Chapter 25 Paying Back the Debt

"Mother, I was wrong."

As soon as Zhou Chengyu returned, he promptly admitted his mistake.

“I was wrong too. I’ve been busy with the shop and neglected you. You’re only ten years old, so it’s normal that you don’t understand many things.”

"Although I don't want you to have too much contact with Zhou Chengli, I won't stop you if you have your own ideas about getting closer to him. However, you have to think about what he says to you in the future. If you don't understand, come back and ask me. At the very least, you can't be used as a pawn. Can you do that?"

Song Yushu knew that if she directly criticized Zhou Chengli, Zhou Chengyu might not listen at all and would not listen to her advice to stay away from Zhou Chengli. Therefore, she gently suggested that he pay more attention to Zhou Chengli's words, so that he wouldn't always be foolishly used by him.

"Okay, I will make sure to tell Mom in advance from now on."

Zhou Chengyu originally thought he would be scolded, or even expelled from school by his mother. Unexpectedly, he was given a long and earnest lecture. He felt that his mother cared about him very much and he could not let her down.

The conversation between mother and son ended peacefully.

Meanwhile, the teachers at the academy were also having a headache with Zhou Chengli. They hadn't expected that their usually good student would quietly sign an IOU with the gambling den.

“Zhou Chengli is a rare talent in our academy. It would be a pity if he were to be wasted by those people from the gambling den. I suggest that we call on all the students and teachers in the academy to lend a helping hand and donate some money to help Zhou Chengli get through this difficult time!”

Master Mo, who taught Zhou Chengli, said with great concern for his disciple.

"No! Zhou Chengli is married now, so he shouldn't act so impulsively. This is a mess he made himself. How can we let the other students of the academy clean up his mess?"

The other teachers were relatively rational; they were all students of the academy, and they couldn't afford to be too biased towards Zhou Chengli.

“That’s right. There are many students from poor families in our academy. They shouldn’t have to bear the consequences of Zhou Chengli’s mistakes, and they shouldn’t be implicated. However, we teachers also have a responsibility to teach him, so we should do what we can to help him.”

Seeing that the two teachers, who had differing opinions, were about to start arguing, Xue Huai'an quickly tried to compromise between their proposals.

“That’s feasible,” Master Mo was fairly satisfied with the result.

Soon, several teachers from Wenxuan Academy donated some silver. Teacher Mo alone donated five taels, bringing the total to twenty taels, which he gave to Zhou Chengli. He also specifically advised him to act within his means in the future.

Zhou Chengli was moved, almost swearing to the heavens that he would study hard and make something of himself, which finally satisfied Master Mo and made him leave.

When the students of the academy learned of Zhou Chengli's plight, some were disdainful and others sympathetic. At least several of his well-off classmates who were on good terms with him were willing to lend him money. In addition, Old Madam Zhou still couldn't bring herself to be ruthless towards him. She somehow forced the eldest and third branches of the family to scrape together ten taels of silver and give it to Zhou Chengyu. In this way, they raised about forty taels.

Zhou Chengli and his son finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Upon hearing this, Song Yushu couldn't help but sigh. This male protagonist was far too lucky; he hadn't suffered much hardship and had actually managed to scrape together enough money to pay off his debts.

However, this incident has severely damaged the Zhou family. In the future, when Zhou Chengli makes a fuss, he should think about whether there will be anyone willing to cover for him.

After paying off most of his debts, the gambling den finally released Zhao the Cripple. Zhao the Cripple hadn't washed or groomed himself for a month and ate worse than the beggars on the street. Now he came out smelling terrible, and people avoided him whenever they saw him.

After returning to the Zhao family, he found that no one was there anymore, so he went to the Zhou family instead.

Sure enough, he saw his children in the second branch of the Zhou family, so he swaggered in and had them serve him.

Zhao Yuzhi breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him return. She resigned herself to boiling a large pot of hot water for him to wash up, and even asked her second sister to prepare the meal.

"Sister, when is brother-in-law coming back? We're almost out of rice." Zhao Yuhe, the second daughter of the Zhao family, was not happy to see Zhao the Cripple. Instead, she was even more worried. During this time when Zhao the Cripple was not coming back, she and her siblings had finally been able to live a peaceful life.

"I'll go to town to see him in a few days. I won't let you go hungry," Zhao Yuzhi said. She knew that Zhou Chengli had probably developed a grudge against her recently, so she planned to go to town to see him and try to mend their relationship.

After taking a hot bath and eating his fill, Zhao the Cripple finally felt comfortable. He didn't mention going back to the Zhao family and swaggered into his in-law Zhou Lao Er's room to sleep.

"Sister, isn't Dad going too far...?"

“No, Chengli is the best to me, and my father-in-law is a very good-tempered person. He won’t mind if you sleep here for one night,” Zhao Yuzhi was quite certain of this.

Zhao Yuhe didn't know what to say. After all, she had been living with her younger siblings at the Zhou family's second branch of the household for a while. As long as her older sister didn't mind, she was fine with it, but she felt a little uneasy.

However, her unease was not unfounded. When Zhou Lao Er returned, he happened to find Zhao the Cripple sleeping in his room. Without waiting for Zhao Yuzhi to explain, he turned around and went back to town.

Seeing this, Zhao Yuzhi felt a little uneasy. Originally, she thought that since no one lived in the several rooms of the second branch of the Zhou family, she would take in her younger brothers and sisters to take care of them. Zhou Chengli did not say anything after he found out, but Zhou Lao Er was unaware of it. Zhou Chengli felt that such a small matter did not need his father to know.

So Zhou Lao Er worked himself to the bone to pay off his son's debts, but when he returned, even his place of residence was taken over by the Zhao family, who had almost ruined him and his son. Even a clay figure has some temper; he could pay off his son's debts, but he would never support the Zhao family.

Zhao Yuzhi dared not delay any longer and went directly to town to find Zhou Chengli.

"Why are you here?" Zhou Chengli did not show the usual joy when he saw Zhao Yuzhi. Now that he had finally paid off most of his debts, he was eager to please the academy's teachers and was working even harder than before to improve his reputation. He had no time to talk about love with Zhao Yuzhi.

"Are you blaming me?" Zhao Yuzhi felt a pang of sadness upon seeing this, and her eyes instantly reddened.

"No! I've been so tired lately trying to pay off the gambling den's debts. Just tell me what's wrong," Zhou Chengli said, feeling utterly exhausted.

“I know I’ve been a burden to you. I came here to thank you. If it weren’t for you, my father would probably… Chengli, being your wife is the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me. I knew you wouldn’t abandon me…”

Zhao Yuzhi tearfully expressed her gratitude to Zhou Chengli, which softened Zhou Chengli's expression.

"My father had no one to take care of him this time, so I took him to the Zhou family to recuperate. We borrowed my father-in-law's room, but he seems angry. Will he blame me?"

Seeing that his attitude had softened, Zhao Yuzhi took the opportunity to mention that Zhao the Cripple had moved into the Zhou family's house.