Chapter 3

Previously, Fan Mu wasn’t worried at all, but ever since Hu Shuiqing woke up from hitting her head, she deeply believed that her younger daughter-in-law would be hard to manage!

Her gaze fell on the two little girls, half-threatening and half-coaxing: “Shuiqing, you’re someone who understands reason and knows the big picture.

Tell everyone, we must dispel the idea that our Fan family would sell our granddaughters to get a wife for our grandsons. We’re honest and good people, how could we do such a thing?”

Daya and Erya nervously clung to their mother’s clothes, their tearful eyes looking to her for help.

They were suddenly very afraid, afraid that their mother would side with their grandmother and aunt and brush this matter aside.

Fan Daya was especially scared because when their mother found out that their grandmother and aunt wanted to sell her, she was only dissatisfied that the money from selling her would be used to get a wife for Brother Dazhu, not about the fact that she was being sold.

Their mother had been suppressed by their grandmother and aunt for over ten years…

Hu Shuiqing might speak for her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, but she wouldn’t!

She frowned and slowly spoke, “The two girls are still young, how can they tell what’s true or false?”

Fan Daya and Erya’s hearts sank.

Fan Mu and Sun Jinhua’s faces instantly brightened, their expressions turning to smiles, even standing up straighter.

With her mother-in-law’s backing, Sun Jinhua’s uneasy heart finally settled.

Could Hu Shuiqing, who had been weak for over twenty years, really become assertive just from a fall?

Whether out of fear of her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, or for the sake of the Fan family’s and her own reputation, she would definitely cover this up.

As long as it was brushed aside now, they could quietly bring in a broker later…

Shuiqing turned to Daya with a smile and said, “Silly child, you got scared, didn’t you? Did you really think your aunt would sell you?

She was just teasing you. How could an elder, especially just an aunt, decide to sell you? Rest assured, your aunt has money, how could someone raising a son not save enough to marry him off?

If she hadn’t saved enough to marry off a son, would she dare to keep having more children? That would be like a turtle swallowing a weight, determined to make the eldest and second son bachelors and a laughingstock in the village!”

As soon as she finished speaking, Fan Dazhu and Fan Erzhu looked at Sun Jinhua in disbelief.

Previously, their mother had said that selling Daya and Erya would be perfect to arrange marriages for them, and if there was more money, they could choose pretty brides.

According to their aunt, their mother definitely had money, otherwise, how could she keep having children? And the saved money would surely be used for marrying off Sanzhu and Sizhu.

Why should they bear the shame of selling their sister while their younger brothers didn’t have to?

How could they hold their heads up in the village in the future?

“Besides, even if your uncle and aunt didn’t have money, there’s still your grandmother, isn’t there? She must have money.

If it comes to it, we can sell the fields and land. After all, marrying your aunt was done by selling fields, this is nothing new.

The family still has twenty or thirty acres of good land, enough for Sizhu to marry.”

Hearing this, even Fan Sanzhu and Fan Sizhu, who had been silent while watching their cousins being beaten and scolded, turned to look at their grandmother.

They asked in unison, “Grandma, will you provide money for our marriages?”

Fan Mu felt a pang in her heart at the thought of selling the remaining twenty or thirty acres of good land.

When she married into the Fan family, they had a solid foundation with fifty or sixty acres of good land and even more mountains and forests.

They had enough wealth to send two sons to school.

But the eldest son treated reading like it was killing him, always looking to slack off;

The second son loved to study and was often praised by the teacher when he was young. They had hoped he would bring glory to the Fan family, but at twenty-eight, he hadn’t even passed the scholar exam!

The family’s fifty or sixty acres of good land had been sold bit by bit to raise the two sons and for their marriages. After her husband died, they sold a few more acres.

She was really reluctant to sell more, so she strongly supported her eldest daughter-in-law’s idea to target Daya and Erya.

After all, compared to good land, two girls were outsiders.

They would be married off eventually and become someone else’s family, which was no different from being sold.

She whispered to her grandsons, “Don’t listen to your aunt’s nonsense.”

With her keen hearing, Shuiqing shouted, “How can it be nonsense? Mother-in-law, you need to think clearly, you will rely on Dazhu and the other grandsons for your future care!

If you have money and don’t want to give it up, or fields and don’t want to sell them, aren’t you afraid no one will continue the Fan family line?”

Her mother-in-law and father-in-law were selfish, lazy, and bad managers.

In their younger days, they lived well, spending every harvest completely on themselves, never saving a penny.

They spent it all, used it all, and were left with nothing.

When the sons were old enough to study, they sold a few acres of good land, sold more for marriages, and sold more when ill… Now unwilling to sell land, they thought of selling granddaughters.

Sun Jinhua knew the Fan family used to live well and was one of the wealthiest in the village. She suspiciously looked at her mother-in-law, wondering if she still had a lot of money hidden away.

Shuiqing coldly watched her sister-in-law’s family.

Fine, very fine.

With her father-in-law gone, she would eventually have to divide the family.

From the look of it, her sister-in-law believed her mother-in-law had money and would fight for her care during the division.

She didn’t want to live with her mother-in-law after dividing the family.

With such an unreasonable mother-in-law, she feared eating endless wild vegetable porridge and black bread buns.

She didn’t want to eat even one more meal of wild vegetable porridge or black bread buns.

She wanted to eat white bread buns!

She wanted to eat rice!

“Oh no, that won’t do. Sister-in-law Fan, you can’t let the Fan family line be cut off.”

“It’s only right and proper to use money for your grandsons’ marriages.”

Fan Mu felt as if she were being roasted over a fire under the intense stares of her eldest daughter-in-law and her grandsons.