The family urgently needed money, and she was determined not to ask those women in the village who looked down on her, so she might as well let the brat try her luck.
It would be best to borrow it.
If they couldn't borrow the money, they sold the two girls.
However, after the old man's warning earlier this morning, she no longer dares to sell the person.
Therefore, it would be best if that brat could borrow money to tide her over.
"The money is with Master. He told me to go to the county to fetch a doctor with my uncle first thing tomorrow morning," Lin Momo said directly before Lin Sanya could finish speaking.
She really didn't want to talk to this annoying mother, and while talking, she kept pulling Lin Sanya into the kitchen to boil water.
"You borrowed some money? You're not kidding me, are you? You brat, why didn't you bring it back? What are you doing with your grandpa's money?"
Lin Momo let her stomp around, treating her like she was putting on a grand show.
A moment later, another loud shout came from outside: "You brat, what are you doing here? Can't you see we're almost out of firewood?"
"Puff puff..."
Lin Momo deliberately pulled the bellows hard to drown out the unpleasant noise.
The firewood in the house was also collected by Lin Erya from the wild forest outside the village.
Why can't she use it anymore?
In this family, Lin Musheng did the most work in the fields, while Lin Erya did the most housework.
I wonder if Lin Zhiqiang's lazy nature comes from his mother, Lin Xushi.
The mother and son were both lazy, greedy, and cunning; neither of them was diligent.
Having one child like that in any family would be troublesome enough, but the second branch of the Lin family actually has two.
It was only the girls in the family who suffered.
The younger one acts like the young master of the house, and treats his sisters like servants. A grown man, when he goes to work in the fields, he always finds an excuse to run home... With a protective mother by his side, he has nothing to worry about.
The eldest daughter acts as the matriarch of the family, pushing all the household chores onto her three daughters. She never lifts a finger herself and even acts as a supervisor, beating and scolding them if they do anything that doesn't meet her standards.
They only pick the easiest jobs in the fields, and they always drag their feet and procrastinate.
Whenever the women in the village said that she didn't do any work, Xu would proudly boast, "Who told me I was so lucky to marry a man who loves his wife so much? Others can't even dream of that!"
Xu was once the most beautiful woman in the surrounding area, so it was purely by accident that she married Lin Musheng, a quiet man who only knew how to work.
It is said that she was quite arrogant back then because of her good looks.
She declared that she would not marry anyone who was not from the city.
Later, he did indeed marry a rich young master in town, but how could that family allow their son to marry a poor girl? The following year, they arranged the marriage for their son, and the young master was then sent by his family to study at the county academy.
Later, a rumor somehow spread in the village that Xu's body had been ruined by that young master and then thrown away as someone else's used goods.
Xu, who prided herself on her beauty and said that many men wanted her, suddenly became an unsellable commodity in the surrounding marriage market.
Those who come to propose marriage are either divorced or bachelors who can't find a wife and are already eighteen years old but still haven't gotten married.
Over time, somehow she and Lin Musheng, a man from Linjiazhuang whose name perfectly matched his appearance, hit it off.
The Lin family has a distinguished lineage.
Naturally, they would not agree to let such a woman, whose reputation had been ruined, enter the family and tarnish the Lin family's honor. Besides, the family had already found a girl for their second son, and the engagement was just a formality.
The old man even declared that anyone who dared to marry that immoral woman would have Lin Musheng's legs broken.
But Lin Musheng, who was usually taciturn, was blinded by love and refused to turn back even after hitting a wall.
Even though she was scheming, Xu Shi understood that this was her last chance to marry into a good family. So, she gritted her teeth and went all in, consummating her marriage with Lin Musheng.
As it turned out, she really did enter the Lin family's house with a big belly.
Although it wasn't a very respectable marriage, at least she achieved her goal of marrying into the Lin family.
In the early years, she was looked down upon in the village and got into many arguments and fights because of it.
Lin Momo strongly suspected that this was how Xu Shi honed her skills in beating and scolding her daughter.
Lin Musheng married a girl he had fallen in love with, and naturally cherished her dearly.
Since Xu didn't do any work, he did more work himself and made sure to take on Xu's share as well.
Even when Xu and his mother were arguing, he would side with his wife, showing he wasn't a mama's boy at all.
Back in Lin Momo's time, men like Lin Musheng, who doted on their wives, were extremely rare and would probably be very sought after.
But in this era that values filial piety, he's just an ingrate who forgets his mother after marrying a wife, an unfilial son.
Therefore, Master Lin didn't like his second son very much over the years.
She's practically pretending she never had this son.
Lin Erya heard all of this from others. Her grandmother had told her some of it, and the rest she heard from the gossip of the women in the village who didn't get along with her mother. She didn't know which parts were true and which were false.
But ever since his wife passed away a few years ago, Lin Musheng has become a different person. He has become more clear-headed and no longer obeys his wife in every way.
It is said that back then, Xu was particularly difficult because her husband doted on her. She even refused to mourn during her mother-in-law's funeral and was slapped by her husband.
This time, Lin Musheng really asserted his authority as a husband.
It's unclear whether he finally had enough of Xu's antics or finally awakened his filial piety towards his mother.
Or perhaps it was only at this moment that he realized that the girl he once admired had become unrecognizable, her beauty gone, her figure increasingly bloated, and her only son was a good-for-nothing.
Over the years, as he has grown into middle age, he has never had a single thing go smoothly.
This slap dealt a blow to Xu's arrogance and also served as a wake-up call for Lin Musheng.
*
Enduring the incessant shouts and curses, the two sisters took a bath in their own room, stuffed their clothes, along with the bed sheets and quilt covers from the kang (a heated brick bed), into a wooden basin, and took it to the river to wash them.
Seeing the two go to wash clothes, Madam Lin, whose voice was hoarse from scolding, habitually ordered, "You brat, wash my clothes too."
Lin Sanya dared not disobey her mother and was about to get the clothes when Lin Momo stopped her: "Hurry up! After we're done washing, we need to come back and hang them out to dry, otherwise we won't have any blankets to cover ourselves with tonight."
It's already past noon, and it's a sunny day. If we hurry, the blankets will be dry by the afternoon.
Xu, who was being ignored, was furious.
This brat dared to rebel! This is outrageous! We have to teach her a lesson.
"Oops—"
Xu was so focused on teaching Lin Momo a lesson that she forgot she was pregnant and her body wasn't what it used to be. She got up too suddenly and strained her back, crying out in pain. She clutched her back and had no choice but to sit back down.
Lin smiled dismissively and was about to leave when she heard her shout into the house, "Zhiqiang, Zhiqiang, come out quickly!"
She then calmly withdrew her foot and stood still, waiting.
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