She waved her hand, "Da Mai, why are you still in a daze? Come here quickly and wash our family's clothes for me."
Wang Damai knew that Aunt Zhao was not a good person, but at this moment, as long as she wasn't sold, she was willing to do anything. She stood up from the ground, trying not to cry, and followed Cheng Loanloan home.
Aunt Wang couldn't bear to part with her daughter. After her daughter left, she deliberately stood in front of the door, afraid that the old man would follow.
Wang Yongcheng sat on the pile of firewood, cigarette ash falling with a clatter.
Aunt Wang picked up the bag from the ground. The bag was heavy, unexpectedly containing four or five catties of chestnuts.
Chestnuts were not rare; there were many on the mountain. However, the chestnut trees at the foot of the mountain had been picked clean by the villagers, and it wasn't every day that one could find a few chestnut trees like yesterday. Thinking of how she had just found forty or fifty catties of chestnuts yesterday, her heart ached as if bleeding.
"Although this Elder Sister Zhao is muddled, she can get by. Why can't we?" Aunt Wang held the bag of chestnuts and said through gritted teeth. "Even if we eat wild vegetables and gnaw on tree bark, I will not agree to sell our child."
Wang Yongcheng sighed, "Then we'll have to wait until the rice harvest to talk about it!"
If there was a harvest in the fields, there would naturally be no need to sell the child. But if there was no harvest, there would be no food for the next six months, and the only way would be to sell the child.
And by then, their family would certainly not be the only ones selling their children!
Cheng Loanloan led Wang Damai into the house. The clothes that needed washing had already been washed by Wu Huiniang in the morning.
She pulled Damai down to sit, "If your father really wants to sell you, no matter what I say, he will definitely take you to the town."
Damai wiped away her tears, not saying a word.
Cheng Loanloan sighed. Although Aunt Wang loved her daughter, in this era, valuing sons over daughters was a common ideology. The Wang family had three daughters and one son. The eldest daughter received the most pampering, while the youngest, Damai, lived the hardest life in the Wang family.
"Eat a bite first, then do some work." Cheng Loanloan stood up, went into the small kitchen, looked at her eldest daughter-in-law, and said, "Go knead the dough and boil the vegetables."
With outsiders in the house, she couldn't conveniently take out white rice flour, so she only took buckwheat flour. She made the black buckwheat flour into a porridge with wild vegetables. Every household here ate like this, but their family's porridge was a bit thicker, and everyone got a large bowl.
While Wu Huiniang was eating, Zhao Sidan came over.
He tugged at Cheng Loanloan's sleeve, blinking his big eyes and asking, "Mother, is it true that someone offered two taels of silver to buy me?"
This was something Cheng Loanloan had fabricated. The year before Dashan's father died, someone in the neighboring village had no children and wanted to buy a child who could care for their relatives before their death. They offered half a tael of silver to buy Sidan to serve them in their old age.
The original owner was somewhat tempted, but that person had been fiercely scolded and driven away by Old Lady Zhao, and the matter was never brought up again.
But if the drought became more severe, it was likely that the original owner would indeed sell Sidan...
Cheng Loanloan pinched the child's face, "So, when you grow up, you must not forget your mother when you have a wife."
Zhao Sidan nodded with all his might, "I will be filial to Mother my whole life, so Mother will have meat and rice to eat for her whole life."
Cheng Loanloan couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Soon, a fragrant aroma wafted from the small kitchen. Everyone gathered around the table and sat down. Wang Dameng was also pressed into a seat, a bowl of wild vegetable porridge placed in front of him.
"Aunt Zhao, this won't do..."
Wang Damai waved her hands repeatedly. Aunt Zhao had just given their family a bag of food, and she hadn't done anything, so how could she eat a bowl of porridge for free?
Even when their family still had food, they had never received such a generous bowl of porridge...