After listening for a while, Jiang Jiuniang felt that the young boy was quite responsible, so she stepped forward and said kindly, "Why are you kneeling on the beach all of a sudden? It's not a good look with so many people coming and going. Child, get up quickly and let's talk things out."
Nobody wants their family scandals to be aired in public, but now their whole family is on the beach and everyone can see them. This is something the boy did on purpose, so that more people will see that his sister is going to be sold. Surely some kind-hearted people will stand up and try to stop him, and he will take this opportunity to keep his sister.
So, he ignored everything and hugged Jiang Jiuniang's leg, crying.
"Kind-hearted person, please persuade my father. I'm the one who caused all this trouble. Don't sell my sister!"
Jiang Jiuniang couldn't understand why her son was in trouble but she wanted to sell her daughter to solve the problem.
She looked at the middle-aged man and said with a half-smile, "Brother, even tigers don't eat their cubs. Your daughter is still so young. Have you ever thought about how much suffering she would endure if she were sold? And this suffering wouldn't be for her own sake, but for her brother's."
Although the middle-aged man didn't want others to interfere in his family affairs, now that things had come to light, he could only say, "What can I do now that things have come to this? I only have one son. If I don't sell my daughter and instead sell my son, won't I be ridiculed in the future?"
Ultimately, it all comes down to saving face. Jiang Jiuniang smiled, but her gaze towards the man was somewhat cold.
She ignored the man and instead looked at the boy, asking, "Tell me what wrong you did."
The boy then recounted the whole story.
“I have been responsible for feeding the horses for Master Zhang’s family, but the horses have been sick these past few days. Everyone says it’s my fault and wants my family to pay for the horses’ treatment. If the horses die before they are cured, I will have to pay compensation. My family doesn’t have that much money, so Master Zhang said that my older sister should become his concubine. My father doesn’t want my older sister to become someone’s concubine, so he plans to sell her to another wealthy family to raise money for the horses’ treatment.”
From a young age, the boy followed his parents to the mountains to cut the tenderest grass for their old ox. Later, the ox died, and he had nothing to do and was saddened. So he took the initiative to find a job feeding horses for the Zhang family. He earned ten coins a month. Although it was not much, it was good that he could earn money to supplement his family's income. He did this for more than a year.
The horse had always been healthy, but it suddenly fell ill these past few days. Master Zhang claimed that it was because he had been lazy and fed the horse stale and unclean grass, so he demanded compensation.
He had never mistreated the horses. He treated them like his own family, feeding them the tenderest grass and bathing them regularly, taking meticulous care of them. He never expected something like this to happen.
"I really didn't mean to harm Master Zhang's horse, I don't know why this happened..."
The boy cried helplessly. He didn't know why things had turned out this way. He just wanted to go out and earn money to help support his family, but he never thought that it would cause his sister to be sold.
Hearing the boy's words, Jiang Jiuniang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She thought that the boy was a bad kid who had gone out and messed around and owed money to others, which was why all these things happened. She didn't expect that the child was so sensible. At such a young age, he was feeding horses to help support the family. Moreover, he was trying his best to stop his father from selling his daughter. She really admired this child.
Before she could speak, the woman who had fallen behind finally caught up and said breathlessly to the man, "Honey, don't let this little thing ruin Mingzhu's life. We still have some savings at home; take it all to hire a doctor to treat Master Zhang's horse."
"That won't do! You still need medicine to maintain your health. If we've already spent the money, what will you do?"
The woman took a few more breaths before saying, "I'm much better now. Taking a break won't hurt. Let's focus on the Zhang family first. We absolutely cannot sell Mingzhu; that would be the death of me!"
Upon hearing this, the man glanced at his daughter, who was sitting on the ground crying, and sighed heavily.
He named his daughter Mingzhu, and naturally loved her dearly. However, the family's situation was far from optimistic. The money from selling his daughter had to be used not only to treat the horse's illness but also to buy medicine for his wife.
His wife was in poor health and needed medication year-round. Before, after finishing his own farm work, he could do some odd jobs for Master Zhang's family to supplement his income. Now that his son had offended Master Zhang, he couldn't continue his work and had no money to buy his wife's medicine.
Jiang Jiuniang looked at the woman who was panting heavily and had started coughing, reached out to help her, and took her pulse to check her condition. She found that the woman's body was severely depleted, all due to illnesses caused by childbirth.
Fortunately, the man had a conscience and kept giving her medicine to prolong her life; otherwise, she wouldn't be alive now.
After learning about these circumstances, Jiang Jiuniang's impression of the man improved slightly, but she still couldn't forgive his practice of selling his daughter to support his son, so she still didn't want to talk to him.
He simply said to the kneeling boy, "Get up quickly. If you trust me, I can help you treat the Zhang family's horse so that your sister won't be sold."
These words instantly ignited the boy's hope. He scrambled to his feet and exclaimed excitedly, "Thank you! My name is Zhuzi. The horse is at my house. I can take you to see it right now."
After the horse fell ill, Master Zhang sent it to his house and told his family to take responsibility for it. If they could cure it, they could; if not, his sister would become Master Zhang's concubine.
Jiang Jiuniang asked helplessly, "You believe everything I say? Aren't you afraid I'm lying to you and will kill the horse when we get there?"
Zhu Zi shook his head and said, "No, Madam, you're so beautiful, you must be a good person!"
He wasn't actually telling the truth. In fact, it was because Jiang Jiuniang's clothes were not those of an ordinary person, and she was carrying a child on her back. She looked very kind and would definitely not deliberately deceive him.
Jiang Jiuniang had nothing to say. She thought she should go and tell Lu Baichuan first, and then she saw Lu Baichuan carrying a basket on his back and leading a dog towards her.
"What happened?"
Lu Baichuan spoke up, explaining that they had gone quite far and were unaware of what was happening here.
Jiang Jiuniang briefly explained the situation, then said, "I'll go to his house first. You take the children and go back first. We'll have dinner together!"
Lu Baichuan looked at the family in front of him and said, "We'll go with you."
Jiang Jiuniang thought for a moment and did not refuse. She then looked at the middle-aged couple, who also looked eager and obviously believed in her.
Jiang Jiuniang stepped forward and pulled up the girl who was sitting on the ground crying. The little girl was about the same age as Youya, but she hadn't expected to be targeted by that old master.
"Th-thank you."
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