Chapter 29 You still have some filial piety!
In the Chen family compound, an absurd one-man show is being performed at this moment.
After seeing off the huge "escort" team, the old lady of the Chen family not only did not feel relieved, but her heart was beating fast as if it was being roasted on the fire.
The loss of money was a thorn in her heart.
Her sons and grandchildren were all gone, and the empty yard made her feel even more lost.
She sat down on the stone bench in the middle of the yard, grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds that had been sitting there for who knows how long and whose skins were already soft, and began to crack them vigorously. The "crunch, crunch" sound was particularly harsh in the silent yard, as if she were not chewing sunflower seeds, but Feng Lan's bones.
"Eat, eat, eat! All you know is eating! A bunch of useless, money-losing things! Unlucky stars!" She ate while cursing at Erya, Sanya and the other little girls huddled in the corner of the eaves. "Look at your good mother! A thief who steals money! A troublemaker! And look at your good sister, she's also an ungrateful person! What a mess the family has become because of her? Huh? I tell you, you owe our Chen family your whole lives! You should learn from your eldest sister and sell yourself to buy food for the family. That would be your blessing!"
The little girls were trembling all over after being scolded by her. They hugged each other and didn't even dare to cry out loud. They could only look at their crazy grandmother with terrified eyes.
At this moment, the gate of the courtyard was pushed open with a creaky sound.
Daya stood at the door, looking like a wandering ghost, her face pale. Her hair was disheveled, her lips were bloodless, and only her eyes, frighteningly bright, were filled with tears and a resolute, dead air.
"Grandma..." she began, her voice hoarse and dry.
The old lady of the Chen family glanced at her sideways. Seeing her like this, not only did she not show any pity, but she snorted coldly: "Oh, isn't this our Chen family's great contributor? What's wrong? Can't stay at Doctor Sun's place anymore? Or do you think the stick on your back isn't strong enough, so you run back to ask for a beating again?"
Daya ignored her sarcasm. She walked into the yard step by step, and then with a "thump", she knelt upright on the mud ground in front of the old lady.
"Grandma, I beg you!" She kowtowed heavily, her forehead hitting the hard ground with a dull thud. "Please have mercy on me and ask the village head to bring my parents back! They're not wrong! It's all my fault! I shouldn't be sick, I shouldn't be alive, I shouldn't be a burden to this family!"
As she spoke, she kowtowed repeatedly, as if she felt no pain.
"Grandma, as long as you're willing to let my parents go, I'll do anything you ask me to do! I'll work like a slave for you, never marry, and work as a farmhand for the family. I'll save money for Sixth Uncle's leg treatment and help him find a wife... Please..."
Daya's crying was so humble that it was down to the dust.
The old lady of the Chen family looked at her granddaughter who was kneeling on the ground with blood marks on her head. What flashed in her eyes was not emotion, but a perverted pleasure of being in control of everything.
This was exactly what she wanted. She wanted everyone in this family to know the consequences of resisting her. She wanted these girls to understand, deep down, that their lives were worthless and at her mercy.
"Now you know how to beg me?" The old lady slowly spat out the melon seed shells in her mouth and looked down at her condescendingly. "It's too late! Your parents, one is unfilial, the other is a thief, and the evidence is irrefutable! Sending them to the county government would be too easy for them! In my opinion, they should be beaten to death!"
"No... no..." Daya shook her head in despair, "Mom didn't steal the money. The money was... for my medical treatment..."
"Treat your injuries?" The old lady laughed as if she had heard a huge joke. "Treat your injuries? You are not a wealthy family, but you want to spend dozens of taels of silver on your injuries? Do you deserve it? Your mother just hid the money! When the storm is over, she will take the money and run away with your father, leaving you, a bunch of burdens, to us old couple! I tell you, I know everything!"
This slander that distorted right and wrong was like a knife that stabbed into Daya's heart.
She looked at her grandmother with a vicious face in front of her, and the last bit of fantasy about family affection in her heart was completely shattered.
She knew that begging was useless.
This old lady's heart is made of stone and ice, and it can't be warmed up no matter what you do.
She slowly stopped kowtowing, raised her little face covered in blood and dirt, and looked at the old lady with empty eyes without any emotion.
"Okay." She only said one word.
The voice was so eerily calm that the old lady was stunned for a moment.
"Grandma, haven't you always wanted to sell me?" Daya slowly stood up from the ground, the severe pain in her body seemed to have numbed. "You said that as long as I can exchange money for my family, it is my blessing."
"Yes." The old lady narrowed her eyes, not knowing what she was up to.
"Okay then." Daya took a deep breath, as if she had used up all her strength. "I'll go sell it. Who do you want to sell it to?"
The old lady's eyes instantly flashed with ecstasy. She knew that this little hoof would eventually give in!
"You're still kind-hearted!" The wrinkles on her face were all smiles. "Do you remember that lame Zhang at the village entrance? I talked to him a while ago. He has a few acres of land, but he's in need of a wife who can bear children. He said if you're willing to go over, he'll give you... fifteen taels of silver!"
Fifteen taels!
This figure made the old lady's heart almost jump out of her chest. This was much higher than the price Tian Lao San had given before!
Zhang Quezi, the village's famous old bachelor, was in his forties. He had broken his leg early in life and walked with a limp. He was dark, ugly, and had a violent temper. He was known to beat women when drunk. The girls in the village avoided him.
Selling a young girl like Daya, who has not yet reached the age of marriage, to him is tantamount to pushing her into another fire pit.
Daya's body trembled violently. She had, of course, heard of Zhang Quezi's reputation. The thought of spending her life with a man like that filled her with waves of nausea and fear.
However, when she thought of her parents who were tied up with ropes and whose life or death was uncertain, that little bit of fear was suppressed by a deeper despair.
"Okay." She said one more word.
There was no emotion in his voice anymore.
"But I have one condition." Daya raised her head and looked directly into the old lady's greedy eyes. "You go find the village head right now and bring my parents back. When I see them return home safely, I will go to Zhang the Lame's house immediately and I will never regret it."
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