Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 11949

"If that Second Brother Mai really is using the guise of marriage to exchange wheat ears for money and then giving them to Widow Li to squander, the village will definitely have to intervene!"

For normal marriages, the village will definitely not interfere; the elders of each family will make the decisions.

Yang Huazhong and his group would even visit to offer congratulations with gifts and a banquet!

But Mai Sui'er is only 10 years old, and the other party is a 20-year-old idiot with a father-in-law in his prime. This is not normal.

Yang Ruoqing suddenly noticed that something was wrong with Luo Fengtang, because he pulled his foot out of the hot tub and went straight to the backyard without even saying hello to the people in the main room.

Everyone looked at each other, puzzled. "What's wrong with Tang Ya? She seems unhappy?" Sun asked in a low voice.

Everyone else could see that Luo Fengtang's expression was not good.

Yang Ruoqing sighed softly. Only she truly understood Luo Fengtang. It must have been that Mai Lao Er's repeated attempts to take advantage of his two daughters over the past few years had touched a nerve with Luo Fengtang.

“Tang Yazi cares about his children the most, especially his daughter,” Yang Ruoqing explained. “So the matter of Mai Lao Er has made him very uncomfortable. Let him go to the backyard to rest!”

"Sigh, our Tang Ya is an upright man and a good father. It's a pity that Mai Sui and Mai Li didn't have a good father."

"How about we adopt those two sisters?" Luo the blacksmith suddenly suggested. "Anyway, we can afford to have a couple more pairs of chopsticks."

Surprisingly, when Luo the blacksmith made this suggestion, neither Yang Huazhong nor Sun Shi objected; in fact, they seemed to agree with it.

Wang Cuilian did not express her opinion, her expression somewhat complicated.

In the backyard, when Yang Ruoqing came to find Luo Fengtang, she found him in the study.

There were also two bodyguards in the study.

Yang Ruoqing understood and turned to go to her bedroom.

After a while, familiar footsteps approached, and Luo Fengtang lifted the curtain and entered the inner room.

"Qing'er, did you go to the study to look for me earlier?"

"Yes, I saw you talking to the guards, so I didn't disturb you."

"Yes, I'll have them investigate and keep an eye on the Mai family." Luo Fengtang came up behind Yang Ruoqing, placed his hands on her shoulders, and gently massaged them.

And you know what? It felt really good. Yang Ruoqing didn't want him to stop.

“I guessed that you left earlier because of this,” she said.

“Hmm.” Luo Fengtang nodded. “Although I know it’s someone else’s family matter, I can’t convince myself to pretend I don’t know.”

“I have to do something about this terrible thing that happened to my daughter right under my nose.”

Yang Ruoqing raised her hand and pressed down on Luo Fengtang's hand, then looked up at him and said, "I support you."

Mai Lao Er wanted to freeload the repair team's labor to repair and reinforce his house, but that alone wasn't enough to make people want to beat him to death. It was his tormenting of his two daughters that was absolutely intolerable!
"By the way, what do you think about the adoption that Uncle mentioned earlier?" Yang Ruoqing asked Luo Fengtang again.

She has her own thoughts, and now she's gambling on whether Luo Fengtang's thoughts are the same as hers.
Regarding this question, Luo Fengtang shook his head without hesitation: "I will not adopt, and I have never even thought about it."

A glint flashed in Yang Ruoqing's eyes, a glint of resonance born from tacit understanding.

“I don’t want to adopt either,” Yang Ruoqing said. “I want to hear your reasons for not wanting to adopt, so I can see if they are the same as mine.”

Luo Fengtang grasped Yang Ruoqing's hand and continued, "The reason is simple: I already have a house full of children and grandchildren, and I don't want to adopt any more from outside."

"Adopting Zhi'er was an exception, and it was also fate. Adopting Zhi'er is enough."

"Secondly, children are human beings; they can think, and they have their own thoughts and feelings. They are not like stray cats and dogs that can be appeased with just a bite to eat or a drink."

“Adopting a child is different. From the moment of adoption, you have to think about the future, pave the way for them, and support them.”

"I can be generous, but I also have a selfish side. I will help those poor children, but I will know my limits."

We can punish the irresponsible parents in their families, entrust the children to reliable relatives, or at worst provide them with material assistance.

Unless absolutely necessary, you should never bring them home. A small favor can breed resentment, and some things are best left unsaid.

After hearing what he said, Yang Ruoqing felt her meridians flow smoothly, because Luo Fengtang had said everything she wanted to say without her having to open her mouth. Isn't this a kind of smooth flow?

“Tang Ya Zi, you know my heart.” Yang Ruo Qing held Luo Feng Tang’s hand tightly. “Then let’s help the Mai Sui Er sisters in our own way.”

The first step is to investigate the situation. We can't just believe whatever Liu says. After all, Liu can be a bit exaggerated sometimes, and she might even get carried away and add her own assumptions and imagination to the story.

……

Luo Fengtang sent someone to inquire about Mai Lao Er's family around noon. After Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang took a nap in the afternoon, the results of the investigation were already in.

Just as Liu had said, Mai Lao Er found a matchmaker and started discussing marriage with a nearly 40-year-old widower from Lijia Village.

"It was indeed under the guise of a child bride, but the old widower's family asked for a dowry of six taels of silver," Luo Fengtang said.

"And the situation of the old widower's mentally challenged son in Lijia Village has also been investigated. He's practically mentally challenged..." Luo Fengtang paused, trying to find the right words to describe the degree of madness in a person, but after racking his brains for a long time, he couldn't come up with a suitable word.

In the end, it was Yang Ruoqing who had to guide him: "Just tell me, is that silly son of yours capable of performing sexual acts?"

Luo Fengtang looked at Yang Ruoqing with a strange expression: "I don't know for sure whether it's possible or not, since no one has tried it."

"However, I discovered something else: when that mentally challenged son was little, he accidentally sat in a bucket of hot water and scalded himself. At the time, some people said that the child was ruined..."

Yang Ruoqing suddenly realized, "There's more to this story? Then it's almost certain he's ruined. So that old widower said he was finding a child bride for his son, but actually he was just trying to... well, to continue the family line. How shameless!"

"By the way, where are Old Man Mai and his wife now?"

Luo Fengtang said, "Mai Lao Er spent the whole day at his father-in-law's house trying to coax his wife. He shouldn't be back yet."

Yang Ruoqing said, "When we get back, let's go to Mai Lao Er's house. I want to interrogate him in person."

"it is good."

"Before that, send someone to do one more thing..."

……

As dusk fell, the guards reported that Old Mai and his wife had returned to the village.

"Just the two of them? Didn't they bring the child?" Yang Ruoqing asked the guard.

The guard shook his head: "We didn't see any child." Yang Ruoqing narrowed her eyes. The previous situation was that Mai Lao Er's wife was very angry when she saw that Mai Li'er had ruined the marriage, so she took her two daughters and one son back to her parents' home.

Now it's the couple who went back to the village, but they didn't bring the three children that the woman gave birth to back because it's inconvenient to do so after dark.
Or perhaps the children's grandparents wanted them to stay there for a few days, so they sent the couple back?

However, during the holidays, it's generally unlikely that people will leave relatives at home, and even if they go out to visit relatives, they are unlikely to leave their children at someone else's house.

Something's not right here.

Yang Ruoqing put down her chopsticks, looked up at Luo Fengtang, and asked, "Let's go?"

Luo Fengtang nodded, and the two of them said goodbye to Luo the blacksmith and the others, put on their cloaks, left home, and headed straight for Mai Lao Er's house in the village...

The second son's family.

Although today, Dad, stepmother, and the two younger sisters and one younger brother brought by stepmother are not at home, everyone has gone to the younger brother's grandma's house, leaving only the sisters Mai Sui'er and Mai Li'er at home.

However, for these two sisters, today was the most comfortable and free day they had in recent years.

At night, Mai Sui not only cooked noodle soup for her younger sister Mai Li, but also dug up a sweet potato and roasted it in the stove for her sister to eat.

Normally, they wouldn't dare to dream of roasting sweet potatoes, because their stepmother would save them for her younger brother.

The stepmother would also count the sweet potatoes from time to time, so Mai Sui'er and Mai Li'er didn't dare to steal any.

But tonight, Wheat Ear secretly roasted one for Wheat Grain to eat.

"Sister, aren't you afraid that your stepmother will find out that the number of sweet potatoes is not right?" Mai Li asked.

Mai Sui'er shook her head. "I'm not afraid. A couple of days ago, I saw my stepmother ask the matchmaker to take some sweet potatoes home to eat as a thank you. When the matchmaker took the sweet potatoes, my stepmother was helping my little brother pee, so I didn't see anything closely."

"I'll take one secretly, she won't notice!"

"Sister, you're so smart! Wow, the sweet potato smells so good, it looks delicious!" Mai Li'er's eyes were completely drawn to the sweet potato in Mai Sui'er's hand, which was roasted to a golden brown and was steaming with a wonderful aroma.

Mai Sui'er smiled gently, "I'll peel it for you."

After peeling off a small piece, Mai Sui pinched off a small piece with her fingernail. The pinched sweet potato was soft, glutinous, and had an enticing color.

The wheat ear blew on the wheat grain and fed it to the wheat grain's mouth: "Come on, taste it and see if it's sweet."

Mai Li took a bite, and it was so sweet... her eyes lit up with stars.

"It's so delicious, sister, you should have some too."

"You don't like it, so I'll give it all to you."

"No, one bite each. If my sister doesn't eat, I won't eat either."

"Okay, then you take two bites, and I'll take one bite, okay?"

"Row."

Just as the two sisters were sharing sweet potatoes and drinking hot noodle soup, Mai Lao Er pulled a cart with his wife, whom he had coaxed back with great effort, sitting on it.

The girls in the kitchen were surprised to hear the sound of the cart wheels entering the yard.

Mai Li'er came to the door and peeked out through the crack. When she saw that it was her father and stepmother who had returned, her little face turned pale with fright.

"Oh no! Father and stepmother are back!"

Mai Sui'er was also startled, her face filled with panic. "Didn't you say you wouldn't be back for the next couple of days? Why so soon?"

After saying this, she looked down and saw the bowls she and her sister were holding, as well as the sweet potato peels on the ground. Mai Sui'er was even more at a loss.

"Sis, hurry up and finish the noodles in your bowl!"

Mai Li'er bolted the kitchen door, picked up the bowl in her hand, tilted her head back, and gulped down the noodle soup in one go.

Even though the soup was still a bit hot, making her little mouth and pale yellow tongue turn bright red, she still forced herself to drink it down.

She touched her belly, thinking that even if she got a beating, it wouldn't be a bad deal, at least she had eaten the food.

Even if I go hungry for two days in a row as usual, I still have some food in my stomach.

Seeing her older sister still standing there in a daze, Mai Li'er became anxious. While keeping an eye on the movement at the courtyard gate, she urged Mai Sui'er, "Sister, hurry up! They're about to come in!"

Seeing her sister like this, Mai Sui'er knew that hiding it was impossible; the best place to hide it was inside her stomach.

She snapped out of her daze and, like her sister, gulped down the noodle soup.

At this moment, Mai Li'er had already grabbed the sweet potato peels from the ground and stuffed them into her mouth as well...

Just after the two sisters finished doing this, the cursing from Mai Lao Er outside the yard grew closer and closer. Then the kitchen door was kicked open with a bang, and Mai Lao Er, whose head, eyebrows, and shoulders were covered in snowflakes, stormed into the kitchen looking fierce.

"What are those two brats doing hiding in this room? I've shouted until my throat's hoarse and they still won't open the door, are they dead?"

The two sisters huddled together in fear, their backs pressed tightly against the stove. Mai Sui'er was 10 years old, and Mai Li'er was 6 years old. Not to mention Mai Li'er, even 10-year-old Mai Sui'er was only about the same height as the stove due to long-term lack of food and malnutrition.

Even so, Mai Sui'er still shielded her younger sister Mai Li'er behind her. Her small body trembled, and her mouth murmured, unable to utter a complete sentence.

Although Mai Li'er's eyes were filled with fear of Mai Lao Er, she still crawled out from behind her sister. Her small and thin body was taut, and she looked up to meet her father's reproachful gaze.

“You’ve been gone all day. My sister and I were starving and looking for something to eat. We didn’t hear you calling us.”

With a gloomy face, Mai Lao Er glared at the girl in front of him and slapped Mai Li'er across the face.

The little wheat grain was hit so hard that she stumbled and fell to the ground, her forehead hitting the cold, hard ground. A huge bump immediately appeared, and the pain made half of her body numb, and she saw stars.

But she didn't cry. She lay on the ground, raised her head, and glared angrily at her father, Mai Lao Er.

"What are you glaring at? I'll gouge your eyes out if you glare again!" Old Mai raised his arm and yelled at Mai Li'er.

Terrified, Mai Sui'er threw herself onto her younger sister Mai Li'er, sobbing as she begged Mai Lao Er for mercy: "Dad, please don't scold my sister. I was cooking because I was hungry. Hit me instead!"

Mai Lao Er spat at Mai Sui'er: "You two good-for-nothings, all you know how to do is eat, especially you, Er Yatou, you jinx, you ruin my good time, I get angry just looking at you!"

As Mai Lao Er continued talking, he lost control of his emotions again and raised his hand to slap someone.

A figure rushed in from outside and stopped Mai Lao Er.