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Old Zhou frowned. He had thought that only the young master of the Bai family was close to his daughter, but it turned out that the entire class had been invited.

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

Old Zhou, already out of patience, grabbed his daughter and headed inside. "Let your mother talk to you; dad is feeling a bit dizzy."

He had always preferred to keep a low profile and wouldn't publicize things until they were completed. Why is this child causing such a commotion before even beginning?

Truly, she was just like him—never a quiet moment!

Old Zhou left his little daughter with his wife and immediately went to the village to reserve a tree.

There was no choice. If he had only invited classmates, he could have taken his time, but now that he had invited even Mr. Zhuang, he couldn't afford to be slow.

On the nineteenth day of Zhou Rang's absence, the dam was finally repaired. Zhou Erlang and Zhou Sanlang finished selling their last batch of food and returned home with Zhou Rang.

When Manbao returned home from school and saw Zhou Rang, she was stunned.

Zhou Rang had just arrived home and handed his dirty clothes to his sister-in-law. When he saw Manbao, his eyes lit up. He opened his arms and exclaimed, "Younger sister, I'm back!"

Manbao rushed over and tenderly touched his stubbled face. "Fourth brother, why do you look so old?"

Zhou Rang put down his arms and turned away.

Manbao didn't even put down her schoolbag; she just circled around him. "And you've lost so much weight; your complexion doesn't look good." "Don't you eat meat every day?"

Zhou Rang pushed open the door, didn't even bathe or change clothes, and just leaned on the bed, saying, "I eat meat, but I also work hard."

Zhou Rang was feeling a bit drowsy. As soon as he got home, he wanted to eat and sleep, but when Manbao sniffed him, she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You smell bad, Fourth Brother." If Fifth and Sixth Brother come back, they will beat you.

"I just came back from the river, I'm clean," Zhou Rang said.

That's a joke. The weather was getting cold, and there was no hot water available. Zhou Rang hadn't bathed in ten days, but he felt fine. He patted his stomach and asked Manbao, "Do you have any candy? Please give one to Fourth Brother."

Manbao took a candy out of her pocket and gave it to him. Zhou Rang stuffed the food into his mouth, then lay down and pulled the blanket over himself to sleep.

Manbao widened her eyes, turned around, and ran outside to find her mother. "Mother, Fourth Brother is hiding under the blanket all dirty."

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Qian immediately stood up, picked up a stick from the corner, and went over.

Manbao followed excitedly.

Mrs. Qian pushed open the door and saw a lump on the bed. She lightly tapped the blanket with the stick and said, "Get up quickly. You're so sloppy, I don't know if you've brought back any lice."

Zhou Rang was most afraid of his mother. As soon as the stick came down, he jumped off the bed. Mrs. Qian used a stick to drive him out of the room, saying, "Shave your beard." She added, "I'll have your sister-in-law heat up some water for you, and you can wash your hair later." "You're not allowed in until you're clean."

Zhou Rang hated bathing, especially in such cold weather. He frowned at Manbao and reluctantly went to clean up.

Manbao finally felt happy. She put down her small schoolbag and then ran to watch Zhou Rang shave.

Mrs. Qian didn't understand what was so interesting about it, but she didn't stop her. She took out Zhou Rang's dirty clothes and placed them in a wooden basin, intending to wash them by the river before nightfall. So, she knocked on the wooden door and shouted inside, "Rang, take off your dirty clothes and give them to me."

Zhou Rang looked around, found a thick sack, took off his clothes, threw them out, put on the thick sack, and continued shaving.

Manbao stared at him blankly, then stood up from the ground, walked behind Zhou Rang, and lifted the sack slightly with her finger.

Zhou Rang shook his body while shaving and glared at her, muttering, "It's cold enough, don't lift it."

Manbao noticed deep, dark bruises on Zhou Rang's shoulders, which were still swollen, and one of them appeared slightly red.

Manbao asked, "Fourth Brother, how did you get these?"

After shaving his beard, Zhou Rang shook his body and said, "Lifting stones." The stone was so big that it took five people to lift it, but I lifted it with a snap. Alright, I'll tell you about this later. Please go quickly and ask Third Brother to bring in hot water for me. "I'm freezing."

Manbao turned and ran outside to find Zhou Sanlang. "Third Brother, Fourth Brother wants hot water."

Zhou Sanlang walked to the kitchen, saying, "He's lazy. He even needs someone to carry hot water for him to bathe."

"Fourth Brother has taken off his clothes; it's so cold."

Zhou Sanlang quickened his pace and asked, "If he's going to clean up as soon as he gets back, does he need to take off his clothes first?"

Zhou Sanlang brought two buckets of hot water over, as he also needed to wash his hair. When he saw Manbao following him, he quickly stopped her and said, "Your Fourth Brother is bathing." "Go play with Er Tuo and the others."

Manbao said, "I don't want to play, I want to watch Fourth Brother bathe."

Zhou Sanlang's face turned bitter, but in the end, it was Mrs. He who took Manbao away. She told her, "You're a girl, and your Fourth Brother is a boy." How can you watch him bathe?

"Why can't I watch?" "I've watched Er Tuo and San Tuo bathe before."

Mrs. He was taken aback, and after a while, she said, "Your fourth brother has grown up and will be shy." Er Tuo and San Tuo... they're still young, but when they're a little older, you shouldn't watch them bathe either.

It seemed that in the future, they would have to separate the children when bathing them.

"Alright," Manbao felt a little regretful and turned back to her room to read. She had grown up and didn't want to play anymore.

"That's what she said," but she was still facing the window. As soon as she saw Zhou Rang come out with disheveled hair, she immediately dropped the book and ran over, "Fourth Brother, I have two pieces of good news to tell you." "Which one do you want to hear first?"

Zhou Rang roughly wiped his hair, feeling troubled. He decided not to bother and sat on the stool, saying, "The first one."

"Your debt is almost paid off."

Zhou Rang's eyes lit up. "Really?" "How much is left?"

Manbao held up three fingers.

Zhou Rang laughed heartily, "Three hundred wen?"

"Three taels!"

Zhou Rang's smile disappeared. "Is this almost paid off?"

"Almost paid off, right?" Manbao asked him, "Fourth Brother, what will you do after you pay off the debt?"

Zhou Rang felt that it was still far off. Three taels of silver, he asked with his legs crossed, "What about the second piece of good news?"

"Oh, a new house is going to be built at home." "I'll have my own new house, and you'll have one too, Fourth Brother."

Zhou Rang finally felt happy and asked, "Is this what mother said, or did you think of it yourself?"

"Of course, it was what father and mother said." I even gave all my money to my father.

Zhou Rang widened his eyes and asked, "Why did you give your money to father?"

"The money for building the house isn't enough, so I gave it to my father." "There will be a room for me inside as well."

Zhou Rang pondered this for a moment and had a bad feeling.