Chapter 77 - 77 66 Stealth

Words : 1463 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

77: Chapter 66 Stealth 77: Chapter 66 Stealth Ms. Liu stood at the doorway of the study for a long time, watching as the two children began to look for books on the ground, but there were few books that children of their age could comprehend, especially since the books were not punctuated. The two kids flipped through the pages, then stuffed them back and continued to flip through other books one by one. Fortunately, both children cherished the books, knowing how rare they were, and always handled them gently. Having watched them for a while, Ms. Liu turned and left, pondering over what Manbao had said, her thoughts tumultuous and unsettled. After some time, the children realized they couldn’t understand any of the books and felt somewhat angry. Manbao stopped flipping through the pages and, with hands clasped behind her back, began to walk up and down the rows of shelves. Then, she curiously asked Bai Shanbao, upon seeing the bamboo strips and the beautiful cloth placed on the high shelves. Bai Shanbao glanced at them and said, “Those are bamboo slips and brocade. Before the invention of paper, or when paper was of poor quality, people would write on bamboo slips and brocade. Grandmother says these were left by our ancestors and are very precious.” Manbao asked curiously, “Can I see them?” In fact, Bai Shanbao had not seen them himself because his grandmother prohibited him from tampering with them, so he had deliberately placed these items out of reach. His eyes twinkling, he said, “Of course, you can. You’re my friend, after all.” The two buddies dragged a chair over, with Manbao steadying it for him while Bai Shanbao climbed up and reached out but found he was still unable to touch them. The children looked at each other and, after wandering around the room searching for something, finally turned their attention to the books at the bottom of the shelf. Manbao and Bai Shanbao grabbed the books and began to pile them up, one on top of the other. Then Bai Shanbao took off his shoes and socks, climbed onto the chair, and stepped on the books, tiptoeing to reach the bamboo slips just above. The bamboo slips were heavy, and Bai Shanbao almost fell off, but Manbao, on tiptoe, supported his waist. He wobbled for a moment before pulling out the bamboo slips and handing them to Manbao, who hugged them to her chest. She placed them on the ground, and then they moved the chair together to reach the brocade on the other side. The brocade, rolled up but much lighter, was quickly taken down by Bai Shanbao. The two first unrolled the bamboo slips and spread them out to look at the characters written on them. They discovered they couldn’t recognize a single character on them. Staring wide-eyed at the characters, they felt the engravings, and Manbao excitedly pointed at one, exclaiming, “This looks like a person!” “Oh!” Shanbao also quickly picked up the pattern, pointing at another character, saying, “This looks like fire...” The two found amusement in this and thought it more interesting than reading books, enthusiastically searching for pictographic meanings in the characters. It was only when the voices of Datou and the servants came from outside that they were startled by how much time had passed and that it was almost dark. But they hadn’t looked at the brocade yet. Feeling guilty, Bai Shanbao quickly grabbed the brocade and climbed onto the chair, trying to replace it where it came from. He realized it wasn’t easy to put back the bamboo slips either, as the items were too heavy. It was manageable to take them down, but not to put them back up. The servants and Datou were already urging them from outside. They could not enter the study, so they could only call out to them from outside. Manbao hurriedly responded, tugging at Shanbao and whispered, “Hide it here.” Bai Shanbao and Manbao then replaced the books one by one back onto the shelf, and hid the bamboo slips behind the books, which at a first glance, wouldn’t be noticed. After completing their mischief, the children dragged the chair back to its place and glanced at each other, unable to help but cover their mouths and giggle, before scurrying to open the door. Their cheery demeanor in the eyes of the servants and Datou merely indicated they had enjoyed their time reading. Seeing this, both Datou and the servants also became happy. Datou was the happiest, as he had eaten many snacks that afternoon and seen various beautiful flowers in the garden. Bai Shanbao and a servant walked the nephew and niece pair out, with Bai Shanbao holding Manbao’s small hand, saying, “You have to come over to my place again tomorrow.” Manbao assured there would be no problem and also reminded him, “Think about it when you have time. If you don’t understand, go ask the teacher. The teacher knows a lot.” Shanbao nodded. Then everyone went their separate ways, heading back to their own homes to see their own mothers. Returning to the Zhou Family home, Junior Ms. Qian had just finished preparing dinner, and the atmosphere was especially warm, with everyone wearing happy faces. Upon seeing this, Manbao hurriedly entered the house with her book box, then hopped around after her mother, asking, “Mother, do we have some good news in our family?” Ms. Qian tapped her little nose and said, “You’re sharp. The privet fruit has been scalded and dried in the sun for a day, and it’s starting to look good. Your brothers found several more privet plants in the woods that aren’t ripe yet. They plan to pick them after drying the current batch.” Ms. Qian estimated the potential quantity and felt that they should have a source of income by winter. It was just the right time, as Eldest and Second Son’s families needed new blankets, and Manbao also needed a warmer set of clothes for school. Every family member was earning money, even Second Son had gathered a lot of Indian pennywort to dry today, but Zhou Silang was a little downcast. Manbao, squatting next to him, saw this and comforted him, “Silang, don’t worry, next year your fields will yield a big profit.” Zhou Silang felt that hope was slim. Ms. Qian didn’t have much time to soothe her son’s soul as she was busy with many tasks. Knowing that they could sell the privet fruit and had devised a method to dry it, she decided to make it a significant source of future family income. She instructed her second son, “Take advantage of these few days you have free to make a row of shelves, and also a few larger winnowing baskets, the round kind that can sit on top of the shelves, to be used exclusively for drying the privet fruit.” Zhou Er promised it was no problem. Having given that directive, she then told Eldest and Two, “You guys walk around more in the next few days, not only to keep an eye on the privet fruit in the mountains but also to look for more elsewhere. If you find any, note down their locations.” Manbao interjected, “Elder Brother, Third Brother, if you see any plants outside that we don’t have, bring some back for me, okay?” Zhou Dalang responded with a laugh, but in their eyes, all the plants and flowers in the mountains looked the same, with nothing different. They also couldn’t understand why their sister liked pulling up those plants so much, so they agreed, but whether they would do it was another matter. Manbao, unaware she was being dismissed, happily continued to chat with the gloomy Silang, who was getting very annoyed with her. After Ms. Qian finished instructing the main household tasks, she called Datou to inquire about their visit to the Bai Family. Knowing that he had spent the afternoon eating snacks, Ms. Qian shot him a look and sighed, “Next time your auntie goes to the Bai Family, just escort her to their gate and no further. When it’s time for dinner here, you can go and pick her up.” Datou reluctantly agreed, not daring to disobey his grandmother. Ms. Qian then instructed Junior Ms. Qian to prepare several cabbages and some eggs tomorrow, for Datou to take along with Manbao to the Bai Family, as a reciprocal gesture. Junior Ms. Qian acknowledged the request. With all matters settled, Ms. Qian leaned back in her chair and called her young daughter over, smiling and asking her, “What did you learn from your teacher today?”

Chapter 77 - 77 66 Stealth

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