Lin Xiuqing froze for a moment. They wanted her to look after that whole bunch of children?
But she already had three of her own, plus the Old Lady, and she also had to cook extra for Mother Ye. This household alone kept her busy enough, and now they wanted to add six more little ones???
The children all called her Auntie, so looking after them for a few days was no big deal. It was only a little grain. But if they kept leaving them with her every other day, her household couldn't take it either.
As the saying went, growing children could eat their parents out of house and home. How could they afford to feed so many mouths?
Besides, it wasn't just a matter of a few extra mouths and using a little more grain.
The main thing was that more children meant more things to deal with. She didn't have time to watch so many children.
Ye Xiaoxi alone already kept her busy enough, and there were all the chores inside and outside the house. She couldn't make the Old Lady do everything. A few more children would mean a whole lot more work.
Why should she take on extra work for no reason?
What if one of the children got a bump or a scrape? If she didn't watch them properly, she'd get blamed too. All that effort, and no thanks for it.
Didn't both sisters-in-law have their parents right here in the village? Wouldn't leaving the children with their maternal grandparents be easier to arrange?
Seeing that Lin Xiuqing wasn't saying anything, Ye Eldest Sister-in-Law hurriedly added, "I can bring over their daily grain rations. You'd only need to cook a little extra. They'll eat whatever there is."
"Yes, yes, we can't have them