Chapter 252

Fan Damu is as shrewd as they come. Once people become overly shrewd, they don’t just focus on relationships; they prioritize interests even more.

Fan Qian was thinking about their past as distant cousins from the same village, but Fan Damu saw no value in these connections whatsoever.

Moreover, Fan Damu has already sold himself into slavery. What help could he possibly offer Fan Qian?

“Help Big Brother sell off Zhaodi,” Fan Jin said, his brows furrowed and his lips pressed tightly.

Shuiqing thought back to when she had just arrived, feeling furious.

She exclaimed, “When we divided our family, they were much better off than us. Their whole family doesn’t just sit idly; they store grain, earn money, and are prepared for any slight disaster. Even families worse off than them tighten their belts and manage to get by!

Yet they think about selling their daughter! When times were good, they planned to bring back our family’s Yan Qiuxing, but after the division, their plans could only fall on Zhaodi;

What? If they hadn’t given birth to Zhaodi, would their lives have been much better? Now, if there’s no daughter to sell during a disaster year, they won’t be able to survive?”

Even Zhang Tuzi didn’t think about selling Zhang Chunhua; he sold the land instead!

Uncle Zhang, who had more fields and forests than Zhang Tuzi’s family, had the idea for his son to marry a niece and to use his daughter’s ideas to get through the disaster years – and fortunately, he had divided his family, or else the disaster years would have been in the mind of his niece.

Some people are really lazy and malicious.

Fan Jin’s brows and eyes furrowed even more deeply, and he sighed softly, “I feel that this is mostly my mother’s idea, and my big brother agrees.”

Although this idea was very disrespectful, he felt that it was his mother’s idea, and if his older brother had proposed it, he would have sold the land first.

As his mother got older and had fewer fields, she suddenly cherished the land, looking at it like an eyeball. But his mother still ate and drank and used everything she had, and she always weighed everything on minor issues and made decisions on major decisions without any concern.

Therefore, money cannot be saved, food cannot be hoarded, livestock cannot be raised, and land cannot be sold. Grandchildren are valuable, but granddaughters can be sold.

Shuiqing agreed with a grunt. These two mother and child were similar to each other, one could dare to think of everything, and the other did not threaten their own interests. They could even benefit, so naturally, they would do everything.

She was more worried about another matter: “Would Fan Damu be willing to help? Zhaodi is only eight years old. Would anyone want to buy him? Even if someone wanted to buy him, they wouldn’t get more than a few taels of silver, right?”

“Big Brother wants to sell Zhaodi to the Wu County magistrate’s house, where he can serve either of the two young masters, Guangzong or Yaozu. He even said that after things are done, he will thank Fan Damu properly, but Fan Damu did not agree.” Fan Jin said this, with no sign of relaxation in his brows and eyes.

Shuiqing looked at his expression and asked, “Since he didn’t agree, why are you still worried?”

In the room, Fan Jin’s expression was dark and unclear, and he remained silent for a while before continuing to speak: “The reason Fan Damu didn’t agree is, first, he looks down on Big Brother asking for help out of nowhere. Without any real benefit, why should he help?

Secondly, the city government lacks nothing more than people right now, and even disaster-stricken people who want to sell themselves into slavery at the Wu County magistrate’s house are lining up. Not to mention the magistrate, even other wealthy families elsewhere, even if they only eat, they also have people willing to queue up.

Families like Zhaodi’s previous wealthy families might be willing to buy him and keep him in the courtyard to serve, but now there are countless people, and food is precious. The city will not have anyone buying it.”

Shuiqing caught the key points, and the city would not buy it, but other places were not necessarily!

She took a deep breath and said, “Are you worried about selling it elsewhere?”

Fan Jin’s lips pressed together as he said seriously, “It’s not worry. It’s just that Fan Damu really made this suggestion to Big Brother, and Big Brother didn’t agree on the spot, but I guess it’s just a matter of time.”

The eldest brother and his wife are selfish people who only care about their own happiness.

They can’t even make their son work hard, and their daughter is even more dispensable.

“Fan Damu told Big Brother about selling Yazi. If Yazi can’t be sold locally, they will find a way to transport him to another prefectural city.

In any case, selling him to anyone is the same, as long as Big Brother can get silver.”

Shuiqing opened her mouth, stunned.

This is completely different. Selling to wealthy households in the prefectural city, there’s a distinction between live contracts and dead contracts. Even with a dead contract, there’s still a chance to see him, to know whether he lives or dies;

But if he’s sold elsewhere, in this era of slow travel, it’s a lifetime without seeing him again. Most importantly, selling to a wealthy household is considered good. But what if he’s sold to brothels and places like that!

“Shuiqing, I think…” Fan Jin’s words paused, his dark eyes hesitatingly looking at Shuiqing.

“Help!” Shuiqing blurted out.

Outside, they were powerless to help, but Fan Jin, as the close uncle of Zhaodi, could!

A smile spread across Fan Jin’s lips, and he stepped forward with his tall, lean body, tightly embracing her, his deep voice whispering softly, “You’re really good.”

Good to the children, good to the parents and siblings, and just as good to Zhaodi, his non-blood-related niece.

Not because of gender, and not caring about blood ties.

Shuiqing felt a little guilty. If it were other women in Hua Country, they would do the same.

·

Fan Qian’s gaze fell on his daughter, who had been working non-stop since she returned.

It was clear that Second Brother’s family was indeed better off, and Second Sister-in-law had not mistreated Zhaodi.

In just a short two months, not only had Zhaodi improved physically and in appearance, but his demeanor had also changed.

He was no longer the bowed and submissive figure from before. A smile would occasionally appear on his little face, making him more endearing.

She quietly did her work, not noisy or disruptive, making it easy to overlook her presence.

Having someone who works at home is actually not bad …

“Hu Wenhua is really lucky! I just asked around, and he gets five wen for each rabbit he sells!” Fan Sanzhu rushed back, his face angry and shouting.

“Five wen?!” Fan Dazhu sat up straight from his recliner, raising his eyebrows and asking again.

“One rabbit for five wen, at least five to ten wen per family. There are about thirty families in our Shanshui Village raising rabbits, so a single trip could earn three to four hundred wen? Did other families agree?” Fan Qian frowned as he calculated.

This is too much.

How could people in the village agree to this?

Fan Sanzhu looked puzzled, “Yeah, I also asked Goudan and Tiedan. They said as soon as the old village chief said the person in charge at home agreed on the spot! They even paid immediately with copper coins.

Especially the men who went out, afraid of giving too little and upsetting Hu Wenhua, followed him. Dad, isn’t that strange?”

Fan Dazhu turned to Fan Qian and asked, “Dad, what’s so special about Hu Wenhua selling rabbits?”

Fan Qian hummed a few times without saying a word.

After he entered the city, he found a reason to separate from them and went to find Fan Damu. He didn’t know how Hu Wenhua sold the rabbits.

“Dad, think quickly. This job makes so much money, we can’t let outsiders take advantage!”

“If we take over selling rabbits, wouldn’t we make more money each time than other families raising rabbits?”