Perhaps out of consideration for Mr. Huang's life of working for the machinery factory, the factory ultimately did not fire Huang Weidang.

However, he still had to receive the appropriate punishment, so his rank was reduced to the lowest level, which meant he had to start all over again. Fortunately, he wasn't demoted to an apprentice.

In addition, they also have to compensate for the cost of the damaged equipment, totaling 3,000 yuan.

"So many!"

Grandma Su was shocked when she heard the number. She patted her chest and said, "My goodness, I've never seen so much money in my life. Where are we going to get this?"

Su He shook her head, "It sounds like a lot, but I think it's already pretty good. I thought we would need more."

Lin Jingyan added, "It's not much. I heard the equipment wasn't completely damaged, so the factory only charged a repair fee. If it were a full compensation, I doubt they could afford it."

Su He understood.

Even so, it still startled those who knew about it.

In this day and age, it's considered good if a family has a few hundred in savings. I wonder if the Huang family can come up with three thousand at once.

...

How could the Huang family possibly come up with so much money?

If we could really produce it, we wouldn't have sent our third son to the countryside in the first place.

Over the years, our family's savings have amounted to at most a few hundred yuan. Where are we going to get three thousand yuan?

The Huang family was extremely worried, but the factory had given them a deadline: Huang Weidang could only return to work once the money was paid, so they dared not delay.

So the elderly couple went back to the wife's family home, and borrowed from all their relatives and friends. They borrowed from everyone they knew, and even with all their savings, they only managed to scrape together a little over two thousand yuan.

However, the compensation money was still not enough, but by then they had borrowed all they could.

Even the residents of the compound borrowed from each other's homes.

The same thing happened to Su He's family. However, perhaps knowing that Su He and Aunt Ren didn't get along, they didn't ask her for the money in person. Instead, Grandpa Huang waited for Lin Jingyan on his way home from get off work and asked him for the money.

Since Grandpa Huang was a long-time employee of the machinery factory, Lin Jingyan couldn't refuse, so he lent him 50 yuan, which was his salary that he had just received and hadn't had time to save for Su He.

When he got back, he told Su He, who didn't say anything after she found out.

However, the Huang family is out of options now. If they can't raise enough money, Huang Weidang will not only lose his job, but may also face imprisonment.

After all, the crime of damaging national interests is no small matter!

So, the Huang family had no choice but to grit their teeth and decide to sell the house.

The Huang family had two rooms in total. Originally, one room was divided in half, with one half for the elderly couple to live in and the other half used as a living room. The other room was also divided in half, with one half for the eldest son's family and the other half for the second son's family.

He slept in the living room when his youngest son was still alive.

They're planning to sell the house, but they don't intend to sell the whole thing; they need to keep a place to live, so they only want to sell one room.

But the second son's family objected to this.

They were already living in a cramped place, and now that they've sold the house, with so many people in the family, including the elderly and children, how can they possibly fit in one small room?

And why should we sell the house to pay off the eldest brother's debts?

Shi Fen was already reluctant to let her parents-in-law give all their savings to the eldest son to pay off his debts, since they hadn't separated their households yet, and Huang Weimin still owned a portion of the money.

It's clearly the boss's fault, so why should they suffer along with him?

Shi Fen was so angry that she started cursing and swearing. She not only made a scene herself, but also called her family members over to join in the commotion.

In the end, the Huang family split up.