Chapter 18 The Wang Family Wants to Sell Their Child
The village head of Dahe Village is also surnamed Zhao. He is 55 years old this year and has served as the village head for more than 20 years. He is very prestigious in the village.
Zhao, the village head, was the first to ask to lend a pound of grain to the Wang family. Others wanted to lend some as well, but there were very few people in the village with surplus grain. Everyone was just getting by by starving, so who had any extra grain to spare?
In the end, the villagers managed to collect a total of three jin of grain.
Even if you tighten your belt and eat only a little bit each day, three pounds of grain can only feed a family for four or five days.
Aunt Wang held the three jin of grain and cried uncontrollably until she fainted and collapsed in the arms of the eldest daughter of the Wang family.
Old Mrs. Zhao was also in the crowd. She lent half a pound of millet and went out. She originally wanted to tell her eldest daughter-in-law to be more vigilant in the middle of the night, but then she thought that her eldest daughter-in-law had probably used all the copper coins she had scraped from the Cheng family to buy meat. There was no surplus grain at home. The old lady shook her head and went back to the Zhao family, but she did not go to sleep. Instead, she woke up the whole family and hid the grain.
Only the eldest branch of the Zhao family was separated, and the second and third branches all lived together. There were a total of twelve people, including adults and children.
Old Mrs. Zhao had experienced hardship and knew the importance of storing food. She saved a little bit every day, and over time, the family had accumulated forty or fifty catties of millet, thirty catties of buckwheat flour, and more than thirty catties of quinoa, cornmeal and mixed flour... The old lady told her two sons to hide ten catties in each room, so that even if a thief broke in, they would only lose ten catties at most, unlike the Wang family, who were left to starve.
That night, no one in Dahe Village slept well.
The thieves were not caught, and the Wang family only had three catties of grain left, which would not last until the autumn harvest... Most importantly, there might not be an autumn harvest this year.
The Wang family made a commotion early in the morning.
"Father, please don't sell me, please..."
Wang Dama, the eldest daughter of the Wang family, knelt on the ground, crying her heart out.
Mudfish broke down in tears, hugging his older sister: "Dad, sell me! I'm a boy, I can get more money!"
Aunt Wang's tears streamed down her face: "Husband, does it have to be like this?"
"We have no food at home. How are we going to survive if we don't sell her off?" Wang Yongcheng sighed. "We're a wealthy family. Even if there's a famine, we'll have food to eat. Sending barley there is a blessing. There's nothing to cry about! We'll be given half a catty of silver for the barley, and half a catty of silver can buy over a hundred kilograms of grain. This is a good thing!"
He said so, but his face was full of sorrow.
No one would think of selling their child unless they were desperate and couldn't make ends meet.
As soon as Cheng Wanwan got up, she heard the neighbors arguing about selling their child.
She took half of the chestnuts she had picked up yesterday and walked to the door next door.
She leaned against the mud wall and said sarcastically, "The village head is really partial to your family. He gave you three pounds of grain without saying a word, but my family doesn't have a single grain! There's a grocery store owner in town who didn't have a son, and he offered two taels of silver to buy my four eggs and smash them!"
“I have four boys, all of them are waiting to be fed. If I sell four eggs, two taels of silver will be enough to feed them until the New Year. No matter how wicked I am, I am still their mother. I can't do something like selling my children. At worst, we'll all starve to death.” She threw the chestnuts in her hand over. “I don’t have the money to buy the barley back. How about I exchange this grain for barley and let you work for us for a day!”
She waved, "DaMai, what are you standing there for? Come over here and wash my clothes!"
Wang Damai knew that Aunt Zhao was not a good person, but as long as she could avoid being sold, she was willing to do anything. She got up from the ground, not even bothering to wipe her tears, and immediately followed Cheng Wanwan.
Aunt Wang was reluctant to sell her daughter. After her daughter ran away, she deliberately stood in front of the gate, afraid that her husband would chase after her.
Wang Yongcheng sat on the firewood, puffing on his pipe.
Aunt Wang picked up the cloth bag from the ground; it was heavy, containing four or five pounds of chestnuts.
Chestnuts are not a rare thing; there are many on the mountain. However, the chestnut trees near the foot of the mountain have all been stripped bare by the villagers. It's not possible to find the same few chestnut trees as yesterday every day... Thinking of the forty or fifty pounds of chestnuts she had just picked yesterday, her heart felt like it was bleeding.
"If Sister-in-law Zhao, who's so reckless, can make a living, why can't we?" Aunt Wang said through gritted teeth, clutching a chestnut. "Even if we have to eat wild vegetables, gnaw on tree bark, or even eat dirt, I will never agree to sell my child!"
Wang Yongcheng sighed, "Then let's wait until the rice is harvested before we talk about it!"
If there is a harvest in the fields, there is naturally no need to sell children. But if there is no harvest, there will be no grain in the granary for the next six months. The only way out is to sell children.
By then, they will certainly not be the only family selling children!
Cheng Wanwan led Wang Damai to her own yard, where Wu Huiniang had already washed and hung up the clothes that needed washing.
She pulled Da Mai down to sit: "If your father really wants to sell you, no matter what I say, he will take you to town."
Damai wiped away her tears and remained silent.
Cheng Wanwan sighed. Although Aunt Wang loved her children, in this era, the preference for sons over daughters was a common problem. The Wang family had three daughters and one son, and the eldest daughter suffered the most. Damai was the most miserable child in the Wang family.
"Eat something first, then get to work." Cheng Wanwan stood up and walked towards the kitchen, looking at her eldest daughter-in-law and saying, "Let's make some porridge, and cook it with wild vegetables."
Because there were outsiders present, she didn't bring wheat flour, but buckwheat flour. The dark buckwheat flour was cooked into a porridge with wild vegetables. This is how every household here eats it, but their porridge is a bit thicker, and each person gets a big bowl.
While Wu Huiniang was cooking breakfast, Zhao Sidan came over.
He grabbed Cheng Wanwan's sleeve, blinked his big eyes, and asked, "Mother, is someone really willing to spend two taels of silver to buy me?"
This wasn't a lie Cheng Wanwan made up. After Da Shan's father died last year, a family from the neighboring village, who had no descendants, did come to buy a son to care for them in their old age. They offered half a tael of silver to have Si Dan take care of them in their old age. The original owner was somewhat tempted, but the family was scolded away by Old Madam Zhao and the matter was never mentioned again.
But if the famine worsens, the original owner might really have to sell the four eggs...
Cheng Wanwan pinched the little guy's cheek: "So, when you grow up and have a wife, you can't forget your mother."
Zhao Sidan nodded vigorously: "I will be filial to my mother for the rest of my life, and make sure she has rice and meat to eat for the rest of her life!"
Cheng Wanwan couldn't help but laugh.
The aroma soon filled the kitchen, and the whole family sat down around the table. Wang Damai was also made to sit down, with a bowl of wild vegetable porridge in front of him.
"Aunt Zhao, this won't do..."
Wang Damai waved his hands repeatedly. Aunt Zhao had just given them a bag of grain, and she hadn't done anything yet. How could she eat a bowl of porridge for free?
Even when they had enough grain at home, she couldn't afford such a thick porridge...
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