Lin Yuan managed to stop a passing ox cart at the crossroad heading to the Lin family's hollow, thankful she had the copper coins scrounged from Li Feng'e, or else the cart owner wouldn't have let her hitch this ride. As for Li Feng'e, Lin Yuan certainly wouldn't let her sympathy overflow to bring back the malicious woman who wanted to sell her.
When Lin Yuan arrived at the entrance of her home, her premonition proved true. The usually deserted courtyard was today crammed with nosy villagers, murmuring among themselves, and she could faintly hear crying and yelling from girls in the crowd.
Lin Yuan knew the situation was dire and hurriedly pushed her way through the people crowding the entrance. She saw her uncle, Third Uncle Lin Jiaxiao, pulling Big Sister Lin Wei out by her thin arm, while her mother, Lady Liu, visibly pregnant with a nearly seven-month belly, desperately clung to her second daughter's hand, tears streaming down her once beautiful face.
"Weiwei, my Weiwei! Third Uncle, she's your own niece. How could you bear to do this? How could you?"
"Mother, mother, I, I don't want to go, I don't want to," Lin Wei sobbed, her thin cheeks stained with tears and snot, her small, black, and skinny hands tightly gripped in her mother's, with large red marks already visible on her wrists.
"You jerk, Third Uncle, let go of my second sister, jerk, jerk!" Lin Yuan's youngest sister, Lin Shuang, embraced Lin Jiaxiao's leg, cursing him fiercely while she beat at him with her little hands. But she had been frail since infancy, looking only a bit over three years old at the age of five, and her strength was as insignificant as a kitten's, allowing Lin Jiaxiao to easily toss her aside.
Lin Yuan quickly ran forward to catch her little sister, her eyes blazing with furious flames.
"I'm telling you, sister-in-law, you really are dense. Do you know who the county lord is? Becoming a maid for his young master is a blessing many can't even beg for," Lin Jiaxiao said casually as he tossed the little one aside and went back to dragging Lin Wei. "Having Weiwei become a maid is sending her to a life of blessings. Why don't you think about your child's welfare?"
Lady Liu felt her strength ebbing away, but the thought of losing her daughter forever if she let go made her heart ache more than any physical pain. She took a breath, her voice hoarse, "My daughter, even if she starves or freezes to death, cannot leave my side for a single step. Third Uncle, for the sake of your sick second brother, don't sell my daughter, I beg you."
Lin Yuan, supporting her little sister's hand, felt a pang in her heart at her mother's words, recognizing her just as in her memory. Although their neighbor's eyes saw nothing but little disasters or a financial loss, in their mother's heart, they were her lifeline! But mother, oh mother, do you expect sympathy from a wolf?
Lin Yuan tugged her little sister's hand and whispered in her ear. Lin Shuang might have been small and weak, but she was the most clever-hearted, and upon hearing what her big sister needed, she nodded vigorously without a question and darted into the main house.
Lin Yuan watched her little sister's face, showing not a trace of fear, and thought to herself that this little one was indeed a promising child.
"Third Uncle, let go of my big sister this instant," Lin Yuan sprinted in front of Lin Jiaxiao, and perhaps he hadn't expected this 'Little Disaster Star' to appear suddenly, her face still smeared with a large blotch of blood. Lin Jiaxiao was taken aback, caught off guard, which allowed Lin Yuan and Lady Liu to snatch Lin Wei away.
"Third Uncle, what's with you?" Lin Yuan saw his face screw up as though he had swallowed a bad egg and gave a light laugh, "Third Uncle, weren't you intending to send Big Sister to enjoy good fortune? Since Big Sister is unwilling, then, how about me? Would it be alright for me to go instead?"