CH 10

Chapter 10 – Off to the market

Old man Zhou had decided to allow his little girl to formalise the teacher/ pupil relationship with Mr Zhuang. All the preparations for the formal ceremony must be handled properly. The next day, even Da Lang didn’t go out to work.

Old man Zhou asked Da Lang to borrow a cart from the village chief and took out two bags of grain from the warehouse.

The entire family stood at their respective doorsteps and watched. Old man Zhou didn’t seem to notice the anxiety in the eyes of his daughters-in-law.

He instructed Da Lang and San Lang to tie the grain up, and then, handed them over to Er Lang, “Once you are at the market, sell the grain. Buy your mother three days’ worth of medicine. Then, buy a piece of meat. If possible, get pork belly. It would be best if you can buy bacon.”

He thought for a while and added, “See if there’s anyone who sells good quality cotton at the market. If yes, buy it and make a set of clothes for Mr Zhuang. By the way, don’t forget to buy the materials for shoes and socks. Buy better quality fabrics.”

Er Lang memorised the instructions one by one.

Once Xiao Qian and the sisters-in-law heard the list of things to be purchased, they palpitated with anxiety. These were two bags of grain!

Old man Zhou was more distressed than they were, but once he heard Man Bao’s laughter, he could ignore the heartache. Since he had conveyed all that was needed, he waved them off so they could all disperse and start their day.

Man Bao woke up early in the morning, and then, dragged fifth and sixth brothers to pick wildflowers.

When the older brothers were done, the children were also ready to set off. They filled the basket weaved by Er Lang with weeds and wildflowers, and happily followed the adults.

Second sister-in-law, Feng, who went with them, looked at the contents in their basket and couldn’t help asking, “Why are you bringing these along?”

Da Ya replied, “Little aunt says she wants to sell them.”

Feng’s eyes widened slightly, “These things are all over the mountain. Who will buy them?”

At this time, Man Bao was being piggybacked by Wu Lang. When she heard what Feng said, she proclaimed loudly, “Second sister-in-law, I’ll buy them. I’m willing to buy pretty things.”

She could really squander a family’s fortune!

Feng couldn’t help asking, “Little sister-in-law do you have money?”

Man Bao shook her head honestly, “Not now, but I’ll have money in the future.”

She had strong self-confidence. After all, even Keke said she was very smart. Then, she must be amazing, and therefore, making money should be a piece of cake.

Feng didn’t stop them and regarded this as a children’s game. In any case, they were carrying the things themselves.

When they arrived at the market, everyone started looking for a place to set up a stall.

Er Lang made quite a lot of baskets and dustpans to sell at the market. He was familiar with the market and quickly, occupied a spot.

After putting down the woven goods for his wife to sell, he extorted Wu Lang and Liu Lang, “Watch Man Bao, Da Tou and the rest of them carefully. Don’t run around.”

Before Wu Lang had a chance to reply, Man Bao patted her chest and assured her brother, “Don’t worry, second brother. I’ll keep a close eye on my nephews. We’ll not go anywhere.”

Er Lang smiled and stroked her hair.

Then, he pushed the cart and went off with Da Lang to sell the grains.

The market was held once every five days. Several nearby villages gathered to set up the market in this relatively larger Dali (Big Pear) village.

The market’s location was the most appropriate as there was a mountain with a Taoist temple here. There were several Taoist priests in the temple.

Every year on the 19th of the first lunar month, a spectacular temple fair would be held. It was so magnificent that even folks from the far-off town would come to participate in the festivities.

That was a major temple festival. The rest of the smaller scale temple festivals were held around major solar terms. These traditions have been around for many years.

According to Man Bao, the older people at the entrance of her village said these customs have been around since they (the older folks) were children.

As such, Keke was particularly regretful. Although he was a popular science system which specialised in collecting organisms, there was a system in the Encyclopaedia which specialized in collecting this type of folklore. The temple fair alone would produce many missions which would earn many points.

Man Bao felt Keke was a little sad. She tried to coax him by saying she didn’t want any money and would throw it away, “I only like Keke, I don’t like any other systems.”

In short, this was a big market where the villagers met each other’s needs.

The question was, does everyone sell their goods for money?

Of course not!

Man Bao noted her second sister-in-law had arranged the baskets and dustpans on the ground, and they immediately put down their basket which was full of weeds and wildflowers, forming a row with Feng’s merchandise. Then, the kids squatted behind the goods and gawked at the people walking around.

Er Lang had been selling his goods at the market for many years and had earned a good reputation. So, not long after the things were displayed, an old lady came up with her pack basket, checked the dustpans and asked, “Can this be exchanged with eggs?”

After thinking about it, Feng agreed, and asked, “Is it still three eggs for two wen?”

The old lady said yes.

Feng began to calculate the number of eggs the buyer needed to give her. “Then, you give me…”

She kept counting but felt her calculation was wrong. She started to sweat. At the market, her husband was the one who sold the goods whereas her job was to count the money.

Feng wiped her sweat. Man Bao saw her sister-in-law was stumped, so she leaped into action, “Second sister-in-law, second sister-in-law, I can count! Is our dustpan sold at 15 wen each?”

Feng knew Man Bao was smart and could count. She usually liked to play math games with her second brother such as how much was one wen plus two wen. So, she agreed, “Yes, the prices of our goods have remained the same.”

Man Bao looked at the old lady curiously, “Where are your eggs?”

The old lady didn’t know how to count, but before she left the house, her family have counted the eggs for her. However, she was hoping the Zhou family would count wrongly.

That was why she rushed to the stall when she saw Er Lang wasn’t there.

She put down her pack basket and opened it for Man Bao to see, “The chickens at home laid these eggs. These are good eggs.”

Man Bao said, “Let me count.”

The old lady wasn’t very happy, “You haven’t told me how many eggs you want.”

Man Bao stared at her and asked, “I haven’t counted them. How would I know how many eggs are needed? I’ve to count.”

As soon as the old lady heard this, she assumed Man Bao didn’t know how to count. She was happy and allowed her to take the eggs out. She smiled and said, “Be careful, don’t break the eggs.”

Man Bao assured her, “Don’t worry, if I break any, I’ll take them.”

She took the eggs out of the basket and arranged them according to piles of three eggs each. There were eight piles. The old lady also counted the eggs the way Man Bao did. Then, she felt nervous and wanted to gather up all the eggs.

Man Bao clapped her hands and said joyfully, “All done, all done! Look, second sister-in-law, these are two wen, these are two wen, two wen, two wen… a total of 16 wen.”

The stall owner opposite them watched Man Bao in action and happily said, “This little girl is really smart.”

Feng was proud, “This is my sister-in-law, she is the smartest in our family.”

Wu Lang and Liu Lang were also very proud, stood up and announced, “My sister!”

The old lady glanced at these two big and strong teenagers. She swallowed the words she wanted to say.

Instead, she said, “Your dustpan is 15 wen but you are asking for an extra wen. I’ll take this pile of eggs back.”

Man Bao felt that was reasonable. So, she took two of the smallest eggs from a pile of three eggs and returned them to the old lady, “15 wen, we should be giving you one and a half eggs, but we can’t divide half an egg. So, we’ll just make some losses. You can take these back.”

The old lady choked.

Feng also noticed how the old lady wanted to short-change them and responded with a smile. She quickly placed the eggs into their basket.

She smiled and allowed the old lady to choose the dustpan she liked. Feng said, “We’re not picky about the size of the eggs. Let’s consider this settled.”

Although she didn’t make any losses, the old lady was still a little unhappy. She looked at Man Bao and said, “This kid is fair and fat. She doesn’t seem to be from any family in our village.”

Feng smiled, “My sister-in-law is the youngest in the family, and my in-laws dote on her. Her brothers also love her, so she was brought up with care. I’m not boasting but there are no cuter girls than my sister-in-law within these 10 miles and eight villages.”

Everyone took a closer look. Man Bao was really adorable!

She had cute facial features. She was fair and chubby, with a round face and rosy cheeks. Indeed, she was a blessed child.

The old lady’s pettiness also dissipated, and she agreed with a smile, “She looks pretty good.”

Man Bao was praised and immediately became happy. She enthusiastically introduced her products to the old lady, “Auntie, look at my things. My flowers are pretty. Take them back and put them on the windowsill. Just looking at these flowers will make you happy!”

As Man Bao called the old lady, auntie, she felt years younger and happily said, “Are you giving them to me? That’s so courteous!”

She stretched out her hand to take the flowers.

Man Bao said with bright eyes, “It’s not a gift, it’s one wen for each bunch. It’s not expensive at all.”

The old lady put her hand down with a squeak, her eyes widened and asked, “Huh? You need to buy these wildflowers? Isn’t the mountain full of them?”

“Yes,” Man Bao admitted frankly, “But I picked all of them.”

Feng hurriedly injected, “Auntie, please don’t mind them, these are the children’s games. At home, they were clamouring about doing business, so we brought them to the market for them to experience what businesses are like.”

The old lady felt better, but she didn’t reach for the flowers anymore, for fear that Man Bao would ask her for money.

She chose a dustpan and left quickly.

Man Bao reluctantly watched her leave. Amongst her companions, she sighed, “Why don’t you buy them? Our flowers are so beautiful.”

Little companions: …we expected this from the very beginning, so we don’t feel bad at all.

They were very excited to observe the busy marketgoers and traders plying and hawking their goods. It was an absolute delight to be at the market!

Many people came to buy baskets and dustpans. Each time, Man Bao helped Feng with the calculations. Once that was done, she recommended her flowers and grass.

At first, the buyers would happily pick up the flowers and grass, but they immediately returned them once Man Bao told them the price.

It was already halfway through the market day. The eldest and second brothers haven’t returned while none of their flowers and grass could be sold. The flowers even looked slightly withered.

Man Bao sighed worriedly. She noted while there weren’t many dustpans left, there were many baskets, so she decorated the baskets with the flowers and grass.

Feng was dismayed, “Little sister-in-law, you wouldn’t be asking the customers to buy your flowers and grasses together with the baskets?”

Man Bao felt she couldn’t sell her goods and didn’t want them to go to waste. She was planning to give them away for free. Upon listening to her sister-in-law, her eyes sparkled, “Ah, second sister-in-law, you’re so smart, why didn’t I think of this idea?”

Feng wished she could sew her mouth.