Looking at Mo Hong, whose face turned pale with fright, Liu Qingqing paused and said nonchalantly, "Besides the gold bracelet, doesn’t your family have anything else valuable? That can’t be true. Even a little boy around five or six sold to the palace to beco a eunuch is worth ten or twenty taels, and a pretty little girl is even more valuable. If you find the right person, you could get a large tiled house, and even afford to buy several acres of fertile land!"
This remark seed to awaken sothing in Mo Wu. Her cloudy old eyes suddenly brightened: right, why hadn’t she thought of the two little wretches born to that bitch surnad Wu?
Liu Qingqing saw the greed in her eyes clearly, and the sneer at the corner of her mouth was fleeting!
...
The next day, Mo Yan received news from the Hidden Guard that early in the morning, Mrs. Hong had gone into the city looking for "reliable" human traffickers. Feeling that the ti was about right, she brought a chicken, a wild rabbit, and a piece of at to the house of Mo Fang, the Clan Leader of the Mo Clan from Liu Yang Village, that very night.
Although Mo Fang was the Clan Leader of the Mo Clan, his family had many children, and both of his elderly parents were still alive. Compared to other households in the Mo Family, his family’s life was even harder. If it weren’t for the occasional work he did for the Mo Family to earn so wages, his family wouldn’t even have enough to eat to half their fill.
Mo Yan brought so much at, and the old folks and children in Mo Fang’s house were overjoyed. However, Mo Fang frowned deeply, clearly understanding that such a quantity of at was not sothing one took lightly.
At Mo Yan’s suggestion, Mo Fang sent his family to the ancient poplar tree to cool off. Then, the two of them closed the door and talked for a long ti. During the talk, Mo Fang’s firm refusal could be heard, which was followed by silence.
The content of their conversation was known to no one but themselves.
After spending a few days in the city using all her cunning, Mrs. Hong finally found a "reliable" human trafficker. This ti, she was wiser, knowing not to bring the trafficker directly into her ho, not only to avoid being the butt of jokes and criticism but also to prevent causing trouble for her daughter’s marriage prospects.
So, she tricked and cajoled San Ni and Shitou into going to the city with her, arriving at the human trafficker’s hideout. By the ti anyone realized the two children were missing, she would simply say they had been abducted by a human trafficker— who would know that she had sold them!
Mrs. Hong thought her plan was foolproof, but just as she was joyfully accepting the sixty taels of silver from the trafficker, the unstable door was kicked open. The person at the forefront was Tie Tou, his face livid with rage, followed by the grim-faced Mo Fang and other mbers of the Mo Clan.
...
Back in Mo Family Village, the Mo Clan had a clan rule that had been passed down for centuries. The essence of this rule was that mbers of the Mo Clan, unless absolutely necessary, must not sell their offspring, and violators would be dealt with according to clan law.
Why such a rule existed was no longer known, but over the centuries, villagers had sold their children for silver out of desperation or other reasons. The Clan Leader and the elders had turned a blind eye, and over ti, this rule had beco virtually obsolete, holding no sway over the clan mbers’ actions.
After all, Mo Family Village was not wealthy. In years of disaster, when people were starving to death, who cared about clan rules? If selling a child could save a family from starvation, why not sell?
This ti, it was precisely this clan rule from her past mories that had co to Mo Yan’s aid. She had approached the Clan Leader Mo Fang precisely to resurrect this rule and, in the newly determined consequences, stipulate that apart from facing punishnt according to the clan rules, the person who had sold their children would lose all authority over them. The sold children could set up their own households and the seller could not interfere in their affairs, big or small, in the future.
This particular stipulation was tailor-made by Mo Yan to deal with Lao Mo’s House.
Mo Fang’s agreent to establish this sowhat unreasonable clan rule had nothing to do with the at or because Mo Yan’s reasons were particularly compelling, but simply because he couldn’t refuse the terms Mo Yan had offered.
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