Chapter 370: The Proposal to Little Cabbage, the Female Lead (6)_1
Seeing that it was almost noon, Mo Yan went to the kitchen to start preparing lunch, and Liyan helped out as her assistant. Ever since the little ones had tasted the hot pot, they couldn’t stop thinking about it, but eating hot pot too often could lead to an imbalance of internal heat, so they hadn’t had it again for more than ten days.
Today the family was together, and although the sun was shining brightly, the temperature remained quite low — a bustling hot pot meal would be perfect for such a gathering!
With Little Flower and Dabai around, the house never lacked for game. Two full rows of cured wild game hung from the eaves outside the kitchen, perfect for either personal consumption or as gifts for relatives and friends.
Liyan, carrying a basket, took a trip to the backyard, and soon returned from the greenhouse with a basket full of fresh vegetables and fruits. As she washed them, she said, "This winter is so cold, yet the vegetables we grew are still doing so well. The greenhouses in the village can’t compare; gourds and chili peppers hardly bear fruit, only leafy greens and spinach can be turned into a bit of money. The villagers are suffering heavy losses, and one family even took out a ’Loan with interest.’ If they can’t recover the principal before the New Year, they will have to sell their daughter to repay the debt!"
"Sell the daughter to repay the debt?" Mo Yan was shocked, "Can’t they wait and pay back the money when they have some silver? Even if they have to pay back a little more later, it’s surely better than selling one’s own flesh and blood!"
Liyan curled her lip disdainfully, "That family is run by a woman, and it was she who borrowed the ’Loan with interest!’ She’s the stepmother, and the daughter she wants to sell isn’t her own child. Why would she care? She’s probably eager to use any excuse to sell the stepdaughter to provide a larger dowry for her own two daughters!"
Mo Yan frowned but said nothing. Not all stepmothers are bad people, but everyone has their biases, unconsciously favoring their own flesh and blood — that’s human nature. However, if in the process of favoritism one deliberately harms another, that’s malicious!
Liyan, however, did not stop with the gossip and continued, "It’s said that on the road fleeing from disaster, that woman wanted to abandon her stepdaughter. But the stepdaughter was strong, followed closely behind, and survived by drinking water and eating grass roots. Now that their life had just stabilised, that woman started causing trouble again, and now she’s even targeting her stepdaughter. She is utterly ruthless!"