Chapter 4: Indian goosegrass

The folks in Qili Village had a total of sixty-eight households, occupying a vast ... well, hillside, which they could clear as they pleased.

However, there was little uncultivated land on the plains, and what was there tended to have more rocks and poor soil quality, which made the hillside a better option for cultivation. So, Zhou Silang shouldered his hoe and sickle and headed for the hillside, planning to stand at a high vantage point with a far-reaching view, and clear whichever patch he found to his liking.

Zhou Silang was being willful in his thinking, but would Manbao agree?

Of course not!!!

Manbao was carried to the mountain top where Zhou Silang looked around and pointed to a side on the hill with the least amount of grass, saying, "Let's clear a patch there."

"No way!" Manbao rejected the idea without a second thought, pointing to another section on the slope, "I want to clear that patch."

Zhou Silang looked over and saw that not only was the grass there lush, standing as tall as Manbao herself, but there were also many low shrubs. One could easily guess the difficulty in digging out those roots, and he immediately refused, "No, that patch is not as easy to clear as this one."

But because there was a lot of grass there, and some small trees, potentially something Keke would like, and considering she wanted to trade them for candies with Keke, Manbao insisted, "I want to clear that patch."

Her reasoning was sound, "Look how good the grass there is growing, and there are trees too. Vegetables and melons will also grow well there in the future. Now look at the patch you chose, there's only a bit of grass, and it's not growing nearly as well as the one I chose. Oh, and there are stones too. Grasses hate stones the most, and I bet beans and melons do too."

Zhou Silang became unhappy, "Who is it that's actually clearing the land, you or me?"

Manbao stood with her hands on her hips, "You are, but you have to listen to me, otherwise, when I go back I'll tell Dad that you deliberately chose a bad piece of land to be lazy, and let Dad beat you up."

Zhou Silang was so angry he could hardly stand it, yet he couldn't ignore her, because their dad would certainly listen to Manbao.

Feeling the bruises on his body, Zhou Silang could only snort in irritation, "Fine, we'll clear that patch, let's go."

Zhou Wulang was about to carry her when Manbao thought for a moment and then waved her hand, "No need to carry me, I can walk down by myself, Fourth Brother, you go ahead and start clearing."

Zhou Silang was incredibly annoyed, "You short pumpkin, how are you going to walk down? Won't Wulang have to watch over you by your side?"

"So what, Liulang can stay too."

"No can do, they still need to help me with the clearing."

Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang however, didn't fancy working either, and shook their heads in unison, "Mom told us before going out that we had to take good care of our little sister. Fourth Brother, you go cut the grass first. You only brought a sickle, so there's no use in us going down."

Zhou Silang was taken aback, "You didn't bring sickles?"

Zhou Wulang laughed, "We were supposed to carry Manbao, how could we have spare hands to carry sickles?"

Zhou Silang then looked towards Datou and Daya, and Datou quickly said, "We thought the uncles had brought them, so we didn't bring any."

Zhou Silang then ordered Datou, "You go back and get the sickles now, quickly."

Datou replied, "We'll have to go back for breakfast soon, and we can bring them after eating, too. If we go back now, we won't be able to get much work done anyway, Fourth Uncle. Why don't we accompany the little miss slowly down, and you go cut the grass."

Everyone else joined in, "Exactly, just go ahead, Fourth Uncle (Fourth Brother)."

Zhou Silang felt like everyone had turned against him, and the ringleader was none other than Manbao.

Manbao, fiercer than him, snapped, "Get going, or I'll tell Dad when we go back for lunch, and say that you were being lazy."

Zhou Silang shouldered his hoe and sickle and walked off.

Contented, Manbao trotted down the mountain path, plucking grass and picking flowers occasionally. Wulang, Liulang, Datou, and Daya, who were all used to playing in the mountains, saw their little sister obediently walking the path and took the opportunity to run wild and play. They picked beautiful wildflowers, sought out edible wild fruits to pluck, and could spend half a day watching an anthill, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Manbao diligently dug out a fistful of grass and wiped her face, asking Keke in her mind, "Do you want this one?"

Keke's voice carried a hint of helplessness, "Host, you recorded this Indian goosegrass a long time ago."

Manbao was skeptical, "Did I? How come I don't remember?"

The system then retrieved the Indian goosegrass that Manbao had recorded, complete with its ecological characteristics, habitats, reproduction methods, and main values, listing everything clearly.

Manbao, who loved reading, was excited at the sight of the text, "Where did these words come from?"

The system explained, "Indian goosegrass still exists in the world of my creator. This information is from the encyclopedia. Once you record it, any knowledge contained in the encyclopedia will be shown after the recorded plant's details."