Feng Zicai frowned. "I was just dreaming, I wasn't actually gambling. Why is Mother so angry?"
She could tell whether her son, who had just crawled out of her belly, wanted to fart or pee just by sticking his butt out.
Seeing this obviously perfunctory attitude, Feng's mother felt her heart turn cold instantly. Overwhelmed with anger and disappointment, she rushed into the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and held it to her own neck.
"Feng Zicai, if you dare to go to the gambling den again, I'll kill myself right here in front of you!"
The boy, seeing the gleaming knife, instantly woke up and hurriedly got up to walk towards Mother Feng.
"Mother, what are you doing! Let's talk this out. Knives don't have eyes, put them down quickly, what if someone gets hurt..."
"Don't come any closer." Upon hearing this, Mrs. Feng pressed the kitchen knife even closer to her neck.
Tears flowed even more fiercely. "My life has been hard. My husband died early, and I struggled to raise you from a baby to an adult. I saved every penny to send you to school and finally managed to get you into the Xiucai degree. How much suffering did I endure and how many times did I get criticized?"
But I never complained to you once. I only hoped that you could make something of yourself and get out of this wretched village.
But you, instead of learning the good things, you've only learned the bad ones. You've become addicted to gambling and are in so much debt. You're clearly trying to kill this old woman..."
The woman became more and more agitated as she spoke, and the kitchen knife in her hand accidentally grazed her neck, causing beads of blood to spurt out instantly.
"Mother!" Feng Zicai exclaimed in alarm, rushing forward to snatch the knife away. "Mother, are you alright? I'll go get a doctor right now, wait for me..."
Madam Feng was also a little frightened, but she quickly came to her senses. She covered her neck with one hand and grabbed Feng Zicai with the other, her eyes filled with tears. "There's no need to waste time calling a doctor. Anyway, no one cares about my old life."
It's better if I die sooner, so I don't have to be driven to death by you.
Feng Zicai felt bad seeing this. "Mother! Don't say that. I promise you, I will never go to the gambling den again."
Actually, when I first started gambling, it was just to earn more money so I could buy some seafood from Tianxianglou for Xiaohua..."
"What did you say?! Buying seafood for Su Hua!" Mother Feng's eyes widened in shock, forgetting even her wounds. "You mean, you went to the gambling den because of that girl Su Hua?"
For the past two days, she has been unable to understand why her once obedient son has suddenly become like this.
When asked, he remained silent and unresponsive.
She thought it was Meng Fu who had corrupted her son, since her son had returned for Meng Fu's marriage, but she never expected it would be because of Su Hua.
Feng Zicai was embarrassed and shook his head repeatedly, "It has nothing to do with Xiaohua. It was just my son's wishful thinking. He wanted to buy her some of her favorite food to resolve the previous misunderstanding."
Looking at his expression, Mrs. Feng immediately understood her son's thoughts. She felt a pang of sadness in her heart. Seafood was such a precious thing, and she had never tasted it in most of her life.
But the son she raised with her own hands never thought of giving his mother a bite of crab, yet he was willing to go to a dirty place like a gambling den for Su Hua.
But now is not the time to dwell on that. The woman's eyes flickered. "Su Hua just returned, did you know?"
"Xiao Hua is back in the village?" Upon hearing this, Feng Zicai's eyes lit up, and he was about to step out of the house when he saw his dirty appearance and stopped in his tracks.
The woman saw through his expression and said gently, "The Su family has turned its fortunes around and is not what it used to be. If we have any misunderstandings, we should try to resolve them."
After all, your friendship with Huaya for over a decade is genuine. She used to think of you all the time, so it's impossible for her to change her mind in just two months.
The key now is to find a way to pay off this two hundred taels gambling debt; no girl likes a gambler.
Upon hearing this, Feng Zicai immediately slumped over his head, "Two hundred taels, not two or twenty taels. How am I supposed to pay it back in such a short time?"
He and Meng Fu owed the gambling house two hundred taels and five hundred taels respectively. They were supposed to have their hands chopped off if they couldn't pay back the money the day before yesterday, but because the officials were there, the gambling house gave them an extra month's grace period.
But if they can't pay back the money a month later, they'll still have to cut off their hands.
If only he hadn't been so greedy back then. If he had stopped when he made a hundred taels of silver instead of alienating the so-called veteran that Wang Ergou had rescued, then Wang Ergou would be the one in debt now, not him.
Mother Meng's eyes darkened slightly. "The Su family has more money than they can spend right now. They own restaurants and estates. We can definitely ask Su Hua for help."
"Let Xiaohua pay off my gambling debts?! No way! How can that be? Absolutely not!!" Upon hearing this, the boy refused without even thinking.
He only hoped that Xiaohua didn't know about his gambling debts.
Not to mention asking her to pay off his gambling debts. If he were to use her money to pay off those debts, he would never be able to stand up straight in front of her for the rest of his life.
Mother Feng sighed softly, "What I meant was not to ask her to help pay back the money. We can borrow from the Su family first."
Two hundred taels of silver isn't a lot, but you and I are still young. We can help the Su family with their work and pay it off little by little in the future.
Mother has seen the Su family's grand restaurant, which is even more impressive than Tianxiang Restaurant. Aren't there many villagers who work for the Su family at the restaurant? My daughter and I can do it too.
Hua is a sentimental person, and the root of your gambling debts was to buy crabs for her, so she definitely won't just stand by and do nothing.
She didn't really take the villagers' words to heart. New clothes are worse than old ones, and old friends are worse than new ones. Her son, Zicai, was someone Su Hua had liked for thirteen years. How could anyone else possibly compete with him, let alone that useless cripple from the Xiao family!
Feng Zicai was somewhat tempted, but still didn't respond. Men are proud, and he couldn't bring himself to say it.
Seeing this, Madam Feng could only smile helplessly, "As long as you behave and don't go to the gambling den, I'll talk to the Su family."
At the end of the village, when Su Hua and her group returned to the courtyard, Su Bai and the others had just gone to Zaozhuang, leaving only Su Sui at home.
After a quick breakfast, Su Hua took the jade box with the Five Blessings and entered Fuhu Mountain.
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