CH 130

The next day, before the sun was up, and Ms. Liang asked Mo Ling and Mo Feng to get up and make a hoard.

She went to the stove to dig out the ashes, and Mo Ling and Mo Feng spread the ashes in a circle, and sprinkled some in the middle to form a cross.

Finally, wheat, sorghum, green beans and other grains were placed inside and then pressed down with bricks. Incense was placed on the bricks to pray for a good harvest.

Mo Yan was woken up by the sound of the commotion, and ran to the yard to have a look: “Quick, put the medicinal herbs I brought back inside the circle!”

Only then did Ms. Liang realise, “That’s right! I almost left out the most important thing.”

Mo Ling expanded the circle, and Ms. Liang put the medicinal herb incense inside. She said, “Our harvest this year depends entirely on this. Deities above, please let the weather be fair and the harvests be great this year.”

Finally, they made a cash hoard and put a bunch of copper coins in it.

Looking at the hoards in the courtyard, Mrs. Liang seemed to see the actual harvest, with a contented smile on her face.

As they were working, the sun rose from the east, and Ms. Liang and Mo Ling went into the kitchen to make flatbread and breakfast.

After breakfast, Mo Yan said she’d go to Qianshui City with Xiaoyue, so she wouldn’t be leaving with them. However, she went to the school instead.

The students entered the classroom, and they started studying.

She approached the window, wanting to see if Mo Zheng was inside, but the window paper was freshly pasted, so she couldn’t see anything. As soon as she turned around, she heard someone whispering “sister” from the tree.

Mo Yan walked under the tree, and Mo Zheng poked his head out from behind it.

“Why aren’t you at school? How dare you play around!”

It was only after she finished speaking that she realised that Mo Zheng’s face was stained with tears. His forehead was bruised, and his eyes were dull.

It went without question that it was all the work of those crows!

At this time, the door of the classroom opened, and an old man with a grey beard came out. This was the new teacher hired by governing official Wu.

The teacher asked, “Girl, do you know this child?”

Mo Yan nodded, and he said, “Then quickly ask his family to take this child away! If this continues, he will be destroyed!”

At this time, Xiao Huzi stood outside the classroom and said loudly, “He’s just my servant, this has nothing to do with you!”

The teacher shook his head and sighed, and returned to the classroom. Little Huzi was still standing proudly and staring at Mo Yan. Mo Yan said, “Sir, governing official Wu is in charge of this village. If anyone makes trouble at school, just go to him.”

After finishing speaking, Mo Yan turned around to leave. Mo Zheng sobbed, “Sister, help me!” Tears were streaming down his face.

Mu Yan’s heart clenched and she almost started crying too. If his parents were anyone else, she could stand up for him, but she had no control over Mo Zheng’s affairs.

She had just walked out of the school when she heard Mo Zheng’s mournful cry behind her. Xiao Huzi was beating him up, and Mo Zheng was powerless to fight back. She really wanted to go back and teach that rascal a lesson, but she held back.

A figure passed by her, followed by the cry of Xiao Huzi. It was Lu Junming, who kicked Xiao Huzi again, pulled Mo Zheng up and left.

“You’re really resorting to kicking a child?” Mu Yan said.

“You can’t be polite with villains.”

Mo Zheng stretched out his hand to grab Mo Yan’s sleeve, holding it tightly in fear she’d go away again, and cried “Sister” while sobbing. It caused Mo Yan’s eyes to turn red.

When they went to the backyard, Mo Zenian was not there, so he must have gone to town. Seeing Mo Zheng, the old woman snorted disgustedly, “Why have you come back from your aunt’s house? You must’ve been disobedient and were kicked out!”

There were obvious injuries on the child’s face, but she turned a blind eye to it. Lu Junming was so angry that he wanted to argue with the old woman, but Mo Yan said, “Forget it, didn’t you say you can’t be polite with villains?”

The old woman opened her mouth, but closed it before saying anything. Mo Yan dragged Mo Zheng out of the backyard. Lu Junming asked her what she was doing, and she said, “Take him to the market first! Give him back to his father.”

Mo Zheng walked too slowly. Lu Junming was anxious, so carried him on his back.

Mo Yan asked, “How did you find us at the school?”

“I wanted to walk you to the market. When I saw you walking to the school, I followed.”

Mo Zheng lay on Lu Junming’s back, letting out sobs from time to time.

They passed outside the storefront, where Ms. Liang, Mo Ling and Mo Feng were setting up a stall. On the opposite street, Mo Zenian set up a stall too. Mo Yan stopped and asked Lu Junming to send Mo Zheng over. Roused from his sleep, he looked back at Mo Yan, and tears welled up in his eyes again.

Lu Junming came to Mo Zenian’s stall and put the child down. Mo Zheng cried and threw himself at his father.

Mo Zenian put his arms around the child and coaxed him, “Zheng’er what’s wrong?”

Lu Junming held back his anger and said, “You’d better take him to see the doctor, who knows how many injuries he has!” Then he turned and left.

Mo Zenian carried Mo Zheng to the hospital. Mr. Cao checked his body for injuries, and Zhao’er took his little hand to comfort him.

The child’s body was heavily bruised, and his delicate skin was scraped red. After seeing it, Mr. Cao shook his head and sighed, “How could you treat such a small child like this?”

After seeing the injuries, he checked the child’s pulse, which was also very weak. Presumably, he hadn’t been able to eat or sleep well in the past few days, and was hurt both physically and mentally.

Zhao’er helped lift up his clothes. Mr. Cao carefully rubbed medicine on Mo Zheng and gave Mo Zenian some nourishing medicine, “This child must’ve been crying every day. His vitality has been seriously injured, he has to recuperate for two days.”

After leaving the hospital, Mo Zheng broke free from Mo Zenian and ran over to Mu Yan, tightly holding on to her sleeve and refusing to let go.

Mo Yan went to hold his hand, and he looked up at her to say, “Sister, I’m hungry!”

Those with children can’t bear to see children being wronged. Ms. Liang’s eyes turned red when she heard him. She turned around and took a bamboo flask, filled it with millet porridge, salted vegetables, then took a salted duck egg, and handed them to Mo Zenian without saying a word.

Mo Zenian took it and Mo Zheng to his stall. Mo Zheng’s eyes were filled with tears.

Mo Yan shouted from behind, “No matter how bad of a person you are, you shouldn’t let such a young child be someone else’s servant!”

Mo Zenian stopped and looked back at them, “I gave them a thousand dollars, and asked them to send Zheng’er to school! He wasn’t a servant!”

“But that rascal said that Zheng’er was his servant!”

Post-translation notes: Seriously Mo Yan? You were seriously going to do nothing if Lu Junming didn’t interfere? Seriously? At least most of the things got resolved at the end, at least…it might be worth it if she ends up adopting Mo Zheng. He clearly likes her more, and Mo Zenian has proven to be an incompetent father.