Chapter 78 - 78 67 Warning (Extra update for 20,000 recommended votes from Yunqi)

Words : 1435 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

78: Chapter 67: Warning (Extra update for 20,000 recommended votes from Yunqi) 78: Chapter 67: Warning (Extra update for 20,000 recommended votes from Yunqi) Manbao happily replied and added, “Daya and the others are also learning characters quickly; now they can all write the name of our county, village, and their own names.” Junior Ms. Qian nodded with a smile, saying, “Then you should teach them more. There’s no need to learn poetry and essays; recognizing some characters is enough. The most important thing is to understand numbers, knowing how to calculate is what really matters.” Ms. Qian had her own wisdom. It’s better if one can read, but even if not, one must know how to count to avoid being taken advantage of when shopping.” Manbao indicated that she would teach them all of that. Ms. Qian then patted her on the head, encouraging her to study hard, “Don’t worry about household affairs. Your mother’s health has improved a lot. All you need to do is grow up healthy and strong.” Manbao didn’t quite understand why her mother said this, but she nodded happily anyway. Ms. Qian said, “Alright, your Fifth Brother has brought back your chickens. Go have a look.” Only then did Manbao realize why her mother said what she did. She playfully wrapped her arms around her mother’s shoulders and said, “Mom, I’ll be healthy, and you need to be healthy too.” Then she hopped off to see her chickens. In the corner outside the chicken coop were two chicken cages. Manbao ran over and immediately noticed the chickens inside the cages, causing her to freeze in surprise. In each cage was a chicken, the cages quite far apart from one another, but the chickens looked similar – bedraggled, with many bloody patches from being pecked. Manbao approached, and the frightened birds shrank their necks and trembled, making Manbao seem like a bully. Manbao squatted in front of the cages to examine the chickens. They looked so familiar. After a glance at the two chickens, she went looking for her Fifth Brother. Zhou Wulang was counting money. Not all of today’s flower baskets had sold, so the earnings were a bit less than on the previous days. After counting once, he wrote down a note in his little booklet and then handed it to Manbao to count. Manbao didn’t bother with the money for the moment and asked, “Fifth Brother, did you buy these chickens from a cockfighter?” “Yes,” Zhou Wulang said matter-of-factly. “Didn’t you say Mom didn’t want to eat the chicken you brought back? I figured it’s useless to buy a hen that doesn’t lay eggs because if it starts laying after we feed it, Mom still wouldn’t want to eat it. So, I went to buy fighting chickens. They’re already in such bad shape; they wouldn’t survive much longer anyway. Might as well kill and eat them.” Zhou Wulang winked at her and boasted, “And they were cheap, two for the price of one.” Manbao couldn’t help but give him a thumbs-up, “Fifth Brother, you’re so smart.” She swallowed hard and asked, “Then why don’t we kill one tonight?” “Mom said it was too late, the evening meal was already prepared. We’ll do it tomorrow.” Zhou Wulang sighed, “She also said if I help you waste money again, she won’t let me go to town anymore, Manbao. You better find someone else for buying chickens in the future.” Manbao humphed, “If you won’t help me, I’ll buy them in the village.” She turned her eyeballs and smiled, “I already have a plan.” Zhou SiLang asked curiously, “What plan?” “I’m not telling you.” Manbao bent her head to count the money, not only working out their private accounts but also calculating the part owed to the public fund. Then she divided the money amongst everyone and recorded it in the ledger. Zhou Wulang watched with envy, “Manbao, how on earth did you get such a brain? I’ve been studying for so long, and I still can’t figure out how to calculate the part for the public fund.” Manbao said, “Diligence can make up for dullness. When you’re free, just pick two random numbers and calculate. As time goes by, you’ll get it.” Keke said that this is mental arithmetic, which can train people’s brain and logical thinking – simply speaking, it makes smart people smarter and the not-so-smart less so, or even a bit smarter. When Manbao was younger and had nothing to play with, her favorite pastime was playing this game with Keke. She would quiz Keke, and then Keke would quiz her. That’s why she was the best in the family at counting. Having recorded everything in the ledger, Manbao safely stored away the money entrusted to her by everyone, then casually threw out a couple of math problems for them to solve for fun. Adding and subtracting two-digit numbers, even Zhou SiLang couldn’t help but break into a sweat. Manbao taught them, “First, use your fingers; if you run out of fingers, use your toes. Once you’ve done it enough, you’ll eventually get it without having to count on your fingers.” “But we don’t have enough fingers and toes combined, do we?” “Then count someone else’s,” Manbao said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I often borrowed Daddy’s fingers and toes to count. Look, I no longer need to borrow his fingers and toes now.” The brothers and nephews were all stunned, never realizing that their Dad (Grandpa) had his fingers and toes borrowed like this by their youngest aunt (little uncle). At dinner, Old Zhou felt that Four, Five, Sixth, and several grandchildren looked at him strangely, and couldn’t help touching his face, asking, “Do I have rice on my face?” The ones stealing glances immediately shook their heads and strangely lowered their heads to eat their meal. Manbao was oblivious to all this, focusing on stuffing her rice bowl; she always had a good appetite and ate a lot. Ms. Qian would restrain the meals of her grandsons and granddaughters, including Datou, but she could not bear to let her little girl go hungry, always letting her eat her fill. Manbao knew not to waste food. Once the last grain of rice in her bowl was scraped clean, she put down her bowl and dutifully said, “Mom, I’m full.” Ms. Qian glanced outside, and seeing it was still light, told her to go teach Datou and the others to recognize characters. A group of children scampered into the yard, playing while learning characters. They continued until the last sliver of sunlight disappeared, and darkness fell. Only then did they stop recognizing characters and started to recite the Thousand Character Classic that Manbao had taught them head-waggingly. The melodious sound of reading reached the village, where someone looking towards the Zhou Family’s direction enviously remarked, “Zhou Jin’s family is going to produce a scholar.” “Come off it, a child teaching a few sentences, it’s not even certain they recognize the words. If it were so easy to become a scholar, the world would be full of them by now, wouldn’t it?” “What do you know? As long as they recognize characters and can count, they can be accountants in the county. Just watch. If their girl can study in school for seven or eight years and teach what she’s learned to her brothers and nephews, in less than ten years, their family will be different from ours.” He sighed, “Such a fine girl, why was she born into their household?” As he spoke, he looked at his wife with a very disdainful glance, his spouse, bristling with indignation, planted her hands on her hips and retorted, “You also don’t see who their father is. Is it that I can’t give birth? It’s your seed that’s no good!” Their children curiously watched their parents. The couple was just about to quarrel, but the elder sitting above tapped the table with his pipe and scolded, “Why all the ruckus? That’s our Zhou family’s bloodline, and only one or two good seedlings have emerged over a few hundred years. Shouldn’t they be allowed to prosper?” He couldn’t reprimand his daughter-in-law, so he scolded his son instead, “Watch your mouth, don’t talk nonsense outside. If I hear anything unsavory...” His son hung his head and obediently responded.

Chapter 78 - 78 67 Warning (Extra update for 20,000 recommended votes from Yunqi)

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