Farm Girl's Small Blessings

Chapter 3: The System

Mrs. Qian patted her head and said, "Clearing land is not easy at all. Moreover, the crops grown on the newly cleared land may not be enough to pay taxes. Your nephews are still young, and there is enough land at home for them to work on."

"What should we do then? Fourth Brother made such a big mistake, but we can't kill him. What if he is idle again and goes gambling?"

Mrs. Qian pondered. If the fourth son made such a big mistake and was not punished, the other sons and daughters-in-law at home would definitely not agree. However, truly hurting someone was another matter. It would cost money to treat the injury, and that was what really hurt her.

She said, "Alright, tomorrow I'll have your Fourth Brother go to clear the land."

Manbao was finally happy, "I will go supervise Fourth Brother."

"I think you just want to go out and play. There are many snakes and insects in the fields. You shouldn't join in. Let your elder nephews go with him."

Manbao replied, "No, I want to go, too."

She used to think her family was pretty good. They had enough to eat and wear. She always had sweets to eat on market days, even though she wasn't very fond of them.

So, she had just wanted to learn how to read. She found joy in learning how to read and write, but without books from her elder brother, she could only get sweets.

She had tried them, and although the sweets were sweeter than the ones her second brother brought back from the market, she still didn't like them very much.

But now she knew that their family was actually quite poor. She needed to earn money. She was still young and couldn't work in the fields or go out for work. The only way to earn money was to sell sweets.

However, because she was lazy and didn't pick vegetables for her second brother, he had stopped giving her sweets for a long time.

Oh, and her second brother suddenly appeared in her mind. It was the thing that appeared in her mind last spring when she finally memorized the "Thousand Character Classic" completely. Mr. Zhuang was very touched and gave her a stack of handwritten manuscripts of the "Thousand Character Classic."

She happily ran home holding the manuscript, but as soon as she got home, her second brother appeared. He said he was a branch of the Encyclopedia Hall, in charge of biological sciences, and had accidentally lost his way here.

He needed to collect many species of organisms to exchange for energy to leave the Encyclopedia Hall.

At first, Manbao didn't understand and thought she had made a friend. She happily told her mother. However, Mrs. Qian thought she was just daydreaming and dismissed it.

Manbao was very smart and gradually understood that others couldn't see or hear her second brother, so she stopped mentioning it. She thought of this friend as someone only she could see and hear.

Her second brother always asked her to collect more plants, but Manbao had already dug up all the vegetables in the garden for him to collect, even the grass outside the house. It was too tiring to go to faraway places, and she didn't want to go at all.

For the sake of her friend, she reluctantly went to find some unfamiliar plants for her second brother. However, her family was always worried about her running outside. While her nephews and nieces could play outside, she was always accompanied by her sister-in-law. She was only allowed to play within the village and was strictly forbidden to go to the fields.

Manbao kept pestering her mother. She was about to throw herself on the ground when Mrs. Qian, exhausted, saw her daughter like this. Thinking that she was not young anymore and it was the best time to have fun, she reluctantly agreed, saying, "Alright, go ahead. But you must listen to Fifth and Sixth Brother, no running around, and no staying in the sun for too long, understood?"

Manbao happily agreed.

At night, she had a bowl full of rice and competed with her Fifth and Sixth Brothers and nephews and nieces to finish all the vegetables.

Except for these few immature children, the adults had poor appetites. The little money they had saved was gone overnight, returning them to poverty. They could only hope for a better mood.

Grandpa Zhou pushed around a spoonful of rice, feeling for the first time that the food was hard to swallow, and he couldn't eat anymore.

Thinking of the fifteen taels of silver, his heart ached, his eyes turned red, and he couldn't help but smash the bowl, then go beat up his fourth son before feeling better.

After the beating, Zhou Dalang and his brothers didn't dare to follow suit. They could only eat with a sour face.

Mrs. Qian and the daughters-in-law ate porridge together. Autumn harvesting was over, and except for the men, only Manbao could eat solid food. The rest had to eat porridge, but the porridge was thick enough to fill them up.

After putting down her chopsticks, Mrs. Qian said, "We have no money left at home. Living like this makes me anxious. Starting tomorrow, we will only eat porridge at home. Eldest daughter-in-law, put less rice, winter is coming, and we still have spring and summer after winter."

Little Mrs. Qian nodded.

Glancing at Manbao, she asked, "What about the young sister? She is weak. Should she also eat porridge?"

Mrs. Qian frowned, "Tomorrow you take six catties of grain to the school and ask Mr. Zhuang to allow Manbao to have lunch at the school. The vegetables are bought from our own garden. You just need to bring a few more over every day."

Little Mrs. Qian agreed and quickly finished eating, then cleaned up the dishes with her sister-in-law.

Manbao thought it was not right and asked, "Mom, what about the elder maids?"

Mrs. Qian reached out to pat her head and smiled, "The elder maids are healthy, they don't need to eat solid food. You are not well, so eat a little more. Otherwise, if you get sick, we will have to spend money to buy you medicine."

The elder maids and the elder brothers had been instilled with this kind of thought since they were young. Their grandparents always told them not to bully or mistreat the young sister, but to let her eat a little more and get a little fatter so she wouldn't get sick.

Otherwise, if she got sick, they would have to spend money to buy medicine, and then they wouldn't have money to buy sweets.

So when the grandparents looked over, they nodded repeatedly, indicating that the young sister should eat more while they would eat porridge at home.

"There are still some grain strings in the fields. We will find them and roast them to eat."

"No, tomorrow we will go help Fourth Brother clear the land," Manbao said. "But we can go find wild fruits to eat."

Grandpa Zhou looked at Manbao, "Clear the land?"

Mrs. Qian said, "Forgot to tell you, tomorrow Fourth Brother will go clear the land. He owes money to the family and needs to make a living."

Grandpa Zhou didn't think clearing the land would make much money, but it was better than having the boy idle and gambling again. So he said, "Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, you two go with him tomorrow. If he slacks off, make sure he works."

Manbao volunteered, "Dad, I'll go. Fifth and Sixth Brother can't beat Fourth Brother."

Grandpa Zhou smiled and patted her head, saying, "Alright, you go. If Fourth Brother doesn't listen, you can use a stick."

Manbao was delighted as if she had received a royal decree. She went to bed early that night, promising in her mind that she would help her second brother find plants he hadn't found before, and she demanded, "You must prepare more sweets for me. I want to sell them."

The system was extremely distressed. The plants Manbao had recorded were all very common. After more than a year, there was no profit seen. Instead, it had to use the remaining points to exchange sweets for her.

It had no choice. Manbao always saw it as a game and never thought to reach the peak of her life or achieve any extraordinary life goals using it.

After more than a year, the system's ambition had long been worn down, but fortunately, it was bound to a host. Even if it didn't have the energy to leave this space and return to the original plane, it could still keep running.

It comforted itself, saying that when the host grew up, everything would be fine.

At worst, the worst outcome would be when the host died, it would choose a more ambitious host.

The system quietly checked its remaining points and calculated how many more sweets it could exchange for her.

Thinking she had an agreement with her second brother, Manbao pulled her blanket over herself, closed her eyes, and fell asleep peacefully.

The next morning, shortly after the rooster crowed, there were noises in the yard. Manbao turned over, arched her little bottom, and burrowed back under the covers to continue sleeping.

Farmers always rose early. Even though the autumn harvest was over, the land still needed to be prepared. Grandpa Zhou, Second Brother Zhou, and Third Brother Zhou were all working for the rich landlord's family, and they had to leave as well.

When the yard was filled with noises and thudding, Manbao finally rubbed her eyes, blushing as she pushed the window open. She saw her father dragging Fourth Brother out of the house and kicking him in the butt to go work. She immediately remembered the promise she made to her second brother the night before.

Without time to sleep anymore, Manbao immediately got out of bed, put on her clothes, and rushed out, saying, "Fourth Brother, wait for me, I'll go with you."

Mrs. Qian grabbed her and said, "No rush, wash your face first."

Breakfast wasn't served so early. They had to wait until the sun was high in the sky to eat. Little Mrs. Qian told her young sister-in-law to wash her face and gave her a bowl of plain water to drink before she went to scramble an egg and give it to her.

Manbao reluctantly drank the egg water and then ran to catch up with Fourth Brother.

Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother were waiting for her at the door. The morning egg water was a privilege for Manbao, even Grandpa Zhou and Mrs. Qian didn't have it.

It was said that when the young sister almost died of illness, she survived by drinking egg water. Since then, she insisted on having an egg every day, even if someone else didn't have it.

The family didn't expect much from Fourth Brother's land clearing, so besides Fourth Brother Zhou, a group of children was sent to help him.

For instance, Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, the eldest daughter's eldest son, the second daughter's second son, the eldest daughter's third son, and the second daughter's fourth son.

Fifth Brother was fourteen years old this year, and Sixth Brother was twelve, both already young men. In the village's words, they could already be considered adults, and in a couple of years, they could start a family.

The eldest daughter's eldest son and the second daughter's second son were Manbao's nephews, one nine years old and the other six years old. The eldest daughter's eldest daughter and the second daughter's second daughter were Manbao's nieces, eight and seven years old, respectively.

There was also the third son of the eldest daughter, a nephew of Manbao, the same age as her. He also wanted to go today but was stopped by his mother. He had to go to the vegetable garden with his third daughter and fourth son to weed.

The third daughter was from the second daughter, and the fourth son was from the third daughter. They were both very young, four years old each. The road was difficult to walk, so they could only weed in the garden.

The mountain road was rugged, and Manbao found it hard to walk. So Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother took turns carrying her while Fourth Brother, with injuries, had to walk to the field by himself, which was commendable.