The old grandma readily agreed.
Ms. Feng began to calculate how many eggs she had to give, "So you give me..."
She did some calculations and then felt that her calculation was not quite right; she began to sweat on her forehead. Typically, these matters were managed by her husband, and she was only in charge of dealing with money.
Ms. Feng wiped her sweat, and Manbao, seeing her sister-in-law stumped, quickly jumped in, "Second Sister-in-law, Second Sister-in-law, I know how to do it. Is our winnowing basket still fifteen wen a piece?"
Ms. Feng knew that her little sister-in-law was clever and also good at arithmetic, often playing games with her husband, such as adding one wen to two wen to make how many wens, so she nodded again and again, "Yes, our prices never change."
Manbao curiously looked at the old lady, "Where are your eggs?"
The old lady herself was not good at arithmetic, but before leaving home, her family had calculated how many eggs she needed to bring. However, she still hoped that the Zhou family would make a mistake in their counting.
She hurriedly approached as soon as she saw that Zhou ErLang was not present.
She set down her carrying basket, lifted the cover, and showed Manbao her eggs, "These are laid by the chickens at home, really good ones."
Manbao said, "Let me count them."
The old lady was somewhat displeased, "You haven't told me how many eggs I need to give yet."
Manbao stared with wide eyes and replied, "I haven't counted before, so how would I know how many eggs to give? I need to count them."
Hearing this, anyone would know she was inexperienced. The old lady was amused and didn't stop her, laughing, "Then you need to be careful not to break the eggs."
Manbao assured her, "Don't worry, if any are broken, I'll count them as mine."
She took the eggs out, stacking them three by three, ending up with about eight stacks. The old lady counted her eggs and her heart skipped a beat, almost taking the eggs back.
Manbao clapped her small hands cheerfully, "I have counted it, counted it, Second Sister-in-law look, this is two wen, this is two wen, two wen, two wen... it's sixteen wen in total."
The vendor opposite had watched the whole process and laughed, "This little girl is really smart."
Ms. Feng beamed with pride, "This is my little sister-in-law; she's the smartest in our family."
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang also felt proud, puffing out their chests, "My sister!"
The old lady glanced at the two sturdy young lads and swallowed the words she was about to say, then spoke instead, "Your family's winnowing basket is fifteen wen, but you've taken an extra wen from me. I should take back this stack."
Manbao felt her point was reasonable, so she proactively took out two of the smallest eggs from a stack and gave them to her, "Fifteen wen. I should give you back one and a half eggs, but half an egg can't be divided, so we'll lose a bit. You take these two back."
The old lady choked up.
Ms. Feng also noticed the old lady's movement, smiled complacently, and quickly put the eggs into their family's basket, letting the old lady pick out a winnowing basket she liked and adding, "We won't pick and choose with the size of the eggs; let's just make the swap like this."
Although she hadn't lost out, the old lady still felt somewhat unhappy, looking at Manbao and said, "This child is plump and fair, not looking like she's from a saving family."
Ms. Feng smiled, "Our family's youngest is doted on by her grandparents, and her brothers also adore her, so she is well looked after. Without bragging, you won't find a girl in the neighboring ten villages better looking than our youngest."
Everyone looked closely and agreed.
Not only were the girl's features adorable, but she was also fair and chubby. Her round, rosy cheeks made her look like a person of good fortune.
The old lady let go of her reservations and smiled, "She is indeed pretty."
Manbao, flattered, immediately became cheerful and enthusiastically introduced her goods to the old lady, "Mom, take a look at my things too. Look at my flowers; they're very pretty. If you put them on the windowsill, they'll brighten up your mood."
Being addressed as 'mom' made the old lady feel much younger, and she playfully said, "Are you giving them to me? Look at you being so polite."
She reached out her hand to take them.
Manbao's eyes sparkled brightly, "They're not for free. One wen per bunch, really cheap."
The old lady's hand flew back instantaneously, and she widened her eyes asking, "What, you're charging money for these wildflowers? Aren't the mountains full of them?"
"Yes," Manbao defended confidently, "but I picked them."
Ms. Feng hastily intervened, "Don't mind it, mom. The kids are just playing around. They wanted to do business at home, so we brought them out to see the world a bit."
The old lady felt a bit better, but she didn't reach for the flowers again, afraid Manbao would ask her for money.
So she chose a winnowing basket and quickly left.
Manbao watched her go with a longing gaze and sighed to her friends, "Why didn't she buy any? Our flowers are so pretty."
Her friends: ...We saw it coming, that's why we're not at all disappointed.
The friends watched the bustling street with enthusiasm, just happy to be at the market.
As people came and went, baskets and winnowing baskets were sold. Manbao always helped her Second Sister-in-law with the calculations, then after finishing, would recommend her own flowers and plants. At first, every adult happily reached out to take them but immediately retracted their hands upon learning there was a cost.
As the market day progressed past the halfway point, not only had her eldest brother and Second Brother not returned, but not a single one of their flowers and plants had sold, with the flora beginning to wilt.
Concerned, Manbao sighed and seeing that there were not many winnowing baskets left in front of her Second Sister-in-law—but plenty of remaining baskets—she arranged her flowers and plants into the baskets.
Ms. Feng watched nervously, "Little sister-in-law, you're not going to require customers to buy your flowers and plants if they buy a basket, are you?"
Manbao, who had merely been thinking of giving away the flowers and plants to avoid waste, lit up, "Oh, Second Sister-in-law, you're so clever. Why didn't I think of that?"
Ms. Feng wished she could sew her own mouth shut.