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 co 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 becos 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 sohow 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 soone 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 bla Sister Yan for ddling."
It was clear to any sensible person that she wanted to take this opportunity to get rid of her troubleso stepdaughter. How could she give up at such a critical mont? 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 dimd even more as she silently tidied up the dishes and utensils. She knew Mrs. Yu was greedy, and unless she could co 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 so 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.
The family gathered around the table to finish breakfast and then began dividing up the chores.
Mo Qingze and Lizhong had not arrived ho yet, so Mo Yan took a small broom tied to a long bamboo pole to take turns with Lixiu dusting the beams and corners of the rooms. Their newly moved-into house was clean, and there were just a few cobwebs high up in the corners, which were easily swept away.
Zhenzhen and Yun Zhao busily swept the dust that had settled on the floor while Xin Er and Liyan used wrung-out cloths to wipe down the tables and chairs. It wasn’t a tiring task, but since the main house of the Mo family was so large, by the ti they finished cleaning the dining room, great hall, reception rooms, library, and kitchen, more than two hours had passed.
By noonti, everyone who had been bustling about was famished, and Lixiu hurriedly washed her hands and went to the kitchen to cook. Mo Yan continued to lead the little ones in cleaning the bedrooms. The unused rooms didn’t need attention; otherwise, with the main house’s dozens of rooms, they might not have finished even by the next day.
At this ti, Mo Qingze, Lizhong, and the others had also returned. They had trudged through two different paths from early morning, each now carrying a big load in their hands—most of which were the New Year goods Lizhong had previously bought, while the rest were items Tie Tou and Wang Fat had brought back for their respective families.
The return of Mo Qingze delighted the children imnsely. Little Yunsheng in particular clung to his adoptive father’s leg, tilting his small head upward, gazing with watery, adoring eyes that anyone would find hard to resist feeling compassion for.
Mo Qingze’s heart softened at her gaze, and he freed up a hand to pick her up and fuss over her for quite a while, causing Zhenzhen to feel a sour bubbling in her heart.
After the family had a lively al around the fire pit for lunch, Mo Qingze and Lizhong continued with the cleaning with a few of the younger ones, while Mo Yan and Lixiu were busy in the kitchen making candied squash and other treats for the evening’s Kitchen God offering.
Just like last year, Mo Yan made two kinds of candied squash—corn kernels and black sesa glutinous millet. There was even more than the previous year, enough to give to the children who would co to the Mo Family to extend New Year’s greetings. After finishing the candied squash, she took advantage of the hot stove to fry a good amount of peanuts, lt a small basin of cane sugar, and make two large basins full of peanut candy.
Throughout the afternoon, the yard of the Mo Family was filled with a rich, sweet scent. Even Little Flower, which didn’t particularly like sweets, kept darting in and out of the kitchen, scrambling to eat the broken pieces of peanut candy that Mo Yan threw to them.
It wasn’t just the Mo Family busy with cleaning and making candied squash in preparation for the Kitchen God offering, but also every household in the village. Even though tis were not particularly affluent, the won still worked in the kitchens full of hope, and from ti to ti, laughter and scolding could be heard as they taught the children who snuck into the kitchen to steal candied squash a lesson.
The entire Liu Yang Village was enveloped in wafts of cooking smoke, as if even the air was infused with strands of sweetness.
The sweet, crisp peanut candy was very popular, and Lizhong, who was not particularly fond of sweets, couldn’t help but eat several pieces. Not to ntion the little ones, if Mo Yan hadn’t sternly frightened them by saying that eating too many sweets would cause worms to eat their teeth, they probably would have treated the peanut candy as their al.
Just as the family was laughing and sharing the delicious treats, a series of urgent jingle bell sounds ca from outside the door. Everyone stopped their rry-making and looked toward the door with confusion—who could it be at this ti?
"I’ll go open the door," Liyan hurriedly put down the half-eaten candied squash and ran to open the door, then ca back in a rush, dragging a little girl with her.
The little girl looked frail, and her clothes were both thin and tattered, hardly providing any protection against the bone-chilling cold. What was even more shocking were the obvious bruises and fresh bloodstains on her exposed wrists, ankles, and neck, clearly indicating that she had recently suffered inhuman abuse.
Everyone looked at each other, their eyes flashing with confusion—they clearly did not recognize this pitiful person before them.
"Yanzi, what’s going on here?" Lizhong, while sympathetic to the little girl, was not pleased to see his granddaughter bring a stranger into their ho without any explanation and asked in a stern tone.
Before Liyan could answer, Xin Er, who had just co back from the outhouse, recognized the bruised little girl with a single glance. She rushed over and scread in shock, "Tang Xin, how did you end up like this? Did that wicked Mrs. Yu beat you again?"
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