other side to the older children to teach them other things, Manbao jumped off the stone and ran into the teacher's residence.
When the teacher announced the end of school and I walked back to the house next door, I saw Manbao had already swept the area in front of the door with a broom and was sitting on the floor sorting out the manuscripts he had thrown away.
Seeing the gentleman come back, Manbao happily showed him the sorted manuscripts, "Look, sir, the backs of these can still be used."
"This is the scrap I used for my contemporary writing. If you want it, take it back."
Manbao shook his head. "The back can be used to practice calligraphy. Sir, you can use it to practice calligraphy first. I will take it back when the back is full of calligraphy."
The gentleman couldn't persuade her, so he took the manuscript and put it on the table. He pointed to another pile of manuscripts filled with words and said, "Take these back. If there are any words you don't understand, bring them to me."
Manbao happily agreed, folded the stack of papers and stuffed it in her arms, then happily jumped to the kitchen to find her sister-in-law.
Xiao Qian had already prepared the food and was serving it to the children.
Manbao slipped into the kitchen, greeted her sister-in-law, and brought her husband's meal to him.
The gentleman pointed to the mat opposite and said, "You can sit down and use it together."
Manbao shook his head and said, "I'll go to the kitchen to eat later. This is for Mr., please eat it."
The husband didn't force her and picked up a piece of meat and handed it to her mouth. Manbao ate it happily, but she couldn't sit still there. She played for a while and then ran out.
The gentleman laughed and shook his head without calling her.
Manbao ran to the kitchen. When Xiao Qian saw her, she scraped the remaining rice crust at the bottom of the pot and put it in a bowl for her to eat.
Manbao obediently grabbed the rice crust and stuffed it into his mouth. He also broke off a piece and stuffed it into his sister-in-law's mouth. Xiao Qianshi smiled and pushed it while eating, "You eat it, you eat it, it's not much."
There is only a small amount of rice crust in one pot of rice. If there is too much rice crust, the students will not have enough to eat, and she might be fired from her job.
Xiao Qian had worked as a cook in the school for three years and had a very good grasp of this point.
Mr. Zhuang was a teacher hired by the village landlord, Mr. Bai. This school was built with donations from the Bai family and contributions from other families in the village.
When Mr. Zhuang first started teaching here, he brought his wife and children with him. Because there were also children from two nearby villages who came here to study, they could not go home for lunch. Mr. Zhuang felt sorry for them being hungry, so he collected six kilograms of rice from each student every month, and for thirty cents, they could have lunch in the school.
At the beginning, the school kitchen was managed by Mr. Zhuang's old wife. She and the villagers bought some vegetables, and the students brought rice. Occasionally, she bought some meat and chopped it up and cooked it for everyone. She only had twenty or thirty cents left every month, which she considered as her hard work fee.
The parents had their own thoughts and knew that Mr. Zhuang was not making money from them but was doing this out of pity for the students. The children also needed to eat when they returned home, so they were happy to provide the rations. Even students whose families lived in the village had rice sent over.
Later, Mr. Zhuang's wife died of illness, and his grandchildren were taken to the city to live by his son and daughter-in-law. He was left alone to teach here, and there was no one to do this job, so Mr. Zhuang took out a hundred coins and hired Xiao Qianshi to be a cook.
When the landlord Bai found out, he asked Xiao Qianshi to return the money to Mr. Zhuang, and used his own money to hire Xiao Qianshi. He also took over the money and rice handed in by the students, allowing Mr. Zhuang to teach with peace of mind.
At that time, Manbao was only eight months old and could not even walk. Xiao Qian's main task was to take care of Manbao and her youngest son Santou, so she often put the two children in a backpack and carried them to the school kitchen. Occasionally, she would pinch a rice ball from the pot for them to eat, and she took very good care of them.
But Santou is four years old now and doesn’t like coming to school. He prefers to play with his brothers and sisters, so now only Manbao is with Xiao Qianshi.
Although he was only fed a little rice crust every day, Manbao was raised to be plump and white. He didn't look like a farmer's child at all, let alone a child from the Zhou family.
Manbao and his sister-in-law divided the rice crusts, washed the pots and bowls, and then went home happily.
Xiao Qianshi wanted to put her in the backpack, but Manbao was not happy about it and ran aside saying, "I can walk by myself. I can walk by myself."
Xiao Qianshi didn't force her, "Okay, just walk on your own. Just don't fall."
"I'm already a big kid, I won't fall." Manbao screamed and ran forward. She saw a group of people gathered at the door from a distance. She was about to rush over happily, but she heard a scream from inside, and she was frightened.
Xiao Qian realized something was wrong earlier than her, so she hugged her and rushed forward.
The crowd immediately made way when they saw Xiao Qianshi, "Mrs. Zhou's eldest sister-in-law is back, please make way, please make way."
"Mrs. Zhou, your fourth uncle lost money gambling, and they came to our house."
There were those who tipped off the child, while others gloated over the child's misfortune. "The debt is quite large. Old Zhou looks like he's going to beat the child to death. Mrs. Zhou, please try to persuade him. The money can be earned, but the life is gone forever."
Xiao Qian's heart was trembling. She pushed through the crowd and went home. She saw her fourth uncle being pinned to the ground by the second and third brothers, and her father-in-law was hitting him with a carrying pole.
There were about ten strangers standing in the yard. The one in the lead had a stern look on his face and interrupted Old Man Zhou, shouting, "Master Zhou, even if you beat your son to death, you have to return the money to me today. Otherwise, wouldn't our journey over the mountains and rivers be in vain?"
Manbao immediately broke free from Xiao Qianshi's arms and ran to her father. She looked at her disappointing fourth brother, then at the people around her, and asked with a frown, "Dad, how much money did fourth brother gamble away?"
The leading young man looked at Manbao in surprise and said, "Eh!" "Master Zhou, your daughter is pretty. If your family has no money, you can use the child as payment. Although she's a little small, we don't mind."
Old Man Zhou was furious. He pushed his daughter behind him and said angrily, "If you want someone, drag this beast away. He will have to pay back the money he owes himself."
Zhou Silang cried out, "Dad, Dad, please save me, Dad. I really don't dare to do it anymore. I won't dare to do it again. If you let them drag me away, they will beat me to death. They will really beat me to death."
The young man in the lead glanced at Old Man Zhou, sneered, and stepped on Zhou Silang's hand and crushed it. Zhou Silang screamed in pain.
Seeing Old Man Zhou's face becoming increasingly ashen and pale, he smiled with satisfaction, "Isn't it just fifteen taels of silver? Look at your newly built house, you don't look like you're broke. At worst, you still have so many girls. Just sell me two of them, but I have to make it clear in advance that girls are worthless nowadays. It has to be your little daughter. Otherwise, the others will only be three or five taels. Without four, you can't sell them off."
When these words were spoken, Xiao Qian and Feng were so frightened that they pulled their daughters back. They were the only two who had daughters in the family.
Old Man Zhou was so angry that his hands and feet were shaking. Zhou Silang was also shocked and scared, and he almost wet his pants. He could only use his other hand that was not stepped on to grab the corner of his father's clothes and begged, "Dad, Dad, please save me, please save me, I really won't dare to do it again, never again..."
Zhou Erlang, who was holding him, couldn't help but reach out to hit him. Life at home had just been good for a short time, but he ruined it all.
And he has two daughters. If he really wants to sell the children...
Zhou Erlang thought of this and beat him harder, "I told you not to be obedient, I told you not to be obedient."
Zhou Silang held his head and begged for mercy.
Manbao looked at her, pursed her lips tightly, turned to look at her three nieces, then turned around and ran into the house.
Her mother, Qian, was leaning on the bed, stroking her chest, and her sixth brother was supporting her with concern.
Her mother has always been in poor health and is probably frightened now.
Manbao ran over and asked, "Mom, how much money do we have?"
Qian opened her eyes and looked at her little girl, she couldn't help but wipe away her tears, "Why are you asking this?"
"Is the money enough to pay off the debt?"
Qian cried, "Damn it! Your fourth brother should have been drowned when he was born. The family is still short of four or five taels of silver."
Manbao asked, "Should we let them drag Fourth Brother away?"
"They've come all this way over the mountains. If we don't give them a penny, they'll beat your fourth brother to death before they can even leave the village. Can we bear to watch him die?"
Qian understood this principle, and Old Zhou was even more likely to not understand it. He just couldn't bear to let it go now.
Manbao emphasized seriously, "You can't sell your niece."
Qian touched her head and said, "I won't sell them. Even if I sell your fourth brother, I won't sell them. That evil creature."
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(End of this chapter)
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