Chapter 479 Side Story: Winter Wheat and Yun Niang (Part Two)

Dongmai's original surname was Chen, and her nickname was Da Niu.

Her father was originally a scholar who taught children to read at a farm on the outskirts of Beijing.

Before the age of nine, Dongmai lived a very comfortable life.

Although her mother died early, her father never remarried and raised her alone.

With the tuition fees from teaching children, the family managed to make ends meet.

Dongmai also learned to read very early on.

However, Dongmai also knew that she didn't expect to become the top scholar in the imperial examination; she simply wanted to learn more characters.

That way, you won't get scammed later because you don't know anyone.

Aside from being able to read, Dongmai had no interest in the Four Books and Five Classics.

The only thing I was interested in were those storybooks.

She spent almost all of the pocket money her father gave her on storybooks.

She was also particularly interested in those chivalrous tales about martial arts and chivalry.

I also wondered if one day I might meet a wandering swordsman or something, and then adventure with them in the martial world...

But such days didn't last long.

When Dongmai was nine years old, her father suddenly fell ill.

It's not a serious illness that suddenly makes it impossible to get up; it's just a cough.

He kept coughing, and it was making him very anxious.

I saw a doctor, and he said it was tuberculosis...

From then on, Dongmai's father began a life of taking medicine and recuperating.

Because the doctor diagnosed it as tuberculosis, the children who had come to study suddenly stopped coming.

If the children don't come, there's no income for the family.

Seeing her father lying in bed coughing and with a sallow complexion, Dongmai suddenly felt like she had grown up.

Seeing a doctor and taking medicine costs money, and Dongmai spent all the dowry money her father had saved for her.

Six months later, all the family's money was gone.

Seeing that her father was still not getting better, Dongmai wiped away her tears, packed her things, and moved with her father to an abandoned thatched hut.

The house in my family... was sold to a landlord in the same village.

This way, at least we can earn some money to treat my father's illness.

Dongmai's father told her more than once, "Don't treat her anymore, she can't be cured."

His only worry was Dongmai. What would Dongmai do all by herself after he left?

“My dear daughter! After your father passes away, go and stay with your eldest uncle. He is our closest relative.”

"When you go, help out with the chores. He'll take you in because of your father." The father began to plan Dongmai's future.

Dongmai didn't speak, she just nodded.

She wouldn't tell her father that just a month ago, when she went to get medicine for him, she was short twenty coins and went to that uncle for help.

Then her uncle's family not only refused to let her in, but also cursed her, saying she was sickly and would meet the King of Hell with her father sooner or later.

She didn't want her father to be angry anymore.

Seeing that Dongmai didn't speak but just nodded, Dongmai's father also realized that something was wrong.

"If you don't want to go to your eldest uncle's house, then go to your maternal uncle's house."

When your mother was still alive, we helped their family a lot.

"Your uncle still owes our family five taels of silver!" Dongmai's father continued.

Dongmai remained silent, only nodding.

She still wouldn't tell her father that she had gone to her uncle's house ten days ago to ask for money.

Before they even got inside, their aunt's dog chased them for almost two miles.

One of their shoes even got lost...

The money I had to buy the house didn't even last six months.

Dongmai's father died on a day after a heavy snowfall.

That morning, the last bowl of medicine had just been boiled with winter wheat.

Seeing her father, covered with all his clothes, with his eyes closed and no longer breathing, Dongmai wanted to cry but couldn't.

There's nothing left in the house to sell.

My father also said that after he dies, there's no need to worry about him; just take him to a mass grave...

Dongmai silently changed her father's favorite long gown and wiped his face clean.

We can't just leave our father in a mass grave like that.

My father was once a scholar and a schoolteacher, and he wanted to leave this world with dignity.

But the winter wheat is only ten years old...

Those students he had once taught all avoided him like the plague.

There's nothing left in Dongmai; how can we bury my father?

At this moment, Dongmai remembered what she had read in a storybook: selling oneself into servitude to bury one's father...

It seems she has nothing left to sell except herself!

Dongmai thought that the only people who bought young girls were those from brothels and wealthy families.

In order to avoid being noticed by the people in the brothel, Dongmai smeared another layer of soot from the bottom of a pot on her already dusty face.

Then they carried their father onto that wrecked flatbed cart.

In the end, she chose to sell herself at the foot of Bao'en Temple Mountain to bury her father.

Why choose this place...?

Because wealthy families in the capital would come to Bao'en Temple to offer incense on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month.

At the feet of Buddha, those people should all have some kindness in their hearts!

Who knew that the winter wheat would be sold for three days straight...

Nobody bought her...

Everyone who saw it kept their distance...

After selling for three days, Dongmai, seeing that his father had hardened to the point of no return, finally went up the mountain to pray to the Bodhisattva.

"Everyone says that Buddha saves all sentient beings, so why doesn't anyone come to save me?"

"Buddha, when can I sell myself so that I can bury my father properly?" Dongmai looked up at Buddha earnestly.

After a while, Dongmai kowtowed three times to Buddha.

“Buddha, since you didn’t speak, I’ll take that as you heard me!”

You'll definitely bless me, right?

"Fine, I'll continue selling myself into servitude to bury my father tomorrow!"

After Dongmai finished speaking, she turned and went down the mountain to continue guarding her father, who had been sold into servitude to bury him...