The Clan Leader said, "This child has suffered. When she was two, her father went to the sea to fish and was bitten to death by a shark, and her mother died in a tragic love story. Now, she is just getting by with her grandparents and uncles."
But clearly, her grandparents and uncles didn't treat her well. When Lin Wanwan first met her, she was naked, with only a dirty rag that was a sight for sore eyes, and she was as thin as a bag of bones. The flesh on her now is due to Lin Wanwan's care over the past half month.
Big Sister and Little Crab are also thin, but at least they're clean. However, Little Qingyu was dirty from head to toe, like a little refugee from a future television show.
In fact, if it weren't for the Clan Leader not allowing the Lin Family Manor to sell children, she would have been sold by her uncles long ago. Unfortunately, she could not escape her fate of being abandoned.
The Clan Leader knew well that the child surely was abandoned. After the incident, he punished Lin Guofu's youngest son to kneel in the ancestral hall for a night and warned them that if the clan found the child was sold to unsavory places, they would be banished from the clan.
Lin Guofu's youngest daughter-in-law, Lin Sunshi, swore she did not sell the child, claiming she would meet a bad end and be struck by lightning if she did.
Now, the child was picked up and adopted by Lin Wanwan, her own clan member, which seems to be destined. She's a child of the Lin Family Manor, and wherever she was abandoned, she was found.
Lin Wanwan looked at the Clan Leader, "Uncle, may I adopt her?"
The Clan Leader hesitated upon hearing this from Lin Wanwan, "Wan, raising a child may affect you. You're not too young anymore..."
He didn't finish, but Lin Wanwan quickly understood that, at twenty-two, in the Tang Dynasty, she ought to be married with children already!
Without deliberating too long, Lin Wanwan spontaneously made up a tale, "My master planned a marriage for me, but my fiancé was killed in the war, and I have decided not to marry! I intended to become a Taoist nun, but now that I've connected with my clan, I just want to remain here forever."
The Tang Dynasty permitted concubinage, but she hadn't considered marrying and having children here. In fact, in 2022, she was a staunch non-marrier.
The Clan Leader was astonished upon hearing her declaration.
The Great Tang was not like the later Ming and Qing dynasties; in the early Zhen Guan Dynasty, there was a severe population issue. After previous turmoil, the population fell from more than ten million households to just under three million households.
Of course, not all the population died in battle; many fled into the mountains as hill folk, and some escaped to Turkic lands, unregistered.
To promote population growth, the court was redeeming the external population and registering hill folk, while naturally encouraging marriage and childbearing, advocating for early marriage and early parenthood.
Young men and women past marriage age were fined, and even "official matchmakers" were sent to promote marriages. For widows, remarriage was also positively supported; chastity arches, the Three Bonds and Five Constants, were insignificant in the face of population needs.
In the third year of the Zhen Guan Dynasty, the Tang Emperor issued a decree: reward a stone of millet for every baby boy born since the beginning of that year.
If you insisted on widowhood, the officials would persuade you to marry, as it affected their political performance.
But Lin Wanwan was a newcomer, a recluse from the mountain, and the Clan Leader didn't say much more, ultimately nodding, "Since that's the case, no objection. Come, I'll take you to Guofu's house and let them know. They'll be delighted you're willing to raise this child."
"Uncle Clan Leader, please wait while I carry Little Yu over to make it official."
Returning with Little Qingyu, the youngster leaned her head on Lin Wanwan's shoulder, knowing she was returning to her grandparents' home, she was afraid, losing her previous child king air.
As expected, Lin Wanwan and the Clan Leader went to Lin Guofu's house at the far end near the mountain foot in the village, stating their intention; the other party immediately agreed to the adoption.
The little one is under seven years of age, not yet on the clan registry; changing caregivers is too simple.
Lin Wanwan surveyed the environment at Lin Guofu's house; a few dilapidated seaweed stone houses, a pit-filled yard. A few girls hid behind the door, watching Lin Wanwan and the small Qingyu in her arms.
Lin Wanwan sweeps her eyes over them; the three girls are stark naked. The eldest looks around ten years old.
Two boys squatting and playing with dirt in the yard are dressed, in unpatched decent outfits.
Lin Wanwan slightly frowns; this family clearly values boys over girls, no wonder Little Qingyu was emaciated here.
She took out a small gold ingot from her sleeve and said to the Clan Leader, "Uncle Clan Leader, please arrange a clan feast to formally induct Little Yu as my child. The leftover money from the feast shall be given to Uncle Guofu as a fee for raising Little Qingyu over these years."
These days, selling a little girl to such places would fetch three or four strings of coins, at most one or two strings if sold as a servant girl. The small gold ingot Lin Wanwan produced could exchange for six strings of money!
Lin Guofu's family brightened upon hearing Lin Wanwan's words. The daughter-in-law Lin Sunshi who abandoned Little Qingyu even laughed aloud, spewing flattering words freely.
"Smelly… Little Yu was meant to meet with Lady Wan, having drifted right to you. See this divine life, wearing silk dresses, eating fine rice. In the future, Little Yu will surely be a blessed child! A mouse falling into a rice jar, happy beyond measure."
"Shut up, do you think you're rewarded for losing the child?" The Clan Leader snapped coldly, unsatisfied with Lin Sunshi.
But their Lin Family Manor was poor; it hadn't celebrated a nuptial joy in three years. This is his failure as a leader, he feels ashamed and guilty, unable to force someone to divorce, making him endure.
The Clan Leader, brimming with indignation, said, "Little Yu was their family's responsibility, should be them paying you care costs! Our Lin Family Manor survives by fishing, the sea is dangerous, every family of distressed men also raises their wives and children. Even if all perished, the clan sustains them! This family alone broke the rules, not banishing them is favorable enough."
Lin Wanwan thought, indeed, why should she pay them? Her anger flared too!
However, she didn't want to retrieve the money she had given, she earned it easily trading pepper, so she decided generously, "In that case, the remaining money, please put it into the clan's public fund, as my contribution to rejoining the clan."
Lin Wanwan wants to contribute to the clan, and the Clan Leader couldn't hinder it. Success should remind one of their roots, it's a customary practice handed down through generations, one shouldn't forget their origins. The family and individual prosper together and suffer together.