Chapter 40: Credit and Donkey Cart
These words made Huang feel relieved. Although these sons were not very promising and each had their own thoughts, they were generally filial to her.
Xu Deyuan immediately called Aunt Qiu and ordered, "Chunhe, go carry your mother on your back."
Chun He's daughter Xu Minglu immediately felt sorry for her mother. "Daddy, my mother was injured during childbirth and had to be taken care of. My feet are full of blisters from walking these past two days. I couldn't sleep last night because of the pain. Please feel sorry for her..."
"You unruly thing!" Huang Cui'e had long been fed up with the second wife's lazy demeanor. In the past, these concubines looked down on her for being a peasant woman from the countryside. Now that she was exiled, Huang Cui'e didn't want to indulge them anymore. She went up and slapped her, "You little bitch, when is it your turn to interrupt the elders? You all act like you're in Bianjing City. What? You won't show filial piety to your parents on your behalf? I really raised you in vain!"
Although Xu Minglu was a concubine's daughter, she always believed that no one in the family could surpass her except the three legitimate daughters born to the second wife, let alone the first wife whom she always looked down upon.
Huang Cui'e had stirred up a hornet's nest. Xu Minglu couldn't stand this injustice and started crying, "Why did Auntie hit me? My father never hit me once. You didn't want to carry Grandmother, so you asked me to do it. At noon, you only gave me a mouthful of porridge, but gave full bowls to my cousins. I clearly offered to help you, but you refused to let me help because you wanted to monopolize the food. You were wary of us like a thief, and now you scold me for being lazy—"
"That's enough!" Huang pounded her chest, sweat pouring down her forehead, her lips turning purple, and the wrinkles on her face trembling. "Don't worry, I still have plenty of strength. You don't need to carry me."
By this time, Xu Zhenying had already returned. The Xu family was busy arguing, and almost no one noticed her presence until she interrupted the quarrel: "Grandma, Mr. Li's family has a donkey cart. I've already negotiated, you can just go and sit in it."
Huang's eyes lit up. She remembered Li Xiucai's family. The concubine there was very arrogant. She had her son raised by the legal mother while she sat in a donkey cart, strumming the main wife like a little devil every day. Food and drink were all served by the two legitimate daughters born to the main wife.
The concubine was dressed beautifully, and the two legitimate daughters were as thin as matchsticks. When they stood next to her, others thought they were her fire-making maids.
The noble families in Bianjing City were all about rules and regulations, and they valued the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children the most. Even the Huang family looked down upon such unruly families.
Fourth Aunt said, "How could he agree to this? I went to ask him yesterday, and Mr. Li asked for twenty taels of silver right out of the gate. He said it wasn't a penny less."
Huang Cui'e immediately shouted, "What? Twenty taels of silver? Is his donkey cart rimmed with gold? Why doesn't he just rob it?!"
Miao only knew that Xu Qingying had left for a while, but she hadn't expected her to go and discuss things with someone else. She was also surprised and asked, "Mr. Li is not easy to talk to. How could he agree?"
Xu Qingying sighed, helped her grandmother Huang up and walked towards Li Xiucai's car. She didn't want to interfere, but her grandmother was not bad to the original owner. Not to mention the blood relationship, even in her previous life, she couldn't bear to see such an old person suffer.
Even an ordinary strong man couldn't endure such a long journey, let alone Huang, who is over fifty years old?
"Grandma, go sit down first. I'll tie your legs up later. Otherwise, you'll feel even worse tomorrow and the day after tomorrow."
Huang was worried about the twenty taels of silver and said, "Sixth girl, please explain clearly first. If you don't explain clearly, I won't ride in the donkey cart."
Xu Qingying had no choice but to say, "I've seen the Fang family's carriages. All four are loaded with supplies. Although they have few elders, they have many children, so they probably don't have enough space. Only Li Xiucai bought a donkey cart at the instigation of his concubine, but he has no money to buy food, so his cart is empty. That's why he refuses to lower the price. He's hoping to extort money from us so he can buy food."
Huang immediately refused to go when she heard this, twisting her body and walking back with difficulty, "Then I won't go. Twenty taels can buy two donkey carts in our country. My life is not that precious. I feel much better now. I can walk by myself--"
Xu Qingying had no choice but to hold her back. "Grandma, please go first. I've agreed with him that the donkey cart is on credit. I'll give him the twenty taels of silver within five days."
"What?" Huang Cui'e jumped up. "Sixth girl, are you crazy? Where do we have the money now? Even if we buy on credit, how can we pay it back?"
The eldest uncle also said: "That's right, you three families agreed to it, so you should pay for it yourself. Anyway, I didn't agree, and I don't have the money-"
Xu Degui and Miao looked at each other without saying a word, but they did not want to accept the twenty taels of silver just like that.
The fourth room also remained silent and did not help either side.
"Listen to me." Xu Zhenying's voice was clear and calm. "This twenty taels is on credit for five days. I will find a way to get our things back within these five days, and then return them to Li Xiucai."
Someone jumped up and down, angrily saying, "You make it sound so simple, how can those damn officials possibly return our things?"
Xu Zhenying tilted his head, his eyes bright. "Forget it if he hasn't come back yet. Anyway, the carriage has already been taken. What can Li Xiucai do?"
Everyone was stunned, and then the aunt slapped her thigh, "Yeah, we've already sat down, what can we do? Are they going to ask us to return it? Sixth girl, you are so smart!"
Fourth Auntie immediately grasped the key point, "But why would Mr. Li believe what you said? After all, it's so much silver, how could he trust us not to default on the debt?"
Xu Zhenying smiled slightly, his expression expressionless, but he glanced at his second uncle with a smile, then said, "Perhaps it's because your second uncle has been an official for many years and his reputation is well-known. Li Xiucai looks up to your second uncle and admires his reputation, so naturally he is willing to give us credit."
It was obvious that Xu Deyuan was extremely pleased with this flattery. He even straightened his back a bit. A rare glint of admiration for Xu Qingying flashed in his eyes, but he pretended to be humble and said, "I didn't expect that after serving as an official for many years and never doing anything to gain fame, it's hard for anyone to remember me. Tell Li Xiucai that I would like to come and express my gratitude another day."
Xu Zhenying didn't comment, only uttering a nod. Then, Miao and Zhao both helped Grandmother walk toward Li Xiucai's carriage. Grandmother, however, secretly pulled Xu Zhenying aside, her face heavy with worry, and said, "Sixth girl, tell me the truth, is Li Xiucai really willing to give us credit for the sake of the second son?"
Miao consoled her, "Mother, if you don't trust Qingying, don't you trust Second Brother too? Perhaps Scholar Li thinks Second Brother is about to rise again, and that's why he's rushing to curry favor with him. Back when we were in Bianjing, weren't there many wealthy merchants rushing to give gifts to the gatekeeper?"
But my grandmother disagreed. She had been farming all her life and had been an old lady for more than ten years, but she never forgot her duties. At heart, she was still a kind and hardworking country lady.
"Don't try to fool an old woman like me. The past is the past, and the present is the present. In the past, those escorts would have to kneel down in a row when they saw the Second Brother. Now, we are almost like those beasts. They say fortunes change. If you are down and out, even passing dogs will step on you. What's more, Mr. Li has a mean face. How could he give us credit just for the Second Brother's sake?"
"Don't worry, Grandma. We're barefoot, so why should we worry about him wearing shoes? At worst, we can just refuse whatever Li Xiucai asks."
Huang could only think this way. Miao and Zhao helped Huang to Li Xiucai's donkey cart. The cart was similar to a flatbed cart, without a roof, and could barely fit three people. Li Xiucai sat in the front, driving, while his concubine sat in the back, with a few bundles beside her. When she saw Huang, she raised her chin slightly, a greeting.
When Huang came in, the concubine smelled the smell and pinched her nose and said in disgust, "Why does it smell so bad? Old man, please sit over there."
Huang shifted her hips a bit embarrassedly and said, "I've been sweating a lot these past two days, so there's a bit of a smell."
The concubine snorted twice and raised her finger. "If it weren't for the twenty taels of silver, I wouldn't want to sit with you country people. You don't know, my husband is a scholar. In the past, I wouldn't want people like you to be my family's slaves—"
Huang murmured in her heart: Your husband is just a scholar, and my son is a Jinshi. She also looked down on families that favor concubines over wives.
However, since they were under each other's roof, Huang just chuckled twice and didn't argue with her.
Seeing that Huang Shi didn't refute, the concubine no longer wanted to show off. She just waved her hand and shouted to a thin and short figure: "Zhao Di, I'm hungry. Go pick some fruit for me later."
Li Xiucai said, "Why eat the fruit? Let Zhaodi take good care of her brother."
"If Zhaodi isn't available, let Yinzhang go. Dalang has his sister and Zhaodi with him anyway. The kid's idle anyway, so why not pick some fruit? Dalang has been complaining about a sore throat and asking for honey water these past two days, but there's no way to find honey right now, so we'll just give him some fruit to get rid of him."
Li Xiucai felt that this made sense and felt thirsty, so he said to Yinzhang, "Second girl, when we get to the post station, go see if there are any fruits nearby and pick some."
Xu Zhenying turned his head and saw that there was faint blood on the uppers of the shoes of the two sisters Li Zhaodi and Li Yinzhang. One of them looked to be sixteen or seventeen years old, and the other twelve or thirteen years old. Both of them were very weak. When they heard this, they did not show any intention of refusing, but just nodded.
Grandmother couldn't help but say, "Your second daughter is still so young. She can barely walk. How can you bear to let her go picking fruit? Besides, it's not safe to go out at night. What if she encounters a wild animal?"
The concubine was not pleased. "You old woman, I was so kind as to lend you my donkey cart, but now you're lecturing my husband? As the saying goes, a parent's kindness is greater than heaven. If she refuses to pick some fruit, how can we expect her to be filial to her parents in the future? Besides, there are so many people at the post station, wouldn't it be better if she didn't go too far? You care so much about these two girls, why don't you bring some food? Who doesn't say she's kind? If she doesn't pick the fruit, our whole family will starve!"
Huang was stunned by what she said. Then, she refused to look at the two girls out of spite. She snorted and muttered softly, "What a thing! A concubine dares to be so arrogant. If she were in Bianjing City, she would be beaten to death by her mother-in-law."
Fourth Aunt pulled Huang and signaled her not to talk too much.
Miao also said, "Mother, just sit here and relax. If you feel thirsty or hungry, just give us a hand."
After Huang got on the donkey cart, Fourth Aunt walked behind, deliberately avoiding Miao. Then she pulled Xu Zhenying and said, "Sixth girl, your leggings saved your life. I saw your aunt and the others were discussing how to tie your legs when they rested later."
Xu Zhenying was stunned. "Where did they get the fabric? Didn't all our stuff get taken away?"
"Hey..." Fourth Aunt hesitated and whispered, "Well... isn't there a girl from the Qian family? You know your aunt's situation... They've almost emptied the Qian girl's luggage these past two days. I saw that girl today and I think she only has two pieces of clothing left."
Xu Zhenying thought that the Qian family girl, who was able to get along with the wife of Li Xiucai, was probably a soft persimmon. If she met a mother-in-law as strong as her aunt, she would definitely suffer in the future.
"I just want to ask you, why did Mr. Li agree to let your grandmother ride in a donkey cart? Don't try to fool your Fourth Aunt with the same trick you used to fool your grandmother—"
Miao was walking in front, but she also heard the conversation between Zhao Zhenlan and Xu Qingying behind them. She pricked up her ears and seemed extremely curious.
She really thought that Li Xiucai agreed to this out of Xu Deyuan's consideration. But from what she heard from her fourth brother's wife, it seemed like there was something else going on.
But when she saw how close Zhao Zhenlan and Xu Qingying were, Miao felt a little uncomfortable.
Why is it that since being imprisoned, Xu Qingying has not been close to her, but instead has been chatting enthusiastically with her fourth brother's wife?
Xu Zhenying smiled. Seeing that the people from the second house were far behind, he did not hide anything. "I told Li Xiucai that my second uncle would come to him tonight to sign an agreement for 20 taels of rent, and agreed that the 20 taels of silver would be paid within five days. Li Xiucai was reluctant at first, but then I vaguely hinted that my second uncle might make a comeback, and he was willing to take a gamble."
Fourth Auntie was so frightened that she patted her on the back and said, "You damn girl, you're so bold. Twenty taels... I'm afraid your second uncle won't agree to sign. What are you going to do then?"
"Fourth Aunt, you have to look at both sides of everything." Xu Zhenying smiled slyly. "If Second Uncle doesn't sign, we'll get Grandmother a half-day donkey cart ride. If Second Uncle signs, then we can have a five-day ride. As for after five days, there are only two outcomes: either we get back what belongs to us and pay Scholar Li twenty taels of silver, or we get a five-day donkey cart ride for free. This outcome is beneficial no matter how you look at it."
This time, Miao couldn't help herself. Her chest heaving, she said, "Ying'er, how could you deceive Li Xiucai and his family like this? We clearly don't have twenty taels right now. If you act this way... won't people just poke at us and call us liars?"
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