As soon as the village chief finished speaking, the curtain of the inner room was lifted from the inside, and Old Man Gan slowly walked out.
Seeing his haggard appearance, the village chief sighed and said, "Are you really not going to tell Ali about what happened at home? I think she seems to have really changed. She doesn't know anything now, but who knows how upset she will be when she finds out in the future."
Old Man Gan frowned, forcing a smile, and said, "I won't say anything more. If she's still the same as before, telling her won't do any good. If she really has changed and can live a good life from now on, then I'll be at ease."
As for her family matters, there's nothing we can do. She's a divorced woman who's returned home; she doesn't even know where she'll make a living. What can she possibly help us with?
Upon hearing this, the village chief couldn't help but sigh again and asked, "Isn't there any other way?"
"What can we do? That's five hundred taels of silver! Even if we sell our house and land, and scrape together all the money in our household, we can only raise a few dozen taels. Where are we going to find the remaining four hundred taels? Even if someone is willing to lend us the money, what will we do to repay it when we've lost our house and land?"
"You've worked at Baifulai for so many years, is this all the savings you have at home?"
Seeing Old Man Gan's bitter smile, the village chief was taken aback, and then immediately understood.
Although Ganli was married, she kept extorting things from her parents' home. Old Man Gan felt sorry for his daughter and gave her whatever she asked for. As a result, how could she possibly save any money?
The village chief's wife, Aunt Zhou, knew that Old Man Gan owed Bai Fulai money and that if he couldn't repay it, his whole family would be sold off. Thinking of their past relationship and the possibility of never seeing each other again, she was overcome with grief and wiped away her tears, saying:
"As I said, we have some here too, but we don't need them right now. You can take them to tide you over."
Old Man Gan shook his head again—he said the same thing: even if everyone was willing to lend him money, how would they repay it?
His relatives meant well, but Old Man Gan wasn't the kind of heartless person who would only think of himself and harm his relatives.
Moreover, this hole is too big to be easily filled.
Old Gan also sighed, offered a few dry words of comfort, then took out a packet of loose silver from his pocket and stuffed it into the village chief's hand:
“After I’m gone, I’ll leave Ali in your care. Please keep an eye on her. I also need your help with her establishing a female household. You’ll have to give her gifts when you ask for favors. Here’s five taels of silver.”
The village chief firmly refused, but Old Man Gan wouldn't take it back no matter what. He said, "If you don't need it, you can give it to Ali and her daughter in the future. I just heard them talking about doing business. Keep an eye on things for me and don't let them get scammed."
Speaking of this, Old Man Gan was also very worried. Unfortunately, he was in a precarious situation and did not want Gan Li to know about the family's affairs. He pretended not to forgive her and naturally could not ask about the matter. He could only ask the village chief for help.
Seeing that he was still thinking about his daughter even at this point, the village chief felt a pang of sadness: "You should save some money, so you can use it in the future..."
He had heard that if you gave a boy some silver, people would take him to a good family and he wouldn't suffer too much.
“I know what I'm doing. We old folks can forget about it, but I've left some money for the children…”
Old Gan said in a low voice, then waved his hand: "I'm going back now, I still have a lot of things to do at home."
His eldest daughter-in-law had a fight with his son and ran away from home. His younger daughter-in-law has also been causing a lot of trouble lately because of this… He has a lot to sort out in the next few days.
As for the five taels of silver, that was the last thing he could do for his daughter.
Little did he know that it was precisely because of these five taels of silver that his family was thrown into turmoil once again.
...
Ganli sat on the oxcart and swayed as she went to town again. She went straight to the pharmacy where she had bought saltpeter before, and as soon as she entered, she asked the shop assistant if they had stocked saltpeter.
The shop assistant recognized him and chuckled. He pointed to the shopkeeper next to him and said, "You bought everything yesterday. That's why our shopkeeper is checking the stock today, preparing to order some more."
Upon hearing this, Gan Li thought, "Isn't this perfect timing?" and immediately said, "That's just right! Order me another fifty catties of this, I'll take it all!"
"Fifty pounds?!"
The waiter was nearly speechless with astonishment. The innkeeper, who was standing nearby, was also surprised upon hearing this. He looked Gan Li up and down and couldn't help but ask, "What do you need so much saltpeter for, sir?"
Gan Li naturally wouldn't say that she was going to take it back to make ice. When people asked, she clasped her hands together, placed her right hand on top of her left hand, inserted her right thumb into the fingertips of her left hand, made a fist and bow, and said mysteriously, "I have some knowledge of cultivation techniques."
Taoist priests often come here to buy saltpeter for alchemy. The shopkeeper recognized that this was a Taoist custom and asked in surprise, "When did a female immortal come to the temple?"
Under his slightly questioning gaze, Gan Li replied without blinking, "I am a rogue cultivator."
Shopkeeper: "..."
Although he didn't find out anything, he couldn't refuse this business that was offered to him. He wrote down fifty catties of saltpeter on the purchase order, accepted the deposit, and arranged for someone to pick it up the day after tomorrow.
After leaving the pharmacy, Ganli took Gantian to the grain store to buy some mung beans. Upon inquiring about the prices, Ganli discovered that the mung beans and red beans here were surprisingly cheap—only four coins a pound for mung beans and five coins for red beans!
Even though it was cheap, she didn't dare to buy too much, only 20 jin of each.
Seeing her generous spending, the shopkeeper eagerly offered, "Would you like to buy some kudzu root powder? It's delicious for making desserts. It got a bit damp from the rain the other day, so I'll sell it to you cheaply if you want!"
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