Chapter 38: Deskmate
The next morning, while the family was busy, Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang sneaked into the house and held Manbao hostage. They each carried one hand to the backyard and quietly gave her the money from selling candy yesterday. "It's a total of 40 cents, which is just right with the deposit. Miss Fu likes it very much and said she will buy it from us next time. Aunt, can you ask Mr. Zhuang where he buys his candy and whether it is expensive?"
Zhou Wulang obviously thought of the idea of reselling. Manbao counted out twenty coins and kept them for himself. He divided the rest between the two of them and said, "I asked the master, and he introduced that man to me. Now we are friends. Don't worry, I will buy a lot of candy for you in the future. We are the only ones who have this kind of candy. Next time you go to sell it, just tell her that we want one coin per candy."
Zhou Liulang thought it was too expensive and asked, "Will it be unsellable?"
"It can definitely be sold. Miss Fu's father is the county magistrate. Look at how many people we have coming into the county town every day. How much does he make?"
Zhou Wulang felt that what Manbao said made sense, and whispered: "When I left the city today, I chatted with the soldiers guarding the city for a while. They said that the county magistrate is going to issue new rules. From now on, anyone entering the city, whether carrying a basket or not, will have to pay a penny for entry."
Manbao was shocked.
He rolled his eyes and said, "It would be a loss for us to go to the city with nothing. You can go into the mountains to find some beautiful flowers. Let my second brother weave a small bamboo basket for you. Then put a candy in it. You can sell it for five cents each. It will definitely sell well."
Zhou Wulang thought this was a good idea, so he counted out ten coins from the twenty coins she gave him and gave them to her, saying, "Manbao, buy some more candies. These ten coins will be paid by Laoliu and me."
Manbao took it without any pressure, patted his chest and said, "No problem!"
He came out with the egg water and couldn't find Manbao, so she called out, "Manbao, where have you been?"
Manbao raised her two little arms, and Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang carried her on each side and quickly walked over.
Manbao giggled happily and shouted, "Faster, higher."
Seeing the two brothers carrying Manbao like this, He couldn't help but pat them on the back and told them to let the girl out quickly. "It's still foggy outside at this early hour. If you make her laugh, she might get sick from breathing in the cold air. Be careful or your father will beat you up."
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang abandoned Manbao and ran away.
Manbao thought it was funny and spoke up for them, "I think that's great, Third Sister-in-law, please stop scolding them."
He asked her to drink the egg water and said, "Sister-in-law will make you breakfast. Go to the school after you eat. Bring the big characters you wrote yesterday."
Manbao agreed and ran back to find her masterpiece from last night, a large black piece of paper.
This was the first time that Manbao dipped her brush in ink and wrote on paper. Before, she had always used a stick to write on the ground.
Since it is a stick, long and thick, of course you can hold it in whichever way is convenient. Manbao has seen people holding a pen more than once and knows how to hold it, but it is still a little difficult to hold it by himself.
The most important thing is that she didn't grind the ink well. It took her a long time to grind the ink yesterday.
However, she is still very confident in her handwriting. She feels that she is the only one who can write on the first day of school.
Manbao admired his own calligraphy, then carefully put it away, sandwiched it between two handwritten books, and went to have breakfast.
When she arrived at the school, the sun had risen quite high and many students had arrived. The students who arrived took their books and read in the classroom.
Manbao ran in holding his books and saw a person sitting in front of his desk. It was Bai Shanbao.
Manbao was about to run up and chase the man away, but then she thought about it and realized that she was wrong yesterday and she had already promised her mother Koko that she would apologize to him, so she couldn't chase him away.
She could only go up to him and say hello.
When Bai Shanbao saw Manbao walking towards him, he immediately tensed his back and placed his hands on his knees. He had knelt for a long time last night and his knees were still a little sore.
Bai Shanbao glared at Manbao, but he knew that his grandmother and mother must still be in the yard of the gentleman next door. He didn't dare to take action again, nor did he want to argue with her.
Who knew that Manbao would run over here and say to him, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit you yesterday."
Bai Shanbao: ...Is this the same bad guy he met yesterday?
Seeing that he was staring at her without saying anything, Manbao thought he was still angry, so he took out a piece of candy wrapped in oil paper from his pocket, held it in front of him and said, "Here, I'll treat you to candy, so don't be angry, okay?"
Bai Shanbao looked at the candy in her hand without saying anything.
In the eyes of the people outside the window, this scene seemed like Bai Shanbao was a lack of magnanimity. Even when the little girl took the initiative to apologize, he refused to accept it.
Mrs. Liu's face looked a little ugly, and Mrs. Zheng looked at her son in the classroom a little anxiously.
Mr. Bai was quietly explaining for Bai Shanbao, "Shanbao is still young, so it's possible that he has a bad temper. It could also be that he is embarrassed to talk to a little girl."
If you feel embarrassed to even fight, how can you feel embarrassed to speak?
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Manbao assumed that he accepted it, so he peeled off the oil paper and stuffed it directly into his mouth, saying: "This is my favorite kind of candy. It's not that sweet, but not greasy, and it's fragrant."
Bai Shanbao tasted the sweetness and finally came back to his senses. He lowered his head to look at the book in front of him, then looked up at Manbao, and then he said "hmm" softly.
Manbao was stunned for a while before realizing that he was answering her previous question.
Manbao couldn't help but sigh, "Your reaction is so slow."
Bai Shanbao just snorted.
Manbao put his book on the table and looked at him.
Bai Shanbao also looked at her, and the two of them stared at each other for a long time. Just when the adults watching outside were about to come in to interfere, Manbao said, "You have forgiven me, so it's time to go, right?"
Bai Shanbao was stunned and asked, "Where are you going? I'm here to study!"
"I'm here to study, too. This seat is mine!"
Bai Shanbao was unhappy and put his hands on the table and said, "It's obviously mine. The master asked me to sit here."
Manbao also put his hands on the table and said angrily: "It was the master who asked me to sit here. I came here before you, so this seat is mine!"
A classmate at the side couldn't help but said, "Two people sit at one table, one on each side. This is specially arranged by the teacher."
Bai Shanbao and Manbao looked at other students at the same time, and then they found that everyone really shared a table with two people, so they said in unison: "I don't want to sit at the same table with him (her)."
The classmate said, "That can't be helped. You two are the shortest and smallest in the class. If you don't sit together, who will be willing to sit with you?"
The two looked at each other again, and finally pouted and accepted it reluctantly.
Manbao sat down, put "The Analects of Confucius" on the table, then put "Thousand Character Classic" and her homework aside, and then she found a box in the corner of the table.
She said to Bai Shanbao, "Put your box away. This is my seat."
Bai Shanbao took a look and said, "This box is not mine ."
Manbao's eyes lit up, and he dragged the box over with an adventurous spirit. Then he opened it with surprise and saw more than a dozen bugs piled inside.
Manbao was stunned.
Bai Shanbao also stretched his neck curiously to take a look, and then he was also stunned. The two children were stunned for a moment, and then they cried "wow" and closed their eyes.
The adults outside the classroom were startled and rushed in at the same time.
