Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 402 Begging to Sell Oneself (2)_1

Chapter 402: Chapter 402 Begging to Sell Oneself (2)_1

Mo Yan picked up a piece of peanut brittle and took a bite, then elbowed Xin Er, who was silently comforting her good friend. When Xin Er looked over, Mo Yan pointed to the plate on the small table and then at Tang Xin.

Immediately understanding, Xin Er picked up the largest candy gourd and stuffed it into Tang Xin’s hand, "This is a sugar gourd my sister just made. Try it and see how tasty it is."

As she spoke, Xin Er grabbed one herself, took a big bite, and crunched loudly. Even though she already had her fill, she pretended it was delicious to save her friend’s pride.

"I want to eat more too, I haven’t had enough yet!" Zhenzhen said excitedly, as if afraid Mo Yan would stop her, she quickly grabbed several pieces of peanut brittle. The Yun Zhao Siblings were young and particularly fond of sweets at their age. Now that there was still more to eat, naturally, they wouldn’t let the opportunity pass.

Tang Xin stared blankly at the sugar gourd in her palm, the rich sweetness filled her nostrils, and before she knew it, the candy was already in her mouth, tasting even sweeter and more delicious than she had imagined.

After a sugar gourd and a few pieces of peanut brittle, Tang Xin gradually relaxed. Amidst Xin Er’s gentle caring words, she began to recount the beatings she had endured not long ago.

Today was Little New Year, and every household was busy with cleaning and offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God; the Tang Family was no exception. Early in the morning, Tang Xin got up and started cleaning with her father, Tang Zhutou. Meanwhile, her stepmother, Mrs. Yu, her two stepsisters, and her half-brother were still sleeping in their warm beds.

By the time the inside and outside of the house were cleaned, it was time for breakfast—or more accurately brunch, as with most families in the village, the Tang Family only ate two meals a day.

Because cleaning the house had taken some time, the meal was not yet ready, and Tang Bao started to cry from hunger. Though he was only two or three years old, he had been thoroughly spoiled by Mrs. Yu and Tang Zhutou, and once he started crying, no one could console him.

Mrs. Yu, who was never of a good temper, became irritated by her son’s crying and blamed everything on Tang Xin, whom she had always seen as a thorn in her side. She accused Tang Xin of being slow and not having the meal ready in time, so she grabbed the cane from the corner of the wall and rushed into the kitchen, where Tang Xin was cooking porridge, and began to beat her savagely.

Ever since Mrs. Yu married into the Tang Family, such beatings had become a regular occurrence for Tang Xin, and normally she would find a way to escape. But this time, blocked by Tang Daya and Tang Erya, she didn’t even have the chance to flee. The beating only stopped after the cane broke and Mrs. Yu was too tired to continue, sparing the bruised and battered Tang Xin.

While all this happened, Tang Zhutou sat in the room holding his young son, listening to his biological daughter’s repressed sobs, he never tried to intervene or even spared a glance.

In spite of the injuries, Tang Xin still had to continue tending the fire and cook the porridge. When it was ready, Mrs. Yu snatched her bowl away and locked her outside, leaving her to shiver in the snow without even a sip of rice soup to drink.

Being deprived of food was not a new experience for Tang Xin, and she was used to it. She had thought that Mrs. Yu would let her be after cooling down, but in the afternoon, while preparing candied popcorn to make sugar gourds, Mrs. Yu found another excuse to beat her savagely. This time there was no cane; she went straight to using her hands, pulling off the cotton coat Xin Er had given her, and pinching and twisting Tang Xin’s flesh.

Tang Xin could no longer bear it, and she bit Tang Yushi’s hand viciously. However, she was small and weak, and the enraged Tang Yushi slapped her several times. Not only did her face swell to the point of being unrecognizable, several of her teeth became loose, and her mouth was filled with blood.

"You little pestilence-afflicted wretch, someone will come to deal with you tomorrow. I want to see if you’ll still dare to be so arrogant after you’ve been to that place," Tang Yushi snarled.

Tang Yushi, looking at her bloodied hand that had been bitten, felt her hatred for her stepdaughter deepen. In her loss of control, she blurted out those words without thinking, and though she wanted to cover it up, it was already too late.

"No, no, it won’t happen. My dad won’t let you do this, you poison-hearted woman!"

Tang Xin was stunned for a moment, then began to cry out incredulously, but a voice inside of her was telling her that it was true. She escaped Tang Yushi’s vicious beating, and ran inside to confront Tang Zhutou, but Tang Zhutou’s silence completely shattered the last bit of hope she had clung to.

After suffering so much misery for so many years, she now faced an unkind fate. If she could, she would rather be a servant or a beast of burden than fall into such filth and be unable to turn her life around. Taking advantage of Tang Yushi and others being inattentive, she secretly ran to the Mo Family’s house.

After hearing Tang Xin’s ordeal, the room fell into silence. No one spoke, only listening to her repeated refrain, "I don’t want to go to that kind of place, I don’t want to, I’d rather die..."

Xin Er held Tang Xin’s hand tightly, tears streaming down her face: "Tang Xin, there will be a way, there must be a way..."

She knew that her good sister had a tough life with her stepmother but had underestimated the extent of her suffering. The word "stepmother" now invoked a profound fear in her. She suddenly felt grateful that after her mother eloped with another man, her father hadn’t remarried and brought her a stepmother.

Zhenzhen felt the same and clung nervously to his father’s arm, even hoping to get a promise—a promise not to find him a stepmother.

Yun Zhao maintained a stoic expression, but he spoke softly to comfort Yun Sheng, who couldn’t stop sobbing. The Yun Zhao siblings too had lived under a stepmother’s roof, but even though their stepmother, Mrs. Song, had eagerly wished to dispose of them, she didn’t dare to abuse them so blatantly. Tang Xin was really too miserable; it would be better to be rid of such cruel family members!

Lixiu’s nephew and niece also felt deep sympathy for Tang Xin. They wanted to step forward and console her but didn’t know how to speak without the risk of making her even more upset.

Mo Yan felt uneasy as well. Tang Xin seemed around Xin Er’s age, but having grown up in a family without love, she was much more mature. She feared that once the girl fell into the den of a brothel, she might really take her own life to preserve her purity.

She would like to go to the Tang Family and seek justice for Tang Xin, but she had no relation to her and therefore no right to do so. Tang Yushi was not someone easy to provoke, and who knew what troubles might arise if angered? Even if she wanted to help, she’d need to think of a foolproof plan...

Just then, Tang Xin suddenly stood up and knelt before Mo Qingze, knocking her forehead on the ground forcefully, and then raised her head with a look of determination: "Mr. Mo, you are a good man. I beg you to save me. Even if it means serving and toiling for you for lifetimes to come as a way to repay your great kindness, I will have no regrets!"

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