The farmer has a mall

Chapter 304 Step by Step Calculation
After the couple adopted her, they really treated her as if they were their own child, and named her Wanqing.

Even though the store's business plummeted during the famine, he still tried his best to spend money everywhere to find goat milk for her. If he couldn't find it, he would cook a bowl of thick rice soup with rice and feed it to her spoon by spoon.

Before the age of six, Xiao Wanqing lived a carefree life and never suffered any grievances.

But the good times didn't last long. When she was six years old, her adoptive mother Zheng became pregnant and gave birth to a boy nine months later.

At the same time, poorly managed grocery stores followed suit.

The husband and wife were both happy and worried. The happy thing was that after so many years, they finally had their own flesh and blood, and a boy who could carry on the family line.

What worries them is that their source of income is cut off, and they don't know how to support their family of four in the future.

Seeing her parents frowning, the sensible Xiao Wanqing took the initiative to do all the work within her capacity, and even helped take care of her younger brother when the two went out to find work.

As life became more and more difficult, the family couldn't even have enough wild vegetables.

I can't even eat enough, so how can I have milk to feed my son.

The couple had to save their own rations and buy some polished rice to boil rice soup for him to drink.

Xiao Wanqing couldn't bear to watch her younger brother who couldn't speak cry from hunger, and only ate wild vegetables half the size of her fist every day.

She felt that if she ate less, her younger brother would be able to eat more.

However, even so, the adoptive parents' attitude towards her gradually cooled down.

When my younger brother was four years old, other people's children of the same age could already run and dance, but he couldn't even speak. He was in a daze all day long, and only cried a few times when he felt hungry.

Only then did they realize that something was wrong, and hurriedly took him to the doctor for a consultation, and was finally diagnosed as an idiot.

This bad news shocked Zheng Shi, so she disliked Xiao Wanqing even more, thinking that it was her who divided his brother's blessings, which made him never have a good day since he was born.

From that day on, Xiao Wanqing seemed to have entered hell from heaven. She not only had to be beaten and scolded by Mrs. Zheng, who had a bad life, but also took care of all the housework, including taking care of her younger brother who had a bad brain but was extraordinarily strong.

Xiao Wanqing gritted her teeth and endured all of this without any complaints.

Seeing that many people began to sell their children because they couldn't afford it, she was even grateful to the Zheng couple for not abandoning themselves in such a difficult situation.

At that time, she didn't know that she was not their biological daughter.

Until one day, the ten-year-old Xiao Wanqing came home exhausted, and what greeted her was Zheng's smiling face that she hadn't seen for a long time.

She was flattered to accept a bowl of thick porridge from Mrs. Zheng, and listened to her rambling about how hard it was to raise her.

Just when she was moved to tears, Mrs. Zheng told her suddenly that she was not her biological mother, and told her that because of raising her, the family savings had been exhausted, and it was very likely that she would not be able to give the bride price to her younger brother in the future. To marry a daughter-in-law, ask her to marry her son as a child bride.

Xiao Wanqing was struck by lightning not only because of her own background.

Under great shock, she ran out and walked dozens of miles to the village where Zheng said her biological parents lived, only to find that the house was already empty.

The dazed Xiao Wanqing didn't know where else she could go, so she had to go back the same way. When she got home, it was naturally the Zheng couple's anger that greeted her, which beat her all over her body, but she still stayed because she had no other place to go. can go.

Seeing this, Mrs. Zheng beat and scolded her even more violently. Not only did she lock her in a dark and small woodshed, but she also specially tied a pair of shackles with the money she had saved with great difficulty.

Except that he can come out with shackles when working, even if he eats and goes to the toilet, he has to stay in the woodshed.

He also declared that she was insane and could easily hurt people if she was not locked up.

Surrounded by decades of old neighbors, watching her grow up since she was a child, and knowing their family's situation, they naturally don't believe this statement.

Xiao Wanqing lost weight day by day, and the clothes that used to fit fairly well looked extraordinarily loose on her bruised body.

Although everyone thought she was pitiful, it was her family's business after all, and no one would take care of it even if it was reported to the government, let alone outsiders like them.

After two years of this kind of life, one day Xiao Wanqing accidentally broke a bowl, and was slapped by the furious Zheng. She knocked on the tip of the gravel while standing unsteadily, and blood flowed out from the side of her head instantly.

However, this did not quell Zheng's anger, and he picked up a fire stick and wanted to hit her.

Just as her consciousness became more and more blurred, the aunt next door saw the little girl lying motionless on the ground, and couldn't bear to rush forward and pull Zheng away.

Xiao Wanqing lay on the ground in a daze, only hearing the intermittent voices of the two.

"I heard that the palace is currently selecting a palace lady. If you really don't like this child, you might as well send her to the palace. I heard that the price of selling yourself is 20 taels of silver..."

"Hey, those who can enter the palace are noble people, how can she be so lucky for such a cheap bone."

"If you want, my nephew is working in the yamen. I'll let him talk to the county master..."

"...No, she has to stay for my son to carry on the family line, in case..."

"Just in case, how old is your son? If you want to carry on the family line, it will take ten years. You send her to the palace for silver, and it won't be too late for her to be your daughter-in-law after she leaves the palace."

"You're right, but I have to discuss it with the head."

"Then you should hurry up, many people can't get in because their scalps are squeezed..."

Early the next morning, Xiao Wanqing dragged her bruised body and walked out of the room under the scrutinizing eyes of her adoptive father.

After the three of them finished their meal quietly, Mrs. Zheng took the rice porridge to feed her son without saying a word, and didn't mention the matter of sending her into the palace at all.

Xiao Wanqing knew that they were worried about themselves, afraid that she would never come back after she left.

So before her adoptive father went out to work, she plopped down and knelt down in front of them, saying that in order to repay their kindness of upbringing, she was willing to enter the palace to serve the nobles, and leave all the money from selling herself to the family, and voluntarily signed a marriage certificate, waiting for her to come out. On the day of the palace, they will get married.

After a night of deliberation, the Zheng couple finally let go and took her to the aunt's house next door.

When my aunt sent her to the gate of the yamen, she stroked her head pityingly, and stuffed a doughnut and a few copper coins into her hand.

"Girl Wan, my aunt can only help you here. I heard that if you win the favor of the master in the palace, you can even leave the palace. Although you can't marry, the rest of your life will be miserable, but it's better than... ..."

She sighed and stopped talking.

But Xiao Wanqing understood what she meant, bent her knees and solemnly kowtowed to her three times.

"Wanqing is very grateful to my aunt for saving me, and I will definitely repay you if I have the opportunity."

After that, she got up and left without looking back.

Concubine Wan said this, picked up the teacup, moistened her throat and said with a smile: "The princess may have heard about what happened after that."

"Since the empress has gone, I tried my best to stay in the palace, but it only lasted for three years. When I was in despair, I happened to meet the drunken emperor who went to Weiyang Palace to remember the empress, so I put on my empress's clothes." The old clothes, painted with the peach blossom makeup that the empress loves most, appeared in front of the emperor, and this was a night of favor."

According to the rules in the palace, as long as she is favored, she is the emperor's woman, and she is not eligible to leave the palace.

This was Concubine Wan's original plan, but she never thought that she would be pregnant with the emperor's heir.

"Originally, I just wanted to take Lin'er and live some ordinary days, but this palace is not such a peaceful place. Not long before the princess entered the palace, the crown prince was released from the confinement, and I was there. Oleander petals have been found in dried flowers in the sun."

(End of this chapter)