The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 57 - 46 Face to Face

Liu didn’t send anyone to fetch him but had sent a servant to watch over the riverbank.

If Bai Shanbao went to the river to play, they were to capture him and bring him back.

When Manbao saw that she still needed to be picked up, Shanbao was very smug and teased that she was still a “babied” child.

Manbao retorted, “You’re the one still babied, not me.

I stopped nursing at eight months, hmph, Datou is just here to help me carry my books.”

“Exactly, I am here to carry the young mistress’s books.”

While saying this, Manbao also decided that that evening she would tell her mother she no longer needed to be picked up from school.

Feeling belittled, Manbao instructed Datou with as much authority as she could muster, “We are going to dig for lotus roots, Datou, lead the way!”

Datou felt that his young mistress was, after all, still a child with all sorts of whims.

Wanting to dig for lotus roots at her small size – was she planning to dig them out or bury herself?

But then, taking another look at Bai Shanbao beside her and not wanting to lose face in front of Manbao’s classmate, he quickly suggested, “Young mistress, let’s take the books back home first.

We also need to get a hoe.”

Manbao’s head, previously held high, paused mid-motion.

She scratched her head and, trying hard to recall, asked, “Do you need a hoe to dig for lotus roots?”

Datou affirmed with conviction, “Of course, lotus roots are buried in the mud.”

Bai Shanbao looked at Manbao with contempt, thinking she was so foolish.

Even though he didn’t farm, he knew you had to use a hoe to dig things out of the ground.

Feeling on par with Manbao and also as an elder to Datou, he waved his hand and said, “Alright, then, let’s go.”

Bai Erlang, observing from the side, saw that they were heading in a different direction and scratched his head in bewilderment, “What should I do now?”

With gritted teeth, Bai Erlang decided, “Follow them, we aren’t afraid if it’s just the three of them; we’re bigger than they are.”

The other two friends also felt confident they could beat the trio, so together they advanced, dragging a sack behind them.

Datou led them back to the Zhou Family’s place, where after putting down the books and checking both front and back of the house, he found that the adults were not around.

He knew then that grandma must have gone to the vegetable garden; today the family was harvesting autumn cabbage, which were important events usually overseen by grandma.

Manbao and Shanbao were both urging him, as children do, impatient.

With no other choice, Datou had to fetch Erya, who was tending to the kitchen fire, and sent her to the fields to find Fourth Uncle and instruct him to go directly to the lotus field by the river.

Erya glanced at the cooking rice and ran off.

Datou then found a rather thick stick and said, “All the hoes have been taken by the adults at home, let’s take this stick instead.”

Manbao and Shanbao wouldn’t have any objections, eager as they were to go.

So off they went towards the riverbank, following the bank upstream.

Beyond the village’s edge, a bit further on, there was a river beach.

The river had carved out a sizable wetland and curled around before continuing its flow.

The children had no idea where the river might lead, only that it was rumored to wind into the mountains.

More than once, Manbao wondered about following the river to see where it actually went, but Datou, aware of his young mistress’s dangerous ideas, warned her as they walked, “You can’t follow the river; if you do, you’ll never see us again; and don’t get too close to the water.

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If you fall in, my hands are too short to grab you.”

Whether Manbao was listening or not, she simply nodded her head.

When they reached their destination, Shanbao looked around and saw plenty of tall wild grasses and scattered withered lotus leaves on the river beach.

What was called a river beach here actually had hard soil clumps near the spot where they stood, as it had rained the day before, and there were many small pits filled with clear water, through which the pits’ bottoms were visible.

Curiosity got the better of Bai Shanbao as he squatted down to look and even measured the depth of a pit with his hand.

Datou merely glanced at it and said, “It must be the village chief’s cow that came here to graze.”

He lamented, “The grass here is green, tall, and must be delicious.”

Bai Shanbao asked curiously, “Have you eaten it?”

Datou thought him foolish, “Grass is for cows, have you eaten it?”

“Then how do you know it’s delicious?”

Datou was at a loss for words.

Shanbao and Manbao were both drawn to the various puddles on the ground, temporarily forgetting about digging for lotus roots.

Datou, of course, wouldn’t remind them, letting them play there instead.

Since the river water had receded, leaving a large expanse of dry land, no matter how they fell, as long as they didn’t run towards it, they were not going to fall into the river.

The two friends, not having seen much of the world, ran through the tall reeds, shouting in surprise when they saw small fish darting around in the puddles.

The servant from the Bai Family, sent by Ms.

Liu to keep an eye on the young master, watched from a distance as the two children squatted on the ground, their heads nearly touching, engrossed in conversation around a small pit, and decided not to approach just yet.

After all, they still were a considerable distance from the actual river.

Unsure of what the children were discussing, they began to play blind man’s buff, but Datou clearly wasn’t participating; he simply watched from the side.

As a result, the servant saw their young master squatting in the bushes only for Datou to point Manbao in his direction, and then their young master was quickly found.

Servant: …So shameless, but this child isn’t bad, not getting involved and watching over them.

Hence, the servant decided to forgive them and looked around, finding a higher spot from where he could better observe the situation below.

He could only allow them to play for another forty-five minutes; after that, they simply had to go home.

And just as the servant shifted his position, allowing his gaze to momentarily drift away from them, Bai Shanbao had already guessed that Datou had tipped off Manbao.

He voiced his strong objection, stating that if it continued that way, he wouldn’t play anymore.

Manbao assured there would be no more cheating, and so the two little friends made up.

Because Manbao had cheated, they decided that Shanbao would hide again and Manbao would seek.

Aware that the grass was too tall to find someone easily, Manbao knew the value of surprise.

She chose a direction at random, plowed into it, and began to call out loudly, “I see you, I see you, don’t move…

”

Feeling guilty, Shanbao twitched slightly, and Manbao quickly pinpointed his location.

Irritated, Shanbao didn’t wait for Manbao to reach him before he turned and ran in another direction…

There, three other friends crouched, plotting how to ensnare Shanbao in their sack.

Before they could finalize their plan, Shanbao was upon them.

Bai Erlang’s reflexes were quicker than his thought process.

Without a second thought, he grabbed the sack and attempted to shove it over Shanbao’s head.

The two companions: …Once you’ve seen the face, what’s the point of using a sack?