Chapter 5: Points, Yay!
Man Bao squatted there, searching for a relatively short vine segment. Da Tou, Da Ya and the others also came over to help look. Seeing their Fifth and Sixth Uncles bickering, Da Tou and Er Tou joined in, while Da Ya and the rest squatted beside Man Bao, asking what she was looking for.
Upon learning she wanted to dig up a small tindora plant, they all enthusiastically helped her search. Soon they found a recently sprouted tindora plant. Using sticks, they dug into the soil a bit and quickly managed to uproot it, though part of the root was broken off in the process.
But no one really minded.
Man Bao held the plant in her little hands. Since it was still small without any thorns yet, everyone felt safe letting her grasp it.
This was something they often did.
Da Ya had woven some wildflowers into a crown she now wore on her head, asking her little niece, “Doesn’t it look pretty?”
Man Bao stared blankly at her, unable to say it looked pretty but also unwilling to hurt her niece’s feelings, so she just nodded. “The flowers are pretty.”
Da Ya beamed happily, skipping off with Er Ya.
When they reached the bottom of the hill, Man Bao slid off Zhou Wulang’s back and pried a tindora fruit from his hand, but instead of eating it, she walked and handed all her collected items over to Ke Ke as she went.
It had been over a year, and long ago under Ke Ke’s guidance, Man Bao had learned how to secretly stash things away for it.
The group of youths never paid any mind, not noticing when the wildflower crown fell off Da Ya’s head at some point.
After walking a bit further, Zhou Wulang made a sound of confusion as he looked around, asking curiously, “Where did Fourth Brother go? Wasn’t this the spot Little Sister pointed to back on the hill?”
Everyone looked around, with Da Tou exclaiming in surprise, “Fourth Uncle is gone!”
“Wait, listen…” Da Ya shushed them, signaling for silence. That’s when they faintly heard the sound of snoring.
It was coming from right beside Man Bao. She parted the bushes first and saw Zhou Silang sleeping soundly amidst the foliage.
Man Bao was infuriated. She marched right up and planted her foot squarely on his chest, but incredibly, Zhou Silang didn’t wake up.
Just as Man Bao was about to apply more force, Da Tou had already plucked a blade of grass and came over, crouching beside Zhou Silang to tickle his nose with it.
Seeing this, Man Bao grew curious and stopped stomping on her brother, squatting next to Da Tou to ask, “Does that work?”
Da Tou took the grass and stroked Man Bao’s face with it. “Little Niece, is it itchy?”
Man Bao couldn’t help but scratch her face, growing excited. “It’s itchy, let me try!”
She took the grass from Da Tou and started experimenting by brushing it across Zhou Silang’s face. The others also crowded around, each plucking grass to stroke Zhou Silang’s face with. But he simply waved his hand dismissively before rolling over to continue sleeping.
This reaction thoroughly displeased Man Bao. Tossing the grass aside, she leaned right towards Zhou Silang’s ear and shouted loudly, “Snake!!!”
“Ahhh!” Zhou Silang bolted upright, jumping up and spinning around frantically. “Where’s the snake, where’s the snake?!”
Man Bao glared at him. “Fourth Brother, Dad told you to come clear land, but here you are sleeping. I’m going to tell Dad so he can beat you.”
Zhou Silang caught sight of his chubby little sister and couldn’t resist pinching her fleshy cheeks. “Besides telling on me, what else can you do?”
Zhou Wulang immediately swatted his hand away. “Fourth Brother, you’re bullying Little Sister.”
Man Bao did feel her cheek stinging a bit from the pinch, eyes welling with tears. She stomped on Zhou Silang’s foot, grinding it down forcefully. “Besides telling, I can hit you too. You dare hit me back?”
Zhou Silang, well Zhou Silang really didn’t dare!
Fuming until his nostrils flared, Zhou Silang saw Man Bao had the upper hand, so she let out a cold snort. “Hurry up and clear the weeds, Fourth Brother. Don’t you know I’m helping you?”
Man Bao, having learned so much language and reasoning from Ke Ke, stated her case matter-of-factly. “Mom said our family only had fifteen taels saved up from the past three years. That money was supposed to be for you and Fifth Brother to get married. But then you went and lost all the family’s money gambling. Not only that, you’re in debt to our sister-in-laws and the village head’s family. You have to pay all that back!”
“It’s one thing if you don’t get married yourself, but Fifth Brother definitely needs to take a wife in a couple years. And our sister-in-laws, do you think it’s easy for them to save up money? You have no other skills, so besides farming to pay off debts, what else can you do?”
Zhou Wulang’s face reddened, but he still puffed out his chest. “Fourth Brother, I’ll be fourteen soon, only two more years until I need to start looking for a wife. How much money can you return to the family?”
Zhou Silang was dumbstruck. “I…I have to pay all that back myself?”
“Of course, who told you to lose all that gambling money?” Recalling her neighbor’s niece who had been sold off, Man Bao felt a surge of rage well up in her chest. Her gaze turned cold as she looked at Zhou Silang. “People who can’t quit gambling deserve to have their hands and feet chopped off and be thrown into the mountains as wolf feed, so they can’t keep hurting others.”
Zhou Silang couldn’t help but retreat two steps back, his body turning cold as he trembled, pointing a shaky finger at this little brat. “You…how can you be so vicious? I’m your Fourth Brother!”
“Well Da Ya, Er Ya and San Ya are my nieces too. If you gamble again and our family can’t pay up, the debt collectors will come and take them away. Once they’ve taken all my nieces, I’ll be next, and then Da Tou, Er Tou and the others. After selling off all the nieces and nephews, our eldest brothers will spend their whole lives paying off your debts. Even though you’re family, you’re just one person. I can’t let you ruin the rest of us blood relatives, so…”
Up until now, Da Ya, Da Tou and the others had never considered this, but hearing their little niece say it like that, the looks they gave Zhou Silang also turned rather unkind.
Even Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang stepped forward menacingly, staring Zhou Silang down.
Zhou Silang hurriedly waved his hands. “Man Bao, don’t talk nonsense. I’ve already resolved never to gamble again.”
Man Bao let out a cold snort. “Then let’s see your resolve.”
“Yes, let’s see it!”
So under everyone’s watchful gaze, Zhou Silang could only pick up the sickle and start clearing the weeds, with everyone encircling him and occasionally pointing out, “Fourth Uncle, there are a lot of weeds here, clear this spot!”
“Fourth Brother, the soil is thicker here, quickly clear this area.”
Meanwhile, Man Bao was led by Da Ya and Er Ya to pick quite a few flowers, which they then wove into a flower crown for her to wear on her head.
Da Ya and Er Ya admired her sincerely, “Little Niece, you look so pretty!”
Man Bao was delighted. “Of course, you two look pretty too.”
Overhearing this, Zhou Silang’s resentment grew as he watched the scene unfold. “Well aren’t you all going to come help? How long will it take for me to clear this all by myself?”
Seeing herself as quite diligent, Man Bao immediately led the others over to help out.
With Man Bao taking the initiative, the rest also rolled up their sleeves and joined in.
Zhou Wulang took over the sickle, clearing the taller grasses, while Da Tou was tasked with removing the cut vegetation. Zhou Wulang and Zhou Silang worked together with their hoes to dig up the shrubs in the field.
Man Bao led the remaining group in picking up stones, collecting any rocks, dead wood and the like from the bushes. The stones were piled around the cleared plot, with the dead wood set aside to be brought back and used as firewood.
Clearing new land was truly arduous work – the field contained all sorts of vegetation and obstacles. Even cutting grass required caution to avoid being pricked by thorns. Seeing this, the system let out a soft sigh, no longer asking the host to go looking for more plants for it today. Perhaps tomorrow.
It could only hope that the host would still be willing to venture out again tomorrow.
Growing tired from picking up stones, Man Bao chatted idly with the system. “Ke Ke, are any of these plants not recorded in your database yet?”
“No.”
Man Bao was disappointed. “How did your Encyclopedia manage to include so many entries?”
Ke Ke explained, “These wild plants will still be quite common in the future. The host may not even recognize them anymore. You’ve already recorded all of these yourself before – they just appear shorter around your house, but grow taller here.”
Man Bao felt a bit embarrassed. “So I did record them myself.”
The system stated seriously, “Yes, you get one point for each new species recorded.”
That single point was meant as an encouragement, as the system wouldn’t have even gotten that tiny incentive if not for Man Bao’s young age and the need to motivate her.
Still, it was in this manner that the system had to draw from its own reserve of points to buy Man Bao candy, because her recording efficiency was simply too low.
This was likely due to Zhou family spoiling her so much. The other children in the household were essentially free-range, allowed to roam the village without restriction from the age of two, as long as they stayed away from water.
But not Man Bao – she always had someone accompanying her.
When the nieces and nephews rolled around in the dirt, she sat properly clothed on the heated brick bed, being taught how to speak.
While they went to the fields to weed and plant crops, she was taken to study hall to snack on deep-fried dough twists.
In fact, the farthest she had ever ventured from home was under that large banyan tree at the village entrance. This mountain was her first time visiting.
The only reason she got to go to that banyan tree was because Old Zhou had nothing to do during the New Year holidays, so he brought his youngest daughter along to chat with his old buddies there.
Of course, Man Bao was the only one in the family afforded such treatment, because wherever she went, she could earn at least a few coins in New Year’s money from doting elders.
The plants around the village were all extremely common varieties. Man Bao would pluck each one she saw and hand it over to the system. That first year, the system spent the entire time simply identifying plants for her. She would hand over one, then immediately pluck an identical one right after, leaving the system inwardly anguished.
Fortunately, Man Bao had since learned to just directly ask the system if there were any new plants that needed recording, instead of ceremoniously presenting a bundle of weeds for it to log one-by-one, only for the system to regretfully inform her that species had already been recorded.
Finding the rock collecting quite tiring as well, Man Bao wiped the sweat from her brow with her little hands and asked the system, “Ke Ke, you guys are really weird. Why bother recording these wild plants? Look, we’re clearing them away – they’re such a nuisance. How much longer until we finish clearing this whole area?”
“It’s because the technological development in this world is still lacking. In the future, clearing land like this will be a simple task for machines to handle in one pass. And while these weeds may still exist in the future, their numbers will be greatly diminished. Some plant species will even go completely extinct. That’s why I exist.”
But Man Bao’s focus drifted slightly askew as her mouth fell open in surprise. “So many plants, trees, rocks – you mean a machine can just clear it all in one go? What is a machine? Can I buy one?”
The system fell silent for a moment before replying, “No, that kind of technology far exceeds what is available in this world, so it cannot be purchased. And even if it could, Host, you don’t have any points.”
Man Bao blinked slowly, her interest in points suddenly reinvigorated. She had always felt they served little purpose beyond exchanging for candy.
Even without points, she could still eat candy since her second brother or father would always buy some for her whenever they went to the local market day.
