Chapter 309 Good Neighborliness
Manbao studied hard, reading the new text back and forth four or five times, and going over Bai Shanbao's notes twice before closing his eyes and reciting silently.
When the morning class was over and Mr. Zhuang walked into the classroom with a book, Manbao breathed a sigh of relief, then turned his head and smiled at Bai Shanbao.
Mr. Zhuang saw it from above, glanced at the things on the two children's desks, and did not call on his two favorite students to answer questions throughout the entire class.
This made the students sitting behind Manbao tense up and they were almost sweating profusely after the class.
I always feel that the questions the gentleman asked today are extremely difficult, and seem to be directed at them.
Is it because they have been naughty recently?
The classmates behind them are doubting themselves, while the ambitious Bai Shanbao and Manbao are gradually becoming disappointed.
Especially Manbao, she worked hard to prepare for the entire morning class and prepared to answer many questions, but in the end the teacher didn't ask any questions. She was so disappointed.
After school at noon, Manbao did not check the system's backend, and Keke did not say anything. She endured it until school was over in the afternoon before she allowed her consciousness to enter the system's backend to check the situation.
Koko then popped up, "There's an order."
It classified the orders and showed them to Manbao, and the first item on the list was cabbage worms.
Manbao was stunned. "Why do they like bugs?"
"Looking at the forum messages, I'm wondering if there's a gene in the cabbage worm that, if modified, could make it into excellent feed for carnivores."
"Feed the chickens? Chickens love to eat bugs."
"No, it's more for feeding the bicorn. Its meat is good, more delicious than chicken, but it is a carnivore and has a very picky mouth."
Manbao perked up at the mention of food and quickly asked, "What does it look like? Do we have any here? Can I raise one?"
There were pictures and even videos of bicorns in the encyclopedia, and Koko searched for a clip and showed it to her.
Manbao looked at the bicorn, which was bigger than a cow and completely new to him, and couldn't help blinking. "How many worms would I need to feed it cabbage worms?"
Their chickens are so small but they can eat insects.
Koko said, "So they need to do some research. I heard that a research institute has been able to raise cabbage worms to the size of a child's arm. Furthermore, these worms are easy to keep alive, and their meat seems to be good, so the Bicorns like them very much."
Manbao shuddered and felt goosebumps crawling all over her arms. She quickly said, "Okay, I'll catch them all. Koko, don't say anything."
Koko laughed and asked, "Do you still want to raise a bicorn now?"
Manbao said "no" firmly, then logged out of the system, put away the books on the desk, rejected Bai Shanbao's invitation to do homework together, and was about to go home with his book box.
Bai Shanbao felt that Manbao had been acting strangely for the past two days, so he quickly ran after her with his bookcase on his back. "I just saw you tremble a little. Are you sick?"
Manbao shook his head.
Bai Shanbao was a little anxious. "If you feel unwell, tell me. It would be bad if a minor illness turns into a major one."
Manbao sighed and said, "I'm not sick, I just have goose bumps."
She pulled up her sleeve to show him her arm.
Bai Shanbao took a look and didn't see any difference, so he rolled up his sleeves and placed them next to Manbao's hand for comparison.
Comparing the two children, there seemed to be no difference, except that Bai Shanbao's arms were a little thicker and stronger.
But this time Bai Shanbao was sure that Manbao was not sick, so he asked again: "Are you really not going to my house to do your homework?"
Manbao shook his head and said, "I have something to talk to Datou and the others about."
"Then go find Datou first, and then come to my house after you're done talking," Bai Shanbao said, "I'll be able to finish my homework faster with you."
Manbao thought so too. It would be faster for two people to finish their homework, and if there were any mistakes, there would be someone to check.
Manbao nodded and said, "Then you go back first, I will come to find you later."
The two separated at the intersection.
Before Manbao ran back to Zhou's house, he found Datou and his friends by the river not far from Zhou's house. They were beating hemp with wooden sticks, and Xiao Qian was beside them.
Manbao rushed over and shouted, "Sister-in-law, I need Datou and the others to help me with the work."
Little Qian didn't ask what was going on. She waved to Datou and the others and said, "Go ahead. Stop making trouble and go home early."
Datou and the others responded happily and ran away happily following Manbao.
Xiao Qianshi took over all the work of pounding the hemp. The children working by the river looked at Datou and his companions with envy as they left. The women looked at Xiao Qianshi with envy, "Mr. Zhou, have you collected all the hemp?"
Mrs. Qian laughed and said, "How can it be that fast? We planted a bit more this year, so it will take two or three days to harvest."
"Looks like it's going to rain. Many families in the village haven't finished harvesting their wheat yet."
"Yeah, the first ones to finish were the Zhou family. More people means more."
Mrs. Qian smiled and said, "More people means more food. There are more than 20 people in our family. We added one this year and another next year. Even if we only cook porridge every day, we still need seven or eight times more rice than other families."
"You see, our wheat harvest was completed in just a few days. You don't know how much we hoped for a few more days. The quick harvest means there isn't much left. We are so unlucky this year. I don't know if the autumn rice harvest will be any better." Xiao Qian's face was full of worry.
That's true. Old Zhou also cries poor all day long. He has a big family, so he eats more.
"But it's still much better than a family with fewer people. With a large family, they can still handle the situation if one or two get sick. For example, your eldest son had a stomach injury last time and can't do heavy work, but you still have his brothers Zhou Er and San San. Look at Zhou Hu's family. They used to have such a good life, but now his wife is lying in bed and can't move. He relies on himself for everything, without even a hand to help."
"Yes, yes, when I saw him this morning, I almost didn't recognize him."
"By the way, Mr. Zhou, I saw your eldest son harvesting wheat with Zhou Hu today. Didn't he go to work at Mr. Bai's house?"
"He has a stomach injury," Xiao Qian said with a flawless smile, "My father-in-law didn't dare let him do heavy work, for fear that the injury would rupture, so he didn't go. Although the eldest brother can't do heavy work like carrying things, he can still harvest wheat and beans. The eldest brother and his brothers have a good relationship with Zhou Hu, and they are from the same village, so it's just a matter of helping out."
Everyone became even more envious.
After taking another look at how numb Xiao Qian was beating her, they couldn't help but speed up.
Harvesting hemp is a very troublesome job. At least among the farm work that Manbao has participated in, harvesting hemp is what she hates the most.
The same goes for Datou and Daya.
As soon as they were out of sight of the adults, they showed Manbao their scarred hands and said, "We always get cut while peeling hemp, so grandma asked us to come to the river to pound hemp, but pounding hemp is so tiring."
(End of this chapter)
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