New Discovery

Mrs. Qian glanced at the rooster, then at her daughter, and turned to Little Qian, saying, "Since we've bought it, let's put it in the chicken coop."

Man Bao ran up, panting, and said, "Mother, this is for you to eat."

Mrs. Qian smiled and patted her on the head, "We still have fish and meat. After we finish those, we can eat." Let's raise it first, along with our hens. Maybe it will lay some fertile eggs, and then we can hatch them. We can raise more chickens next year.

Raising chickens can be quite costly, and most families cannot afford to raise too many.

In the village, the three families with the most chickens are the village chief's family, the Zhou family at the end of the village, and their own family.

Their family found it easier to raise chickens because they have many children who can help with the labor.

Even if they can't bear to part with the bran, they can still go and gather fresh wild vegetables to cook and feed the chickens. There are also various insects, especially caterpillars.

It was only the day before yesterday that Man Bao found out that their chickens have always been eating caterpillars. Not only caterpillars, but also many other insects. The pests consume crops and vegetables, and family members catch them to bring home for feeding the chickens. She had never been to the fields before, and she avoided the smelly chicken coop, so she never knew.

Keke wanted caterpillars, so Man Bao eagerly went to catch insects in the fields. Upon discovering that their family always needed insects to feed the chickens, she realized the importance of insects.

She didn't need to do it herself. Da Tou and the others could go to the fields and easily catch a dozen or so for her. However, they were still regretful, "There are fewer insects now." They were more abundant in early summer. "Our chickens were particularly fond of the treats, and they laid many eggs back then."

Although Man Bao bought the rooster, Mrs. Qian had no intention of killing it for food. Because it was startled, Mrs. Qian specifically instructed Little Qian to give the animal some grain to eat, to comfort its little heart.

He Shi couldn't help muttering, "Mother, are we really keeping this chicken?" It costs 53 wen.

Mrs. Qian, half-closing her eyes, replied nonchalantly, "If we don't keep it, do you have the nerve to return it?"

"Da Zhu's and San Zhu's families are shameless." Are they not just deceiving our little sister? I touched it just now, and the chicken had eaten its fill. If they take it to the county town, won't it lose weight? And they have to pay to enter the town, which will delay them for a day. In the end, they still charged our little sister a significant amount of money.

Mrs. Qian said, "So you should take good care of the chicken these days and raise it well. We can use it to offer sacrifices to our ancestors during the New Year, so it won't be a loss."

But Little Qian said, "Man Bao said she wanted to kill it to nourish you."

Mrs. Qian laughed nonchalantly, "That child says one thing today and forgets it in a few days."

The three daughters-in-law remained silent.

But Lao Zhou had a different opinion: "Man Bao is filial." I don't know why, but she has been fixated on the rooster lately. I believe that even after we finish consuming the meat in a few days, she will still be emotionally connected to this chicken.

Mrs. Qian smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will persuade her." Unless she can buy another chicken for me, don't even think about killing it.

Lao Zhou couldn't help but chuckle, "She might actually buy another one for you."

"She left 61 yuan last time." Now she spent 53 yuan. How much money does she have left?

Lao Zhou finally fell silent.

How much money does Man Bao have left?

She believed she had quite a lot.

Today, Zhou Wulang and his wife returned from the county town with money. They took their friends to their room to count the money.

The adults outside only heard them making a lot of noise in the room, completely unaware of what they were doing.

The children in the house got along well, so they wouldn't interfere as long as they didn't fight.

Early this morning, Zhou Wulang and Liu Lang carried two small bamboo baskets to the county town, and Da Ya went with them to help make flower baskets.

The price was the same as before, five wen each. After selling the flower baskets, Zhou Wulang also visited the county yamen, located the side door of the Fu family, and sold the remaining sugar to Miss Fu.

Because the county magistrate did indeed charge an entry fee, Zhou Wulang and the others also raised the price without any sense of shame. They charged one yuan for each piece of sugar.

However, this batch of sugar was different from the previous one, so the price difference was justified. The total amount of money from both sides added up to 220 wen.

Of course, Man Bao was the one who calculated it because Zhou Wulang's counting skills were still lacking, just like Zhou Silang's.

Upon gazing at the heap of copper coins on the bed, Zhou Silang felt a fiery desire in his heart. Zhou Wulang slapped his hand away when he reached out to touch it, saying, "Fourth brother, this is not yours."

Zhou Silang felt heartbroken and said, "I also helped. I went to cut bamboo and made bamboo strips yesterday."

Zhou Wulang felt that he had a point and looked at Man Bao.

Man Bao gathered all the money in front of her and said, "We have to pay taxes first."

Paying taxes means giving money to the government.

Man Bao instructed Da Tou to bring her notebook and writing materials from her room, and then she started bookkeeping. "We have to keep accounts; otherwise, we won't know how much money we've earned in the future."

This was also a reminder from Keke, mainly to help her gain a rough understanding of her own earnings and spending. She originally wanted to keep everything in one place, but Keke said it wasn't the right way to do it, so she had to prepare another small notebook to keep track of her finances. She hadn't bought any paper yet, and the paper she had was given to her by Shan Bao. She cut it into small pieces and sewed them together with a needle.

Man Bao sighed repeatedly and felt that she had to set aside some money to buy paper for Fifth Brother.

While keeping accounts and calculating her own expenses, she confidently told Keke, "This way, I'll be able to earn enough to buy another rooster soon."

The system couldn't help but say, "Host, you can actually buy paper at the mall." "It's of good quality and inexpensive, much cheaper than buying it in the county town."

Man Bao exclaimed, "The mall sells paper?"

The system: ... The mall has everything. Other hosts who have activated the mall are addicted to shopping. Why does its host refuse to buy anything other than sugar?

Each purchase costs one point. Although the system doesn't take a commission on the host's purchases, it still generates anxiety, doesn't it?

Man Bao finally found the correct way to open the mall. After finishing the accounts, calculating the taxes, and dividing the money, she put her share into her little pocket. Excitedly, she ran back to her room to search for things in the mail-order catalogs.

With the system's guidance, Man Bao finally learned that she could search for items in the mall by typing in the search bar.

If there were no specific items to search for, the mall would recommend items based on her browsing history.

When Man Bao first opened the mall, she didn't understand and just kept scrolling down. She didn't recognize any of the items, and after looking at them for a while, she lost interest. Later, she would come up to look before going to bed, but all the new items were still unfamiliar to her, so she had no interest in the mall.

In the past few days, however, she had been focusing on green potions, so all the recommendations were related to different types of potions. The prices were just too shocking. Although Man Bao was always confident, she still felt that the numbers were too far out of reach.