Chapter 43 - 43 32 The Expenditure

Words : 1440 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

43: Chapter 32: The Expenditure 43: Chapter 32: The Expenditure Before it got dark, Manbao dragged a sack onto the ground to sit on as she poured out all the coins from her cloth bag, and also took out the spare change and silver ingots from her pocket. Everyone’s jaws dropped, knowing they had made quite a bit of money, but had no idea there was so much. Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang had been aware all along, so their shock was somewhat limited, but Zhou Sanlang and Zhou Silang couldn’t help but widen their eyes, staring blankly with their parents at Manbao squatting on the ground and counting money. Zhou Wulang found a string for tying the coins, and then everyone started to count the money. Zhou Wulang, though he could count to one hundred by a stroke of luck, would often make mistakes, so he counted by tens, compiling them into piles, and when there were ten piles, that made one hundred coins. Manbao despised him for this and told him to string the coins instead, taking over the counting herself. Datou and the others joined in for fun, counting along one by one, but they got mixed up after reaching twenty, sometimes inadvertently shouting seventeen, other times twenty-two. Yet Manbao seemed completely unfazed, continuing her count undistracted. Old Zhou sat to one side, touching the bit of tobacco at his waist he hadn’t been willing to smoke, but still pinched a bit to put into his pipe and light it up. He just sat there watching Manbao, his thoughts unreadable. Manbao counted smoothly to one hundred, pushed the coins to Fifth Brother to string them, and started counting again, with Sixth Brother also pinching a string, ready to thread the coins. Datou and others crowded around for the excitement, counting along with Manbao fifteen, sixteen, and stealthily touching the coins once in a while. So many coins, it felt good just to touch them. Manbao quickly finished counting the money. Together with the ten coins of deposit money from Fu Wenyun, there were a total of two hundred and seventy coins. She pulled out the piece of broken silver and asked Ms. Qian to help her weigh it to see how much it was worth. After weighing it, Ms. Qian smiled and said, “Three qian four fen, that’s equivalent to three hundred and forty coins.” Everyone gasped, and Manbao began to calculate with her fingers, breaking into a sweat, while everyone else just watched her adding seventy plus forty and so on. After a long while, Manbao finally shouted, “That makes six hundred and ten coins!” Ms. Qian smiled and nodded, “So how much do you have to turn over to the public fund?” It was, of course, impossible for Manbao to calculate it out of thin air, so she scratched her head and eventually had Datou and Second Son help her find six large stones and six small stones. She lined up six large stones and said, “This represents one hundred coins, I have to give Mom sixty coins...” Manbao placed a small stone in front of the large one, declaring, “This is sixty coins.” “This is also one hundred coins, also for giving Mom sixty coins... that’s six sixties in total,” Manbao counted, added one by one, and finally clapped her hands saying, “Three hundred and sixty coins, just give Mom six more coins.” Manbao handed over the broken silver to Ms. Qian, and counted twenty-six coins from the scattered ones to give to her, thus fulfilling her contribution to the public fund. The remaining money was theirs, totaling two hundred and forty-four coins. Manbao called over the friends who had helped her out, counted the number of them, and generously gave each person ten coins. Including Old Zhou and Ms. Qian who had helped her make the bamboo basket, that took away another eighty coins. Considering how much effort Daya, Erya, Wulang, and Liulang had put in accompanying her to the county town today, she generously gave each of them ten coins as well. Everyone watched as Manbao bustled around the room, playing the role of a benefactor, with the children looking to their parents before accepting the money. Seeing Manbao scatter money so freely, Zhou Dalang and the others instinctively wanted to refuse, but then they thought that by doing so, the money would leave Manbao’s hands, wouldn’t it? Thus, they perked up again, gesturing to their children to accept the money. Taking the money from Manbao was impossible, but taking it from their child was not, and they even joined in the fun, “Manbao, we helped with that bamboo basket too, don’t we get a wage?” Manbao thought this fair, so she also gave each of her brothers some money, and upon turning around and seeing the sisters-in-law, feeling they had worked hard too, she gave them some as well. The tied coins had scattered again, and in the end, Manbao was left with only sixty-four coins in her hands. She didn’t mind, cheerfully stuffing them into her pocket, realizing her pocket was too small, and even discussed making it bigger with Junior Ms. Qian. Ms. He was the best at sewing, and she chuckled, “Little sister, you’re so petite, even if the pocket is enlarged, it won’t make much difference. When we have some spare fabric at home, I’ll make you a cloth bag, like a pouch.” Manbao was delighted, “Yes, yes!” Her eyes gleamed as she said, “I’ll design the pattern myself.” Ms. He agreed with a smile, carefully storing away the ten coins Manbao had given her. They had emptied all their savings before to pay off Zhou Silang’s gambling debts, and now they finally had some income. Although Manbao still had quite a bit of money left, compared to the initial amount of over six hundred, these sixty-four coins were not much in the eyes of the adults. They knew it was impossible to take control of this money from her, so they each looked toward their own son or daughter. Old Zhou set his sight on Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, contentedly took a puff of his cigarette, and said, “You two keep just two coins each, let your mom hold onto the rest for you, to use for your future weddings.” Zhou Dalang also told Datou and Daya, “Let your mom hold onto it, to buy you new clothes in the future.” Zhou Erlang, too, turned to his two children and cajoled, “Come, let Dad hold onto it for you, I’ll buy you some candy later.” The children clutched their coins tightly, wanting to cry but not daring to. The only one not to receive any money at the scene was Zhou Silang and the three little ones. Manbao’s gaze landed on Silang but quickly slid past him, then she took out three coins and divided them among Second Son, Fourth Son, and Sanya, generously saying, “These are from your little aunt.” The three little ones hurriedly took the money, their voices milky as they said to Manbao, “Congratulations to Little Aunt for making a fortune.” Manbao was beaming with joy. Zhou Silang squatted to the side, almost bursting into tears, and Manbao squatted next to him, sighing, “Silang, you’re still a bad person right now, so I can’t give you money.” Zhou Silang asked her with red eyes, “Aren’t I your brother? Why am I a bad person?” “Gamblers are bad people,” Manbao affirmed, “Only those who turn over a new leaf can possibly be liked, otherwise, everyone will dislike you.” For the first time, Zhou Silang sat silently, his head drooping. When he was the only one without anything, he finally felt the discrimination due to gambling. His eyes reddened, he softly said, “I, I realize my mistake.” “That’s great to hear, just keep it up, show your sincerity to Dad, Mom, and your brothers and sisters,” Manbao, mimicking Second Brother, patted his shoulder and asked, “How’s the land reclamation going?” Zhou Silang sighed, “Should be cleared by winter.” Manbao replied, “I’ll help you tomorrow.” No, her helping was nothing but aimless bossing around to him. Zhou Silang muttered, “Aren’t you going to school tomorrow?” “Yeah, but I can visit the field first and then go to school with my sisters-in-law after.” Manbao, not yet conscientious of being a student, thought she had the freedom to come and go as she pleased, just as before.

Chapter 43 - 43 32 The Expenditure

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