Fan Damu was an extremely shrewd man, and when people are too shrewd, they don't just focus on relationships; they focus more on interests.
Fan Qian thought about how they used to be from the same village and were cousins, but in Fan Damu's eyes, all of that was of no use.
Furthermore, Fan Damu has already sold himself into slavery, so what can he do to help Fan Qian?
"Help my elder brother sell Zhao Di." Fan Jin finished speaking, his eyes lowered, and his lips pressed tightly together.
Shui Qing was furious when she thought about the scene when she first arrived!
She said angrily, "When the family was divided, they were so much better off than us. Instead of being prepared for the worst and stockpiling food and making money, they managed to survive even when faced with a little disaster, while other families who were worse off than them tightened their belts!"
But they're thinking of selling their daughter! When things were better, they plotted to sell our Yan Qiuxing back home, but after the family split up, they can only set their sights on Zhaodi.
"What? If they hadn't had Zhaodi, would their lives be much better? Now, in this year of famine, if they had no daughters to sell, they wouldn't be able to survive?"
Even Baldy Zhang didn't think about selling Zhang Chunhua, but rather about selling the land!
The eldest brother's family, who had far more farmland and forests than Zhang the Bald, was trying to find a wife for their son through their niece, and to get through years of famine through their own daughter—luckily, they had separated their households, otherwise they would still have targeted their niece during years of famine.
Some people are both lazy and malicious.
Fan Jin lowered his eyes even more and sighed softly, "I feel that this was mostly my mother's idea, and my elder brother also agreed."
Although this idea was very unfilial, he felt it was his mother's idea, and that if it were his older brother, he would have sold the land first.
As my mother grew older and had less and less land, she suddenly began to cherish it, treating it like the apple of her eye. However, she still ate, drank, and used everything she could on a daily basis, and she was meticulous and concerned about every little thing. Yet, when it came to making important decisions, she was careless and made decisions easily.
Therefore, they cannot save money, store up grain, raise livestock, or sell their land. Their grandchildren are precious, but their granddaughters can be sold.
Shui Qing nodded in agreement. The mother and son were birds of a feather. One dared to think of anything, and the other, since it didn't threaten his own interests and could even benefit him, naturally followed suit.
She was more worried about something else: "Would Fan Damu be willing to help? Zhao Di is only eight years old, would anyone want her? Even if someone did, they probably wouldn't get many taels of silver."
"My elder brother wanted to sell Zhao Di into Magistrate Wu's household as well, to serve either of the two young masters, Guangzong or Yaozu. He even said he would thank Fan Damu properly after it was done, but Fan Damu didn't agree." Fan Jin's expression showed no sign of relief as he said this.
Shui Qing observed his expression and asked, "Since you haven't agreed, why are you still worried?"
Inside the room, Fan Jin's expression was inscrutable. He remained silent for a while before continuing to speak: "The reason why Fan Damu did not agree is firstly because he looked down on his elder brother for asking for his help without any real benefit. Why should he help without any tangible benefits?"
Secondly, the city is currently overflowing with people. There are long lines of disaster victims who want to sell themselves into slavery to the Wu County Magistrate's household. Not to mention the magistrate, even wealthy families elsewhere would have people willing to accept just food.
In the past, wealthy families like Zhao Di's might have been willing to buy her to keep as a servant in their courtyards, but now that there are countless people and grain is expensive, no one in the prefectural city would buy her.
Shui Qing understood the key point: no one in the prefectural city would buy it, but people in other places might!
She gasped. "Are you worried about selling it elsewhere?"
Fan Jin pursed his lips and said seriously, "It's not that I'm worried, but that Fan Damu really gave my elder brother this advice, and my elder brother didn't agree on the spot, but I guess it's only a matter of time."
The eldest brother doesn't care much about his children; he's the kind of person who only cares about his own happiness.
If even a son can't get him to work hard, then a daughter is even more dispensable.
"Fan Damu told his elder brother that he would sell the goods to human traffickers. Since the traffickers couldn't sell them locally, they would find a way to transport them to other prefectures to sell."
"It doesn't matter who I sell to, as long as I get the money, it's all the same."
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