Farm Girl's Small Blessings

Xiao Qian carried a bamboo basket on her back and walked quietly to the kitchen door of the school. She took her little sister out of the basket and placed her on the threshold, whispering, "Man Bao, you sit here, big sister will go cook, and later I will take you home." Man Bao nodded obediently. As soon as her sister turned to enter the kitchen, she trotted with her short legs towards the adjacent classroom. Inside, the children were reading the "Thousand Character Classic" under the guidance of their teacher. Man Bao skillfully dragged a rock to the window sill, stood on the rock, and peeked inside with her bright, star-like eyes fixed on the text. Not far from the window, Bai Erlang noticed Man Bao's gaze and sneaked a glance at her, glaring fiercely. Man Bao defiantly glared back and even made a face at him. Bai Erlang, enraged, widened his eyes. Just then, the teacher walked by, lightly tapping his head and scolding, "Pay attention." Man Bao couldn't help but laugh, feeling extremely happy. When she saw the teacher looking her way, she mischievously winked at him. The elderly teacher with white beard shook his head in resignation, sighed, and ignored her, letting her lean against the window and listen to the students reading. The teacher said, "Today we will learn the last paragraph of the 'Thousand Character Classic,' 'Mao Shi Shu Zi, Gong Pin Yan Xiao, Nian Shi Mei Cui, Xi Hui Lang Yao, ... Gu Lou Gua Wen, Yu Meng Deng Qiao, Wei Yu Zhu Zhe, Yan Zai Hu Ye.'" The students recited sentence by sentence, and Man Bao, standing outside the window, also shouted in her childish voice, which was quite loud. The students in the classroom were used to it and followed the teacher's lead, shaking their heads and reciting along. Since she started talking, Man Bao had been reciting the "Thousand Character Classic." She had already memorized the text. When the teacher put down the book for the elementary students to recite on their own, he walked to the older children to teach them something else. Man Bao jumped off the rock and ran into the teacher's living quarters. When the teacher announced the end of the school day and walked back to his neighboring residence, he saw that Man Bao had already swept the front door and was sitting on the ground organizing his discarded manuscripts. Seeing the teacher return, Man Bao happily showed him the organized manuscripts. "Teacher, look, the back of these can still be used." "These are my discarded essays, you can take them if you want." Man Bao shook her head. "The back can be used for practicing writing, Teacher. You should practice writing first, and when the back is also full, I will take them back." The teacher couldn't refuse her, so he took the manuscripts and placed them on the table. He pointed to another stack of papers filled with writing and said, "You can take these back. If there are words you don't understand, come and ask me." Man Bao happily agreed, folded the stack of papers and tucked them into her pocket, then joyfully skipped to the kitchen to find her sister-in-law. Xiao Qian had already prepared the meal and was serving the children. Man Bao sneaked into the kitchen, greeted her sister-in-law, and took the teacher's meal to him. The teacher pointed to a chair opposite him. "Sit down and eat together." Man Bao shook her head. "I will eat in the kitchen later. This is for the teacher, let the teacher eat." The teacher didn't insist, but he picked up a piece of meat and offered it to her. Man Bao happily ate it but couldn't sit still. After playing for a while, she ran out. The teacher chuckled and shook his head, letting her go. Man Bao ran to the kitchen, and Xiao Qian, seeing her, scraped the leftover rice from the pot into a bowl for her to eat. Man Bao obediently grabbed the rice and stuffed it into her mouth. She even broke off a piece and fed it to her sister-in-law. Xiao Qian smiled and encouraged her to eat, saying, "Eat up, there's not much left." With only one pot of rice and a little bit of leftovers, if too much rice crust was made, the students wouldn't have enough to eat, and Xiao Qian's job might be at risk. Xiao Qian had been the kitchen maid at the school for three years, and she had a good sense of balance. Initially, the school kitchen was managed by the teacher's wife, who bought vegetables with the villagers and used the rice brought by the students. Occasionally, she would buy some meat to cook for everyone, leaving a surplus of about thirty to forty wen each month, which she considered her hard-earned money. The parents understood and appreciated the teacher's efforts. They knew he wasn't making money off them but was just being compassionate towards the students. Since the children needed to eat at home, they were happy to provide the provisions. Even the parents of local students sent rice to support the cause. Later, the teacher's wife fell seriously ill and passed away. Their grandchildren had all been taken to live in the city by their sons and daughters-in-law, leaving only the teacher to teach at the school. With no one to manage the kitchen, the teacher offered a hundred wen to Xiao Qian to work as the kitchen maid. When the landlord Mr. Bai found out, he asked Xiao Qian to return the money to the teacher and paid her himself. He also took charge of the money and rice brought in by the students, allowing the teacher to focus on teaching. At that time, Man Bao was only eight months old and couldn't even walk. Xiao Qian's main task was to take care of Man Bao and her own son. She often carried the two children in a basket to the school kitchen, occasionally squeezing out a rice ball from the pot for them, keeping them well-fed. However, the younger son was now four years old and didn't like going to the school. He preferred to play with his siblings, so only Man Bao stayed by Xiao Qian's side. Although they only had a little rice crust every day, it kept Man Bao healthy and chubby, nothing like a child from a farmer's family, let alone the Zhou family. After sharing the rice crust with her sister-in-law, Man Bao helped wash the pot and bowl, then happily bounced home. Xiao Qian wanted to carry her in the basket, but Man Bao refused, saying, "I can walk by myself, I'm a big girl now." Xiao Qian didn't force her, saying, "Fine, you can walk by yourself, just be careful not to fall." "I'm already a big girl, I won't fall," Man Bao exclaimed as she ran forward. From afar, she saw a crowd gathered at the entrance of their house. She was about to rush over when she heard a scream from inside, which frightened her. Xiao Qian also sensed that something was wrong and grabbed her, rushing forward. The onlookers made way for Xiao Qian, saying, "Zhou's wife is back, make way, make way." "Zhou's wife, your fourth uncle lost in gambling, and now the creditors have come knocking." Some were informing, while others seemed to take pleasure in their misfortune. "The debts are not small, judging by Old Zhou's attitude, he might beat the child to death. Zhou's wife, you should persuade him, without the money, it's all over. Once the money is gone, there's no turning back." Xiao Qian's heart trembled as she pushed through the crowd and went inside the house, only to see her fourth uncle being held down by his brothers while her father was wielding a club at him. There were about ten unfamiliar men standing in the courtyard, with a stern-looking man at the front, interrupting Old Zhou's angry shouts, "Zhou, if you dare to beat your son to death, you still have to repay the money today. Otherwise, our trip here will be in vain. You understand?" Man Bao broke free from Xiao Qian's arms and ran to her father. She looked at her irresponsible fourth brother, then at the people surrounding them, furrowing her brows, and asked, "Father, how much did Fourth Brother lose in gambling?" The leader of the men looked at Man Bao in surprise and said, "Oh, Zhou, your daughter is quite pretty. If you're short on money, you can use the child as payment. Although she's a little young, we don't mind." Old Zhou was furious and pushed his daughter behind him, saying angrily, "If you want someone, take this scoundrel away. He owes the money, let him deal with it himself." Zhou's fourth son cried out, "Father, Father, please save me, I'm really scared, I won't do it again, they will beat me to death if you let them take me away, they will really beat me to death." The leader of the men looked at Old Zhou disdainfully, sneered, and even stepped on Zhou's fourth son's hand, causing him to cry out in pain. Seeing Old Zhou's face turning pale with anger, the man smiled in satisfaction. "It's just fifteen taels of silver, right? Look at your new house, it doesn't seem like you're broke. At worst, there are so many girls in your family, just sell us two, but I must make it clear, the girls are not worth much now. Only if your youngest daughter is included will the deal be worth it, otherwise, for the rest, it's three to five taels at most. Without four, the debts won't be settled." This statement frightened Xiao Qian and Feng, who pulled their daughters back. Among the family, only the two of them had daughters. Old Zhou was trembling with anger, and Zhou's fourth son was terrified and begged, clutching his father's clothes, "Father, Father, please save me, I won't do it again, I won't do it again..." The man holding Zhou's son couldn't help but hit him. Their family had just started to have some good days, and he had ruined everything. With two daughters, if they were really going to sell the children... As this thought crossed his mind, he hit Zhou's son even harder, "I told you to behave, I told you to behave." Zhou's fourth son cried and begged for mercy. Man Bao watched with tightly pursed lips, then looked at her three nieces and ran into the house. Her mother, Qian, was lying on the bed, clutching her chest, while her younger brother was worriedly supporting her. Her mother had always been in poor health, and now she seemed to have been frightened. Man Bao ran over and asked, "Mother, how much money do we have?" Qian opened her eyes and looked at her daughter, unable to hold back her tears. "Why are you asking about this?" "Is the money enough to repay the debt?" Qian cried, "That wretched thing, if I had drowned your fourth brother when he was born, we would still be short by four or five taels." Man Bao asked, "So should we let them take Fourth Brother away?" "They have come all this way. If we don't give them a single coin, they won't let us leave the village, and they might beat your fourth brother to death. Can we watch him die?" Qian understood this logic, and Old Zhou couldn't feign ignorance either. They just couldn't bear to do it. Man Bao emphasized seriously, "We can't sell the nieces." Qian touched her daughter's head and said, "We won't sell them. Even if we have to sell your fourth brother, we won't sell them. That wretched child."