CH 5

Chapter 5 – Points

Man Bao squatted on the ground and looked for a shorter vine. Da Tou, Da Ya and the others found them and came over. When they realised their two uncles were arguing, Da Tou and Er Tou joined in the fray, while Da Ya squatted beside Man Bao, and asked her what she was searching for.

When she learnt Man Bao wanted to dig up a box thorn plant, she enthusiastically helped her to search for it. They soon found a plant that had just surfaced. Da Ya used a stick to dig around the soil and dug up the plant. However, the roots were too long and broke off.

However, they were fine with this.

Man Bao dragged the plant along. They allowed her to hold the plant as the young plant had yet to grow any thorns.

They often do things like this.

Da Ya picked a handful of wildflowers from somewhere. She wore them in her hair, and asked her little aunt, “Doesn’t it look nice?”

Man Bao looked at her and paused as she couldn’t find anything nice to say. However, she didn’t want to hurt her niece’s feelings, so she nodded and said, “The flowers look good.”

Da Ya was filled with joy and delight.

At the foot of the mountain, Man Bao slid down from fifth brother’s back, and took out some mock strawberries* (perhaps the author mixed this up with the box thorns?). She didn’t eat them but stuffed everything to Keke as she walked.

It had been more than a year, and Man Bao had learnt how to surreptitiously hide things for Keke under his tutelage.

Anyway, the group of children wouldn’t have noticed her actions. At some point during the walk down the mountain, even Da Ya had carelessly thrown away the wildflowers in her hair.

Everyone walked on for a while. Then, Wu Lang shouted. He looked around, and curiously asked, “How come we don’t see fourth brother? Didn’t Man Bao point to this place when we were at the hilltop?”

Everyone started looking around. Da Tou cried out in alarm, “Fourth uncle is missing!”

“Hold on, listen…” Da Ya hushed them, and everyone quieten down. Then, they heard what seemed to be snoring sounds.

The sound was coming from a thicket of grass beside Man Bao. She walked into the grove, pushed some of the grass away and saw Si Lang sleeping sweetly away on the grass.

Man Bao was incensed.  She ran towards Si Lang and stomped on his chest. Surprisingly, he remained fast asleep.

She was about to use more force, but Da Tou pulled a blade of wild grass, ran towards Si Lang and squatted beside him. He tickled Si Lang’s nose with the grass.

Man Bao was curious when she saw this. She stopped stomping and squatted beside Da Tou, “Will this work?”

Da Tou teased Man Bao’s face with the blade of grass, and asked, “Little aunt, is this itchy?”

She couldn’t help but scratched her face, and enthusiastically said, “Itchy, let me takeover!”

She took the grass and started messing around on Si Lang’s face. One after another of her family members stood up, pulled blades of wild grass, and tickled his face. It was to no avail. He waved his hands, turned over and continued to sleep.

Man Bao was very upset by Si Lang’s reaction. So, she threw away the grass and stopped playing around. She yelled directly into Si Lang’s ear, “Snake~~~”

“Ah—” Si Lang sat up in fright, jumped up and turned around, “Where’s the snake, where’s the snake?”

Man Bao stared at him, “Fourth brother, father instructed you to clear the wasteland. Instead, you were sleeping. I will tell father and let him beat you up.”

Si Lang saw the chubby little girl and couldn’t help but pinched her fat cheeks. He said, “What else can you do besides be a tell-tale?”

Wu Lang immediately slapped his hand away, “Fourth brother, you are bullying youngest sister.”

Mao Bao also felt a twinge of pain from being pinched, and her eyes turned teary. She stomped on Si Lang’s foot saying, “I can also beat you and carry tales. Do you dare to fight back? “

Si Lang, Si Lang wouldn’t dare!

He was so mad and looked like thunder. Man Bao snorted coldly when she saw she had suppressed him, “Hurry up and clear the weeds. Fourth brother, do you know that I am actually helping?”

Man Bao had learnt many words and languages from Keke, and was able to rationalize clearly.

She explained, “Mother said, the money the family saved for the past three years didn’t even reach 15 taels. It was meant for you and fifth brother’s weddings. However, you squandered all the money at one go, and owe money to eldest sister-in-law, second sister-in-law, third sister-in-law, and even to the village chief! You have to pay back all the money!

“Even if you don’t want a wife, fifth brother wants to get married. There are also the sisters-in-law. Do you think it was easy for them to save money? You have no other ability except to farm and pay off your debts!”

Wu Lang’s face turned red, but he affirmed Man Bao’s words, “Fourth brother, I am 14, and would be able to get a matchmaker to look for a wife in two years’ time. How much money will you be able to pay back to the family?”

Si Lang was stunned, “I have to pay back all 15 taels?”

“Of course! Who asked you to gamble and lose money?” When Man Bao thought of her niece who was sold (see chapter 2), she felt so enraged that she was about to explode.

She glared at Si Lang, “Gamblers who don’t repent should have their hands and legs chopped off. They should be dumped in the mountain to feed the wolves so that they wouldn’t harm others.”

Si Lang couldn’t help but stumbled two steps back. He shuddered. He pointed at Man Bao, “You! How can you be so cruel? I’m your fourth brother!”

“Da Ya, Er Ya and San Ya are also my nieces. The next time you gamble, if our family can’t pay up, the casino thugs will take them away when they come to collect the debt. Once they are sold off, it will be my turn.

“There are still Da Tou, Er Tou and the others. Once the nieces and nephews are all sold, the eldest brother and the others will have to repay your debts for the rest of their lives. Although you are my brother, you are only one person. (You) Can’t harm so many of us, beloved family members, just because of you, so…”

Initially, the group of children didn’t give much thought to the matter but after listening to Man Bao, they gave him a dirty look.

Even Wu Lang and Liu Lang couldn’t help but took a step forward to stare intently at Si Lang.

Si Lang promptly shook his hands in disagreement, “Man Bao, don’t spout nonsense. I have resolved to change. I won’t gamble again.”

Man Bao coldly snorted, “We’ll be the judge of that!”

“That’s right! We’ll be the judge of that!”

As everyone watched, Si Lang could only pick up the scythe and cleared the grass. The young ones arranged themselves in a circle, watched him in action and ordered him around from time to time, “Fourth uncle, there is a lot of grass here, cut here!”

“Four brother, the soil here is compact, quick, cut here.”

Man Bao? Well, with Da Ya and Er Ya’s guidance, she picked a lot of flowers and watched her nieces made her, a floral head wreath which she promptly wore on her head.

Da Ya and Er Ya praised her, “Little aunt, you are so pretty!”

Man Bao was delighted, “Of course! You are also pretty.”

Si Lang listened, observed them, and was furious, “Are you here to help? How long will it take for me to clear the wasteland by myself?”

Man Bao felt she was very hardworking, and immediately went to help.

When the others saw Man Bao working, they also rolled up their sleeves to help.

Wu Lang took the sickle and was responsible for cutting the grass. Da Tou was responsible for removing the grass. Wu Lang and Si Lang took the hoe and worked together to dig out the shrubs.

Man Bao led the rest to pick up the rocks. They picked out the rocks from the grass, the dead wood, etc. The rocks were placed around the land while the dead wood was moved aside. They would take the dead wood home later to use as firewood.

It was really difficult to clear the wasteland. There were all sorts of things everywhere and even when you cut the grass, you must be careful to prevent being pricked by the thistles. When Keke saw this, he sighed. He decided not to ask the host to look for more plants for him. We’ll do this tomorrow.

I only hope Man Bao would be willing to come out tomorrow.

Man Bao was tired of picking out stones so, she forced herself to find a topic to chat with her system, “Keke, have we entered these grasses in the system?”

“No.”

Man Bao was disappointed, “Why is your Encyclopaedia well-stocked?”

He replied, “These weeds are also very common in the future. Although you might not recognize them, you had earlier included these things in the Encyclopaedia. The difference is just a matter of length. The grass near your home are relatively shorter while they are much longer here.”

Man Bao was a little embarrassed, “It turns out I have entered them.”

Keke solemnly replied, “Yes, one point will be awarded for each type submitted.”

The point was given as an encouragement point. If it wasn’t for her young age and the need to encourage her, Keke wouldn’t even be able to fight for such points.

But that was it. Keke still had to allocate some of his own points to purchase sweets for her as her efficiency rate was too low.

The reason? The Zhou family spoilt her. The rest of the children in the family were free-range kids. They could walk from the age of two. The older children would take the younger ones and run around the village. The only prohibition? They mustn’t go the edge of the river.

But Man Bao was special. One of the adults always took care of her.

When her nephews and nieces were rolling around in the mud, she was wearing clean clothes, sitting on the kang (heated bed) at home and being taught to talk.

When her nephews and nieces were weeding and working in the fields, she was taken to school to eat scorched rice. It can be said that although she was now slightly older, the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village was the farthest point she had ever been. In fact, this was her first time to the mountain.

The reason why she was able to go to the big banyan tree was because Old man Zhou had leisure time during the Chinese New Year (CNY). He took his little daughter along for his “shoot the breeze” session with his mates.

Of course, only Man Bao received this treatment at home. In fact, when she walked around (the village?) she will even receive one or two wen as CNY gift.

The plants in the village were the most common ones. In the past, whenever Man Bao saw a plant, she would just pull it and submitted it to the system. That year, Keke taught her to identify plants. However, things didn’t turn out as expected. One moment, Man Bao would dig up a plant and passed it to Keke. The next moment, she would pull the same type of plant! Keke just fell apart.

Fortunately, Man Bao was now aware she could ask Keke questions e.g. were there any new plants which could be submitted? In the past, she would hold a handful of weeds and entered them one after another, after which, the system would helplessly inform her that the plants had been submitted earlier.

Man Bao was tired of moving stones. She wiped the sweat on her forehead with her small hand and asked the system, “Keke, you are very strange. Why are we submitting this weed? As you can see, we are getting rid of them. It’s just too annoying! How long will it take to clear the wasteland?”

“It’s just that the technological development of the host’s planet is not in place. In the future, machines can complete tasks such as land clearing at one go. And although these weeds will still exist in the future, their number will be greatly reduced, while some of them will be extinct. That’s why I exist.”

Man Bao opened her mouth in surprise, “So many grass, trees, and rocks, and all of them can be cleared at one go? What is a machine, can I buy it?”

The system was silent for a while and then said, “No. This type of technology is far beyond your planet’s capability so, it cannot be purchased. Even if it is possible, host, you don’t have any points.”

Man Bao blinked, and once more, decided to pay more attention to the points. She used to think the points were useless and could only be used to trade for sweets.

She could eat sweets even without any points. Every time her second brother or father goes to the market, they would buy her sweets.