Chapter 13

When Feng Shi brought over a bowl of boiled eggs, the children had already finished the candy and were gathered around Man Bao, looking at her four coins.

Feng Shi was taken aback when she saw the money and asked, "Little Auntie, where did you get the money?"

Man Bao proudly lifted her head, "We earned it ourselves, by selling candy."

Feng Shi thought it was the candy her husband had bought for Man Bao before and said helplessly, "Why didn't you eat it? Instead, you sold it. It was meant to nourish your body."

Every time Zhou Erlang came to the market, he would buy a piece of candy for one coin and give one piece to the children to dissolve in water and share. The remaining four pieces would always be Man Bao's.

It wasn't that they particularly spoiled Man Bao and neglected the other children.

It was because when Man Bao was young, the doctor had said, "This child has a weak spleen and stomach, and is short of breath and weak. She should eat more eggs and honey."

At the time, the family's situation wasn't good, and Man Bao was only a few months old. She couldn't swallow bitter medicine, so she could only be fed egg water and honey water.

The honey was something Old Zhou had begged from several nearby villages and spent a lot of money to buy. It was hard to find and very expensive.

Later, the doctor said, "If there's no honey, maltose can also be used. Both are good for the lungs and spleen."

It could be said that Man Bao's growth and her plump, fair skin were largely due to the eggs and sugar from home.

Because Man Bao had been getting healthier over the past two years, the Zhou family felt that the doctor's words were truly correct. They couldn't give her other good things, but they could provide eggs from their own chickens and buy sugar.

Every three days, she would get four pieces of candy at the market. So in Man Bao's mind, she really didn't lack candy. When she first met Ke Ke, who tried to win her over with candy, she wasn't very impressed.

Later, after eating the candy Ke Ke gave her, she even found it too sweet and, as usual, shared a bit with her nieces and nephews.

Seeing their eyes squint with joy, Man Bao became good friends with Ke Ke, who had suddenly appeared.

Man Bao didn't lack candy because, besides what the family bought for her, Ke Ke would also give her rewards from time to time. But Feng Shi didn't know this.

She glared at Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, who didn't know to advise her, and handed the bowl to Man Bao, "Are you hungry? Second Auntie has cooked eggs for you. Eat quickly."

Man Bao held the bowl and offered it to Feng Shi, "Second Auntie, have a bite too. You didn't eat the pancake just now."

Feng Shi smiled and pushed it back, "I'm not hungry yet. I'll eat with your older brothers when they come back."

Man Bao didn't doubt it because she also liked to eat with the family. Hmm, why did she eat the pancake without waiting for her older brothers just now?

It seemed a bit unfair to them.

While thinking, Man Bao offered the eggs to the others.

They all shook their heads. They would eat the candy she gave them, but they wouldn't eat the eggs. Although they wanted to, they knew that the eggs were not just eggs to Little Auntie but were like medicine.

Man Bao then ate all the eggs and asked Feng Shi to take her to buy medicine for her mother.

Feng Shi patted her head and smiled, "Second Auntie doesn't have money on her. We'll go when your older brothers come back."

Man Bao handed her a handkerchief, "I have money!"

Feng Shi sighed, "That's not enough."

Her mother-in-law had been taking medicine for a long time, but it was the cheapest kind, which only treated the symptoms and not the root cause. To cure her, it would cost a lot more.

Qian Shi usually took two prescriptions. One could be bought from the doctor in Dali Village, the only doctor in the four nearby villages. Most of the medicine he used was collected from the mountains, and the rest was bought from the pharmacy.

A dose of this medicine cost eight coins, and they were very frugal. One dose was boiled four times, enough for two days for Qian Shi.

If Qian Shi's condition worsened, they would have to buy the other prescription from the pharmacy in the county, which included a more expensive ingredient and cost twenty coins per dose.

Feng Shi really didn't have any money. Today, everyone who came to buy baskets and sieves traded goods instead of using money. They had collected a lot of eggs and grain but no coins.

There was nothing they could do but wait for Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang to come back.

It was already past noon when Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang returned, looking unhappy, with two large bags of grain still on the cart.

Feng Shi was startled and ran to help push the cart, asking, "Why didn't you sell them?"

Zhou Erlang, looking unhappy, said, "The price was too low, only eight coins for a dou of grain."

Feng Shi couldn't help but exclaim, "Only eight coins? Wasn't it ten before?"

Zhou Dalang squatted on the ground and said, "The harvest is good this year, and the grain shops say they don't lack grain."

They were all neighbors, and Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang had negotiated for a long time but couldn't raise the price. The family really needed money, so the brothers didn't want to sell the grain at such a low price and brought it back.

Feng Shi couldn't help but feel tears welling up, "What should we do?"

Zhou Erlang squatted on the ground for a long time and said, "There are people at the market who want to trade for hemp cloth. We can trade the grain for that. We can also trade the grain for cotton cloth for making shoes, but the medicine for Mother must be bought with money. We still need to sell the grain. No, we'll go to the county tomorrow to see if the price is better."

Man Bao immediately took out her four coins, "Older Brother, Second Brother, I have money!"

Seeing the four coins, Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang were taken aback and asked, "Where did you get it?"

"Selling candy!"

Zhou Dalang took it and sighed, "We still need four more coins."

Man Bao thought she might need to sell twenty more pieces of candy. Zhou Erlang got up and said, "I'll go trade something."

Zhou Erlang had many acquaintances at the market. He took some of the wheat Feng Shi had collected, estimated the weight, and left.

He soon returned with five coins.

Zhou Dalang was curious, "Who did you trade with?"

Everyone at the village market rarely spent money.

"I traded with Old Wang, who makes candy. He needs wheat, and I sold it to him at the market price."

Zhou Dalang breathed a sigh of relief and handed Man Bao's money to him.

Zhou Erlang used the money to buy a dose of medicine. As the market started to thin out, people lost interest in setting up stalls. Zhou Erlang, familiar with the market, traded for cloth and cured meat and then packed up to go home with everyone.

The cloth was given to the old lady, who assigned the task of making clothes. Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang went to talk to Old Zhou.

Man Bao followed them inside.

Seeing her imitating their father's manner of walking behind them with his hands behind his back, Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang couldn't help but sweat and picked her up onto their laps, then reported the market situation to Old Zhou.

Hearing that the grain couldn't be sold at a good price, Old Zhou wanted to smoke again.

He sighed, "The family needs some cash. Not just for your mother's medicine, but for emergencies."

Zhou Erlang nodded, "I've accumulated a lot of eggs from the market recently. I need to take them to the county to sell."

Although the Dali Village market occasionally had people buying eggs, most of them traded with grain. In the end, Zhou Erlang still had to sell the grain to the grain shop to get money.

So Zhou Erlang rarely sold eggs at the market and always took them to the county, where eggs sold better than grain.

Old Zhou nodded and stroked his old pipe, "The day after tomorrow, you two will take Man Bao to school with me."

Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang agreed.

Man Bao then spoke up, "Father, I want to go to the county too."