Chapter 228 Visitors
Manbao went to Mr. Bai's house next door in confusion.
The servants in Mr. Bai's house were also very familiar with Manbao. When they heard that she was looking for the young master, they let her in.
Manbao ran to the front hall, but before she reached the place, she heard voices from inside. She did not rush forward, but lay down by the door and looked inside.
Bai Shanbao saw her at a glance, but there was nothing he could do as he stood behind his grandmother, while his grandmother and Aunt Bai sat at the top, facing the door.
A familiar round head popped out from the door, and it was hard for him not to notice it.
Bai Shanbao winked at her and asked her to wait and he would come to find her later.
Manbao winked at him in response.
The guests were three men in gorgeous clothes. They were talking to Old Mrs. Bai with their backs to Manbao. But strangely, one of them seemed to have noticed something and turned around.
There was nothing by the door.
Manbao squatted behind the door, grabbed the kitten that ran over and bumped into her, and held it happily in her arms.
The little girl who chased after her didn't dare to come closer and kept waving at her.
Manbao ran over with the cat in his arms, "Miss, is this cat yours?"
"This belongs to the old lady. I was just about to give it a bath, but it didn't like it and ran away. Miss Zhou, will you give it to me?"
"Oh, okay." Manbao reluctantly gave the cat to her. Seeing that she really liked it, the little girl smiled and said, "Young lady, you can touch it again."
He turned around and looked at the person at the door and retracted his gaze. What he didn't know was that Liu, who was sitting at the top and talking with a smile, also retracted her gaze without saying a word.
Bai Shanbao didn't want to stand here and listen to the adults talking, mainly because what they were talking about was very boring, so he looked at his grandmother carefully, and when he saw that she wasn't paying attention, he quietly slipped out.
Liu saw it but said nothing.
The guests sitting below seemed to know that Bai Shanbao left because he was bored, so they didn't say anything.
Bai Shanbao slipped out the door and saw Manbao petting a cat. He immediately ran over and asked, "Why are you here?"
Manbao said, "The teacher said your grandmother was sick, so you didn't go to school to take care of her. But you lied to us. Grandma Liu is obviously fine."
Bai Shanbao said, "Grandmother herself said she was ill, and then my aunt sent someone to look for her, saying that there were guests at home who wanted to see us, and then Grandmother got better again."
He looked around and whispered in Manbao's ear, "I think grandma is just trying to be lazy, so she's pretending to be sick."
"Then why do I ask for leave for you?"
Bai Shanbao scratched his head. "To make it more realistic?"
He said, "For example, if I were to pretend to be sick, I would put a hot towel on my forehead first, so that my mother would feel that I had a fever when she touched me."
“…”
Manbao stuffed the notes into his hand and said, "Here, these are my notes from this morning. The teacher said that you must not only copy all the notes, but also not fall behind in your homework. Tell me, did the teacher know that Grandma Liu was feigning illness, so he did this on purpose?"
Bai Shanbao: "..."
"Do you want to go back to class this afternoon?"
Bai Shanbao thought for a moment, shook his head, and after glancing at the front hall, he said, "I don't know what's going on, but my grandmother seems very interested in this guest. I might have to accompany her to the village chief's house later."
"Who are these guests?"
"They say the court sent people to assess the extent of the disaster. Those severely affected will receive an additional subsidy. It seems everyone will receive one, and the subsidy will be distributed based on household registration."
Manbao exclaimed, "Really? There are twenty-one people in my family."
Bai Shanbao also came back to his senses, "Yes, then your family can get a lot of subsidies."
Manbao was eager to make a move. "I'll go with you to find the village chief. It would be best if I could sit in on the conversation."
Bai Shanbao agreed and took her hand to go back to the front hall, but before they went in, the people in the hall came out first.
Liu led them out and said with a smile, "My elder sister is not feeling well. Since you are sent by the court, I will take you to find the village chief."
The leader's eyes flickered slightly, and he smiled and said, "Thank you very much, old lady."
It was lunchtime, and Manbao was full of energy and wanted to go along.
Bai Shanbao pulled her into the living room to get some snacks, and then ran to catch up with his grandmother and the others.
The two children had snacks in their hands and were munching on them while whispering to each other, "The teacher is going to tell us a story this afternoon. Are you really not going to school?"
Bai Shanbao hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll think about it. I'll have to ask my grandmother first."
Manbao nodded.
The group rushed to the village chief's house. The three said that they were people from the imperial court and were going to do disaster statistics. Qili Village was reported to have suffered serious damage, and they would report it after verification. At that time, the imperial court would give subsidies based on the number of people, that is, everyone on the household registration could receive subsidies.
The village chief had never heard of such a subsidy method, but seeing that the other party was dressed in fancy clothes and carrying a sword, he did not seem like a liar.
And no one asked him for money, right?
So the village chief asked excitedly: "Are you really going to compensate according to the household registration?"
"good."
"Do you also mend your daughter-in-law and underage children?"
The other party seemed a little impatient, but nodded. "That's right, so you can lead us to each house. We need to check it out."
The village chief immediately burst into laughter and said happily, "That's easy. Let's start with my family. By the way, do you want to see the people?"
The other party hesitated for a moment and said, "If the person is at home, of course it would be best to see him/her. Even if it is written in the household registration, what if there is an error or omission?"
"Oh, sir, I dare not say that. The people in our village are very honest. Besides, we still have to pay taxes if we over-report the population. Why should we over-report?"
“So there’s an underreporting?”
"No, no, there's nothing like that either," the village chief thought they were fools, but with a smile on his face he explained, "When this child becomes an adult, he can get his share of the land. Who would report less?"
No matter whether you report more or less, it is impossible for them.
However, because the three of them needed to see people, the village chief called his eldest son and said, "Go, tell Mr. Zhuang to give all the children in the village half a day off. Have the second son go and call back everyone from the fields. Don't leave out any household. They need to be counted later, which is related to the subsidy."
The two sons responded and ran out.
Bai Shanbao and Manbao looked at each other, knowing that they didn't have to think about going back to class, but they still ran to the classroom hand in hand.
Dazhu's nephew went to ask for leave for them. The teacher will definitely gather the students together to make the announcement, and Manbao cannot be absent.
When Mr. Zhuang called all the children from the neighborhood back to the school, he found someone sitting next to Manbao. He was slightly surprised and asked, "Bai Shan, isn't your grandmother sick?"
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
