Chapter 52 Buying Chicken
Daya, who was trying hard to learn to read, took a moment to look at him and asked, "Auntie, what are you doing?"
Manbao waved his hand and said, "You guys continue, I'll take a walk outside."
Daya subconsciously tried to keep up, but Manbao glared at her, "Write quickly, or you'll have to write it a hundred times if you can't remember it."
Although she was not very majestic, Daya squatted on the ground subconsciously. But she was not afraid. She looked up and observed her aunt. Seeing that she was wandering at the door, muttering to herself, she didn't know what she was saying. So she ignored her and lowered her head to write.
Manbao was muttering, "Should we go to Brother Hu's house at the end of the village, or to the village chief's house in the middle of the village?"
The system watched silently and did not make a decision for her.
In the end, Manbao went to the village chief's house. She thought that if the village chief's family didn't want to sell the chicken, then she would go to Brother Hu's house.
Why did she choose to buy chickens from these two families? Because apart from their family, these two families raised the most chickens in the village.
It was time to prepare dinner, and almost every household had people there. As soon as Manbao appeared in the yard, Sanzhu's wife saw her.
She curled her lips, not very happy. In fact, she didn't have a good impression of Manbao. What she said by the river last time was heard at home, and she was scolded by her parents-in-law at that time.
What they didn't expect was that Manbao's family went to the county town the next day and returned the money on the third day.
There were faint voices in the village saying that their family was forcing Manbao's family to pay back the money, and they were carrying grain to the county to exchange for money.
This was not a good thing to say, so her father-in-law took the money and went to Old Zhou's house on the spot. Although Manbao's father made an explanation, the two families were cleared up.
But she was still scolded by her mother-in-law. These days, she was the one doing all the heavy work at home, such as feeding the pigs, and her elder and second sisters-in-law were both idle.
Sanzhu's wife felt that it was all Manbao's fault.
Sanzhu's wife didn't have a good face for Manbao, but Manbao was no fool. He walked past her and shouted inside: "Dazhu's wife, Dazhu's wife, are you home?"
Dazhu's wife, who was cooking in the kitchen, ran out and stared blankly at Manbao, who was not even as old as her daughter.
Manbao smiled at her and said in a childish but mature voice, "Dazhu's wife, where is your mother-in-law?"
Dazhu's wife just thought the other person was cute, and she suppressed her laughter and said, "It's Aunt Manbao. My mother-in-law went to the vegetable garden. What do you want to see her about?"
"Nothing, I just want to buy a chicken with your family."
Dazhu's wife was stunned. "Buy chickens? Don't you have chickens at home?"
Manbao said confidently: "My chickens still need to lay eggs, I can't bear to eat them."
Sanzhu's wife couldn't help but said, "You can't bear to eat your chicken, but I can."
Manbao said, "If your chickens don't lay eggs, perhaps you'd be willing to sell them?"
She gave Sanzhu's wife a strange look and said, "If you don't want to sell it, just say so. I'm not forcing you to buy it."
"You!" Before Sanzhu's wife could say anything, Dazhu's wife looked at Manbao suspiciously, "Auntie Manbao, did your family ask you to buy this?"
Manbao nodded. "My mother needs to nourish her body, so she needs to eat chicken. Dazhu's wife, do you have any chickens that don't lay eggs that you want to sell?"
Dazhu's wife hesitated and wanted to shake her head. She was still very skeptical. Why would the Zhou family let Manbao come out to buy chickens? There were brothers' wives and so many older children at home. Even if it was to buy chickens, they should be the ones to come, right?
But before she could say anything, Sanzhu's wife said first: "Yes, do you want a big cock?"
Manbao's eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, Sanzhu's wife, go and catch a big rooster for me to see. I'll give it to you at the market price."
Sanzhu's wife was skeptical, "You really want it? Do you have money?"
Manbao took out a handful of copper coins from his pocket and said with a smile, "Here, I have money."
Sanzhu's wife's eyes widened, and Dazhu's wife was also stunned. They thought at the same time that the Zhou family was really generous. They gave so much money to a little kid without worrying about it being robbed.
However, this is in the village, and I guess no one would dare to steal it.
Since Manbao had brought money, Sanzhu's wife rolled her eyes, turned around, went to the chicken coop, took out a rooster and showed it to Manbao, saying, "Here, this is it. My family has two roosters in total. One is kept for the New Year's ancestral worship. I'll sell this one to you. It's according to the market price. I'll weigh it for you right away."
Dazhu's wife frowned, and Sanzhu's wife whispered, "Sister-in-law, mother has long wanted to let big brother and his family take this chicken to the market to sell for money, but we are from the countryside, who would be willing to spend a few dozen coins to buy a chicken to eat? It will definitely be sent to the county, and the round trip will take a lot of time. If you don't want to sell it, let big brother take it later. My third brother won't go."
Dazhu's wife shut up when she heard that.
But she didn't let the third daughter-in-law do that. She took the initiative to go back to the house and get the scale. While weighing, she said to Manbao, "We are from the same village, how can we just go by the market price? We can give you a penny per pound."
It was quickly weighed out, and Dazhu's wife clumsily calculated it and said, "The total is fifty-three coins."
Manbao happily counted the copper coins in his pocket to her. When it was not enough, he reached into his pocket again, but asked Keke to put the money in his pocket for her. He did this two or three times and finally counted out fifty-three coins.
Dazhu's wife carefully tied the rooster's legs, then tied its wings for her, and then let her carry it back.
Seeing that she seemed to be having a hard time holding such a big rooster, he asked, "How about I take it back to you?"
Manbao shook his head and said confidently: "It's okay, I can hold it."
Manbao carried the rooster home, but halfway through she couldn't hold it anymore, so she simply threw the rooster to the ground, found the rope on its wings, and dragged it away.
The rooster cackled and flapped its wings or jumped its legs tenaciously.
Unfortunately, its legs and wings were tied, so Manbao dragged it back home.
Just as they discovered their aunt was missing, Datou, Daya, and the others were about to go out to look for her, staring with their mouths wide open at the aunt who was running towards them, dragging a chicken...
Erya was the first to come to her senses and ran up to ask, "Auntie, where did you get the chicken?"
Datou and the others also ran up, picked up the poor rooster, and touched it tenderly. Although they were drooling over it, they still said, "Little sister, stealing is wrong."
Zhou Silang and the others also ran out.
Manbao was unhappy and said, "Who said I stole it? I bought it!"
Manbao patted his pocket proudly and said, "I bought it with money!"
Zhou Wulang, who had just returned from the county town, couldn't help but exclaim, "Who did you buy it from, and how much did you pay for it? Did you get ripped off?"
Everyone in the Zhou family was surprised that Manbao brought back a rooster. After listening to her story, Old Zhou couldn't help but touch his waist again, but found nothing. Then he remembered that he had given all the raw cigarettes to Lao Wu to sell in the county town early this morning, and he put the rest aside, planning to smoke them during the New Year.
Old Zhou then looked at his wife.
The editor said that there will be three chapters tomorrow, so I have to work hard to save manuscripts today. There will be another chapter in the evening. I feel so energetic in spring.
(End of this chapter)
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