Chapter 97 The Uncontrollable Thought
After the workers had their meal and rested for a while, they went back to work.
Manbao and his friends usually feel sleepy at noon, but the cold wind is howling and there is no shelter here, so they can't take a nap.
So the three children took turns yawning twice, and then Zhou Wulang wiped their faces with cold water, and they instantly felt refreshed.
Zhou Wulang asked with a smile, "Are we going home yet?"
"No," Manbao finally remembered the serious matter, "We haven't finished questioning everyone yet."
Zhou Wulang scratched his head and said, "Okay, then we'll stay here with you."
"Fifth brother, go get some more water and boil it," Manbao suggested. "The bones at the bottom of the pot still have some flavor if you boil them..."
Zhou Wulang was stunned and said quickly, "Manbao, we can't be so unkind. We've already gone through this once."
"I'm not selling soup, I'm giving it to them for free." Manbao said, "They've already eaten lunch, but there's still dinner. We can't let Third Brother drink cold water for dinner. Anyway, a bowl of hot soup is cooked, and a pot of hot soup is cooked too, so just cook it for them."
Zhou Wulang breathed a sigh of relief. "This isn't difficult. Just get some water and start a fire."
It's just firewood anyway, just light it and burn it.
But he was reluctant to add salt because it was too expensive.
Zhou Wulang took Zhou Liulang to look for firewood, while Manbao and Bai Shanbao continued to collect information. With so many people, they recorded everything in two thick books, planning to sort them out after returning, and then ask the teacher how to write the article when he came back.
After asking people, Manbao finally had time to observe them working. She asked curiously, why do they have to dig ditches on both sides of the official road? Where will the water in the ditch eventually flow? What if the soil dug out from the ditch is not enough to fill the pits on the official road?
Who will repair the road if it breaks down again? How often will it be repaired? Is there anyone to take care of it?
There were all kinds of small problems. When Manbao learned that they would not dig roads tomorrow but would dig water conservancy projects instead, she became very excited and said that she would come to watch the fun tomorrow, oh no, to learn.
Zhou Wulang filled the pot with water, covered it with a lid and started to light a fire. Manbao and Bai Shanbao sat in front of the stove, warming themselves by the fire while looking through their records, discussing how to organize them.
Manbao said, "It would be best if they were written into short stories. They could be read as storybooks before bed."
Bai Shanbao refused, "I've written it down. I don't want to read it anymore. Just write the article."
"We wrote it down, but the master hasn't seen it."
"Why would you just show the booklet to the teacher? Why do you need to organize it?" Bai Shanbao raised his little hand and said, "You can't write, and I have to write it all by myself. My hands are very tired."
"Let Bai Er help you."
Bai Erlang refused without thinking: "No help!"
Manbao felt a little regretful, so he said to Bai Shanbao, "Don't worry, wait until my calligraphy is finished, and then I will write with you."
"When will your handwriting be good?"
Manbao was full of confidence, "It's almost there, almost there."
Anyway, she has no shortage of paper now. She still has a lot of paper from the last time she bought at the mall. She decided to practice calligraphy seriously after returning home. With her intelligence and talent, she will be able to learn it quickly.
Bai Shanbao was very skeptical about this, because he practiced calligraphy every day and it took him a very long time to learn it.
Zhou Wulang ignored the two children and turned off the fire when the soup boiled, leaving only some charcoal at the bottom of the pot to prevent the boiling water from cooling down.
As soon as the bell rang for dinner, Zhou Liulang invited everyone to come and get some hot soup. When they learned that the soup was free this time, the workers were delighted and took their bowls to get the soup. Some even ran back to the thatched hut to get the bamboo tubes they brought, poured out the cold water inside, and ran to get some hot water.
They decided to stuff the bamboo tube into their quilts, hoping they could have some warm water to drink after nightfall.
Zhou Sanlang also carried a bamboo tube.
Zhou Wulang filled his bamboo tube and whispered, "Third brother, we'll come back tomorrow. Leave some of your dry food for one meal, and let me take the rest back. I'll have my sister-in-law reheat it and bring it back to you tomorrow."
Zhou Sanlang had no objection. He went back to the thatched hut and got all the remaining dry food, leaving only one piece of bread, and let Zhou Wulang take the rest back.
Because they had the donkey cart with them, they returned to the village early today. Manbao handed the bookcase containing the books, writing materials, and ink to Bai Shanbao and said, "I'll come back to you after I get home and have dinner. We can discuss this together."
Bai Shanbao really didn't want to write, but he nodded and said, "Okay."
He looked around and whispered to Manbao, "Remember to bring candy. I like the red kind."
Manbao also lowered his voice and said to him: "Don't tell anyone else."
She is the only one who eats that kind of candy. The ones she usually gives to others are not of that color because they look so different from the candies that can be made in this era.
Fortunately, Bai Shanbao is rather stupid and lacks experience, so he doesn't understand. Manbao is still very willing to share good things with his good friends.
Manbao also whispered to Bai Shanbao, "Remember to bring osmanthus cake, and chestnut cake is also delicious."
Bai Shanbao said, "You can only choose one."
Manbao swallowed his saliva, feeling very conflicted, but finally made up his mind, "Then let's eat osmanthus cake today and chestnut cake tomorrow."
"Then I don't want red candy tomorrow. Do you have yellow candy? I want yellow candy."
"Yes, I'll bring it to you."
So the two friends were satisfied and said goodbye to each other.
Daji stood under the car, smiling as he watched the two children whispering to each other in the car.
Seeing that they had finally finished their whisper, Zhou Wulang stepped forward, picked up his sister, and waved goodbye to the two young masters of the Bai family.
When Xiao Qian's three sisters-in-law heard the noise at the door, they all ran out to see what was happening. When they saw them coming back, they helped to lift the cauldron and asked, "Did they sell it?"
Zhou Wulang nodded excitedly.
The Zhou family closed the door and counted their money.
Zhou Wulang took the bag out of the wooden barrel, opened the bag, and poured out the copper coins inside.
The whole family looked at the small pile of copper coins in amazement. Little Qian exclaimed, "You really made some money? How much did you spend on the meat?"
Zhou Wulang then calculated the accounts for them. After this trip, not counting the radishes and chopped green onions they brought from home, they earned a total of 178 coins.
Even Zhou Silang couldn't help but salivate and wanted to cheat and not go to the Bai family to build a house.
He looked at Manbao eagerly, thinking that Yaomei was too partial to him, since he and she were obviously best friends before.
Manbao didn't understand Fourth Brother's resentment. She was happily setting aside tomorrow's expenses for Fifth Brother. Seeing her set aside a hundred coins, the remaining money was only 60% of the money to be handed over to the government. Qian couldn't help but frown and asked, "Why do you want so much? Isn't it only 20 coins?"
Manbao made a very reasonable response. "Since we know how to make money, we can buy more tomorrow. Mom, you don't know how pitiful they are. The government only gives them one steamed bun and no vegetables to eat. My friend said that people will get sick if they don't eat vegetables."
(End of this chapter)
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