Chapter 301 Choice

The man chasing the little girl was a man in his thirties. He rushed over in a few steps and caught the girl who was about to run away.

"You still dare to run? Come back with me!"

Lin Hao couldn't help but frown when he saw the man's fierce look.

Chi Caiyun and Zhu Jiayu were both impatient and asked in unison, "Who are you?"

Their experience of falling into the hands of bad people makes them particularly sensitive to such situations.

A grown man grabs a little girl on the street. What is he trying to do?

Facing the two people's questioning, the man's fierce expression turned polite: "I am her father. This girl bumped into some girls. I apologized to them on her behalf."

"Is he really your father?" Chi Caiyun didn't believe the man's words and asked the little girl he was holding.

The little girl was only about eleven or twelve years old. Although she was unwilling to go back with the man, she did not have the courage to lie, so she nodded with a pale face.

"Since you are her father, why are you so fierce?" Chi Caiyun asked the man with a frown.

The man came from a poor family and did not dare to offend the girls who were dressed in fancy clothes. He said in a good temper, "It was this girl who was disobedient and ran away because she was not satisfied with the arrangements at home."

"Arrangements? What arrangements?" Chi Caiyun asked.

"Girl, this is our family matter..." The man cursed her inwardly for meddling in other people's business, with a look of dissatisfaction on his face.

Not daring to offend is one thing, but no matter how poor he is, he is not a servant to these little girls.

Chi Caiyun was a spoiled person. Not only did she not feel embarrassed when she heard this, but she got angry instead: "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. Just now your daughter bumped into me, and didn't you say you would compensate her? What's the point of just talking about it? Pay the money."

Facing the girl's tender white hand, the man was dumbfounded: "Auntie, girl, my family is struggling to make ends meet. I beg you to be magnanimous and spare her..."

Chi Caiyun snorted coldly: "Don't put the blame on me, I'm not an adult."

The little girl seemed to have recovered and whispered, "My father wanted to send me to someone else's family as a child bride, but I didn't want to..."

Child bride?

Lin and several others couldn't help but frown.

Given their background, they are naturally far away from such things.

Zhu Jiayu pointed at the little girl in shock and said, "How old is she? She's no more than eleven, right?"

The man smiled bitterly: "You are already twelve, not young anymore."

"Twelve isn't too young?" Zhu Jiayu was about to say something when Chen Yi gently pulled her sleeve.

The man cursed the girls inwardly for being ignorant of the sufferings of the world and tugged at the patched hem of his clothes. "Her mother died of illness. She owed a lot of money for her medical treatment and left behind five children. Dani is the eldest. People are willing to give her eight taels of silver as a betrothal gift. Dani was once the wife of the emperor, and she didn't have to be a slave. As her father, I have done her no favors. If she doesn't find a way out, the little ones will starve to death..."

As the man spoke, he began to wipe away his tears.

Chi Caiyun originally wanted to say that you married off your twelve-year-old daughter for only eight taels of silver, but after hearing the man's next words, she suddenly didn't know what to say.

She subconsciously looked at Lin Hao.

That experience of sharing hardships made her have a deep trust in Lin Hao.

Lin Hao looked at the little girl gently: "Is that so?"

The little girl lowered her head in shame, twisting her hands nervously, and spoke haltingly: "But, but that child is only seven years old, and still a little stupid..."

She grabbed the man's sleeve and cried, "Dad, please, I don't want to marry a seven-year-old fool. I will work very hard. I can also wash clothes and make money!"

Several people looked at the little girl's hands. It was clearly this time of year, but the little girl's fingers were swollen like small radishes, which was obviously caused by being immersed in water for a long time.

The man's voice grew louder. "How much money do you earn washing clothes from morning till night? Aren't we paying off our foreign debt? Are you going to watch your brothers and sisters starve to death?"

The man is really angry.

With his family assets drained and in debt, how could he support five children by working alone?

"I, I will find a way to make more money--" The little girl struggled, but there was a look of compromise in her eyes.

At this time, there were already quite a few people watching the fun, and her ears heard their discussions, most of which were accusing her of being ignorant.

Is she really wrong?

The little girl thought blankly.

Seeing his daughter softened, the man softened his tone. "You silly girl, do you think money is that easy to make? A grown man like Dad works non-stop and still can't make much money. What can a little girl like you do? Listen to Dad. When you go to the Li family, you can enjoy a good life. It's much better than having no livelihood for your whole family..."

The little girl looked troubled, her sparse eyelashes trembled, and tears flowed down her face: "I——"

The words "I do" were like a mountain. Saying them out loud made her feel uncomfortable and breathless, and not saying them out loud also made her feel breathless.

Chi Caiyun couldn't bear it any longer and said coldly, "Forget it, forget it. I'll give you eight taels of silver so that you don't have to let your daughter become a child bride."

The man and the girl couldn't help but widen their eyes when they heard this, unable to believe that such a good thing could happen.

The little girl dared to rebel against her family. She was smart and bold. She came to her senses before the man and was about to kneel down to Chi Caiyun.

A hand reached out and stopped her movements.

The little girl stared at Lin Hao blankly.

This soft-spoken sister suddenly stopped her. Didn't she want her friend to give her money?

Lin Hao could see the girl's nervousness and said with a smile, "What a coincidence! My flower dew shop is short of workers. If you're willing to come, the monthly salary will be 500 wen, and it can be increased if you do well in the future. But if you come to the shop, my friend's eight taels of silver will not be accepted."

Five hundred coins a month equaled six taels of silver a year, which was not a small sum for such a young girl. But on the other hand, there was eight taels of silver in cash, a huge sum for the girl's family.

Lin Hao wanted to see the little girl's choice, and even more wanted to see her father's choice.

Of course, we need to investigate this accidental encounter between father and daughter later to see if it was really a coincidence.

"I...I want to go to work..." The little girl glanced at the man quickly, with a look of self-blame on her face.

She felt she was being selfish.

But if she has 500 coins every month, and she only spends a little on food and gives the rest to Dad, she can still support her younger brothers and sisters, right?

Lin Hao looked at the man.

The man looked a little confused, and asked boldly, "Where is the flower dew of the girl spread?"

Lin Hao raised the corners of his lips slightly.

It seems that this father does not completely ignore his daughter's life or death.

"It's on Wanqing Street. If you want to work, you can sign an employment contract." Lin Hao saw that the man wanted to say something but didn't dare to, so he instructed Baozhu, "Take them to the shop to have a look. If you sign the contract today, you can start working tomorrow. If your family is really in financial difficulty, you can withdraw two months' wages in advance..."

The father and daughter followed Baozhu away, and the good mood of Lin and his friends while shopping disappeared, replaced by an indescribable heaviness.