CH 32

Chapter 32 – Sharing the money

Since it was still bright, Man Bao placed a bag on the ground. She poured out all the copper coins and counted them. She also took out the copper coins and broken silver pieces from her pocket.

Everyone’s jaw dropped. Although they knew they made a lot of money, they didn’t realise they made so much!

Da Lang and Er Lang knew, so they weren’t too surprised. But the flabbergasted San Lang, Si Lang and their parents just stared at Man Bao who was squatting on the ground and counting the money nonchalantly.

Wu Lang brought strings to string up the money, and then, everyone started to count the money.

While Wu Lang could count up to 100, he always made mistakes. However, he found a creative way! He counted 10 piles of 10 coins to make up 100 wen.

Man Bao looked down on him. So, she instructed him to string up the money while she took on the task of counting.

Da Tou and everyone joined in the fun, and followed those counting in counting one, two, three, four, etc. The situation turned chaotic when they reached 20. At times, they shouted 17, and just a second later, it was 22.

Man Bao didn’t seem to be affected, and remained focused.

Old man Zhou looked on, then, stroked the shredded tobacco stored in a pouch tied around his waist. Although he was reluctant to smoke as he wanted to sell the tobacco, he couldn’t help himself. He took a pinch and stuffed it into his pipe.

He just looked at Man Bao, pondering.

When Man Bao successfully counted up to 100, she pushed all the money to her fifth brother so that he could string them up. She resumed counting and this time, Liu Lang waited to string up the coins.

Da Tou and the rest continued to follow Man Bao to count while surreptitiously tried to touch the money.

There was so much money! It was great to touch them. (Translator: I know the feeling!)

Man Bao quickly counted all the money earned.

The total was 270 wen including the 10 wen deposit given by Fu Wen Yun.

She passed the broken silver pieces to Mrs Zhou and asked her mother to help her gauge the weight of the silver, and its value in wen.

Mrs Zhou estimated the weight and said with a smile, “340 wen.”

Everyone screamed “Wow!” Man Bao used her fingers and counted. No one interfered, they just watched her calculate the total amount.

It took a while, but the little girl managed to figure it out, and shouted, “It’s 610 wen!”

Mrs Zhou nodded with a smile, “So how much do you need to give to the public fund?”

Of course, Man Bao was unable to provide an immediate answer. She scratched her head, and finally asked Da Tou and Er Tou to help her find six stones and six pebbles.

She arranged the six stones in a row, pointed to them and said, “This is 100 wen. I want to give my mother 60 wen…”

Man Bao placed a pebble in front of that one stone and said, “This is 60 wen.”

“This is also 100 wen, and I have to give my mother 60 wen… a total of six groups of 60 wen, “ Man Bao counted, adding a pebble at a time.

She finally patted her hands and said, “366 wen. Giving mother six strings of copper coins should do.”

Man Bao gave the broken silver pieces to Mrs Zhou and counted 26 wen from the pile of copper coins. Hence, she fulfilled the family rule of handing over 60% of external earnings to the public fund.

The rest of the money, a total of 244 wen was theirs!

Man Bao called all her little pals who contributed, did a head count, and generously gave everyone 10 wen each.

She also gave 10 wen each to her parents who helped weaved the bamboo baskets. In total, she gave away 80 wen.

Considering that Da Ya, Er Ya, fifth and sixth brothers accompanied her to town today and exerted a lot of effort, she gave them each another 10 wen.

Everyone looked at Man Bao, who was busy distributing money around the house. The children looked at their parents, seeking their approval before taking the money.

Subconsciously, Da Lang and the adults wanted to decline, but they reconsidered. Earlier, they wanted Man Bao to hand over the money. Now that the little girl was happily distributing money, they should just take the money.

So, they rejoiced and indicated to Man Bao that they would take the money.

It was impossible to take any money away from Man Bao, but it was possible to take away the money from your own children.

Da Lang even joined in the fun, “Man Bao, we also helped with the bamboo baskets. Don’t we get any money for our labour?”

Man Bao thought that sounded right, and so, she gave money to her three oldest brothers. When she turned around, she saw her sisters-in-law. She felt they also worked hard, so she gave them money too.

In the end, Man Bao was left with only 64 wen.

She didn’t care, she filled her pocket happily, and found that her pocket was too small. So, she discussed the problem with Xiao Qian, “Eldest sister-in-law, can you enlarge the pockets in my clothes? That way, I can put more money into the pockets.”

He’s (third sister-in-law) needlework was the best. She smiled, “Little aunt, you’re so small. Even if we enlarge the pockets, they’ll still be small. When there’re cloth scraps at home, I’ll make you a cloth bag, just like a purse.”

Man Bao was delighted, “Great, that’s great!” She added, “I want to design the style myself.”

With a smile, He agreed and kept the 10 wen that Man Bao gave her. Previously, all of them took out all the money they had in order to pay Si Lang’s gambling debt.  Finally, there was some income.

Although Man Bao still has a lot of money, the adults considered the 64 wen a pittance compared to the 600 wen she had earlier.

Since it was impossible to take money from Man Bao, the adults focused on their kids.

Old man Zhou looked at Wu Lang and Liu Lang, took a puff of his pipe and said, “You can take two wen each. Let your mother keep the rest. In the future, we’ll use the money for your wedding.”

Meanwhile, Da Lang said to Da Tou and Da Ya, “Let your mother keep the money for you. We’ll buy new clothes for you in the future.”

Er Lang also looked at his two children and coaxed, “Come here. Dad will keep this money for you. I’ll buy you sweets later.”

The children held on to their coins tightly. They wanted to cry but didn’t dare to do so.

The only people in the family who didn’t receive any money were Si Lang and the three youngest kids.

Man Bao looked at her fourth brother and ignored him. Instead, she took out three wen, and gave one wen each to her nephews, San Tou, Si Tou and niece, San Ya.

She generously said, “Little aunt give this money to you.”

The three kids rushed forward to receive the money, and said, “Congratulations little aunt for making a fortune!”

Man Bao was very happy.

Si Lang was squatting at the side. He was close to tears. Man Bao squatted beside him, and sighed, “Four brother, you’re still a bad guy, so I can’t give you any money.”

With teary eyes, he asked, “Am I not your brother? Why am I a bad person?”

“Gamblers are all bad guys,” Man Bao said confidently. “Only those who have reformed will be liked. Otherwise, everyone will hate you.””

For the first time, Si Lang lowered his head and was silent. Everyone except him, received money. He finally realized he was treated differently because he gambled. In a whisper, he admitted, “I, I know I was wrong.”

“That’s great. Then, keep working hard. Let our parents, older brothers and sisters-in-law see your sincerity,” Man Bao patted him on the shoulder, mimicking what she learnt from her second brother, and asked, “How’s the progress in clearing the wasteland?”

Si Lang sighed and said, “It should be cleared before winter.”

Man Bao said, “I’ll help you tomorrow.”

No! Man Bao was no help. She only gives out nonsensical instructions.

The depressed Si Lang asked, “Aren’t you going to the school tomorrow?”

“I’m going but I can go to the field first, and then, go to school with my eldest sister-in-law.”

Man Bao has yet to become a conscientious student. She still felt she was free to do whatever she liked, just like in the past. 

– End of this chapter –

Isn’t Man Bao a generous little soul? She had no qualms about giving the money away, and she does this so happily!

Best of all, her elders are loving and generous people, and we don’t see any of those greedy, money grabbing, back stabbing behaviours. The Zhou is a great family where everyone prospers together!