Even after Baogen and Xuewen were born, he still valued his eldest nephew the most.

If anything happens to my elder brother's family, especially Hanwen's family, as long as they ask him for help, even if he doesn't have any money himself, he will take out his daughter's salary to lend to my elder brother and nephew in an emergency.

He never held it against them when they asked him for help.

We're all family, why bother with loan agreements!

When he handed the money to his older brother, the older brother thanked him personally, saying that he would help him in the same way if his family ever needed anything in the future.

Brothers are one family!

If our own people don't help each other, won't we become a laughing stock in the eyes of outsiders?

"Dad, say something! Did you lend all our money to Uncle and Aunt? Out of consideration for your sisterhood with Uncle and Aunt, you didn't even make them write an IOU?" Song Yinhua asked loudly.

"Why would family members need to sign an IOU?" Song Erzhuang was heartbroken. He couldn't understand why this was happening.

That's not what he said when his older brother, sister, and brother-in-law asked him for money.

They said that when he is in trouble, they will help him in the same way he helped them.

They also said that they were sisters, one family.

If family members don't help each other, it will only make them a laughing stock in front of outsiders.

Some villagers started gossiping: "Why would brothers need an IOU? I borrowed a few hundred yuan from my cousin a few years ago. Last year, my cousin had some trouble at home and told me. I immediately paid back all the money and even gave my cousin an extra two hundred yuan. I've never seen anyone like that."

"Tang Suxiang's family has been causing trouble for Erzhuang's family. Her nephew was taken away by government officials a few days ago because of this. It's probably Tang Suxiang's family who are behind this."

"Tang Suxiang is the same. She's already married into the Song family and has seen her granddaughter, but she still helps her own family bully her brother-in-law's family. She hasn't gotten any benefit from it herself, and she's even caused a lot of people in the village to be scammed by swindlers."

"Huh? Didn't you say you weren't 'that'? You just got scammed out of some money!"

"That's what people in the village say. Actually, they were all taken advantage of. Except for the fourth daughter of Er Zhuang's family, who he didn't get, the others were all taken advantage of by swindlers. That's why some people in the village were so angry that they threw manure at Da Zhuang's house in the middle of the night."

The villagers whispered amongst themselves.

Some people even gossiped about how Grandpa Tang got Fourth Sister's daughter drunk and sent her to a swindler's bed in order to protect his youngest granddaughter, and how he then orchestrated Fourth Sister and her husband to come and cause trouble at their home.

The villages in this town are all interconnected by marriage; you can find relatives or friends just by turning a corner.

Anything that happens can't be kept secret; it quickly spreads to everyone.

Besides, government officials have also stepped in.

Because of this incident, the Tang family's reputation is now terrible. Everyone knows that the Tang family from Tangzhuang Village framed the Song family from Songzhuang Village, ultimately sending their own grandson to jail, and their granddaughter also got involved. They also had a falling out with the Fourth Sister's family and their daughter-in-law.

Although the villagers' murmurs were faint, they could still be heard.

Seeing that she was being gossiped about, Tang Suxiang called Song Hanwen into the house, closed the door behind her, and ignored what was happening outside.

Song Erzhuang sighed, "Alas!"

When some villagers who were watching the commotion asked him how much money he had lent to his elder brother's family, he defended them, covered up for his brother's family, and spoke well of them.

Seeing that even at this point, her father still couldn't distinguish between what was important and what was urgent, Song Yinhua stopped caring.

-

Qiao Guilan and Song Erzhuang argued about money until midnight.

The roof was almost blown off.

In the room of Song Yinhua and her two sisters, the sounds of their parents arguing and even fighting, as well as their mother crying, could be clearly heard.

Even Old Mrs. Zhou, who lived next door, heard Qiao Guilan crying and cursed, "Serves her right!"

Song Erzhuang repeatedly assured him that his elder brother was not the type to default on debts and would definitely pay him back.

Qiao Guilan didn't believe it and kept crying.

Song Erzhuang felt agitated. "Even when your own father died, I never saw you cry this sadly!"

He got up to leave, but Qiao Guilan grabbed him and wouldn't let him go anywhere. She told him to take out the money because Baogen wanted to get married.

The two started arguing again, and in a fit of anger, Song Erzhuang beat Qiao Guilan up once more.

Qiao Guilan's strange crying was even more unsettling and infuriating, which angered Song Erzhuang so much that he took a kerosene lamp and matches to set fire to the haystack and burn the house down, killing the whole family.

Unable to bear it any longer, Song Baogen stormed out of his room and yelled at his parents' room, "Can't a person get any sleep? I'm not getting married, I'm going to stay single for life, and I'm breaking up with my girlfriend tomorrow. Stop arguing!"

Song Erzhuang and Qiao Guilan finally quieted down.

One stopped burning down houses, and the other stopped making eerie crying noises.

-

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, the sound of a rooster crowing came from the neighbor's house.

A new day has begun.

Every household began a new day of work.

The three Song sisters all got up a little late, and all three had dark circles under their eyes to varying degrees.

Qiao Guilan stood at the gate of the courtyard, looking out and muttering something to herself.

"Mom, what are you looking at?" Song Yinhua asked.

“Your dad went to your uncle’s house. I’m seeing if he’s back yet.”

“Your uncle wasn’t home yesterday afternoon and evening; he must have been working the night shift. He should have been home this morning. Your dad went to talk to your uncle about the money and said that your uncle wouldn’t renege on his debt.”

The mother and daughter were talking when Song Erzhuang returned.

From afar, you could hear his simple, honest laughter.

"What are you grinning about? Did your older brother promise to pay you back?" Qiao Guilan asked.

With a loud, gruff voice, Song Erzhuang proudly declared, "My elder brother is a good man. How could he renege on his debt? We're brothers, family. You're just a woman with long hair and short brains, always threatening to kill yourself."

"Where's the money?" Qiao Guilan asked. "Give it to me quickly. I need to calculate whether the dowry money, bicycle, sewing machine, and other expenses are enough. If not, I'll have to find a way."

"My older brother said he'll withdraw the money and bring it to me personally once the people at the village credit union are open for business." Song Erzhuang was in high spirits. "That's my own older brother, we grew up together since we were kids, would he cheat me? Hehehe!"

Song Erzhuang shouldered his carrying pole and basket and went out to work. Before leaving, he specifically told Qiao Guilan to stay at home and not go anywhere, and to wait for his elder brother to bring the money over so that she could receive it in person.

Qiao Guilan waited all day, but instead of receiving a refund, she received news that her son Baogen had an accident at work, suffering a comminuted fracture of his toe when a product that had been thrown out of the chuck was hit by it.

The health center called the village store's public phone, telling them to hurry up and pay the bill. The store staff then came to their house to inform them.

Qiao Guilan ran to her sister-in-law's house to ask Song Hanwen to take her to the town's health center on his motorcycle. Song Hanwen had already pushed the motorcycle out when Tang Suxiang stopped him again.

They prevented Song Hanwen from having any further contact with his second uncle's family.

Qiao Guilan wiped away her tears. Faced with such a situation, she, a woman, didn't know what to do.

Song Yinhua borrowed a pedicab from the west of the village and took Qiao Guilan and Song Caixing to the town's health center.

The mother and her two daughters had just left when Wang Naiyun emerged from around the corner.

She missed her eldest grandson. While playing cards, she heard that Song Erzhuang and his wife had been arguing until midnight the night before, and she was afraid of scaring her three-year-old grandson.

"Da Bao!"

"Dabao, Grandma's here, come out quickly!"

"Da Bao??"

The entire courtyard was deserted.

Where is the eldest grandson?