Chapter 133 Compensation is Imperative
The crowd rushed to the cave entrance and saw the butcher's knife pressed against the child's neck; their hearts leaped into their throats.
As Boss Shen roared, the blade trembled slightly, and fine beads of blood began to seep from Da Bao's delicate neck.
This scene was heartbreaking for Liu Xiangyang, and his legs went weak.
He hated himself for being so incompetent; not only had he failed to protect his home, but now he was even losing his only son.
"Boss Shen! What exactly do you want?! Take your anger out on me, don't hurt the child! The child is innocent!"
Seeing his brother-in-law, who used to obey him at all times, now weeping bitterly, Shen felt a twisted sense of pleasure.
"Innocent? Then all the grain in my house deserves to go down the drain?!"
Old Master Shen's face was contorted with rage, and he screamed hysterically, "Why can a good-for-nothing like you make money, while I lost everything just trying to learn how to do business? It's all because of that fake formula from your Liu family! You have to pay for this! You have to compensate me!"
His roar shook the cave, causing it to vibrate and scatter small stones.
"Doing business?"
The captain frowned and looked at the Liu family with suspicion.
Liu Zhixia lowered her voice and explained, "Before, there were rumors in the village that our family was making money in business, so Shen Hongmei instigated Dabao to steal the recipe. I deliberately wrote a fake one, but they believed it and sold all the grain in the house to buy raw materials. Now everything is ruined, and we're having trouble getting through the winter. That's why they're desperate."
The captain almost choked on his breath when he heard that.
That's so stupid!
Putting aside the fact that theft is illegal, even if someone really wanted to do it, wouldn't they test the waters first? To actually stake their entire family's food supply on it? They deserve to lose everything!
But seeing the gleaming knife, the captain swallowed his curses, took a deep breath, and stepped forward to persuade him:
"Brother Shen, your kidnapping of the child has been exposed. For the sake of growing up in the same village, I advise you to release the child immediately. Stopping now is considered turning yourself in, and you can still try to get leniency."
"Besides, Da Bao is your own nephew. Can you really bring yourself to do that?"
"Enough with the nonsense!"
Boss Shen wouldn't listen to a word, his eyes blazing with madness: "Lenient my ass! I'm penniless now, why would I care about going to jail? You Liu family members! Listen up! Prepare a thousand yuan right now! And sign a guarantee that you won't hold me responsible in the future! Otherwise, I'll take Da Bao with me and die!"
Liu Xiangyang turned pale with fright and knelt on the ground with a thud: "Boss, a thousand yuan! That's an astronomical figure! I can't even come up with a hundred yuan right now, where am I supposed to get a thousand for you?"
Boss Shen ignored him completely, pointing the knife at Liu Zhixia: "She has no money? Your family has no money in business? I don't care! Borrow or rob, if you can't scrape together a thousand, I'll kill her!"
Da Bao burst into tears, while Liu Xiangyang kowtowed repeatedly, pleading, "Boss, can I give you an IOU? My brother-in-law risked his life for that money, how can I bear to touch it? I swear, even if I have to work like a cow or a horse for the rest of my life, I will pay you back this money!"
Old Man Shen slammed the knife back against the child's neck and roared, "Shut up! What good is an IOU! If she won't give it to you, just kill her and take the money! I just want a thousand yuan in cash, can't you understand human language?!"
Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, Liu Zhixia stepped forward and pressed down on her older brother's trembling shoulders: "Brother, get up."
Liu Xiangyang raised his head with tears in his eyes.
Liu Zhixia remained calm, looking directly at Boss Shen: "For Da Bao's sake, I'm willing to pay this money. But..."
Upon hearing "willing to pay," Boss Shen's face lit up with ecstasy. But the "but" made his eyes harden, and he tightened his grip on the knife, a silent threat.
Liu Zhixia spread her hands, her face sincere: "Brother Shen, you know that these days no one keeps a thousand yuan in cash at home. Even if we borrowed from the whole village, we still wouldn't be able to raise that much."
The brigade leader quickly chimed in, "That's right, Boss Shen! A thousand yuan is the entire brigade's harvest for several years! If you ask for an exorbitant price and can't afford it, what's the point? Why not lower the price? Only what you actually get is real."
Upon hearing this, Boss Shen realized it made sense and loosened his grip on the knife slightly.
Liu Zhixia pressed her advantage: "If my family were really that rich, we would have moved to the city to enjoy life long ago. Why would we stay stuck in this remote mountain village? Wouldn't it be better to spend money to buy my older brothers easy jobs and have the whole family working for the government?"
These words made perfect sense, and Boss Shen believed most of them, his tone softening somewhat: "Then tell me, how much can you give?"
Liu Zhixia calculated in her mind. The Shen family planned to sell the child for fifty yuan; as long as they offered a higher price, they could keep him in line.
She held up three fingers: "Three hundred."
Seeing that Shen Laoda was about to get angry, Liu Zhixia quickly explained, "This is already the result of selling everything we own! My older brother has a dozen or so yuan, my parents saved up some money for their funerals, and the allowance my husband left looks like a lot, but it's actually only about a hundred yuan."
She rolled up her sleeves, revealing a delicate watch: "This watch is worth some money, and we also have a bicycle that can be sold for a few dozen yuan. Even if we scrape together everything, three hundred yuan is the limit. This is all we have; it's all our sincerity. Is that alright?"
As Shen listened to Liu Zhixia's detailed and logical calculations, he also began to make his own plans.
Three hundred yuan may not be as much as a thousand, but it's a huge sum of money in the countryside, enough to turn one's life around.
Shen Lao Er, who was being held down on the ground, also became anxious and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Brother! Three hundred is not a small amount! If we let them borrow money, what if the police from the local police station really come after a long time? We won't get the money and we'll get shot! Let's just call it quits!"
Boss Shen thought about it and agreed.
"No! We can't agree to that!"
A sharp sound suddenly rang out.
Shen Hongmei appeared out of nowhere and rushed into the cave like a madwoman.
The captain reacted quickly and pinned her to the ground.
Shen Hongmei struggled desperately, yelling at Shen Laoda, "Don't listen to her! That brat has money! She made a fortune selling medicinal herbs before! I heard she still has a lot of good stuff hoarded! Three hundred yuan is like giving a beggar a taste of his own medicine? She has to spit it out!"
Upon hearing this, Boss Shen flew into a rage, the tip of his knife once again pressing close to Da Bao: "You dare to lie to me?!"
This sudden turn of events stunned everyone.
Liu Xiangyang trembled all over, staring at Shen Hongmei in disbelief: "Shen Hongmei... that's your own son! What are you doing?!"
Shen Hongmei ignored him completely, staring intently at Da Bao with eyes full of madness and pleading: "My good son, just bear with it! Once your aunt brings out the money, everything will be alright! This money is really important to your mother! If we don't have the money, your grandparents will sell your mother! Just help your mother out, okay?"
Although Da Bao is young, he understood it.
The child, who had been crying, suddenly stopped, tears streaming down his face, his lips pursed, looking at his mother with despair.
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