Chapter 3

Mrs. Qian stroked her head and said, "Reclaiming land isn’t that easy, and the crops from the reclaimed land might not even be enough to pay taxes. Your nephews are still young, and the land we have is enough for the family."

"What should we do then? Fourth Brother made such a big mistake, and we can’t just beat him to death. What if he gambles again when he’s idle?"

Mrs. Qian pondered. If Fourth Brother’s big mistake went unpunished, the other sons and daughters-in-law would surely be dissatisfied. But if she really beat him up, she would be heartbroken, and the medical expenses would be even more painful.

Mrs. Qian said, "Alright, I’ll have your Fourth Brother start reclaiming land tomorrow."

Manbao finally cheered up, "I’ll go supervise Fourth Brother."

"I think you just want to go out and play. There are many snakes and insects in the fields, so don’t go along for the fun. Let your older nephews go with him."

Manbao: "No, I want to go too."

In the past, she thought her family was quite well-off, with plenty to eat and wear. She always had candy on market days, even though she didn’t particularly like it.

So she only wanted to learn to read and write, which made her very happy. Keke couldn’t give her books, only candy.

She had eaten the candy, which was sweeter than what her second brother brought back from the market, but she still didn’t like it much.

But now she knew that her family was still very poor. She needed to earn money. She was too young to work in the fields or go out to work, so the only way to earn money was to sell candy.

However, because she was lazy, she hadn’t dug up any vegetables for Keke, and Keke hadn’t given her any candy for a long time.

Right, Keke was something that suddenly appeared in her mind. Last spring, after she finally memorized the "Thousand Character Classic" completely, Mr. Zhuang was so moved that he gave her a handwritten copy of the "Thousand Character Classic."

She happily ran home with the manuscript, and as soon as she got home, Keke appeared. It said it was a branch of the Encyclopedia, in charge of the biology section, and had been accidentally lost here.

It needed to collect many species of organisms to earn energy in the Encyclopedia to leave.

At first, Manbao didn’t understand and just thought she had a new friend. She happily told her mother.

But Mrs. Qian thought it was just a child’s dream and comforted her for a while.

Manbao was very smart and gradually realized that others couldn’t see or hear Keke. So she no longer mentioned it, treating this friend as something only she could see and hear.

Keke kept asking her to collect more plants, but Manbao had already dug up all the vegetables in the garden and even the grass outside the house. Going to distant places was too tiring, and she didn’t want to go at all.

For her friend, she reluctantly looked for some new grass for Keke, but her family was always worried about her running around outside. Usually, her nephews and nieces could go out to play, but she was always taken along by her eldest sister-in-law.

She could only play in the village and was absolutely not allowed to leave it, let alone go to the fields.

Manbao clung to her mother, almost rolling on the ground. Mrs. Qian was exhausted today. Seeing her daughter like this, she thought she was old enough and at the best age to play, so she reluctantly nodded, "Alright, alright, go, go, but you must listen to Wulang and Liulang, don’t run around, and don’t stay in the sun for too long, understand?"

Manbao happily agreed.

In the evening, she ate a full bowl of rice and competed with her fifth and sixth brothers and nephews and nieces to finish the vegetables.

Except for these few children, the adults had poor appetites. The family had just saved a little money, but it was all gone in one night. It was no wonder their moods were bad.

Old Zhou took a bite of rice and felt the food stuck in his throat, unable to eat.

Thinking of the fifteen taels of silver, his heart ached, his eyes reddened, and he finally threw the bowl and beat his fourth son again to feel better.

After their father beat the fourth son, the older brothers couldn’t follow suit, so they just ate their rice with sour faces.

Mrs. Qian and her daughters-in-law ate porridge. Now that the autumn harvest was over, only Manbao could eat solid food in the family, while the others ate porridge, which was quite thick and could fill them up.

But after putting down her chopsticks, Mrs. Qian said, "The family has no money left. This kind of life is worrying. From tomorrow, we’ll only make porridge, not solid food. Eldest daughter-in-law, use less rice in the future. Winter is coming, and after winter, there are still spring and summer."

Little Mrs. Qian nodded.

Looking at Manbao, she asked, "What about Little Aunt? She’s weak. Should she eat porridge too?"

Mrs. Qian frowned, "Tomorrow, take six catties of grain to the school and ask Mr. Zhuang to let Manbao have lunch there. The vegetables are from our own garden, so just send a few more vegetables every day."

Little Mrs. Qian nodded and quickly finished her meal, helping her sisters-in-law clean up.

Manbao thought this wasn’t good and asked, "Mother, what about Daya and the others?"

Mrs. Qian stroked her head and smiled, "Daya and the others are strong and don’t need solid food. You’re weak, so you need to eat more. Otherwise, you’ll get sick, and the family will have to spend money on medicine."

Daya and the others had been taught this from a young age. Their grandparents and parents always told them that Little Aunt was weak and not to push her or bully her, to give her more to eat, and to make her fatter so she wouldn’t get sick.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have money to buy candy.

So from a young age, they had no objections to Little Aunt eating solid food while they drank porridge.

Moreover, Little Aunt was very nice to them. She was younger but always gave them candy, and they liked her very much.

So when Grandma looked at them, they nodded, indicating that Little Aunt should eat more, and they would be fine with porridge.

"There are still some grain stalks in the fields. We can find them and roast them to eat."

"No, we have to help Fourth Brother reclaim land tomorrow," Manbao said. "But we can look for wild fruits to eat."

Old Zhou looked at Manbao, "Reclaim land?"

Mrs. Qian said, "I forgot to tell you. Fourth Brother will start reclaiming land tomorrow. He owes the family money and needs to do something to earn money."

Old Zhou didn’t think reclaiming land would earn much money, but it was better than having the boy idle and thinking about gambling. He needed to find something to do.

So he said, "Wulang, Liulang, you go with him tomorrow. If he slacks off, beat him."

Manbao volunteered, "Father, I’ll go. Wulang and Liulang won’t be able to beat Fourth Brother."

Old Zhou smiled, stroked her head, and said, "Alright, you go. If Fourth Brother doesn’t listen, hit him with a stick."

Manbao was delighted, like she had received an imperial decree. She went to bed early and promised Keke in her mind to find plants it hadn’t seen before and asked, "You must give me more candy. I need to sell it."

The system was almost in despair. The plants Manbao recorded were very common. After more than a year, there was no benefit, and it had to use its remaining points to exchange for candy for her.

It couldn’t do otherwise. She was just a child, and if it weren’t for the candy, she wouldn’t play this game with it.

Indeed, Manbao always treated this as a game and never thought about using it to achieve great things in life.

After more than a year, the system’s grand ambitions had been worn down. Fortunately, it was bound to the host, so even without energy to leave this space and return to its original plane, it could still function.

When the host grew up, it would be better.

This was the system’s consolation to itself.

At worst, if the host died, it could choose a more ambitious host.

The system quietly calculated its remaining points to see how much candy it could exchange for.

Manbao thought she had made a deal with Keke, pulled her small quilt over herself, and closed her eyes to sleep.

The next morning, the rooster had just crowed, and there were sounds in the yard. Manbao turned over, tucked her little bottom into the quilt, and continued to sleep.

Farmers always got up early, even after the autumn harvest, as the land still needed to be prepared.

Moreover, Zhou Dalang, Zhou Erlang, and Zhou Sanlang had taken jobs at the landlord’s house and had to go out.

When the yard was filled with the sounds of shouting and beating, Manbao finally rubbed her eyes and got up. Her face was rosy as she pushed the window and saw her father dragging Fourth Brother out of the house, kicking him to go to work. She immediately remembered her promise to Keke last night.

She couldn’t sleep anymore and quickly got out of bed, dressed, and ran out, saying, "Fourth Brother, wait for me, I’m coming with you."

Mrs. Qian grabbed her, "No rush, wash your face first."

Breakfast wasn’t that early; it would be served when the sun was halfway up. Little Mrs. Qian had Manbao wash her face and drink a glass of water, then gave her a beaten egg to drink.

Manbao reluctantly drank the egg water and turned to chase after Fourth Brother.

Wulang and the others were waiting for her at the door. The egg water in the morning was a special treat for Manbao, even Old Zhou and Mrs. Qian didn’t have it.

It was said that when Little Aunt was almost dead from illness, she was saved by egg water. Since then, she had been given an egg every day, and no one else could take it away.

The family didn’t expect Fourth Brother to reclaim good land, so besides Fourth Brother, they sent a group of children to help him.

For example, Wulang, Liulang, Dada, Daya, Erya, and Er tou.

Wulang was fourteen, and Liulang was twelve, both young men. In the village’s terms, they were old enough to get married and have children in a few years.

Dada and Er tou were Manbao’s nephews, nine and six years old, respectively. Daya and Erya were Manbao’s nieces, eight and seven years old, respectively.

There was also Santou, another nephew, the same age as Manbao. He wanted to go today, but his mother stopped him. He had to take Sanyao and Sito to pull weeds in the garden.

Sanyao was from the second family, and Sito was from the third family. Both were four years old and too young to walk far, so they had to pull weeds at home.

The mountain path was rugged, and Manbao had trouble walking, so Wulang and Liulang took turns carrying her. Fourth Brother, with his injuries, was lucky to make it to the field on his own.