Chapter 13: Insufficient Funds
By the time Feng returned with a bowl of boiled eggs, the group of children had already finished the candies, surrounding Man Bao to admire her four fen coins.
Noticing the money, Feng paused in surprise. “Little Niece, where did you get that money from?”
Man Bao tilted her chin up proudly. “We earned it ourselves by selling candies.”
Feng had assumed it was leftover sugar lumps previously gifted to Man Bao by her husband. Sighing, she remarked, “Why didn’t you just eat them instead of selling? Those were meant for nourishing your body.”
Whenever Zhou Erlang went to market, he would buy one fen’s worth of candies. Upon returning home, he would only dissolve one piece into sugar water for the children to share, leaving the remaining four pieces for Man Bao alone.
It wasn’t that they deliberately favored Man Bao over the other children.
Rather, it stemmed from the physician’s advice when Man Bao was still an infant: “This child has a weak spleen and stomach, lacking stamina. Feed her more eggs and honey.”
At that time, the family’s circumstances were quite strained. Just a few months old, Man Bao couldn’t swallow the bitter herbal decoctions, only able to stomach egg and honey beverages.
Old Zhou had to plead with neighboring villages, spending a significant sum to finally procure that precious honey – a scarce and expensive commodity back then.
The physician later remarked, “If honey is unavailable, maltose can substitute as both benefit the lungs while nourishing the spleen and stomach.”
It could be said that Man Bao’s ability to grow up so plump and fair was largely thanks to the family’s allocation of eggs and sugar specifically for her nourishment.
As Man Bao’s health gradually improved over the past two years, the Zhou family felt vindicated in heeding the physician’s advice. Though unable to provide other luxuries, they could at least supply eggs from their own hens and afford to buy Man Bao candies.
With the local market occurring every three days, each visit allowed Zhou Erlang to purchase four candy pieces for her. So in Man Bao’s mind, she never lacked for sweets. Which was why when the system first officially introduced itself by attempting to bribe her with candies, she wasn’t particularly swayed.
After sampling the candies the system provided, she even complained they were too sweet, eventually sharing a portion with her nephews as usual.
Only when she saw their eyes crinkle with delight did Man Bao truly befriend this strange new entity named Ke Ke.
While Man Bao never felt deprived of candies between the family’s provisions and the system’s intermittent rewards, Feng was unaware of this.
Shooting a stern look at the unhelpfully silent Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, Feng handed the bowl to Man Bao. “You must be hungry. Second Sister-in-law boiled these eggs especially for you, eat up.”
Cradling the bowl, Man Bao politely offered first, “Second Sister-in-law, please have a bite too since you didn’t eat any of the buns earlier.”
Smiling, Feng waved it away. “I’m not hungry yet, I’ll eat with your brothers when they return.”
Man Bao didn’t question this, as she too preferred sharing meals with her family. Wait, come to think of it, why had she eaten the buns without waiting for her brothers?
It felt a bit disrespectful towards them now.
Deep in thought, Man Bao extended the egg bowl towards Da Tou and the others.
But they all shook their heads, declining despite their longing gazes. Although the children happily accepted candies from her, they knew these eggs held medicinal significance for their little niece, not simply food.
Only then did Man Bao consume the eggs herself before asking Feng to take her to purchase medicine for her mother.
Patting her head, Feng smiled resignedly, “Second Sister-in-law doesn’t have any money on me. We’ll go once your brothers return.”
Man Bao revealed her handkerchief bundle. “But I have money!”
Feng just sighed, “That amount won’t be enough though.”
Her mother-in-law had been taking medicine for years, but only the most economical decoctions to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause, essentially just sustaining her rather than providing a cure. Pursuing comprehensive treatment would require an exorbitant sum nobody knew.
Mrs. Qian regularly prepared two herbal formulas – one she could source affordably from the village’s sole physician serving the four neighboring villages. Aside from medicines the clinic obtained from city pharmacies, most of their stock came from the physician personally foraging the mountains.
Purchasing it directly from him cost a mere eight fen, allowing the Zhou family to save considerably. One formula batch yielded enough for four decoctions, covering Mrs. Qian’s needs for two days.
If her condition worsened, they would have to travel to the county town’s pharmacy for the second, more expensive formula containing some rarer ingredients priced at twenty fen per batch.
Feng genuinely didn’t have any money on her currently. All the basket and tray sales today involved barter for goods like eggs and grains, but not a single cash transaction.
With no choice, they could only squat behind the stall, waiting for Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang’s return.
It was already past noon when the two brothers finally returned, pushing their handcart with troubled expressions, the two large grain sacks still aboard.
Alarmed, Feng hurried over to help push the cart, asking worriedly, “You couldn’t sell it?”
Looking despondent, Zhou Erlang explained, “The prices were too low – only eight fen per bushel of grain.”
Feng exclaimed in dismay, “Just eight fen? Wasn’t it ten fen previously?”
Squatting down, Zhou Dalang said, “The harvests were quite decent this year, so the granaries claim they have ample stock.”
As fellow villagers, Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang had negotiated extensively but failed to raise the offered price even slightly. Yet the family’s need for cash was so dire that the brothers couldn’t bear selling their grain at such paltry rates, hence hauling it back.
Feng’s eyes reddened with distress. “Then what are we going to do?”
After a long silence, Zhou Erlang suggested, “There are some at the market looking to trade cotton canvas. We could use our grains to barter for that fire lamb fabric suitable for shoes. But Mother’s medicine absolutely requires cash payment. We’ll still need to sell off the grains then. Tomorrow, we may need to try our luck at the county town markets, perhaps the prices will be better there.”
Man Bao immediately presented her four fen coins. “Elder Brothers, I have money!”
Eyeing the coins, Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang paused in surprise. “Where did you get this from?”
“Selling candies!”
Taking the coins, Zhou Dalang sighed, “But we’re still four fen short.”
Man Bao wondered if she should unwrap another twenty candies to sell when Zhou Erlang stood, stating, “I’ll go trade some goods to raise funds.”
Well-acquainted at the village market, Zhou Erlang scooped out a portion of the grain Feng had bartered, estimating the amount before heading off.
He soon returned with five fen in cash.
Curious, Zhou Dalang asked, “Who did you trade with?”
Very few actually used currency at this rural village market.
“Old Wang, the candymaker. He needs grains for production, so I sold him some at the regular rate.”
Relieved, Zhou Dalang handed over Man Bao’s coins too.
With that money, Zhou Erlang purchased a single batch of herbal medicine. As the market crowds thinned, no one felt like continuing their sales stalls. So Zhou Erlang, well-acquainted with the regular vendors, went to barter the remaining funds for cloth and cured meat before packing up with everyone to head home.
The fabric was handed over to Mrs. Qian to assign tailoring duties, while Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang went to update Old Zhou.
Man Bao trailed closely behind, mimicking her father’s usual gait with her hands clasped behind her back.
Seeing her emulate their elderly father made Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang break into a sweat. So they simply scooped her up, holding her on their laps as they reported the day’s market situation.
Hearing the grain failed to fetch a decent price, Old Zhou felt the urge to smoke again.
Sighing heavily, he remarked, “The family needs to keep some cash on hand, not just for your mother’s medicine but any other sudden expenses that may arise.”
Zhou Erlang nodded in agreement. “Which is why I’ve also stockpiled quite a few eggs from the recent market days that still need to be sold in the county town.”
While the Daliyuan village market occasionally had egg buyers, most transactions still involved trading for grains. Zhou Erlang would ultimately need to sell his accumulated grains to the granary dealers for cash anyway.
So he seldom sold eggs directly at the village market, preferring to transport them to the county town where eggs commanded better prices than grains.
Nodding, Old Zhou stroked his aged tobacco pipe. “Then the day after tomorrow, you two will accompany me to take Man Bao to the study hall.”
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang agreed.
It was then that Man Bao voiced her own request, “Father, I want to go to the county town too.”
