The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 166 - 155: Coming Back

Chapter 166: Chapter 155: Coming Back

Old Zhou frowned in dismay. He thought the invitation was only extended to those young masters from the Bai family who usually played with his daughter, but it turned out she had invited the whole class?

"And the teacher, the teacher said he would come..."

Old Zhou was out of temper. Grabbing his daughter by the hand, he headed back toward the house. "Let your mother talk to you. Dad’s feeling a bit dizzy."

He had always preferred to keep a low profile, not announcing anything until it was accomplished. How come his child hadn’t even started and the whole world knew about it?

Indeed, she had the same temperament as him, not a single quiet moment!

Old Zhou dumped his little girl on his old wife and ran off. He couldn’t rest; he had to go book the lumber from the villagers right away.

There was no helping it. If she had only invited her classmates, he could afford to delay, but since his child had also invited Mr. Zhuang, he could not be too slow.

On the nineteenth day after Zhou SiLang left home, the river dam was finally fixed. Zhou ErLang and Zhou Sanlang sold their last meal and then took Zhou SiLang home with them.

When Manbao got off school and ran home to see Zhou SiLang, she was stunned.

Zhou SiLang had just arrived home and thrown his luggage filled with dirty clothes to his elder sister-in-law. As he turned around and saw Manbao, his eyes lit up, and he opened his arms wide, shouting, "Little sister, I’m back!"

Manbao rushed over, touching his rough, stubbled face with pity, "Silang, how did you get so old?"

Zhou SiLang dropped his arms and turned away.

Manbao, not even putting down her small book box, kept circling him, "You’ve lost so much weight, and you look pale. Don’t you eat meat every day?"

Zhou SiLang pushed the door open, didn’t bother to bathe or change clothes, and simply leaned on the bed, saying, "Eat meat, yes, but there’s also lots of work to do."

Zhou SiLang started to feel sleepy. The moment he got home, all he wanted was to eat something and sleep. But Manbao, smelling him, fanned her nose in disgust, "You smell, Silang! If you climb into bed like that, be careful when Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother come back, they might beat you up."

Zhou SiLang said, "I just came back from the river, clean as can be."

As if that were true. The weather was getting colder, and there was no hot water there. Zhou SiLang hadn’t bathed in ten days. However, he felt quite good about himself. He touched his stomach and asked Manbao, "Got any candy? Give Silang one first."

Manbao took out candy from her pocket and handed it to him. Zhou SiLang stuffed it into his mouth, lay down, pulled over the blanket, and was ready to sleep.

Manbao’s eyes widened. She turned and ran outside, thumping around to find her mother, "Mom, Silang is all grubby and hiding under the blanket."

Ms. Qian immediately stood up, took a stick from the corner of the door, and went there.

Manbao followed excitedly.

Ms. Qian pushed the door open to see a lump under the bed covers. She tapped it gently with the stick, saying, "Get up right now. How dirty you are! Do you even know if you’ve brought back lice?"

Zhou SiLang was most afraid of his mother. He jumped out of bed as soon as she tapped him with the stick. Ms. Qian then used the stick to chase him out of the room, saying, "Shave off that beard. I asked your Second Sister-in-law to heat some water for you. Once it’s ready, wash your hair too. If you’re not clean, you’re not allowed back in."

Zhou SiLang hated taking baths, especially on such cold days. With a sour face, he glared at Manbao and reluctantly went to wash up.

Now Manbao was finally happy. She put her small book box away in the house, then thumped thumped her way to watch Zhou SiLang shave.

Junior Ms. Qian didn’t understand what was so interesting about that, but she didn’t stop her. She took all of Zhou SiLang’s dirty clothes out and put them in a wooden basin, planning to wash them by the river before dark. So she knocked on the wooden door and called out, "Silang, take off the dirty clothes you’re wearing and give them to me."

Zhou SiLang looked around, found a thick hemp sack, took off his clothes, threw them out, and continued shaving while wearing the thick sack.

Manbao watched blankly. After a while, she stood up from the ground, went behind Zhou SiLang, and lifted the hemp sack slightly with her finger.

Zhou SiLang trembled as he shaved and gave her a sideways glance, mumbling, "It’s cold enough, don’t lift it."

Manbao saw deep, dark bruises on Zhou SiLang’s shoulders, swollen, with one still slightly red.

Manbao asked, "Silang, how did you get these?"

Zhou SiLang had finished shaving his beard and was shivering, saying, "Carrying stones. The stones were so big, it took five men to lift them, but I hoisted them with a grunt... Okay, let’s talk about this later. Hurry out and tell Sanlang to bring in the hot water. I’m freezing to death here."

Manbao turned and ran outside to find Zhou San. "Sanlang, Silang wants hot water."

Zhou San got up and walked toward the kitchen, saying, "He’s so lazy, even needing someone to carry the hot water for his bath."

"Silang has taken off his clothes. It’s really cold."

Zhou San quickened his steps but remarked, "Serves him right. If he had tidied up when he came back, would he have needed to take off his clothes first?"

Considering he also needed to wash his hair, Zhou San brought two buckets of hot water over for him. Seeing Manbao trailing and trying to enter, he quickly stopped her, "Your Silang is bathing, go play with Second Son and the others."

Manbao protested, "I don’t want to play. I want to watch Silang bathe."

Zhou San’s face soured as he blocked her way, but in the end, it was Ms. He who happened to pass by that snatched Manbao away, teaching her, "You’re a girl, and Silang is a boy. How can you watch him bathe?"

"Why not? I’ve watched Sanlang and Silang bathe."

Ms. He was taken aback, and after a while said, "Silang is grown up, he’d be embarrassed. Sanlang and Silang... They are still young, but in a little while, you also should not watch them bathe."

It seems she would have to separate the children when bathing them in the future.

"Okay then." Manbao was somewhat regretful. She turned back to the house to read, for she had grown up too and didn’t feel like playing anymore.

That said, she still positioned herself near the window, and no sooner did she see Zhou SiLang emerge with disheveled hair, she immediately dropped her book and ran to him, "Silang, I have two pieces of good news for you. Which do you want to hear first?"

Zhou SiLang roughly dried his hair, annoyed at the trouble and decided to stop altogether, sitting down on a stool, "The first one."

"Your debt is almost paid off."

Zhou SiLang’s eyes sparkled. He asked, "Really? How much is left?"

Manbao held up three fingers.

Zhou SiLang laughed heartily, "Three hundred wen?"

"Three taels!"

The smile on Zhou SiLang’s face faded, "You call this almost paid off?"

"It’s almost there. After a while, it will be all paid off." Manbao asked him, "Silang, what will you do after the debt is paid off?"

Zhou SiLang felt that it was still a far cry, three taels of silver. He crossed his legs and asked, "What’s the second piece of good news?"

"Oh, we’re going to build a new house. I’ll have my own new room, and you’ll have one too."

Zhou SiLang finally cheered up, asking, "Really? Is this what our parents said, or is it just your own idea?"

"Of course, it’s what Mom and Dad said. I even gave all my money to Dad."

Zhou SiLang widened his eyes, "Why would you give your own money to Dad?"

"The money for building the house isn’t enough. I’m giving Dad money to build the house, and I get a room in it too."

Zhou SiLang pondered over this for a moment, a sense of foreboding growing within him.