Crossing Over to Yamada Love

“Lanlan, your aunt isn’t angry, she’s just scared. Those three young masters are clearly from wealthy families. If they really kidnap you and make you their maid, how can your aunt explain it to your grandmother and mother! Even your aunt herself wouldn’t allow you to become a maid. Maids in wealthy families eat and use better things than we do, but Lanlan, maids are servants, their lives and marriages are not their own, and there are many dirty things to do. Lanlan is still young and doesn’t understand, but you mustn’t even think about becoming a maid.” Liu Shi hugged Mo Lan, her voice soft but firm, earnestly trying to persuade her.

"Lanlan knows, Auntie, don't worry. Lanlan will always be with you, I won't go anywhere. Please don't tell Mother about this, okay? I'm afraid Mother will be scared and won't allow me to go to town anymore." Molan knew that Liu Shi genuinely cared about her, so she hugged Liu Shi's arm tightly and agreed.

Liu enjoyed Mo Lan's affection for her. She truly loved Mo Lan as her own child. After hearing Mo Lan's words, she pointed at Mo Lan's forehead and said, "You little devil, you don't have to say anything, but you have to promise your aunt that you will never go to town alone again, no matter what you do."

“Okay.” Mo Lan nodded and began chatting and laughing happily with Liu Shi and Qiu Dajun again.

"Isn't this Changsheng? What are you doing here? Do you want to come back with the carriage?" Old Liu, the driver, suddenly stopped the carriage and called out to a man under a tree by the roadside.

Mo Lan looked up and saw that it was her third uncle, Mo Changsheng. What was he doing here? Their village was quite a distance away; had he gone into town too? She hadn't heard anything about it. Mo Lan wondered to herself.

Mo Changsheng looked rather grim, as if someone owed him a lot of money and wouldn't pay it back. He glanced at Old Liu, then at Liu Shi and Mo Lan on the cart, stood up from under the tree, walked to the oxcart, said "thank you for your trouble" to Old Liu, and then sat down on the front of the cart.

"It's nothing, your family paid for the fare, giving you an extra ride is no big deal." Old Liu chuckled sheepishly, tugged on the ox rope, and drove the cart back.

Aside from a brief greeting at the beginning, no one spoke afterward. Mo Lan looked at Mo Changsheng's cold expression, feeling puzzled. Although her third uncle was usually cold, he hadn't acted like this before. The way he had looked at her earlier was strange—cold, somewhat ruthless, and tinged with guilt. Why was he looking at her like that? Mo Lan couldn't understand.

The oxcart stopped in front of the house. Mo Lan and the others unloaded their things from the cart. Mo Changsheng went into the yard without saying a word. He didn't help Mo Lan and the others carry their things, nor did he greet Old Liu. Mo Lan glanced at his back, then gave Old Liu 30 coins and asked him to take Qiu Dajun back.

"Brother Dajun, you should go back now. These things are for Grandma and Grandpa. We won't keep you for dinner." Mo Lan waved to him, signaling Old Liu to hurry up and leave, carrying away Qiu Dajun's words of refusal.

"Why are you kicking people out like that? Why didn't you let Dajun come in, eat, and then leave?" Liu Shi looked at Mo Lan and complained to her from the side.

“If we wait for Brother Dajun to eat here before leaving, the things we asked him to take back might not fit in the car. So, it’s more cost-effective for Brother Dajun to go home and have Grandma and Aunt cook for him.” Mo Lan replied to Liu Shi with a chuckle.

Liu didn't say anything more, because what Mo Lan said was true. If Da Jun was left behind, the things on the cart would probably not be able to be taken back.

The two began moving things into the yard.

"Wow, why did you buy so much stuff? Did you strike it rich or something?" A loud female voice came from the side as Mo Lan picked up two large carp.

She looked up and saw it was Aunt Ma from next door. Aunt Ma was in her forties, with a dark face, thick eyebrows, small eyes with many wrinkles at the corners, a bulbous nose, and a large mouth. She wore a coarse blue cloth shirt and trousers, leggings, and black cloth shoes—the typical attire of a typical farm woman. Judging from her appearance, she had probably just returned from visiting neighbors and had seen what Mo Lan and the others had bought, so she casually asked about it.

Mo Lan smiled at her and continued, "It's the money Auntie earned from doing embroidery that I used to buy some food to nourish everyone. Aren't we about to plant rice? I'm afraid my grandfather and second grandfather will get too tired."

"Changhai's family is quite good. Speaking of your family's wives, your mother and your aunt are both excellent. Transplanting rice seedlings is exhausting; without good food, how can you have the strength to work? I'll have to go and buy two pounds of meat for my husband to nourish him these next few days." Aunt Ma said a few words to Mo Lan with a smile, then went into the yard.

Mo Lan and Liu Shi hurriedly moved their things inside, hoping not to run into anyone else. The old lady Ma they encountered earlier was quite nice, but if they ran into a few gossipy and malicious people, who knows what they would say about them later.

Mo Lan put her things away and felt very strange. Only her mother and Mo Mei were in the kitchen. The two of them had just gone to help them move things. Her grandmother and Xiao San were in the main room. Where were Feng Shi and Liu Shi?

Mo Changsheng entered the courtyard before them. He should have told Cui about their shopping. Given Cui's personality, she should have run out and demanded a share of the things by now. Why is there no movement? And why is Feng also nowhere to be seen?

Mo Lan told the others to pack their things while she quietly walked towards the second house. She couldn't help but be very curious. Mo Changsheng was acting strangely today. He must have something to keep Cui Shi occupied. This matter must be quite significant, otherwise he wouldn't have prevented Cui Shi from coming out to distribute the things. So Mo Lan decided to eavesdrop.

She went to the window of the side room where her second and third uncles lived, found a secluded spot to squat down, pressed her ear against the wall, and listened intently.

"So much money! Are you trying to kill yourself? You lost so much silver, how are we going to pay it back?" A deliberately lowered, angry female voice came to Mo Lan's ears.

She frowned. That was Feng's voice. No wonder Feng hadn't come out; she was in the house too. Judging from this, her third uncle had gone gambling again? And lost quite a bit of money. Mo Lan continued listening.

"We've already lost, what's the use of you shouting, Mother? They'll be coming to collect the debt tomorrow." This was Mo Changsheng's voice, tinged with a hint of impatience.

"Mother, please think of something! My husband has lost so much money, what are we going to do?" Cui's voice was filled with anxiety, and she seemed completely lost at this moment.

"What can I do! He lost fifty taels of silver, that's not just five strings of cash, even if we squeezed every last drop out of him, we still couldn't come up with that amount." Madam Feng replied helplessly, the amount was simply too large, and she had no idea what to do.

"When they lent me the land, they made me sign a pledge as collateral, but they only offered eight taels of silver for a good acre of land," Mo Changsheng's low voice came again.

What?! Mo Lan was shocked. Her third uncle had actually given away their own farmland! It wasn't even his own land, how dare he do that!

"Are you courting death? That good land is worth more than ten taels of silver per mu. You've sold it for eight taels. If the eldest son's family finds out, they'll skin you alive." Madam Feng's voice was full of anger.

"After thinking about it, I also felt it was a loss. We lost the land, and we had even less food. What would we eat then? So I discussed with them about destroying the mortgage agreement," Mo Changsheng replied in a chilling tone.

"It's good that it's destroyed, it's good that it's destroyed, but how could the heads of the household agree to destroy it? They didn't say how they would repay so much silver?" Madam Cui breathed a sigh of relief at first, then hurriedly pressed her husband for answers.

Silence fell over the room; for a moment, no one spoke. Mo Lan found it strange. Why wasn't her third uncle saying anything? Or was he having trouble coming up with an answer? A bad feeling crept into Mo Lan's heart.

"Say something, sir! You're driving me crazy! Say something!" Cui was also extremely anxious. Seeing that Mo Changsheng hadn't spoken for a long time, she urged him on.

"I gave Lanlan and Xiao San'er to them as collateral." Mo Changsheng uttered a cold and ruthless statement.

Mo Lan was so shocked by those words that she almost collapsed. She really doubted whether she had heard correctly. Could it be? She must have misheard. How could her third uncle have bet her and Xiao San'er on gambling?

"What! You took that wild girl and that brat out! That won't do! I'm disgusted by them too, but if you take them out, the eldest son's family will eat you alive!" Madam Cui was also incredulous, her eyes wide with fear as she looked at her husband.

"Just don't let them know. When the time comes, think of a way to lure those two brats out. Changsheng, what did you say to the people at the gambling den?" Madam Feng thought for a while with a gloomy face, and then spoke coldly.

"Mother and I are on the same page. I've arranged it with them. They'll wait for me at the village entrance tomorrow. I'll bring Lanlan and Xiaosan there, hand them over, and they'll just put them in the cart and drive away. When they come back, I'll say Lanlan and Xiaosan have run off and can't be found. They'll search for them for a couple of days, and if they can't find them, they'll assume they were kidnapped by child traffickers. They'll blame me for a few days, but that'll pass." Mo Changsheng's voice was devoid of emotion, as if he were talking to strangers, not his nephew and niece.

"That brat is quite clever. What excuse are you going to use to lure her out? I think she's been into going up the mountain to pick wild vegetables lately. Why don't you just say you're taking them up the mountain? Then say you can't find them. There are lots of wild animals in the mountains, they might get eaten." Madam Feng's voice came, her tone cold and calm. But Mo Lan felt a chill creep up her spine.

"Mother's idea is good. We'll see where they go looking for people. With two less troublemakers around, things will be much quieter." Cui chuckled, praising her mother-in-law.

"Sheng'er, how much silver did you bet on those two boys?" Madam Feng ignored her and asked her son instead.

"Originally, they were only willing to contribute ten taels each. But I said that Lanlan is a pretty girl who can read and write. If she were trained, she could earn a lot of money in the future. That's why they contributed twenty taels. As for Xiao San'er, she's a boy and good-looking. They said she could be trained to be a prostitute, so they also contributed twenty taels." Mo Changsheng said coldly, his voice carrying a hint of reluctance, because he knew what kind of person his nephew and niece would become in the future, but more than that, it was filled with ruthlessness and indifference.