Chapter 108 - 108 97 Irrepressible Thoughts

Words : 1439 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

108: Chapter 97: Irrepressible Thoughts 108: Chapter 97: Irrepressible Thoughts The laborers ate and rested a while before they had to start working again. Manbao and the others were used to feeling drowsy at noon, but with the cold wind howling and no shelter in sight, it was impossible to take a nap. So, after they took turns yawning a couple of times, Zhou Wulang splashed them with some cold water, and they instantly felt invigorated. Zhou Wulang smiled and asked, “Are we going home now?” “No way,” Manbao finally remembered the important matters at hand, “We haven’t finished asking everyone yet.” Zhou Wulang then scratched his head and replied, “Alright then, we’ll stay here and keep you company.” “Fifth Brother, why don’t you fetch more water to boil,” Manbao suggested, “There’s still some flavor left in the bones at the bottom of the pot...” Zhou Wulang was shocked and quickly said, “Manbao, we can’t be so inconsiderate, we’ve already boiled it once.” “It’s not for selling soup, it’s free for them to drink,” Manbao said, “They’ve had their midday meal, but there’s still dinner to think about. We can’t just let Third Brother drink cold water for dinner, right? After all, it’s the same effort to boil one bowl of hot soup or a whole pot, so just boil it for everyone to drink.” Zhou Wulang let out a sigh of relief, “That won’t be hard, just fetch the water and light the fire.” After all, it’s just firewood; once lit, just burn it. However, he was reluctant to use salt—it was too expensive. Zhou Wulang took Zhou Liulang with him to find firewood, while Manbao continued to interview people with Bai Shanbao. With so many people to talk to, they filled two thick notebooks, planning to sort it out when they got back and then consult their teacher on how to write the article. After finishing the interviews, Manbao finally had time to observe them working. She was very curious and asked why they needed to dig ditches along the sides of the official road, where was the water in the ditches supposed to go, and what to do if the soil dug up from the ditches wasn’t enough to fill the holes in the road? Who would repair the road again in the future, how often would it be repaired, and was the road regularly maintained... With a stream of endless minor questions, upon learning that they wouldn’t be digging the road tomorrow, but instead working on water conservancy, Manbao was particularly excited, indicating she would come again to watch the buzz—oh, not that, to learn. Zhou Wulang added a full pot of water, covered it, and started the fire, while Manbao and Bai Shanbao sat in front of the stove, warming themselves by the fire and reviewing what they had recorded, discussing how to organize everything. Manbao said, “It’s best to turn them into individual short stories, which could even serve as bedtime storybooks.” Bai Shanbao disagreed, “I’ve already written them down, I don’t want to read them again, just write the article.” “We have them recorded, but the teacher hasn’t seen them,” Manbao countered. “Just show the notebooks to the teacher; why bother organizing them?” Bai Shanbao held up his hand and complained, “You can’t write, and it’d all be up to me to write it down—it’s really tiring on the hands.” “Let Bai Er help you.” Without a second thought, Bai Erlang refused, “Not helping!” Feeling somewhat regretful, Manbao then said to Bai Shanbao, “Don’t worry, once I get better at writing, I’ll help you write it.” “When will you get better at writing?” Manbao was brimming with confidence, “Soon, very soon.” After all, she wasn’t short on paper; she still had plenty left from what she bought at the market last time. She decided to practice calligraphy seriously once she got home. With her intelligence, she would learn quickly. Bai Shanbao was skeptical, as he had to practice writing every day, and it had taken him a very, very long time to learn. Without paying attention to the children, Zhou Wulang waited until the soup boiled, then reduced the fire to keep just a few embers at the bottom of the pot, ensuring the boiled water wouldn’t turn cold. When the dinner bell rang, Zhou Liulang hastened to call everyone over to get hot soup. Learning that the soup was free this time, the laborers were all delighted, rushing over with their bowls to fill up, with some even running back to their thatched huts to empty their cold water-filled bamboo tubes and replace it with the hot water. They decided to stuff their bamboo tubes into their blankets, hoping maybe by nightfall, they could still have some warm water to drink. Zhou Sanlang also had a bamboo tube. Zhou Wulang filled it to the brim for him and whispered, “Third Brother, we’ll come again tomorrow. Keep one meal’s worth of dry food; let me take the rest back. Tomorrow, I’ll have my sister-in-law reheat it for you and bring it over.” Zhou Sanlang had no objections and went into the thatched hut to gather the remaining dry food and handed it to Zhou Wulang, keeping only one pancake for himself. Because they had a donkey cart, they arrived back at the village earlier than usual. Manbao handed the bookcase containing the notebooks and the stationery to Bai Shanbao, saying, “I’ll come to find you after I have dinner at home, and we can discuss together.” Not eager to write, Bai Shanbao still nodded, “Alright.” He looked around cautiously and whispered to Manbao, “Remember to bring candy, I like those red ones.” Manbao lowered her voice too and replied, “Don’t tell anyone else.” The red candy was unique to her; she didn’t usually give that kind to others because it looked too unlike anything that could be made in this era. Fortunately, Bai Shanbao was rather simple and lacked enough experience to understand, but Manbao was still willing to share the good stuff with a good friend. Manbao also whispered her request to Bai Shanbao, “Remember to bring the osmanthus cake and the chestnut cake is also delicious.” Bai Shanbao replied, “You can only choose one.” Swallowing hard with indecision, Manbao finally made up her mind, “Then let’s have osmanthus cake today and chestnut cake tomorrow.” “Then I don’t want the red candy tomorrow; do you have any yellow ones? I want to try yellow,” Bai Shanbao said. “Yes, I have them. I’ll bring some for you,” Manbao promised. Thus, the two little friends were both satisfied and said goodbye to each other. Daji stood below the cart, beaming as he watched the two children whispering on the cart. Seeing they had finished their secret conversation, Zhou Wulang stepped forward, picked up his sister, and waved goodbye to the two young masters from the Bai Family. Junior Ms. Qian and her sisters-in-law rushed out upon hearing the noise, and upon sighting the group returning, they helped carry the pot, asking, “Did you sell everything?” Zhou Wulang nodded excitedly. The Zhou Family gathered behind closed doors to count their money. Zhou Wulang took out the cloth bag from the wooden bucket and emptied the copper coins it contained. The whole family was astonished by the small pile of copper coins, and Junior Ms. Qian exclaimed in surprise, “We actually made money? How much did we spend on meat?” Zhou Wulang broke down the expenses for them. This outing, not counting the radishes and green onions they brought from home, they had made a total of one hundred and seventy-eight wen. Even Zhou Silang couldn’t help but drool at the thought. He was tempted to shirk his construction duties at the Bai Family’s house. He stared at Manbao, feeling that his little sister was too biased. After all, they used to be the closest. Manbao didn’t pick up on Silang’s resentment; she was busy and happily setting aside the next day’s expenses. Noticing she was keeping one hundred wen, Ms. Qian’s eyebrows twitched, questioning, “Why do you need so much? Isn’t it just twenty wen?” Manbao answered logically, “Now that we know how to make money, we should buy more tomorrow. Mom, you don’t know how pitiful they are. The yamen only gives them a single bun without any vegetables. My friend said, without vegetables, people will get sick.”

Chapter 108 - 108 97 Irrepressible Thoughts

Comments (0)