The villagers saw Li Bao's Grandma returning with a beaming smile, holding a bowl of savory meat. Li Liang followed behind her, carrying a sack of grain.
A villager couldn't help but ask, "Did you really sell Heiya?"
Li Bao's Grandma gave a cold snort, a flash of smugness in her eyes. "Of course."
The village chief sighed inwardly but said nothing. Perhaps it was a good thing that Heiya had been sold.
Li Bao's Grandma didn't care about the crowd's reaction. She happily fed the meat to Li Bao.
The rich aroma of meat drifted through the air.
The villagers secretly swallowed their saliva, their expressions shifting unpredictably as many began to hatch their own little schemes.
Human lives were worthless nowadays. Let alone trading them for food, even exchanging children to eat was a common occurrence.
Because their village was relatively united and the village chief was somewhat knowledgeable, they had managed to hold on until now, but their surplus grain was running low.
Every day, they basically relied on digging up wild vegetables and tree roots, mixed with a small amount of coarse grain, just to make a watery gruel to survive.
They were just ordinary farmers who couldn't earn more than a few copper coins all year round. What was worse, even if they had copper coins, they wouldn't know where to buy grain now.
Most of the Yan Kingdom had been carved up by the barbarians. It was easy to enter the cities, but getting out was not guaranteed, so they didn't dare to enter the cities lightly.
"Let's sell Daya and Erya too," an old woman with slanted eyes suggested in a low voice to her husband.
The few people busy preparing the morning meal all looked at the old woman in astonishment.
One of the women shook her head. "Mother, I beg you, don't sell Daya and Erya. They can work."
Standing beside her were her two daughters, Daya and Erya. Daya was about thirteen or fourteen, and Erya was around eleven or twelve. Both were very thin and frail.
Hearing that their grandmother wanted to sell them, they were terrified and hurriedly looked at their grandfather. They both knew that their grandfather had the final say in this family.
The old woman glared at them before sighing heavily. "There's no food left at home. We can't all starve to death. If we sell Daya and Erya, our whole family can survive."
"Then why doesn't Grandmother sell Sanya?" a young boy's voice rang out. He was the woman's eldest son. He was quite tall, but equally thin and frail.
Sanya was the child of his second uncle and the grandmother's biological granddaughter. His own biological grandmother had passed away shortly after giving birth to his father.
Seeing that he dared to talk back to her, the old woman slapped her thigh and wailed, "Oh my, it's so hard being a step-grandmother! I wish I could pull my heart out to show how good I am to you, but you don't appreciate my kindness at all."
"How old is Sanya? Would anyone even want her? How many pounds of grain could she be traded for? I only wanted to sell Daya and Erya for the sake of the whole family. What selfish motives could I have? It's all for this family."
A middle-aged man pleaded with the old man, "Father, we can't sell Daya and Erya. From now on... from now on, we'll eat less."
The old man sighed. "Eldest son, it's not that your father is cruel. You can see it too, our family doesn't have much grain left. We won't make it to the south. It's better to sell them in exchange for a way out for our whole family."
The old man was the head of the family. With him saying this, the matter was settled.
The woman's tears fell. She plopped down on her knees in front of the old man and kowtowed heavily. "Don't sell Daya and Erya! We... our family will eat less from now on. I beg you."
The old man's face was expressionless, and he ignored her. Instead, he looked at the middle-aged man. "Eldest son, control your wife. Crying and wailing at the drop of a hat, making it look as if our Li family is bullying her."
The middle-aged man pressed his lips tightly together and forced out the words, "Has it really come to this?"
The old man fell silent. After a long while, he spoke, "Eldest son, be considerate of the family. They are just girls anyway, and you still have a son."
The middle-aged man couldn't describe what he felt in his heart as his last shred of hope shattered. He knew the family's situation to some extent, and no matter what, it hadn't reached the point of selling their children.
A look of triumph flashed in the old woman's eyes. "Yes, this is also for the good of Daya and Erya. Those are noble people who eat meat every day. They will be going there to enjoy a good life."
In these times, people couldn't just be sold whenever one wanted. It was rare to run into a noble. If Heiya could be traded for half a bucket of grain and a bowl of meat, then Daya and Erya could definitely be traded for more.
The young boy's face flushed red with anger, and he was about to step forward to argue, but the middle-aged man stopped him and shook his head.
The boy was both furious and helpless. His eyes turned red as he shook off the middle-aged man's hand and looked away, feeling utterly disappointed in his father.
Things became lively on Jiang Jin's side again. This time, the villagers had grown bolder and all gathered around to join in the commotion.
The old woman smiled obsequiously. "My family's Daya and Erya are much more capable than Heiya, and they look better too. For both of them, we only want two bowls of meat and one stone of grain."
Dong Si secretly rolled his eyes, feeling that the other party was asking for an exorbitant price. However, he didn't say anything, waiting for Jiang Jin to make the decision.
Jiang Jin was indeed short of hands, but right now she mainly lacked a cook and a carriage driver. She really didn't have much need for little girls who couldn't do heavy work.
The main issue was that it was impractical right now. If they walked, they wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace. They didn't know how to ride horses either, so they could only sit in the carriage, which was already almost full.
Jiang Jin shook her head. "I don't want them."
The old woman grew anxious. "You just bought Heiya, why don't you want them? My two girls are great workers. They can wash clothes, cook, and do everything."
She automatically lowered the price. "How about this, I won't ask for much. Two bowls of meat and eight buckets of rice, what do you say?"
Jiang Jin still shook her head.
The old woman was dumbfounded. She had planned everything so well, and she couldn't help but feel a surge of disappointment. Thinking that Daya and Erya simply hadn't caught the noble's eye, she couldn't resist viciously pinching the two girls.
Dong Si, however, had a different thought. The princess had a delicate and precious body, and fleeing everywhere was already a great grievance for her. In the past, there was no choice, but now it was the perfect opportunity to buy some people to serve as the princess's maids.
Although newly bought servants might not be useful right away, with him around, they could slowly be trained.
Besides, even if they really couldn't be trained, they could certainly help the group light fires, cook, and do rough chores. It was definitely better than the current situation where everyone ended up covered in dirt and ashes whenever it was time to cook.
Thus, he whispered a few words into Jiang Jin's ear.
