Although everyone in the village has been busy going out to collect firewood to store for the winter, it's not like there isn't an adult left at home.
"Second sister, which restaurant should we go to next?"
As soon as they stepped outside, Lin Sanya looked up at Lin Momo and pressed her for answers.
After pondering for a while, Lin Momo asked her, "Then let me test you, Second Sister. Do you know which family in our village, besides the village head's family, supports their son's education?"
It wasn't that she really wanted to test the little girl; it's just that she couldn't find any relevant information in her memory, and she thought it might be due to memory loss. Fortunately, she had someone beside her to ask.
"Hmm—let me think about it."
Lin Sanya lowered her head and stared at the tire tracks on the yellow ground. Suddenly, she raised her dirty little face and exclaimed, "Oh, I remember now, the Fan family at the west end of the village, both of their sons are in school."
One family can support two students!
Rich people!
The Lin family was one of the wealthiest families in the village, and could even be considered the richest in Linjiazhuang, but they were never this extravagant, supporting two students in school.
How much silver must this family have?
Hmph! That's so unfair.
"Come on, your second sister will take you to rob the rich and help the poor!"
With a bright smile, Lin Momo happily grabbed Lin Sanya's little hand and ran towards the west end of the village.
Lin Sanya stumbled as she was pulled, and cried out, "Second Sister, slow down! My shoe fell off."
"How can you be slow? Hurry back, put your shoes on, and show me the way!"
Lin Momo then let go of Lin Sanya's hand and urged her to pick up her shoes.
Although the two sisters' shoes had holes in them and the soles were almost worn through, they couldn't afford to throw them away.
Not to mention that there's been a family crisis and they don't have the money to buy new shoes, even if they did, they wouldn't be able to spend it on the sisters. Besides, these worn-out shoes were taken off by Lin Daya after she outgrew them.
*
The Lin family courtyard.
Old Master Lin held his pipe behind his back with one hand and pushed open the dilapidated gate of his second son's house with the other.
"Zhiqiang, Zhiqiang." As soon as he entered the courtyard, Grandpa Lin called out to his grandson in a strong voice.
His voice was booming, like a muffled clap of thunder in the courtyard.
The bang startled Lin Zhiqiang, who hurriedly slipped off the kang (a heated brick bed), slipped on a pair of cloth shoes he had just put on, and came out of the main room to greet them. "Grandpa, you've come?"
"Hmm, how's your dad? Is he awake?"
Grandpa Lin stood with his hands behind his back, his body slightly hunched, staring at his grandson with a serious expression.
"He's still not awake. He's almost finished his medicine."
"Where's your mother? What are you two planning to do?"
At this moment, Madam Lin, heavily pregnant, slowly emerged from the main room and hurriedly called out from afar, "Father, I'm inside."
Now, at the old house, only the old man still cares about his second son, who is seriously injured and unconscious, and he often comes to visit him.
The other families would just give a few eggs and two pounds of flour as a token of their brotherly affection, and that was all.
Later, the old man lost his temper, called his sons over and berated them, and forced each family to give five taels of silver to their second wives, which saved his husband's life.
She dared not neglect this pillar of the Lin family.
"I'll go check on Musheng first."
Grandpa Lin glanced sideways at Madam Lin behind his grandson, then walked towards the kitchen.
The mother and daughter in the courtyard quickly accompanied the old man into the kitchen.
As Old Master Lin pushed open the door and entered the room, he was greeted by a pungent smell—a mixture of medicine and other unidentifiable odors. His brows furrowed in a frown.
"This room should be ventilated regularly."
There was a hint of disdain in his tone.
"Zhiqiang, quickly open all the windows, don't let the smell bother your dad."
After instructing her son to get to work, Madam Lin then complained to Old Master Lin, "It's all because those two wretched girls don't take their father seriously enough. When they get back, I'll give them a good beating!"
They shifted all the blame onto the two sisters who weren't home, while absolving themselves of any responsibility.
Grandpa Lin turned his head and glanced at his pregnant second daughter-in-law. He swallowed back the words he was about to say and instead casually asked, "Where did Er Ya and her sister go?"
"They said...they were going out to borrow money."
"To treat her father?" Before his daughter-in-law could answer, Old Master Lin couldn't help but praise his two granddaughters: "You two girls are such filial and good children!"
As she spoke, she arrived at the kang (a heated brick bed) and looked at her second son lying on it.
Xu Zhiqiang, who had just finished his work, came over and heard his grandfather praising the two girls. He immediately stopped working, put on an expression that said, "Grandpa, you've been fooled by them," and said, "What filial piety? Grandpa, you don't know, they only said they were going out to borrow money because they didn't want to sell themselves. If they were really filial, they would have sold themselves long ago to pay for Dad's medical treatment and medicine."
Old Master Lin ignored it.
He stared at his second son quietly for a while, and seeing that the man was still the same as the previous times, showing no signs of waking up, he couldn't help but sigh deeply.
Then she turned to her grandson beside her and said, "So, you two are planning to sell your two daughters to pay for her father's medical treatment?"
"Isn't this all because we were forced to? We've spent so much money, and his father still hasn't woken up. The old doctor we consulted last time said that if he doesn't wake up soon, we'll have to go to Huichuntang in the county to find a doctor to take a look. He said he heard that there's a doctor named Ma who works there. His ancestors were imperial physicians, and he's cured many difficult and complicated diseases. It's just that... his consultation fee is a bit expensive."
Madam Lin quickly jumped in to help her son out of the predicament.
Ever since his son made such a huge blunder last time, he had left a bad impression on the old man, who was afraid that his son would be cold-hearted again this time.
"Then do you think the two girls can bring back a few taels of silver? Is that enough to go to the county to hire a doctor?" Old Master Lin said in a deep voice.
Lin Xushi stole a glance at her father-in-law's expression, unable to tell whether the old man was happy or unhappy, and hesitated before saying, "Well... let's try to make it up a bit more, it should be enough... right?"
"So where do you plan to raise the money?"
Lin Xushi lowered her head and remained silent.
Grandpa Lin's questioning gaze then fell on his grandson, Xu Zhiqiang.
The guy also lowered his head in shame.
Seeing the mother and daughter's cowardly behavior, the old man could roughly guess what was going on.
"What if you actually manage to borrow the money back for those two girls, plus the money they earned from selling themselves! Do you think that's enough?" Old Master Lin's voice already carried a hint of anger.
Poor Lin Momo, who was racking her brains to borrow money, had no idea that this mother and son, who were in cahoots, had no intention of letting the two sisters go.
Even though they borrowed enough money to pay for her father's medical treatment, they could not escape being sold.
Just as people often say that people are wicked, they still inevitably stumble on this very phrase.
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