Points Rich

The Bai family selected a location in the county town and pre-ordered materials before commencing construction on an auspicious day.

This was a particularly lively event in the village, as the Bai family offered high wages, attracting villagers from several nearby villages to apply for work.

Even Lao Zhou himself went.

The Bai family hired workers to construct a spacious house, which required a significant amount of wood, stone, and various other materials to be sourced.

The entire village became lively, and the children, in particular, enjoyed running to witness the excitement. Manbao also eagerly went to take a look around. In the evening, the Zhou family also discussed the matter at home.

Among those who went from the Zhou family, only Zhou Dalang and Zhou Silang were selected. Zhou Erlang was not selected, and Zhou Sanlang had to take a break to prepare for work, so he did not go.

As the winter solstice approached, there were many things to prepare at home. Qian Shi deliberately took out the money at home to count it, a fact that certainly did not escape Manbao's notice.

Manbao even volunteered to keep track of the accounts for her.

Qian Shi glanced at Manbao and agreed.

During this time, they actually earned quite a bit, but they had also been spending money. Considering that the third son was going to serve in the dead of winter, she saved some money to purchase cotton to insulate his clothes. The clothes would need some extra fabric, for sure.

Qian Shi set aside some more money and then had Manbao keep track of the remaining funds.

Manbao asked, "Mother, do we have enough money now?"

"Not enough." "This small amount of money won't be sufficient for the New Year, and we will still have to manage even after spring arrives," Qian Shi sighed. "Our flower basket business is no longer operating; otherwise, we would still have some income at home."

Manbao suggested, "We can sell yams."

"Where can we find them?" Qian Shi asked. "We dare not venture into the deep mountains, and in the shallower areas, we may not be able to locate them even with an extensive search."

"Then we can grow them ourselves."

"How do we grow them?" We've never even heard of them before. "We can't just randomly plant them, and where would we get the seeds?"

Manbao pondered. Although the yam's sprout had not emerged, and the seeds had not been sown, she believed that yams could still be planted. Keke mentioned that although yams were extinct in his era, they were once a common food during the Earth Epoch, and everyone consumed them as frequently as turnips.

Since they were as common as turnips, it meant they could be grown.

Manbao asked Keke.

The system silently retrieved some information for Manbao to see, using its own privileges without deducting her points.

Manbao read most of the information and the next day found Zhou Silang and Zhou Liulang. "Brother Five, Brother Six, I've already figured out what to plant on Fourth Brother's land."

"What to plant?" Zhou Silang asked. "What else can be planted on his barren land besides beans?" Father said he would give him two pounds of beans to plant next year, and he has to return them after the summer harvest.

"What is the purpose of planting beans?" If we're going to plant something, let's plant yams!

Zhou Silang's eyes lit up as he asked, "Do you know how to plant them?"

Manbao confidently said, "I know almost everything."

"What do you mean by 'almost'?" "Either you know or you don't."

"I've never planted them, but haven't we watched when we dug up the yams?" We can simply plant them as they naturally grow. "I saw they have vines, so we can build a frame for them to climb on." Then, we can bring back some soil from the mountains and water the plants more. "That should be enough."

Zhou Liulang asked, "Why do we need to dig up soil?"

"It likes to grow there, so it must be because it favors the soil there." We can replenish the soil and distribute it across our land. After planting, it will naturally grow well.

The brothers felt that something was not quite right, but they couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Manbao encouraged them, "When the yams grow, we'll get a share too, and we'll have to give Fourth Brother a portion of the money we earn."

Manbao said she would discuss this with Fourth Brother.

Zhou Silang wasn't worried that Fourth Brother wouldn't agree, but he said, "Where can we get yam seeds?" Wait, do yams even have seeds?

Manbao said, "Last time when we dug up the yams, didn't we break off several pieces in the soil? Let's dig them up.

Zhou Silang and Zhou Liulang were surprised. "Can these be planted?"

Keke had said that tubers could be used as seeds, so she nodded confidently, "They definitely can."

"What if we dig them up?"

"We'll see after we dig them up," Manbao said. She now had some clues, but she wasn't entirely sure. However, she didn't care and would take it one step at a time.

Because Manbao was the only literate person in the family, and much of the money the family had earned recently was due to her ideas, Zhou Silang and Zhou Liulang unconsciously began to listen to her opinions.

Not only Zhou Silang, but even Zhou Erlang, now listened to Manbao's opinions.

Manbao pestered him to go into the mountains to find yams and said, "Don't pull them up; bring back the vines as well." Perhaps the vines can also be used as seeds.

Zhou Erlang thought she made sense. Where could they find better yams to plant?

Maybe next year, their family will really be able to harvest a batch of yams.

Manbao once again urged him, "Second Brother, if you see any plants in the mountains that I haven't seen before, you must bring back a few for me."

As usual, Zhou Erlang agreed, but this time he took her more seriously. He asked Manbao, "What plants have you seen?"

Manbao drew a big circle and said, "I've seen all the plants in the village. Second Brother, please search for the ones that are not in the village or on the mountain, and bring back a few for me."

Zhou Erlang smiled and patted her head, saying, "Okay!"

"Host, the points for the privet and yam have arrived," Keke suddenly spoke up. Manbao's eyes lit up, and she hurried back to her room, hiding under her little blanket to check her points.

The system detected that Manbao had accessed her consciousness and opened the page for her to view. The reward points for the privet were 5,000, and for the yam, 2,500.

"These two plants have had a very important place in history." Not only are they valuable for the study of botany, but they also hold significant reference value for examining the social and cultural aspects of that time, making the rewards points relatively high.

The system stored all the points and then said, "With so many points earned, don't you want to treat yourself to something?" "How about this beautiful bag?" It brought out the stunning bag for Manbao to see again.

After looking at it for a while, Manbao said, "No, I want my sister-in-law to make it for me. Let me look at my mother's medicine again."

Keke could only bring out the vial of medicine for her to see.

Manbao admired the green potion and said contentedly, "Keke, rest assured, I will definitely collect many, many more plants. Maybe next year I'll have enough points to buy medicine for my mother."

Keke didn't want to discourage her, but still couldn't help saying, "It's very difficult, Host." Consider buying something more affordable; it doesn't have to be expensive. "You have accumulated a lot of points now, and spending them on candy every day is really squandering them."

Manbao pointed to the items in the store and said, "Besides candy, I don't know what else to buy or sell."