"Aunt Liu Hua, what exactly did you want to see me about?" An Jing kindly reminded, seeing that Aunt Liu Hua seemed to have forgotten the serious matter at hand.
"Oh right, I had almost forgotten because of you," Aunt Liu Hua snapped back to her senses, "There's trouble. Your parents have sold you to Landlord Wang, and his people are at your house waiting for you right now, wanting to take you back to Landlord Wang to be his concubine."
Xiao Changyi's frown was almost imperceptible.
An Jing carefully sifted through Lin Anjing's memories left to her, only to break into a cold sweat, "Isn't that Landlord Wang already seventy years old?"
"Exactly! He's practically got one foot in the grave and yet he still wishes to prey on young girls. I heard he's already got ten concubines, and you'd be the eleventh," Aunt Liu Hua became more indignant as she spoke, "Can you believe your parents? They're practically pushing you into a pit of fire!"
An Jing couldn't help but laugh angrily, "How much was I sold for?"
"Ten taels of silver."
"That little, huh…"
"Little?!" Aunt Liu Hua's eyes bulged in disbelief, "Girls better than you haven't been sold for as much as you, and the last one, Ah Feng, with her pretty features and ample hips, clearly capable of bearing a son, was sold for only eight taels of silver."
An Jing: "…" Alright then, considering that a farmer here hardly earns two taels of silver in a year, being sold for ten was indeed a lot.
"I heard Landlord Wang is about to die and wants to marry another concubine to cheer himself up. He's so old and already has many children; he doesn't care whether the new girl he marries can have children. Your parents went ahead and sold you to Landlord Wang themselves."
An Jing thought: Father Lin and Mother Lin are really something else.
"An Jing, I came to tell you, don't go home just yet. Hide somewhere outside and see if you can avoid this. Once you enter the Wang family, you'll definitely be a widow, and I also heard that Landlord Wang's concubines have it terrible, worse off than even the slaves."
However, An Jing laughed, "Wang the Landlord's Family must have my servitude contract in hand; hiding would be useless."
"That's true," sighed Aunt Liu Hua.
After some thought, An Jing asked, "Aunt, how many people came from the Wang family, and are they strong?"
Aunt Liu Hua frowned with concern, not understanding why An Jing would ask this. She also felt that today's An Jing was different from the An Jing of the past; the old An Jing used to speak to her in a timid and shrinking manner, unlike the composed An Jing of today, who showed no signs of inferiority.
Still, Aunt Liu Hua responded, "There are two of them, looking pretty burly. They seem to be house servants from the Wang family, but whether they can fight, I don't know."
"Only two of them, huh…" An Jing's smile grew even brighter.
Xiao Changyi turned his head to look at the smile on An Jing's face, and his pupils slightly contracted.
Aunt Liu Hua swallowed nervously, feeling like she no longer recognized An Jing.
"Auntie, let's go. I want to see how they plan to take me away." After speaking, An Jing patted Xiao Changyi on the shoulder, and he immediately continued to carry her down the mountain.
Half a stick of incense later.
"Put me down." An Jing did not allow Xiao Changyi to enter the Lin family's courtyard; instead, she asked Xiao Changyi to put her down at the entrance of the courtyard.
Once set down, An Jing swiftly found a chopping knife in the bamboo basket and deftly tucked it into the back of her waist.
Aunt Liu Hua peered inside the Lin family's courtyard and missed An Jing's action, but Xiao Changyi saw everything clearly, his eyes shimmering with a slightly cold light.
Inside the courtyard, Lin's mother saw An Jing's return and immediately came up beaming like a flower, "An Jing, my precious daughter, you're back. Come in quickly, Mother has some good news to tell you."