CHAPTER 1626: CHAPTER 1601: WAKING UP

No matter what, Old Zhou insisted that Manbao promise to ask about whether they could farm the fields themselves the next time she went to the palace.

Manbao couldn’t resist Old Zhou’s nagging and had to agree.

Her holiday was short, excluding this morning’s gathering, she only had a day and a half left, so she treasured it very much.

She thought everything Eldest Sister-in-law Zhou made was delicious, even fried tofu scraps tasted amazing.

Coincidentally, Junior Ms.Qian thought Manbao looked thinner, so she fed her whenever she could. And when she fed Manbao, she couldn’t help but feed Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, who were with her.

Ever since they got home, the three of them hadn’t had an empty stomach.

Manbao kept mumbling, "This isn’t right, it’s bad for the body. How can it be okay if the stomach never gets to rest?"

But she still couldn’t resist the temptation to eat.

Even Bai Dalang joined in and ate quite a bit, prompting Ms.Zheng and Old Madam Liu to say, "We haven’t starved them before. How come they look like they haven’t eaten enough for three lifetimes?"

Old Madam Liu laughed, "Aunt Rong’s food is delicate, but Eldest Sister-in-law Zhou’s food tastes good. Not only the kids, even us adults find it delicious."

Ms.Zheng thought about it and agreed.

Junior Ms.Qian made many things they wouldn’t usually make, like fried beans and fried tofu scraps. Although the items were coarse, she could make them taste great.

Not only did Manbao eat well at home, but before entering the palace, Junior Ms.Qian packed a jar of sauce for her and said, "Take it into the palace. You can eat it with steamed buns and plain porridge. Eating more grains can help you gain weight."

Manbao touched her face that seemed to have become round again and said, "Eldest Sister-in-law, I think this roundness is fine. It won’t look good if it gets any rounder."

"Nonsense, a round face brings good fortune. It’s better to be chubbier."

"Like Prince Gong being that fat isn’t good fortune but bad health."

Bai Shan tilted his head, imagining Manbao being as fat as Prince Gong. He shivered and then took the jar, "Forget it, you better not eat it. We’ll eat it for you."

Junior Ms.Qian immediately said, "I prepared some for you too."

Then she hurriedly took out two other jars of the same size sauce.

Bai Erlang immediately took them happily, thanking her with sweet words, "Thank you, Eldest Sister-in-law Zhou."

Junior Ms.Qian smiled, unconsciously treating Bai Erlang like the Second Young Master of the local landowner, "If Second Young Master likes it, I’ll make more for you next time."

Bai Erlang nodded repeatedly.

Even Old Master Bai, who rarely came to see his son off, felt embarrassed by him.

Manbao had already snatched the jar back from Bai Shan’s hand.

Zhou Lijun, who had been sitting in the carriage waiting for a long time, saw them still dawdling and lifted the curtain to say, "Little Aunt, if you don’t leave now, you’ll be late again."

The family was already aware of the incident where the three of them were reprimanded and punished for being late entering the palace last time. There’s no hiding it, since today is the day to receive their salaries, and even if Manbao didn’t say anything, they’d find out when they went to collect them.

However, this time it wasn’t the three of them who confessed, but Old Master Bai, who somehow found out and came back to beat Bai Erlang, chasing him from the east side courtyard to the west side courtyard. Then the whole family knew.

Because of this, Bai Dalang was also punished to kneel for half a day because he was studying at the Imperial Academy and had to have heard about it early. Yet, he kept it a secret from the family.

While kneeling, Bai Dalang grumbled, wasn’t he just seeing Mr. Zhuang coming and going to the palace every day with an indifferent look, as if he didn’t care about the matter, so he didn’t mention it?

If they have the nerve to confront him, why don’t they have the nerve to confront Mr. Zhuang?

Mr. Zhuang was with them in Chongwen Pavilion. Who could be more informed than him?

Old Zhou felt nothing but heartache when he learned of the matter; Ms.Qian was worried and asked Manbao, "Will the high officials in the palace punish you for being late?"

"No," Manbao said. "For this kind of thing, they’ll only dock your salary, not beat you."

Ms.Qian was relieved.

However, Old Zhou developed a habit of waking up before dawn each day, then going to call Manbao.

Today was their day to go to the palace, so he woke up particularly early. When he got up, the stars and moon were still hanging in the sky. He could only see the vague shape of five fingers in the dim light, with silence all around, no one awake.

But he stood in his robes outside Zhou Dalang and Junior Ms.Qian’s door, calling inside, "Dalang, it’s time to get up."

Zhou Dalang, half-asleep, woke up hearing his father’s voice, thinking he had overslept, but getting up in the dark and looking outside, the moon was still high in the sky.

Old Zhou was still standing outside, and seeing only him awake said in disdain, "What’s the point of you getting up? Wake your wife. Today Manbao and the others have to go to the palace, they need to prepare breakfast early, don’t let it be like last time when they couldn’t eat and ended up late."

He grumbled, "Being late once costs two months’ salary, a whole twelve coins, oh, my heart."

Zhou Dalang initially felt grumbly but hearing that number, he had no complaints and immediately woke his wife to make breakfast.

Old Zhou, hearing the sound from the daughter-in-law, turned around contentedly to find his daughter.

The courtyard gates were locked at night, but since they were all family, there were no iron locks. Old Zhou took a bunch of keys to open the main courtyard gate, went in, woke Manbao, and then went to the east side courtyard to wake Bai Shan and Bai Erlang.

The three of them woke up with blank faces, and Manbao sat in the courtyard under the starlight for a while before realizing what she was doing.

She looked up at the stars and moon in the sky, feeling a bit sad as she went to wash her face and comb her hair.

In the same courtyard, Zhou Lijun and Zhou Liru were also woken by Old Zhou. Zhou Liru stared blankly for a while before turning over and going back to sleep.

But Lijun sat by the bed for a long while, then sleepily got up too, going to wash and help her little aunt fix her hair.

With the oil lamp lit inside, Manbao yawned, tears wetting the corners of her eyes, asking, "Why are you up so early?"

"I’m going with you to the palace."

"To collect salaries? It’s not time yet; the Ministry of Revenue hasn’t started working."

Zhou Lijun said, "No, I’m going to wait for my little uncle’s classmates, then go collect the salaries."

Manbao asked confusedly, "What are you waiting for them for?"

"Many of my little uncle’s classmates want to buy the Whitening Cream, but I fear they might be embarrassed to visit or might have forgotten due to being busy these days, so I decided to deliver it directly to their doors."

Actually, the business isn’t completely settled; Bai Shan merely let his classmates know he was using the Whitening Cream, and they showed some interest.

But Zhou Lijun, with a lot of accumulated inventory recently, continued to sell, so she didn’t mind providing more premium service by personally delivering it to the palace gates.