“This year’s harvest is clearly failing. Two families in the village have already sold their daughters. Among them is my aunt’s young granddaughter—a five-year-old girl sold for five taels of silver. When my mother-in-law heard this, she became tempted and decided to sell my two girls behind my back. She’s already gone to find a matchmaker. It was only because my brother-in-law couldn’t bear it and secretly told me. That’s how I managed to escape with them. Miss, I beg you, please take them in.” The woman briefly explained before pleading again.
“Madam, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, but times are truly difficult. We can hardly ensure our own survival.” Although Bai Nianqing pitied the two young girls, she wasn’t a saint. In these times, there were countless pitiful people—she couldn’t help them all.
“Miss, please have mercy. These girls eat very little—just some plain rice will do. I beg you to take them in. Your family has a large estate; these girls won’t eat much. Quickly kneel and beg the young lady to take you in.” The woman pushed the two children forward.
“Wah… Miss, please take us in.”
“Miss, we beg you, buy us.”
The two young girls knelt on the ground, kowtowing.
“Get up quickly! Xiaochun, help them up,” Bai Nianqing remained modern at heart and couldn’t accustomed to people kneeling so readily.
“Get up now.” Xiaochun stepped forward to lift the children.
“Madam, although we do own some farmland, as you just said, the land yields no harvest. We don’t know what will happen in the coming days. Food is one thing, but the real crisis is the lack of water. To be frank, if this situation continues, we’ll have to flee the famine too.” Bai Nianqing didn’t want to make enemies unnecessarily, so she patiently explained.
“Miss, please help us, Miss…” Whether the woman understood or not, she continued pleading desperately.
“Xiaochun, give this madam two taels of silver.” Bai Nianqing thought for a moment before speaking.
“Alright, Miss.” Xiaochun took two taels from her purse and pressed them into the woman’s hand.
Bai Nianqing then said to the woman, “Madam, take the silver and return home with your children. This is all the help I can offer—I’m powerless to do more. Also, let me advise you: hide this silver well. Don’t let your mother-in-law trick you out of it.”
“Miss…” The woman stared blankly at Bai Nianqing.
Just then, another group arrived outside the manor.
“She’s here! I knew that wretch came out for something—she came looking for nobility!” A sharp voice rang out from a long-faced, narrow-eyed woman.
“Look, she’s right there! Let’s hurry over.”
In moments, the group approached.
Terrified, the woman pulled her trembling children and hid behind Xiaochun.
“Who told you to come here? Hurry back home.” A seemingly honest man in his late twenties scolded in a low voice.
“Gengsheng, please talk to Mother. Don’t sell Da Ya and Er Ya. I’ll work more and eat less from now on. Da Ya and Er Ya will do the same—they’ll work hard and eat just enough to survive.” Seeing her husband, the woman seemed to find her anchor.
“Yaoniang, times are truly hard at home. We should listen to Mother.” The man spoke weakly.
“Gengsheng, we can’t sell them, Gengsheng,” the woman sobbed uncontrollably.
“Father, please don’t sell us.”
“Father, my sister and I will work harder from now on. Don’t let Grandmother sell us, Father…”
The two little girls also pleaded through tears.
“This… Yaoniang…” The man hesitated, at a loss for words.
The narrow-eyed woman who had come with them, seeing the man about to be persuaded, quickly tugged at the elderly woman beside her, signaling her to speak up.
The old woman closely resembled the younger woman—clearly mother and daughter.
Heeding her daughter’s hint, the old woman immediately began persuading: “Eldest son, selling them would be for their own good. You’ve seen how the crops in the fields have dried up and died. We’re nearly out of food at home. Keeping them here would mean they’d starve along with the whole family.”
“I’ve made inquiries—these little girls would become maids in wealthy households. Being a maid in a rich family means living in comfort—isn’t that better than starving at home? Not to mention, with the silver we get, we can buy some grain to last us a while longer.”
Truth be told, the old woman had a way with persuasion. At first listen, her words sounded quite reasonable.
At the very least, Gengsheng was convinced.
“Yaoniang, what Mother says makes sense. If our daughters become maids in a wealthy household, they’ll at least have enough to eat and wear. You know our situation at home—if we don’t buy grain soon, we’ll have nothing to eat. With the weather like this, if we don’t stock up now, I fear we won’t be able to buy any later.” The man named Gengsheng was clearly swayed.
“But I’ve heard that maids have to sign some kind of contract, and some even get beaten to death. Our girls are still so young—what if they get beaten to death?” Though the woman named Yaoniang spoke these words, her hesitation was evident.
“That’s still better than starving at home, sister-in-law. If I had a daughter, I’d have sent her to enjoy a comfortable life in a wealthy household long ago,” the narrow-eyed woman said with a curl of her lip.
“But…” Yaoniang looked at her mother-in-law, then at her husband, and finally at her two daughters clinging timidly to her, utterly uncertain.
“No more ‘buts’! The Matchmaker is waiting at home. Let’s hurry back. Quick, let’s go!” Yaoniang’s mother-in-law urged repeatedly.
This time, Yaoniang said nothing, simply taking her two daughters’ hands and following the others.
Though it felt longer, the entire episode had lasted only three to five minutes.
Bai Nianqing and Shen Wenhe watched as the group entered and then noisily departed.
“So… that’s it? It’s over just like that?” Bai Nianqing exclaimed, wide-eyed.
“Seems so. Are those two little girls being sold or not?” Shen Wenhe, having never witnessed such a scene before, found it rather novel.
Only Xiaochun, perhaps because of her own past experiences, felt sympathy for the two little girls.
The young lady and young master hadn’t experienced such things, so they couldn’t understand, but she had lived through it herself.
She had been fortunate to encounter the young lady and her father—otherwise, she too would have been sold to such a place.
Thinking about the future awaiting those two little girls, Xiaochun couldn’t bear it.
She couldn’t help saying to Bai Nianqing, “Young lady, couldn’t we buy those two little girls instead?”
Bai Nianqing glanced at Xiaochun, recognizing her soft-hearted nature.
But at a time like this, being soft-hearted is the most dangerous thing.
She had to make it clear to her, so she would understand the gravity of the situation later.
“Xiaochun, it’s not that I’m heartless—it’s that these times don’t allow me to be soft on you. Do you understand?”