Chapter 11: Credit of Integral

Daya and Erya, watching from the sidelines, burst into laughter. Ms. Feng gave them a stern glance and immediately advised Manbao, "Young Miss, our baskets are already hard to sell. If you add flowers and herbs, they will become even harder to sell. These flora are everywhere in the mountains, what household here would need them?"

"But I saw that they clearly liked them very much. Just now, when I offered, they all accepted," Manbao felt that they were just stingy and unwilling to spend money.

"Of course, they'll take things that are given for free, but they're not worth the money."

After thinking a bit, Manbao had her own opinion, "That's not right. If the flowers and herbs aren't pretty, people wouldn't even take them for free. So, we need to find some people who aren't stingy, and once they see our beautiful flowers and herbs, they will definitely want to buy."

Ms. Feng then said, "But everyone at the market is stingy."

Manbao's shoulders slumped, "Alright, then we won't sell them today, we'll give them away, and wait until we find people who aren't stingy to sell them to."

Ms. Feng was satisfied and let them use the flowers and herbs to decorate the baskets they had brought.

Daya and Erya immediately pitched in to help.

Indeed, the baskets looked a lot nicer after being decorated, and when lined up, they caught everyone's attention.

Even those who didn't need a basket at home stopped to take a longer look; and those who happened to need one came straight up to ask about the price.

The prices at the market had been constant for years, with few increases, so their family's baskets were the same price as others'. Zhou ErLang's craftsmanship wasn't bad either, so the customers would pick one to their liking and either pay in cash or barter with goods.

Common items for bartering at the market usually included eggs, fabric, and grain.

But fabric was very expensive, and each year they also had to submit a certain amount of it as tax, so most of the time, they bartered with eggs and grain from their household.

Of course, there were also those who used money, but they were few.

By the end of the market day, Ms. Feng had collected quite a bit of grain and eggs, carefully sorting them into the baskets and backbaskets.

As the sun grew higher, Ms. Feng anxiously looked towards the end of the street. Her husband and older brother hadn't come back yet.

Seeing the children looking tired, she knew they were hungry. She took out two cakes from the backbasket, tore them up, and shared them among the children, "Here, eat a little with some water. Once your uncle and dad are back, we can go home."

Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang also took nearly half a cake each from their sister-in-law, nibbled on it, and with a half-crouch sighed, "It must be hard to sell, who would need grain so soon after the autumn harvest?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, children should not be taken seriously, let the wind blow those words away. Your father and uncle will certainly have a smooth and successful trip," said Ms. Feng, "Fifth Uncle, you should speak more auspicious words."

"Auspicious words are not hard to say. Every day I wish to the God of Wealth in my dreams, hoping our family will be rich and noble, but it doesn't seem to work," said Wulang.

Manbao was very interested and asked the system silently, "Keke, is the God of Wealth in heaven? Can you see him?"

System: "…No, and there probably isn't a God of Wealth in this world."

"How can there not be? We worship him every year, and there's the Kitchen God, the Earth God..."

System: "People from the future firmly believe in atheism, so they think there are no gods in the world."

This was the complete opposite of the stories Manbao had heard since childhood. She was stunned for a while, then she quickly figured it out and said excitedly, "It must be because there are no gods in your world, and they've all run off to our world."

System: "It's not bad for you to think that way."

Manbao asked, "Can gods be more powerful than you? Can they make things disappear with a 'whoosh' and then make them appear again with another 'whoosh', and can they fulfill my wishes with a 'whoosh whoosh'?"

"I fulfill the host's wishes on the premise that the host has completed the tasks I set. Therefore, there are no gifts in this world without effort," replied the system.

Manbao nodded thoughtfully, "You are like the gods, I think the gods must think the same way. But gods don't speak to me, so how do I know what their tasks are?"

The system fell silent.

Manbao pondered on her own and quickly had an idea. She shouted in her mind, "I know now!"

Then she tugged at Zhou Wulang and said, "Your way is wrong. Just wishing at night in your sleep shows your heart isn't sincere. You have to do something for the God of Wealth, then he will fulfill your wishes."

Zhou Wulang asked, "What should I do for him?"