"For example, cleaning for him, serving tea and meals," Manbao explained logically, "That's what I did for Mr. Zhuang. I cleaned for him, and he taught me to recognize characters. I served him tea and meals, and he gave me his finished papers. You have to do the same with the God of Wealth."
Zhou Wulang laughed heartily and asked Manbao, "And where is this God of Wealth?"
The little friends all looked up at the blue sky together and sighed with regret, "He's in heaven."
Ms. Feng listened to their childish words with an expressionless face while devoting herself to sorting through the traded goods. But the villagers nearby, who also had their stalls set up, envied her and complimented, "Big sister, your kids are so clever."
Their own children would never think of these things or say such words; all they did every day was play with mud or think about going up the mountains to find wild fruits to eat.
Ms. Feng just smiled at them and said, "These kids, they're full of ideas every day; you never know what's going on in their little heads."
Everyone chuckled and agreed, "That's true, we couldn't understand a word our children said before they turned three."
Ms. Feng didn't eat any cakes; she specifically saved one each for Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang. Seeing Manbao chewing on a small piece of cake with relish but hardly able to bite off a chunk, she knew the girl wasn't used to it.
After all, she had never traveled far and was used to eating hot meals at home.
After some thought, Ms. Feng asked Zhou Wulang to watch the stall and took out two eggs, planning to find a family in the village to boil them for her little sister-in-law.
As soon as she left, Manbao immediately took out something wrapped in a handkerchief from her bosom—or rather, from Keke.
Unwrapping the handkerchief, there were candies wrapped in oil paper inside. This time, roseleaf bramble had given her more rewards because the item had become extinct in the future. There were records and photos of it in the encyclopedia museum, but no physical samples.
Not only did Manbao record the fruit, but she also recorded a young seedling, so the encyclopedia museum generously awarded her fifty points for the first time.
After deducting her historical debt, which was actually the points Keke had used from his savings to entice her into excavating and recording plants in exchange for candies, the total was eighteen.
In the end, Manbao was left with thirty-two points, the most she had ever received. Previously, recording various plants and flowers would barely earn her a single point.
It was Keke and the encyclopedia museum who advocated for her because the plants she had previously recorded already had physical samples in the museum and still existed in the future.
That single point was a reward for encouragement.
However, Manbao thought the term "encouragement" sounded nice and had always been proud of it. Every time she got points, she would exchange them for candies, never considering paying back Keke's debt.
This kind of candy, popular among children, was the cheapest. One point could be exchanged for a large pack, containing about a hundred pieces. Keke had said they were sold by weight at wholesale prices, which were extremely cheap.
They came in various colors.
At first, Manbao loved the brightly colored ones, but for her safety, Keke helped her buy candies that were yellow or red, which looked more like the candies available at present.
For those particularly dazzling colors, Keke once bought her a separate pack, which she kept in the system to eat slowly.
Most of the other candies were given away by her because she was a generous child.
Whenever Manbao had candy, she never kept it to herself; she would occasionally slip a piece into the mouths of her brothers and nieces and nephews.
As the closest to Manbao, Daya, Erya, and Sanya ate the most candy.
Adding to that, Old Zhou, Ms. Qian, and several sister-in-laws could always get some of her candy dissolving in their tea, so her candy supply dwindled quickly.
Last night, as soon as her points were credited, she bought a pack of candy and peeled many pieces in the system. She also dug out the oil paper wrappers that Second Brother had used to wrap the candies he bought for her, and today she wrapped them in her own handkerchief again.
Seeing Second Sister-in-law leave, Manbao sneakily took out the candies and whispered to her friends, "Let's sell these candies, shall we?"
When Zhou Wulang and the others saw the candies, they couldn't help but drool a little and asked, "Manbao, I remember the candies Second Brother bought the last time he came to market were all eaten by us. Where did you get these from?"
Having just linked Keke with celestial beings, Manbao said with particular mystery and pride, "A celestial being gave them to me."
The little friends didn't believe her because she had previously said it was a friend named Keke, or before that, their descendants had given them, and even claimed they were gifts from someone named System.
So, regarding their little sister's words, they were completely incredulous.
Although they didn't believe, they still habitually asked before turning their gaze back to the candies, "It may be difficult to sell so many; should we eat some first?"
"Yeah, difficult to sell," Datou also egged Manbao on, "We better eat some first; fewer will be easier to sell."
But Manbao wasn't foolish and held onto the candies tightly, "No, we are having hard times at home, we need to learn to endure hardship, so we can't have candies for now."
Everyone bowed their heads in disappointment.
Manbao then comforted them, "When our family has money, it'll be fine. Then I won't sell my candies, I'll give them all to you. But right now we need to buy medicine for Mother."
Indeed, Manbao was so eager to sell the candies because she wanted to buy medicine for her mother. Ms. Qian's medicine had run out yesterday; she had struggled to breathe all of last night. Manbao had been sleeping soundly at first, but after her father got up to fetch water and pat her mother's back, she woke up and slipped into the space to peel the candy wrappers.
She felt that nothing was more important than buying medicine for her mother right now.
The others were quite filial and immediately agreed, promising to do their best to sell the candies.
So, they started spreading out to look for suitable buyers—people with children, preferably dressed a bit better.