The two itinerant rchants, seeing that it was a delicate little girl who spoke to them, didn’t take it to heart.
"Little girl, do you know any family nad Sun in Qingfeng County?" one of them asked with a smile.
"Are there many families nad Sun in Qingfeng County?" To prompt the n to say more, Lian Manman purposely asked.
Indeed, seeing Lian Manman’s innocent and cute way of speaking, both rchants broke into laughter, and their guard dropped even further.
"There are plenty of families nad Sun in Qingfeng County, but the richest and most renowned is the Sun Lianren family. Little girl, why are you asking about families nad Sun in Qingfeng County?"
Why indeed, if not to confirm that Sun Lianren really was the family that Lian Shouren had arranged for her to marry into. It seed that these two n thought she was asking about so other family nad Sun.
"I know Liu Family’s Third Daughter," said Lian Manman, not knowing the poor Liu girl’s actual na, but aware that the village girls are usually called by their birth order, like ’Eldest Daughter’, ’Second Daughter’, and so on, which wouldn’t be mistaken. "I heard she married into a Sun family in Qingfeng County and is enjoying good fortune. Is it the family you ntioned?"
The two itinerant rchants exchanged a glance.
"Who introduced her, do you know, little girl?"
"I heard it was a man with the surna Yang, saying it was for his brother-in-law’s family, arranging a marriage for their child," Lian Manman said.
"I’m afraid that’s the one. Yang Chengfeng has only one sister, who beca the fourth wife, Lady Ru, in Sun Lianren’s house," the rchant clarified.
Lian Manman bit her lip, confirming her suspicion. Such a wealthy family would not seek a child bride; a child bride that they were willing to pay so much silver for, and even more so from a county far off. It turned out that the so-called ’child bride’ was nothing but a story concocted by Lian Shouxin and his wife. The Sun family wanted the little girl as a companion for their son in the afterlife, to have a partner even in death. That money was the price of a life.
"Her father..." Lady Zhang listened blankly for a while, then suddenly let out a wail, and her body went limp, falling from the stool onto the ground, collapsing there.
"Her mother..." Lian Shouxin hurried to help Lady Zhang.
Lady Zhang’s eyes remained tightly shut. Having suddenly grasped the truth, she couldn’t withstand the shock and had passed out.
Lian Manman rushed forward, pinching Lady Zhang’s philtrum, and after a mont, Lady Zhang eventually ca around. When she saw Lian Manman, she imdiately pulled her into her arms.
"Manman, my Manman..." Lady Zhang wailed.
Lian Zhizhi and Wu Lang also understood what had happened and began to cry. Xiao Qi was still a little confused but sensed that sothing bad had happened and started crying as well.
This family’s weeping gathered a crowd of passing pedestrians who stopped to watch.
The two itinerant rchants were at a loss.
"What’s happened here, what’s going on?" Even if they were related to the Liu family, there was no need for such heart-wrenching sobs. One of the rchants asked Xiao Qi, "Young lad, how are you related to the Liu family?"
"We don’t know any Liu family, our surna is Lian, from Thirty Mile Camp," Xiao Qi said.
"What’s going on then?" The rchant was baffled, "What are you crying for?"
"That’s the Fourth Child of the Lian Family," soone from the crowd of onlookers, who ca from Thirty Mile Camp and recognized Lian Shouxin, said, "Ah, that’s their little girl. A few days ago, it seems like she hit her head and was unconscious for several days, and everyone said she wouldn’t survive. It’s said that before that, she was supposed to be sent off to a Sun family in a neighboring county to be a bride..."
Understanding the implication, the two itinerant rchants, afraid of getting entangled in trouble, hastily paid their bill and made to leave.
Lian Shouxin, with reddened eyes, grabbed one of them.
"Big brother, I’m asking you, is everything you said true?"
"We said... what did we say?"
"About the Sun Lianren family, getting a child bride for their young son just for a sacrificial burial, is that true?"
One rchant, not wanting to invite trouble, quickly denied it.
"Isn’t it true? This isn’t exactly a secret in Qingfeng County," another, guessing that Lian Manman was the girl initially ant to be sold to the Sun family, felt he couldn’t just stand by. "What were you doing at the ti, and now you try to disassociate yourself, what’s the aning of this?"
"It seems like their eldest brother made the arrangents from outside," soone who knew the inside story spoke up.
In the countryside, houses are close-knit, as they say, ’the crowing of the cock and the barking of the dog can be heard all around’; there’s barely any privacy. Whatever happens in one family can hardly be kept secret, as it can quickly spread throughout the village. This town, rely a few miles away from Thirty Mile Camp, regularly sees villagers co to town, and many recognize each other. The affairs of the Lian Family were also well known to many in the town.
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