Chapter 400 Seeking Help At Home (2)_1
Despite being young and motherless like the other friendly children her age in the village, Xin Er’s friendship with Tang Xin carried an extra layer of commiseration. Over this period of contact, she had come to see the empathetic and strong Tang Xin as a true sister, and she simply couldn’t bear to watch her being sold to such a place and have her life ruined.
Liyan understood Xin Er’s feelings, but fretting over it was useless in such situations, so she advised, "This is the Tang Family’s affair, and even if you, an outsider, worry, it’s of no use. Unless the Tang Family suddenly becomes very wealthy and can produce a large sum of silver at once... otherwise..." Otherwise, Tang Xin would never be able to peacefully get through the new year.
Xin Er clearly understood the implication of her unfinished words and grew even more anxious, "I know I can’t help, so I want to ask my sister if she can think of any way to somehow assist Tang Xin."
"Xin Er, this is a difficult favor to ask for!" Liyan shook her head, seeing the situation much clearer, "That Mrs. Yu of the Tang Family is not someone to provoke. Even if Sister Yan offers silver to help their family repay their debts, she won’t give up the idea of selling Tang Xin. Instead, she will blame Sister Yan for meddling."
It was clear to any sensible person that she wanted to take this opportunity to get rid of her troublesome stepdaughter. How could she give up at such a critical moment? It was also because the Tang Family was so poor that Mrs. Yu could not tolerate a stepdaughter who ’ate without contributing’. If their circumstances were better, she would care about saving face and would not resort to selling her daughter.
Upon hearing this, Xin Er’s eyes dimmed even more as she silently tidied up the dishes and utensils. She knew Mrs. Yu was greedy, and unless she could come up with more silver than the trafficker to ’buy’ Tang Xin, she couldn’t really help her.
The thought of the small wooden box on the bed-table, where she kept the more than two taels of silver she had saved from her embroidery work, only deepened her dejection. She could ask her sister to lend her some silver, but how was she to broach such a subject for the sake of an unrelated outsider?
The next day, Mo Yan rose early, with Lixiu’s nephew already up earlier than her, having prepared breakfast. The other little ones had managed to resist the allure of a warm bed and were up early as well since today was the Little New Year, and they had to help with the cleaning.