Chapter 5

Mbao squatted there, looking for a shorter vine. Dadi and Daya also came over. Seeing Wushu and Liushu arguing, Dadi and Ertou joined in, while Daya and the others squatted next to Mbao, asking what she was looking for.

Upon learning that she wanted to dig up a small stinging nettle, they all enthusiastically helped her. They quickly found a stinging nettle that had just sprouted. They dug the soil with sticks and soon pulled it out. However, the root was too long and broke off.

But no one minded.

Mbao held it in her hand. Since it was still small and hadn't grown thorns, everyone felt safe letting her hold it.

This was something they often did.

Daya, not knowing from where, picked a bunch of wildflowers and put them in her hair, asking her aunt, "Do I look good?"

Mbao stared at her, finding it hard to say she looked good, but not wanting to hurt her niece's feelings, she nodded and said, "The flowers look good."

Daya was delighted and happily skipped away with Erya.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, Mbao slid off Wulang's back and took a snake bubble from his hand. She didn't eat it but kept putting things in her pocket as she walked, giving them all to Keko.

For over a year, Mbao had learned, with Keko's reminder, how to secretly hide things for it.

The other children didn't notice this at all, and the wildflowers in Daya's hair were soon discarded.

They walked for a while, and Wulang exclaimed, looking around curiously, "Where's Fourth Brother? Didn't Meimei point to this place on the mountain just now?"

Everyone looked around, and Dadi cried out, "Fourth Uncle is gone!"

"Wait, listen..." Daya shushed them, making everyone quiet, and they heard a faint snore.

Right next to Mbao, she was the first to push aside the grass and saw Fourth Brother lying in the grass, sleeping soundly.

Mbao was quite angry and ran up to stomp on his chest, but Fourth Brother didn't wake up.

Mbao was about to use more force when Dadi pulled a blade of grass and squatted next to her, using the grass to tickle Fourth Brother's nose.

Mbao was curious and stopped stomping on her brother. She squatted next to Dadi and asked, "Is this useful?"

Dadi drew the grass across Mbao's face and asked, "Aunt, does it tickle?"

Mbao couldn't help but scratch her face, excitedly saying, "It tickles, let me try!"

She took the grass from Dadi and started experimenting on Fourth Brother's face. The others gathered around, pulling grass and tickling Fourth Brother's face. He waved his hand, turned over, and continued sleeping.

This reaction made Mbao very unhappy, so she threw away the grass and shouted directly into Fourth Brother's ear, "Snake~~~"

"Ah—" Fourth Brother sat up, jumping and spinning, "Where's the snake, where's the snake?"

Mbao glared at him, "Fourth Brother, Father sent you to clear the land, but you're sleeping here. I'll tell Father and have him beat you."

Fourth Brother, seeing the chubby little sister, couldn't resist pinching her cheeks, "What else can you do besides tattling?"

Wulang immediately slapped his hand away, "Fourth Brother, you're bullying the little sister."

Mbao felt her face hurt a bit, her eyes welling up with tears. She stomped on Fourth Brother's foot and ground it, saying, "Besides tattling, I can also hit you. Do you dare to hit back?"

Fourth Brother, Fourth Brother, really didn't dare!

Fourth Brother was so angry that his nose almost turned upside down. Mbao, seeing him subdued, coldly said, "Go clear the land, Fourth Brother. I'm helping you, you know."

Mbao, who had learned many words and languages from Keko, had a set of principles, "Mother said we don't have fifteen taels of silver saved in three years. That money was supposed to be for your and Fifth Brother's weddings, but you lost all the money and even owe money to the first, second, and third sisters-in-law, and the village chief's family. You have to pay it all back!"

"If you don't get married, that's your choice, but Fifth Brother must get married. And the first, second, and third sisters-in-law, how easy is it for them to save money? You have no other skills, so what else can you do besides farming to pay back the money?"

Wulang's face turned slightly red, but he stood up straight and said, "Fourth Brother, I'm fourteen. In two years, I'll be ready to get married. How much money can you pay back to the family?"

Fourth Brother was stunned, "All that money, I have to pay it all back?"

"Of course, who made you lose the money?" Thinking of her neighbor's niece who was sold, Mbao felt a surge of anger in her chest. She looked at Fourth Brother with a cold gaze, "People who gamble and don't change should have their hands and feet cut off and thrown into the mountains to feed the wolves. That way, they won't harm others."

Fourth Brother couldn't help but take a step back, his body trembling. He pointed at the little kid, "You, how can you be so heartless? I'm your Fourth Brother!"

"That's true, but Daya, Erya, and Sanya are also my nieces. If you gamble again and the family can't pay, the gamblers will take them away. After they're taken, it will be my turn, and then Dadi, Ertou, and the others. After the nieces and nephews are sold, the older brothers will have to pay your debts for life. You're close, but you're only one person. You can't ruin so many of us because of you, so..."

Daya and Dadi hadn't thought about it that much before. Now, hearing their aunt, they looked at Fourth Brother with unfriendly eyes.

Even Wulang and Liulang couldn't help but step forward to confront Fourth Brother.

Fourth Brother quickly waved his hands, "Mbao, don't say such nonsense. I've already decided to change and won't gamble anymore."

Mbao coldly said, "Let's see your determination."

"Right, see your determination!"

So, Fourth Brother had to pick up the sickle and start cutting grass under everyone's watchful eyes. The others surrounded him, occasionally pointing, "Fourth Uncle, there's more grass here, cut here!"

"Fourth Brother, the soil is thicker here, cut here."

Mbao, led by Daya and Erya, picked a lot of flowers and had them make a wreath for her to wear.

Daya and Erya sincerely said, "Aunt, you look so good!"

Mbao was happy, "Of course, you look good too."

Fourth Brother, hearing and seeing this, was furious, "Why don't you help? How long will it take for me to clear the land alone?"

Mbao, feeling she was quite diligent, immediately led the others to help.

Seeing Mbao take action, the others rolled up their sleeves and joined in.

Wulang took the sickle to cut the grass, Dadi was responsible for carrying the grass away, and Wulang and Fourth Brother used hoes to dig up the shrubs in the ground.

Mbao led the others to pick up stones, removing stones and dead wood from the grass, placing the stones around the field and the dead wood to one side to be carried back as firewood later.

Clearing the land was really difficult. There were all kinds of things in the ground, and they had to be careful not to get pricked by thorns. The system saw this and sighed, deciding not to ask the host to find more plants for now. It hoped the host would still be willing to come out tomorrow.

Mbao, tired from picking stones, started chatting with the system, "Keko, are there any plants that haven't been recorded?"

"No."

Mbao was disappointed, "How can your encyclopedia have so many recorded?"

Keko said, "These wild plants are very common in the future, and the host might not recognize them. You've recorded them yourself, but they are shorter near your house and longer here."

Mbao felt a bit embarrassed, "So, I recorded them?"

Keko said seriously, "Yes, one point for each recorded plant."

This was just encouragement points. If it weren't for her young age and the need for encouragement, the system wouldn't even give her these points.

But even so, it had to allocate some of its points to buy her candy because her efficiency was really low.

The Zhou family also spoiled her. The other children were raised freely, running around the village from the age of two, as long as they didn't go near the water.

But not Mbao. She always had someone with her.

When her nieces and nephews were rolling in the mud, she was sitting on the family's kang, being taught to speak in clean clothes.

When her nieces and nephews were clearing the land and planting seeds, she was being taken to the school to eat pot rice. In fact, the farthest she had ever been was to the big banyan tree at the village entrance, and this was her first time on the mountain.

The reason she could go to the big banyan tree was that Old Zhou, during the New Year, took her to talk with his old friends under the tree.

Of course, only Mbao had this treatment in the family because she always received a few coins as New Year's money when she went around.

The plants in the village were very common. She would pull one and give it to the system. That year, the system spent most of its time identifying plants for her. It was frustrated because she would pull one and give it to the system, and then pull another identical one right after.

Fortunately, now Mbao knew to ask the system directly if there were any new plants that needed to be recorded, instead of presenting a bunch of wildflowers and having the system tell her they had already been recorded.

Mbao found moving stones tiring. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with her small hand and asked the system, "Keko, you're so strange. Why do you need to record these wild plants? We're trying to get rid of them, and they're so annoying. How long will it take to clear the land?"

"It's because the technology in this world hasn't developed enough. In the future, clearing land will be done by machines, and these wild plants will be much less common, with some even extinct. That's why I exist."

Mbao's focus was a bit off. She opened her mouth in surprise, "So many plants, trees, and stones can be cleared by a machine? What is a machine? Can I buy one?"

The system paused and said, "No, the technology is far beyond this world's level, so you can't buy it. Even if you could, you don't have the points."

Mbao blinked, once again valuing the points. She had always thought points were useless, just for buying candy.

She could still get candy without points. Every time her second brother or father went to the market, they would buy her candy.