Chapter 15

Chu Shao and Chu Jiujiu fell asleep. In the big house on the other side, the children were all asleep. The snoring of the old couple of the Zhang family could be heard from the next room. However, Niu Ailing and Zhang Qingguo were still asleep.

Zhang Qingguo was shirtless, looking very embarrassed: "What are you talking about? How can you sell a child?"

Niu Ailing slapped him in the face. "What are you talking about? What's the point of selling? We're looking for a husband for our niece. We have three children, and our second eldest family has four. We can barely afford to raise our own children, so how can we possibly raise Zhang Fengjuan's? Mother has already driven them to a small house. Is a small house a place to live? Think about it, who can afford 150 yuan? What kind of family is that? After Chu Jiujiu left, they must have lived a life of luxury."

Zhang Qingguo still hesitated: "But..."

"But what? Fugui is fifteen this year and it's time for him to find a wife. Fulai is thirteen and will have to get married in two years. You, as a father, are incompetent. There is not a penny in the family and it is all in the hands of mother. If Fugui can't get married by then, you won't be anxious! With this 150 yuan, we can save more than half of it besides the money for marriage!"

Zhang Qingguo: "Mom has 200 yuan in her hand."

I get angry whenever I mention Niu Ailing. Mrs. Zhang is indeed the best to the first wife, but she is so stingy. She only gives the first wife a little bit of benefit every day, and all the big money is hidden by Mrs. Zhang.

She rolled her eyes. "Even if it rained knives from heaven, there's no way I could come up with those two hundred yuan. Look at you too. When you went to move Zhang Fengjuan's things, how could you be so tactless and take all those useless things? Such a big red box, now it's been taken away by me!"

Zhang Guoqing: "I thought my eldest sister came back to the village because she was having trouble getting along outside. Who would have thought she was so rich..."

Niu Ailing said angrily, "I don't care. I'm almost heartbroken that I didn't get the 200 yuan. I must get this 150 yuan."

Nowadays, child brides are considered a bad custom, and selling children is even illegal. However, some villages in the mountains still retain this custom. Zhang Qingguo thought about the thick stack of banknotes and couldn't help but be tempted.

He whispered, "Then find a good family, and one that's far away."

When Niu Ailing heard that he had agreed, she was immediately delighted. "I know. I'll go find her tomorrow. Okay, go to sleep. I have to go to work tomorrow."

She blew out the lights, and Zhang Qingguo asked her again in the darkness: "Should I tell Mom?"

Niu Ailing was almost pissed off by him. "Are you stupid? Tell Mom, and the money will belong to her. When you're done selling them, tell Mom that Chu Jiujiu ran away on her own. It's obvious she's not someone who can stay here."

Zhang Qingguo wanted to ask what to do if Chu Shao asked them for the person, but his wife had already lay down with her back to him, so he had no choice but to lie down too.

The next day, after dinner, while Mrs. Zhang was out, Niu Ailing also secretly ran away and did not come back for the whole day. In the evening, Mrs. Zhang asked her where she had been, and she said that her mother was sick and she had to go back to take care of her.

After hearing this, Mrs. Zhang still scolded her a few times. Niu Ailing was so used to being scolded that she could even treat these words as white noise. She quickly took a few mouthfuls of rice and took away the largest steamed bun.

Mrs. Zhang: "...I don't have time to work, but I can eat. Eat at your parents' house from now on. Don't come back and make things difficult for me!"

At this moment, Chu Jiujiu and Chu Shao came back together. Mrs. Zhang was sitting in the house, and she was even more furious: "You unlucky star, why don't you just drown yourself outside? You're such a worry!"

Chu Jiujiu frowned, but Chu Shao led her forward to prevent her from having a conflict with Mrs. Zhang.

Chu Jiujiu had no choice but to go back with Chu Shao.

She felt that Chu Shao was a little cowardly, but Chu Shao didn't want to cause any more trouble. The war of words was meaningless. Mrs. Zhang was just that kind of person. It was impossible to make her change or feel ashamed.

Rather than confronting people face to face, he prefers to do things that have practical benefits.

For example, plead with the team leader to let him and Chu Jiujiu move out of Zhang's house.

There are many abandoned old houses in Qingzhu Village. Some have had their walls torn down and the bricks taken back to build their own houses. Some are covered in moss and vines, and at night, they are scarier than a haunted house. But after some cleaning, they are almost habitable.

Chu Shao had returned to the fields these past few days. He was only twelve, but already quite capable. In an average family, a man could earn ten work points a day, a woman seven, and children, like Chu Shao's age, could only earn four or five. But Chu Shao could get seven, and sometimes even eight.

With his ability, it is no problem for him to support himself. It may be a little difficult to bring Chu Jiujiu with him, but Chu Jiujiu is also very capable. She is more diligent than a bee and runs around the village every day just to find food for herself and Chu Shao.

Chu Shao found the team leader during lunch break. The team leader was looking at the sky. It had been sunny for a few days, and now it had rained a little. There would probably be another rain next. After this rain, there would be a few rare sunny days. After the sunny days were over, they would probably not see the sun again until August.

The team leader stood with his hands behind his back, with a barometer in his head that was more accurate than the weather forecast. He planned to let the villagers harvest the rice after the rain in the next two days, and then plant the next crop quickly, and then they could enter the slack season.

Chu Shao came to find him. The captain lowered his head with no expression on his face: "Oh, Chu Shao, what's wrong?"

Chu Shao: "Uncle Chen, can I move out of the Zhang family with Jiujiu?"

The captain had also heard about the Zhang family sending the two children to sleep in the hut, but as the saying goes, even a judge can hardly judge family affairs. In the captain's opinion, the two children were fine and healthy, so it was not a big deal, and he would better not intervene.

"If you move out, you won't have anywhere to live. This place is worse than Mrs. Zhang's. You two kids won't be able to survive out there."

Chu Shao frowned. "I can earn work points, and Jiujiu can stay with the aunts. Isn't there an abandoned house in the village? Uncle Chen, we can live there. When I save enough money, I'll buy it from you."

The team leader's full name was Chen Daming. He looked at Chu Shao with a raised eyebrow. "Nonsense! The walls of those houses are cracked. You don't know when you'll be crushed to death if you live in them. Stop talking. Go back to work. You can just endure it for a few more years. When you grow up and separate your household registration, I'll grant you a piece of residential land. You can move in with your sister then. It's better than living in a dilapidated house."

Chu Shao wanted to say something else, but the captain turned and left, so Chu Shao had no choice but to go back.

Chu Shao was worried about the housing problem, and Chu Jiujiu was also worried about the housing problem.

The vegetable field that Han Shengyi is in charge of is almost mature. Now he has to inspect the field several times a day, not letting go of any insects on the leaves. Chu Jiujiu looked at his seriousness and remembered a sentence from somewhere.

"It's even more elaborate than serving your wife."

Han Shengyi: “…”

He straightened up and looked at Chu Jiujiu who was sitting dejectedly on the ground. Han Shengyi didn't say anything, but just walked over slowly. Chu Jiujiu was listless and kept her head down until she felt a strange crawling sensation on her arm. She turned her head and found a big green bug thicker than her finger crawling slowly on her arm.

Han Shengyi looked at her, wanting to see her reaction.

Chu Jiujiu and the bug looked at each other and were silent for a second.

Then, she suddenly reached out, picked up the worm, and threw it out like a baseball, "Get out of here, you disgusting and annoying things!!!"

Han Shengyi: “…”

The insect stopped moving after it fell to the ground. It must have died from the fall.

After a moment of silence, Han Shengyi sat next to the angry Chu Jiujiu and waited patiently. Sure enough, the girl who had been so ruthless in the last second sniffed in grievance in the next second.

"They robbed my house and scolded my children. How can there be such shameless people in the world? And I can't do anything about them. This morning, Mrs. Zhang scolded me again. She said I was a money-loser and should starve to death. I really want to move out, but when I asked others, whether it was Aunt Three or Grandma Wang, they all disapproved."

Chu Jiujiu had anticipated that Grandma Wang would not approve, but she did not expect that even Third Aunt would not approve. She knew very well what kind of life Chu Jiujiu was living in the Zhang family, but she still felt that it was not a wise decision for Chu Jiujiu to leave the Zhang family and live alone.

Chu Jiujiu finally understood what Chu Shao meant when he said that she couldn't deal with herself.

Chu Jiujiu was like a wilted vegetable seedling, devoid of any vitality. Han Shengyi listened to her complaints, looked at the lush green seedlings, and said, "They don't let you move out because they think you can't survive without home. And in the Zhang family, no matter how badly they treat you, it's still your home."

Chu Jiujiu curled her lips, "The Zhang family is not my family."

Han Shengyi bent his knees, resting his arms on them. The cool breeze from the mountains blew through his thin coat, taking away the oppressive heat. The wind ruffled his hair, and Han Shengyi enjoyed the only bit of cool air of the day. He continued, "But to outsiders, that's it."

"Outsiders can't see how bad your life is. They just see that you're just like other kids. That way, they'll think you're actually doing pretty well."

Chu Jiujiu turned her head and frowned at Han Shengyi, as if she understood what he wanted to tell her. However, her IQ was limited, and she couldn't analyze the meaning behind his words for a moment.

Han Shengyi supported himself on the ground, jumped lightly, and stood up. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the towel around his neck and concluded, "There are many poor people in Qingzhu Village, and many adults can't even afford to eat or wear warm clothes. You're a child, and it's good enough that you can survive. The Zhang family can let you survive, so it's not that scary, right?"

At the end of his words, he smiled at Chu Jiujiu lying on the ground. Chu Jiujiu looked up at him. After a while, she blinked.