Chapter 39 - Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Lodging a Complaint_l (1/2)

Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Lodging a Complaint_l

Translator: 549690339

The next day, as expected, Yingbao ‘found’ a lot of water chestnuts again.

The water chestnuts were scattered all around the ditch, a few plants here, a few plants there, and even more further out.

She would always manage to pull a few plants out of the water during the times when Dani and Erni were not paying attention.

This confused Dani and Erni quite a bit.

Erni, being young with less experience, thought she did not have the sharp eyesight like her younger cousin, hence she couldn’t find the bare stalks hiding in the ditch.

Puzzled, ten-year-old Dani did not understand how her cousin could pluck out several bare stalks laden with water chestnuts from places in the ditch she had already searched and found nothing.

Oh well, they gave up, figuring since they aren’t finding anything, they might as well let their little cousin do the searching, and they would gather what she found.

So, Dani and Erni collected the bare stalks that Yingbao “uprooted” from behind her, gathering them into a large pile.

After taking out about three-tenths of the water chestnuts from her stash, Yingbao decided it was time to stop.

Just then, Jiang Quan arrived, followed by two boys.

These two boys were the youngest sons of the masons, Li Dayong and Li Eryong, one of them was named Li Dao, aged nine, and the other was Li He, aged eight.

Their father was currently helping the Jiang Family make clay bricks at

Xiaonan Mountain, and their older siblings were there too, helping to cut and dry grass which would be used with the clay.

Being young, they couldn’t provide much help so they followed Jiang Quan to fish and catch shrimp to provide for the family.

“Oh wow, so many water chestnuts.”

Jiang Quan had tasted them yesterday and they were incredibly delicious, seeing his sisters had found such a large pile, he was over the moon.

They tasted much better than the wild cherries and sour apricots from the mountain, and tasted even better when cooked.

“Er Ge, come here quickly and pick these,” Dani called out, “There are so many, we won’t finish picking them.”

“Okay.” Jiang Quan walked over, put down his carrying basket and fishing net, and squatted down to pick the water chestnuts.

The Li brothers, Li Dao and Li He, also came to help.

Yingbao washed a few and handed them to the Li brothers: “Here, try some.”

Last year, she had tasted the food they shared with her, so now it was a great opportunity to repay their kindness.

At first, Li Dao and Li He felt embarrassed to accept. However, seeing Jiang Quan also eating, they took some.

While eating, Jiang Quan asked, “Yingbao, how did you find so many water chestnuts? I never noticed them before?”

He often went fishing and shrimp catching with his friends, and had never noticed that this kind of good stuff grew in the ditch.

Yingbao replied earnestly, “You only think about fishing and catching shrimp, so of course you didn’t notice.”

Jiang Quan scratched his nose and found himself agreeing with his little cousin’s reasoning.

Indeed, he had never paid much attention to the aquatic plants in the ditch.

“Er Gege, we surely can’t finish eating all these water chestnuts. It’s market day tomorrow, why don’t we take them to town to sell?”

Yingbao was wondering how she could use this chance of selling water chestnuts to bring out some more. After all, she still had a lot of them stored in her secret spot, and they were taking up a lot of space.

Jiang Quan’s eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly: “Great idea, I’ll carry them to the market tomorrow.”

Being twelve years old now, he understood the importance of money.

Not to mention the money needed for future expenses like starting a family. Even now, he didn’t have any money to buy the things he craved for.

The hundred coins he had were given by his uncle, and he was too reluctant to spend any, so he stashed them all in a hole in the wall.

Yingbao smirked and made a request: “I want to go too.”

She wanted to go to the market to order a leather saddle for Xiaolu, so that she could ride it for longer distances in the future.

“Huh?” Jiang Quan scratched his head, “What are you going for?”

His little cousin was so young, and she walked slowly. It would be a hassle to bring her to the market.

What’s more, if he was there to sell things and something went wrong, it would be bad if he lost track of his little cousin.

“I just want to go.” Yingbao could see his reluctance, so she quickly said: “I can walk myself. I don’t need you to carry me.”