Chapter 106: Unable to Save Money
When the little girl went there, she brought their young lady out with her. There was more than one young lady, both sisters from the Fu family came.
Miss Fu Er glanced at Datou and others who were following Manbao, and her eyes fell on Bai Shanbao, but she didn't look at him for long, because she was older than all of them.
"Manbao, what are you busy with at home?" Miss Fu thought Manbao was very smart. Although she was young, she liked talking to her very much.
She didn't go out, but stood at the door and talked to Manbao outside.
Manbao counted on his fingers to tell her how busy she had been recently.
When Miss Fu heard that Manbao was studying, she looked at her seriously.
"Are you coming before the New Year?" Miss Fu said, "We'll have a lot of guests coming to our house during the New Year, and many of my friends will be coming. I was thinking of buying some candy before the New Year."
"We're here to buy New Year's goods." Manbao said, "Aren't you going to eat before the New Year?"
"Food, then please leave ten packets for us." She said, "My grandmother and the others have gone back to their hometown, and my cousins are gone too. We don't have much to eat."
Manbao agreed, but this was not a small amount, four hundred and fifty coins.
The little girl glanced at Manbao and counted out four and a half strings of money to her. Manbao grabbed a handful of candy and gave it to her, then continued chatting with Miss Fu. "How do you celebrate the New Year in your family?"
The two chatted for a long time. Finally, the two ladies were tired of standing, and Manbao felt that it was about time, so he said goodbye and left.
Datou, Daya and others decided to take the remaining candy to the market to sell. Daya and Erya had come to the county town many times before to sell flower baskets, so they were quite familiar with the children there.
However, not everyone may be willing to eat a piece of candy that costs only one penny, but they still want to give it a try.
As for the price reduction, they never thought about it, because if the price is reduced here, wouldn’t Miss Fu Er be at a loss?
The Fu family's business is a stable and long-term business. Manbao himself knows this, so he asks Datou and others not to lower the price, and would rather not sell it and keep it for next time.
Bai Shanbao was still somewhat interested in doing business. He took a bag of candy to try it out, and then went to the bookstore with Manbao around noon. The two of them went in for a stroll, and when they came out, Bai Shanbao bought a lot of things, including two books.
Manbao didn't have enough money to buy books, so she didn't spend a penny.
He turned around and took Bai Shanbao to the cloth shop, "I want to buy cloth and cotton for my mother."
Bai Shanbao touched the purse in his arms and asked, "Should I buy this for my grandmother and the others too?"
"Do your grandmother and mother need clothes?"
“No shortage.”
"Then don't buy them. Buy what they need, so they will be happy."
Bai Shanbao thought about it carefully and said, "My grandmother and her family lack nothing."
"That's great," Manbao said after a moment of envy, "Then let's buy whatever they like."
Bai Shanbao said seriously: "They like me."
Manbao laughed heartily, "Then I'll give you to your grandmother and mother."
Bai Shanbao felt that this was not a good idea, as it was equivalent to him not buying anything.
He followed Manbao around, watching her carefully selecting fabrics. She said her mother didn't like this color, and her mother didn't like it too thin, so he asked, "What do you think my grandmother and mother would like?"
"If it were me, I'd love to eat it!"
The cloth shop owner who greeted the two of them couldn't help but laugh at the children's childish chatter and said, "If you have enough money, you can buy some jewelry for the elders. There is no woman who doesn't like jewelry."
Manbao raised his little head and asked, "What is jewelry?"
"It's the pearl flowers, gold hairpins, silver hairpins and so on that you wear on your head."
Manbao reached out and touched her little head. Her hair was fluffy because her father insisted that hair was nourished by blood. He cut her hair every once in a while and said that she didn't need to grow her hair until she was seven years old.
But it is winter now, and Manbao hasn't cut her hair for several months. Her hair just covers her neck. No one in the Zhou family has gold or silver hairpins, and they only use wooden hairpins to tie their hair. So doesn't she know that there are jewelry?
Manbao compared her mother's stature with the proprietress, quickly cut a piece of cloth, and bought two kilograms of cotton. Then she excitedly went to look at jewelry with Bai Shanbao.
Daya, who was following behind, put the cloth and cotton in a backpack and followed them to the silver shop next door.
But Daya and the others took a look at what was inside and didn't dare to go in.
Manbao was completely unaware of this and even pulled Daya with him, and everyone went in together to look at the jewelry displayed inside.
Manbao was still young and could not understand the beauty of jewelry, so he was as blind as Bai Shanbao. In the end, Daya gave some advice and Daji also gave some pointers. Bai Shanbao then bought something for his grandmother and mother, and successfully spent all his saved pocket money.
He also sighed with Manbao, "This is all the money I saved over the past few months, but I spent it all today."
Manbao comforted him, "It's okay, I've spent all my money, we can just earn more."
"But you can sell candy, what can I sell?"
"Then you can come with me to grow ginger and yams." Manbao placed all her hopes on these two crops. She also felt that selling sugar brought in too little money, not even enough for her to buy meat, so she thought Keke's suggestion was more reliable. "Your family is so capable, you can ask them to go out and look for yam seeds. If they can find any, you can plant some in your yard. You'll have a good harvest next winter. Otherwise, you can also grow ginger. I have seeds, I can give you some."
"Will you plant it in my yard too?"
"Yes, there are only three of you in your family, and you live in such a big yard. It would be a waste to leave it empty. But raising chickens and ducks is too smelly. I don't like it at all. Let's just grow ginger."
Bai Shanbao thought her suggestion was good and nodded, "Then you have to help me. I don't know how to plant."
Having already planted ginger once, Manbao nodded confidently and said, "No problem. Besides, ginger is quite expensive. The most important thing is that it can be harvested in the summer. It grows very fast."
The two talked about growing ginger for a long time. Finally, as they walked, they found that they were a little hungry. Because they were in the county town, the Bai family did not prepare any food for Bai Shanbao.
The Zhou family knew that Manbao had money and didn't want her to eat cold and hard steamed buns in such a cold weather, so they didn't prepare any for her.
In the end, Manbao asked for the opinions of Datou and Daya, and wanted to use the money given to them to buy buns.
Manbao spent nearly three hundred coins on cloth and cotton, and the remaining money was to be divided equally among Datou and the other three.
Datou and the others agreed reluctantly. They couldn't let their aunt go hungry, right?
However, in order to prevent his sister-in-law from spending money indiscriminately, Datou asked Manbao to give them the money on the spot after buying the buns, and then gave it to her for safekeeping.
Datou and Daya knew that although the money was still in the hands of their aunt, as long as the divided money was given to her for safekeeping, in their aunt's heart, it was no longer her money.
At this moment, Manbao really had no money left.
(End of this chapter)
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