Chapter 119: Snitch (Thanks to the book friend Xuehua for the reward)
The Chinese New Year is approaching, and the streets are bustling with people buying New Year's goods, or parents bringing their children to join in the fun.
Throughout the year, only during the harvest season and the Chinese New Year do adults spend more money to buy things for their children.
Zhou Silang and his friends' candy business was doing very well. Even Zhou Silang didn't expect that their candies were so popular. At one penny each, many children were reluctant to buy them at first, but now they were lining up to grab them.
Zhou Silang couldn't help but ponder, and whispered to Zhou Wulang: "Lao Wu, can we do this business for a long time? Why didn't you come to the county town before?"
Zhou Wulang was selling candy and collecting money while saying, "Don't think about it. It's only Chinese New Year. Usually, not many children on the street are willing to spend a penny to buy a piece of candy. Usually, we sell candy to the county magistrate's daughter and the children next door."
Zhou Silang could only sigh in disappointment, help sell the candies, and then collect the money.
Because he also worked today, when he returned home in the evening, Manbao deducted the cost and divided the money equally. Zhou Silang got eighty cents and was very happy.
Then Manbao put away her money, turned around and ran back home to tell her mother: "Mom, we made money selling candy today, and my fourth brother got eighty cents."
Qian asked, "Why haven't you come to hand it in?"
Manbao then realized that complaining would only expose herself. However, after thinking for a moment, she hugged her mother's arm and said coquettishly, "We still need to buy candy, and there is not much money left to pay to the government. Mom, can we not pay the money from selling candy to the government in the future?"
Qian tapped her nose and said, "Do you think everyone doesn't know that you and Old Five are secretly making money selling candy? If you don't want to pay it, then don't pay it. But there is only one exception. Let me ask you, do you have the money from your fifth and sixth brothers?"
Manbao covered his pocket and said in fear: "Mom, I will never betray my fifth and sixth brothers."
Qian couldn't help but patted her head. "What are you thinking? Is mother that kind of person? I just want to ask, how much money did your fifth and sixth brothers deposit with you?"
Although Qian didn't see the money on the little girl, she had some idea of it. Moreover, the child couldn't help spending money when she had it, and it was all spent on food, so there was no need to worry about it.
But she couldn't guess how many the fifth and sixth brothers were.
Manbao turned and ran away, saying, "I won't tell you. I promised my fifth and sixth brothers."
Qian didn't catch her and let her slip away. Well, she didn't need to ask anymore. After thinking about it, she called Silang into the room.
When Zhou Silang came out again, his head was lowered. He glanced around the yard and didn't see Manbao, so he went out. After walking for a while, he heard a sound in the vegetable garden and followed it.
Seeing Manbao squatting on the ground chatting happily with everyone, he angrily stepped forward and shouted, "Manbao! Did you and your mother tell on us?"
Manbao looked up from the crowd and saw Fourth Brother. He ran up to him, took his hand and said earnestly, "Fourth Brother, I'm doing this for your own good."
Zhou Silang was furious. What did he mean by "it's for his own good"? He had just saved eighty cents with great difficulty, wasn't it?
"Think about it, what good will it do me to tell Mom that you saved the money? Nothing at all. On the contrary, Mom will know that we didn't hand over the money we earned."
Zhou Silang became even more angry, "So you harm others and not benefit yourself."
"Who said that? I'm sacrificing myself to benefit you. You still owe the family money, but you make money but don't take the initiative to pay it back. What will my parents and brothers and sisters-in-law think if they find out?" Manbao said, "Your reputation is already bad, and it will get worse in the future. I'm doing this for your own good."
Manbao said, "Besides, what's the point of keeping the money? Are you going to gamble with it again?"
"I won't bet on that."
"Since you're not gambling, what are you going to do with the money?" Manbao asked him, "Are you willing to spend it on meat for your family? Are you willing to spend it on new clothes?"
Zhou Silang: ...I can’t bear to do that!
"Look, I know you're reluctant to give it up, so don't you have to pay it back in the end? Since you have to pay it back, it's better to pay it back sooner rather than later. Fourth brother, I was scolded by my mother for you. I didn't even hand over the money I earned, and you still haven't thanked me..."
Zhou Silang actually felt that what Manbao said made sense, but he would not believe her. How could she be someone who would sacrifice herself for the benefit of others?
Zhou Silang listened to her expressionlessly and decided not to argue with her, so he broke free from her hand and was about to go back.
But Manbao grabbed his hand and said, "Fourth brother, since you are here, come and look at our ginger. Our ginger has grown so big. After the New Year, we can plant ginger in the field."
"So soon?" Zhou Silang became more serious about his own wasteland and asked, "Have you asked when ginger is usually planted?"
Manbao has included a piece of ginger, and the entry for ginger has been out for a long time. The entry says that it can only germinate at a temperature above 16 degrees Celsius.
Manbao doesn't understand what 16 degrees Celsius means, Keke said it means when spring comes and flowers bloom.
Anyway, she used straw to keep the ginger warm, and now it has sprouted and grown. She thinks she can do the same when she gets to the land.
And spring comes after the Chinese New Year. She asked her sister-in-law, and her sister-in-law said that after the first month of the year, people will basically be busy with sowing.
So Manbao had a plan in place. "After the fifteenth day of the lunar month, when the sun comes out, we'll take out the ginger and dry it in the sun for a few days before planting it in the fields."
The entry for ginger says that it is best to cut the ginger into pieces, remove the necrotic part, soak it in water with wood ash, and then dry it in the sun for seven or eight days before sowing.
This can prevent the ginger seeds from getting sick.
Manbao thinks this planting method is similar to that of yam.
She also asked Keke if the seeds growing in the soil liked to be soaked in wood ash water before being dried?
Koko checked it himself in the system and found that it was true. This planting method is recommended for most tuberous plants. However, in the future, people will soak them in nutrient solution potions. There is no specific potion here, so they can only soak them in water with wood ash, which is better than nothing.
The planting of yam is earlier than that of ginger. They have been dried long ago and grown in the kitchen before.
There is no way. It takes about twenty days to grow yam, and these twenty days require a relatively warm environment. Apart from the bedrooms, the kitchen is the warmest place in the house.
There was no way Manbao would leave the yam that was covered with wood ash and had a strange smell in the house, so he put it in the kitchen.
In a corner not far from the stove, they piled a lot of straw to keep warm.
When there is a fire in the kitchen, the firelight will shine on them, which is quite warm. Moreover, during the coldest period of the weather, everyone in the family is used to sitting by the fire in the kitchen, which can also warm them.
At first, Manbao didn't know if it would work, but the weather had been getting warmer in the past few days and the sun was out every day. Keke reminded her that it was almost time, so Manbao went to lift the straw and took a look, and found that some yam tubers had sprouted.
There will be another chapter with recommendation tickets around 9pm
(End of this chapter)
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