CH 13

Chapter 13 – Not enough money

When Feng returned with a bowl of cooked eggs, the group of children had consumed their tiny pieces of sweets. They surrounded Man Bao and were eyeing the four wen.

Feng was stunned when she saw the money, and asked, “Little sister-in-law, where did you get the money?”

Man Bao proudly said, “We earned the money by selling sweets.”

Feng thought Man Bao was referring to the sweets purchased by her husband, and said helplessly, “Why didn’t you eat them? Instead, you sold them? Those sweets were meant to nourish your body.”

Every time Er Lang goes to the market, he would buy a wen worth of sweets. He would make sugar water with just one of the sweets and apportioned the drink to the children. The remaining four belonged to Man Bao!

This was not because they pampered Man Bao and don’t love the other children.

It was because of what the physician said when Man Bao was young, “This child has a weak spleen and stomach, shortness of breath and fatigue. Eat more eggs and honey.”

At that time, the family situation wasn’t very good. Man Bao was only a few months old, and she couldn’t drink the bitter medicine concoctions. The adults could only make eggy water and honey water for her to drink.

Old man Zhou purchased the honey with a large sum of money. And that was only made possible after he beseeched the villagers in the nearby villages. Honey was difficult to find, rare, and extremely expensive.

Only subsequently did the physician advised, “If there is no honey, you can use maltose. It’s for the lung meridian, which invigorates the spleen and stomach.”

One could say eggs and sugar were the main reasons why Man Bao grew up to be a fair and chubby child.

As Man Bao was healthier in the past two years, the Zhou family believed the physician’s advice.  They couldn’t give Man Bao any other good things, but the eggs were laid by the chickens they reared, and there was money to buy sweets.

There was a market day every five days. Man Bao received four sweets every market day. As such, she really didn’t lack sweets. When she and Keke first met, he tried to bribe her with sweets, but she wasn’t all that keen.  

Later, she ate the sweets Keke gave. She disliked them for being too sweet. Finally, as per her usual practice, she shared them with her nephews and nieces.

Only after seeing them so ecstatic, did Man Bao become good friends with Keke which suddenly appeared in her life.

Man Bao didn’t lack sweets. In addition to what her family gave her, Keke also rewarded her with sweets from time to time. However, Feng wasn’t aware of this.

She glared at Wu Lang and Liu Lang who didn’t know how to advise Man Bao. Then, she handed the bowl to Man Bao, “You must be hungry. Second sister-in-law boiled eggs for you. Eat them quickly.”

Man Bao held the bowl and invited Feng to eat first, “Second Sister-in-law, take a bite. Earlier, you didn’t even eat any of the flat cakes.”

Feng declined with a smile and gently pushed the bowl back to her, “I’m not hungry yet. When your eldest brother and second brother are back, I’ll eat with them.”

Man Bao didn’t harbour any suspicions. After all, she also liked to eat with her family. Oh dear, why did she eat the flat cake earlier without waiting for her eldest brother and second brother?

She felt as if she had somewhat wronged them.

While she was pondering, she pushed the bowl of eggs towards Da Tou and the rest of the children.

Everyone shook their heads. If Man Bao gave them sweets, they would eat them. But they would never take the eggs. Although they really wanted to eat the eggs, they knew for Man Bao, the eggs weren’t just eggs. They were her medicine.

Only then did Man Bao ate all the eggs. Then, she asked Feng to take her to buy medicine for her mother.

Feng stroked her hair and smiled, “I didn’t bring any money with me. We’ll go when your eldest brother and second brother are back.”

Man Bao handed over her handkerchief and said, “I have money!”

Feng sighed, “This is not enough.”

Mother-in-law took medicine all the year round, but in fact, she drank the cheapest medicine which treated the symptoms but not the root cause.

She could only be slowly nursed to health. They don’t know even know how much it would take to treat the root cause of her illness.

Mrs Zhou usually takes two prescriptions. One could be purchased from the physician in Dali village. He was the only doctor within these four nearby villages. Except for a small part of the medicine which must be purchased from the medicine shop, the rest came from the physician who picked the plants from the mountain.

The family would buy the medicine from the physician. A dose of medicine only costs eight wen. Their family was already very economical. They would decoct that one dose of medicine, four times, which would be Mrs Zhou’s medicine over two days.

If Mrs Zhou’s condition deteriorated, they would need to go to the medicine shop in town to buy the other prescription which had a more expensive medicine. A dose costs 20 wen.

Feng really didn’t have any money. The people who came to buy baskets and dustpans today bartered. They collected a lot of eggs and grains, but they didn’t receive any money.

There was nothing anyone could do. Everyone could only squat behind the stall and wait for the men to return.

It was past noon, and the two men returned with unpleasant expressions. The two big bags of grain were still in the cart.

Feng was surprised but trotted forward to help the men push the cart over, “Why were the grains not sold?”

Er Lang replied, “The price was too low. You can only get eight wen for 1 dou (10 litres).”

Feng couldn’t help exclaiming, “Only eight wen? Wasn’t it 10 wen previously?”

Da Lang crouched down on the ground and said, “The grains have been harvested and this year’s harvest is pretty good. We can say the grain shops aren’t short of grains.”

They were all fellow villagers. Da Lang and Er Lang talked to them for a long time, but they failed to raise the price. The family was really short of money. The brothers weren’t willing to sell the grains so cheaply, so they carted the two bags back.

Feng was teary, “What do we do?”

Er Lang squatted on the ground for a long time and said, “Someone at the market wants to exchange hemp cloth. We can exchange that with grains. The cotton cloth for shoes can also be exchanged with grains, but mother’s medicine must be bought with money.

“The grains must be sold. This will not work. We’ll go to town tomorrow and check it out. Perhaps we’ll get higher prices there.”

Man Bao immediately took out her four wen again, “Big Brother, Second Brother, I have money!”

When they saw the four wen, the men were taken aback and asked, “How did you get the money?”

“Sold sweets!”

Da Lang took the money and sighed, “We still need four wen.”

While Man Bao was wondering if she should take out another 20 sweets to sell, Er Lang stood up and said, “I’ll take things and go barter.”

Er Lang had many friends in the market. He scooped some of the wheat which his wife had stored away, estimated the weight, and walked away.

It didn’t take long for him to return with five wen.

Da Lang was very curious, “Who did you trade with?”

Those who came to the market rarely spend any money.

“Exchanged it with Old Wang, the sweet seller. He uses wheat to make sweets. I sold it to him at the regular price.”

Da Lang sighed in relief and handed him Man Bao’s money.

Er Lang used the money to buy a dose of medicine. The number of people in the market slowly decreased. Everyone didn’t want to set up a stall anymore. As Er Lang was familiar with the market, he found someone to exchange cloth and bacon. They packed their things and went home.

The cloth was handed over to Mrs Zhou, and she would assign the task to make the clothes for Mr Zhuang. Da Lang and Er Lang went to talk to their father.

Man Bao followed.

Her brothers saw her following them. She was imitating father, walking with her hands behind her back. They couldn’t help worrying about her mimicking father So, they hugged her on their laps, and reported the market situation to Old man Zhou.

When he heard the grains couldn’t be sold at the usual price, Old man Zhou wanted to smoke again.

He sighed, “We need some cash at home, not to mention your mother needs to take medicine. How would we deal with the occasional emergencies?”

Er Lang also nodded, “I’ve been selling things at the market and have accumulated many eggs. I’ll need to sell them in town.”

Although people occasionally buy eggs at the Dali village market, most of the eggs were exchanged with grains. So, Er Lang had to sell the grains to the grain shops in order to get money.

As such, Er Lang seldom sells eggs at market. In any case, it was better to take the eggs to town, where it was easier to sell eggs than grains.

Old man Zhou nodded, rubbed his old pipe and said, “Go the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow, the two of you will follow me and bring Man Bao to school.”

The brothers nodded.

Only then did Man Bao said, “Father, I also want to go to town!”