Chapter 3 System_2

Junior Ms. Qian bowed her head in agreement.

After glancing at Manbao, she asked, "What about the little girl? She's weak. Does she also eat gruel?"

Ms. Qian frowned and said, "Tomorrow, take six jin of grain to the school and ask Eldest to plead with Mr. Zhuang. Manbao will have lunch at school from now on. The vegetables will be bought from our own vegetable garden. You'll just need to cut a couple more each day to take there."

Junior Ms. Qian agreed and swiftly finished eating before helping the sisters-in-law clean up the bowls and chopsticks.

Manbao felt this wasn't good and asked, "Mother, what about Daya and the others?"

Ms. Qian stretched out her hand to stroke her head, smiling as she said, "Daya and the others are healthy, they don't need to eat solid food. Your health is poor, so you need to eat more, otherwise if you get sick, the family will have to spend money on medicine for you."

Daya and Datou had been instilled with this idea from a young age. Their grandparents and parents told them since they were little that the little girl was weak. They must not push her or bully her. They should let her eat a bit more to fatten her up so she wouldn't get sick.

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

So from a young age, they had no objections to the little girl eating solid food with Grandpa and Dad while they drank gruel.

Moreover, the little girl was quite good to them. Although younger, she always gave them candy. As for the little girl, they were quite fond of her.

So now, when Grandma looked over, they quickly nodded their heads, indicating, "Little girl, you eat more, we'll just eat gruel at home."

"There are still some stalks of grain in the fields, we'll go get them later to roast and eat."

"No, we have to help Silang clear the fields tomorrow," Manbao said. "But we can go look for wild fruits to eat."

Zhou looked at Manbao, "Clearing the fields?"

Ms. Qian said, "I forgot to tell you, tomorrow we'll let Four go clear the fields. He owes the family money, and he always needs to do some work to earn it."

Zhou didn't think clearing fields would earn much, but it was still good; it would keep the youngster from being idle and thinking about gambling. It was better to find some work for him to do.

Thus, he said, "Five, Sixth, follow him tomorrow. If he slacks off, beat him for me."

Manbao volunteered bravely, "Dad, I'll do it. Fifth Brother and Sixth definitely can't beat up Four."

Zhou laughed, extended his hand, and patted her head, saying with a smile, "Alright, you do it. If Four doesn't listen, you take a stick and beat him."

Manbao was as happy as if she had received an imperial edict. She went to sleep early that night and promised Keke in her mind that tomorrow she would definitely help it find plants they hadn't found before. She also demanded, "You must prepare more candy for me, I need to sell it."

The system was nearly driven crazy. The plants Manbao had recorded coming in were very common. After more than a year, no profit was seen, and it had to exchange the few remaining points for candy to give her.

There was no choice; she was just a child. If there weren't candies to entice her, she wouldn't bother playing this game with it.

Indeed, Manbao always treated this as a game and never thought of using it to reach the pinnacle of life or achieve some extraordinary life goal.

After more than a year, the system's ambition had been nearly worn away. Fortunately, it was bound to a host. Even without energy to support leaving this space to return to the original plane, it could still maintain operation.

It only needed to wait until the host grew a bit older.

That was the system's consolation to itself.

At worst, the worst-case scenario would be to choose another host with greater ambition after the host's death.

The system quietly assessed its remaining points, calculating how much candy it could exchange for her.

Manbao, thinking she had made a deal with Keke, pulled her little quilt over herself, closed her eyes, and slept soundly.

The next day, not long after the rooster crowed, there were sounds in the courtyard. Manbao turned over, burrowing her little bottom under the covers to continue sleeping.

Rural families always rose early. Even though the autumn harvest had ended, the fields still needed to be tended to.

Moreover, Zhou Dalang, Zhou Er, and Zhou San were all working for Landlord Bai; they, too, needed to be on their way.

When the courtyard was filled with howling and slapping sounds, Manbao finally got up, rubbing her eyes. Her cheeks were rosy as she pushed open the window. Watching her father drag Four out of the house, kicked his backside, and urged him to get out and work, she suddenly remembered what she had promised Keke the night before.

She couldn't concern herself with sleeping anymore. Manbao immediately got out of bed, dressed quickly, and ran out, shouting, "Four, wait for me. I'm coming with you."

Ms. Qian grabbed her and said, "Don't rush, wash your face first."

Breakfast wouldn't be early; they had to wait until the sun was high in the sky. Junior Ms. Qian sent the girl to wash her face and poured her a bowl of hot water. After that, she took an egg, beat it into the water, and gave it to her to drink.

Manbao drank the egg water with a look of disgust and then ran off to catch up with Four.

Wulang and the others were standing at the gate waiting for her. The egg water in the morning was Manbao's privilege, not even Zhou or Ms. Qian had it.

It was said that when the girl almost died of illness, she survived on egg water. Since then, she consistently had one egg, and her share would never be missing, no matter whose share was short.

The family didn't expect Zhou Silang to clear out any good land, so aside from Zhou Silang himself, they just sent a bunch of the kids to help him out.

Like Wulang, Liulang, the first family's Datou and Daya, as well as the second family's Erya and Second Son.

Wulang was fourteen this year, Liulang twelve, both already sizeable lads. According to the village saying, they could already discuss marriage and in a few years, they'd be able to have big healthy sons of their own.

Datou and Second Son were Manbao's nephews, one nine and the other six, while Daya and Erya were her nieces, one eight and the other seven years old.

The first family also had a Third Son, a nephew of the same age as Manbao. He really wanted to go today, but his mother held him back; he needed to take Sanya and Fourth Son to pull weeds in the vegetable garden.

Sanya was from the second family, and Fourth Son was from the third family, both very young, just four years old. Since the road was rough, they could only stay at home and pull weeds.

The mountain roads were rugged, difficult for Manbao to walk, so Wulang and Liulang took turns carrying her. There was no use thinking about Four; he was injured and just managing to walk to the field was an accomplishment.