Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

"Cuiying, the children have brought it all, please accept it! The children have had a hard time too."

Knowing that her daughter-in-law disliked Zhang Xianglan, Zhou could only try to persuade her.

Although their parents weren't good people, their daughters were quite nice. They did all the housework and their personalities weren't like their parents'.

“Mother…” Wang Cuiying hesitated, but seeing the several thin, ragged maids, she couldn’t bear it and softened her heart: “Accept them then.”

Zhou smiled and glanced at her son; her daughter-in-law was tough on the outside but soft on the inside.

"Da Ya, how about I give you twenty coins for this firewood?" Zhou Shi took out a string of coins from her bosom and began to count them.

"Ah! Granny Zhou, you don't need that much, just give me ten coins."

The three bundles of firewood they carried weighed only about a hundred pounds. They usually collected firewood to sell, usually for one coin for ten pounds. Granny Zhou gave them twenty coins at once, which was far too much.

“Here you go, take it. There’s also a basket of aloe vera seedlings.” Zhou counted out twenty coins and stuffed them into Daya’s hand, her expression brooking no refusal.

"Thank you, Grandma Zhou. We'll bring you some more later, no need to pay us." Daya accepted the money and decided to gather some more firewood later.

Zhou waved her hand and said, "No need to see me off anymore, you should go home and have lunch."

"Thank you, Grandma Zhou!"

After thanking them, the maids left the Mu family compound.

"Big sister, is this money enough for Mother's medical treatment?" Er Ya asked her sister quietly as soon as she stepped out of the Mu family's gate.

“That’s not enough. We need to collect more firewood to sell in the next few days. We’ll also collect three more loads to deliver to Grandma Zhou’s house. Grandma gave us too much money.”

Yesterday she went to ask Dr. Liu, and he said that this amount of money was not enough to treat her mother's illness, and she would need to collect more firewood.

Sanya also came over and asked, "Big sister, are we still going to dig up that aloe vera?"

"If you see it, dig it up. Let's hurry and gather firewood," Daya said, urging her two younger sisters.

"But, big sister, I'm hungry," Sanya said, rubbing her stomach with a pitiful expression.

"Here, you two share this." Daya took a sweet potato from her bosom and handed it to Sanya.

"Big sister, do you want some too?" Sanya divided the sweet potato into three portions, giving one portion to each of her eldest and second eldest sisters.

Daya swallowed hard as she looked at the sweet potatoes, but ultimately waved her hand and refused, saying, "You guys eat more, I'm not hungry."

She was hungry too, how could she not? For breakfast, she only drank a bowl of clear porridge and ate half a sweet potato, which she finished in two bites.

"Big sister, if you don't eat it, then I won't eat it either." Sanya stubbornly stuffed the sweet potato into Daya's mouth.

"Then let's eat together."

The three of them walked and ate sweet potatoes together. The sweet potatoes weren't very big, but Sanya was very hungry and didn't care about choking. She wolfed them down in two bites.

After finishing her sweet potato, Sanya watched her two older sisters still eating slowly and carefully. She swallowed hard and turned her head away from them.

About an hour later, the three sisters each carried a bundle of firewood to the Mu family's house. After entering the courtyard and putting down the firewood, they were about to leave when Zhou called them back:

"Da Ya, didn't you say you didn't need to send any more? Why didn't you listen? Did you skip lunch?"

Seeing that they had only been gone a short while before bringing so much firewood again, Zhou figured they must have gone to gather firewood without having eaten.

Daya then stopped and said to Zhou, "Grandma Zhou, we've eaten."

“Here, take these back and share them with your younger sisters at home.” Zhou handed two oil paper packets to Daya, which contained sugar cubes and pastries.

Although Zhang Xianglan and her husband were unreliable, their children were all sensible and good kids. However, having such parents was tough on them. At a young age, they not only had to work in the fields but also had to find ways to earn money to help support the family.

Daya quickly refused, "Grandma Zhou, we can't take these. We'll be very grateful if you can accept our firewood."

Sanya leaned over and said, "Grandma Zhou, we don't need food. Could you please collect our firewood this afternoon? We need money..."

"Sanya, stop talking nonsense." Daya glared at her younger sister, stopping her from saying anything more.

"What happened? Did something happen at home? Tell Grandma quickly." Zhou Shi was puzzled after hearing Sanya's words and hurriedly asked them.

"Grandma, my dad beat my mom when he was drunk. He beat her so badly that she miscarried. He also took all the money in the house. My mom doesn't have money for treatment. My older sister doesn't want me to tell anyone about this, but my mom will really die if she doesn't have money for treatment."

After Sanya finished explaining her family situation, all three girls burst into tears.

"When did this happen? When did your mother miscarry?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou was both anxious and bewildered. She had just gone to the village for a walk, how come no news had come out? These three girls had kept it a secret far too well.

“It’s been several days now. My mother isn’t feeling well and can’t get out of bed. My father hasn’t come back either. Grandma Zhou, can you keep taking our firewood? I need to exchange it for some money to treat my mother’s illness.”

Daya stopped crying and choked out, while Erya and Sanya wiped away their tears and stopped crying as well.

Now is not the time to cry; what we need to do is gather more firewood to earn money for our mother's medical treatment.

Although their mother scolded and cursed them all day long, she never hit them, and she always gave the sisters the first food she had.

When their father got drunk and went berserk, he would try to beat the sisters, but their mother would protect them.

This mother wasn't particularly good, but she wasn't bad either. If they lost their mother, they would definitely be beaten to death or sold by their alcoholic father.

Therefore, they cannot live without their mothers.

"Take this money to treat your mother's illness first, we'll talk about other things later." Zhou Shi hurriedly took out a string of copper coins and handed them to Daya.

"Thank you, Grandma Zhou. I will definitely gather firewood and bring it over to pay back all the money."

Daya did not refuse, but held the money tightly in her hands and bowed deeply to Zhou Shi to express her gratitude.

Er Ya and San Ya also hurriedly thanked Zhou Shi.

"Go find Doctor Liu to treat your mother quickly, don't delay any longer." Zhou urged them, as she had been sick for several days and could not afford to delay any longer.

The girls then took the money and hurriedly ran to the village to find Doctor Liu to examine their mother.

"That cripple Wang is such a scoundrel, his poor children," Zhou muttered to herself as she walked inside, shaking her head and sighing.

"Mother, why are those girls from her family coming to see you again? I told you not to mess with them, but you didn't believe me. If you mess with them, you'll never have peace and quiet again."

Wang Cuiying also heard the commotion in the courtyard and saw from afar that it was Daya and the others again. She was too lazy to come over, as she felt angry whenever she thought of Zhang Xianglan.