"After eating at noon, I went to sleep and I'm still not hungry. Changting, Yanzhi, you two split this bun to eat." Lin Ziyin handed over the bun, "Sister, you help divide it."
"This?" Lin Zige was a bit troubled, she had of course noticed the envy in the eyes of the two children.
The home conditions were poor, and the two children were having two meals a day with adults, eating the coarsest grains. It was understandable that they salivated at the sight of white buns and rice porridge. But Ziyin is too weak and certainly needs nourishment.
"I don't want it." Skinny Lin Changting shook his head in refusal, "second sister should eat, when second sister eats, she'll regain her strength."
"Don't want." Lin Yanzhi was Lin Changting's tagalong, seeing his uncle refuse the white bun, the little guy also stubbornly shook his head, unable to take his eyes off the bun.
"I already said, second sister isn't hungry." Lin Ziyin said with a smile.
"You eat, I don't want you to die." Lin Changting suddenly became agitated.
"Don't want to die." The little guy's voice was already carrying a sob.
"Don't want." Lin Changting ran out, and without a second word, Lin Yanzhi followed him out.
"They all worry about you, and in these past few days seeing you lying in bed, they don't know how many times they've cried. You eat the bun, just try to recover as soon as possible." Lin Zige sighed and persuaded her.
Lin Ziyin looked at her pale face and silently began to eat a large bowl of food.
She secretly set a determination to recover her health as soon as possible and then improve the conditions at home.
"Old man, we're visiting today to inquire when you will return the two taels of silver from the previous engagement. You know, our Ma Family's life isn't easy either, Zhicai still has to pay for his school tuition. Could you repay us the silver a bit sooner?" A woman's voice filled with bitterness echoed from outside.
"Old man, we were also forced to come here. At the beginning, we came here with pure, silver cash. You all..." and then a man's voice.
"Old man, it's not that we're making it difficult for you. We're all villagers. The engagement got called off, we had no choice. Zhicai is educated, Zige can't read, bringing the two children together isn't right, it might even make them enemies in the end. It's better to disperse early, for them each to get married, it doesn't affect anyone, right?" The woman began to ramble outside.
Sister's engagement is broken off?
Lin Ziyin's face was filled with a stiff pan, she unconsciously glanced at Lin Zige across her.
All she saw was Lin Zige sitting in front of the bed, her face filled with anger and embarrassment, her hand clenched into a fist, it seemed she was trying very hard to restrain her anger inside.
Lin Ziyin suddenly disliked the people outside, the woman's words outside the house seemed nice, men get married, women do too, it didn't matter in modern times. But here it was ancient times, a woman having her engagement called off would attract criticism, perhaps in the future, Lin Zige would struggle to find a husband's house.
And the reason for calling off the engagement was just because the man was accepted as a scholar. Wasn't this clear treachery?
"Auntie, initially it was you all begging the matchmaker to come to propose. But now you all see Zhicai has become a scholar, you come to call off the engagement, it's somewhat unjustifiable to our Lin Family." Guo Hui Niang spoke with a hint of anger, "If you want to cancel the engagement, go ahead, we the Lin Family will watch in acknowledgment of the villagers here, we will not make it difficult for you. But how are we supposed to collect the silver so quickly?"
"What do you mean?" The Ma Family woman's voice went high, "The silver we the Ma Family paid with hard-earned cash, you used all on a sickly body, now asking us how to collect the silver? How should we know, could it be that the Lin Family intends to default on the silver?"
"Auntie..." Lin Changshu began to speak.
"You also don't call me auntie now, just hurry up and return the silver. Otherwise, we will not leave." The Ma Family woman seemed to want to cause a scene, "If others know that you all want to default on the silver even after calling off the engagement, does the Lin Family still want to have face?"
"It's your Ma Family that has no shame." Upon hearing this, Lin Zige couldn't listen any further, she dashed out in a few strides.
Lin Ziyin, who had been listening intently, didn't notice her actions.