The three little kids came to show off their fingers, but Niu Dan felt a little embarrassed to do so after crying like that.

"Fingers." said Da Hu.

Just show off.

"It's my mother's fault." Erhu said.

If his elder brother shows off, he should show off too.

"You didn't." Xiaohu Shen finished off.

Niu Dan: ...You suddenly can’t cry anymore, right?

The three of them ran back to their kitchen, where Su Xiaoxiao was cooking bacon.

"Mom, I do." said Dahu.

Su Xiaoxiao thought the three of them were craving for the bacon in the pot, so she said softly, "It's not cooked yet, wait a moment."

"No meat." Da Hu shook his head, raised his zongzi finger, and pointed at the cloth strip on it, "I want this."

"Gauze?" Su Xiaoxiao asked.

"Yeah!" The three of them nodded in unison.

Children are at the age of playing and exploring, so it is normal for them to mess around here and there. Su Xiaoxiao did not refuse, and went back to the east room to cut three pieces of clean gauze for them.

The three of them took it and played with it happily.

Su Xiaoxiao smiled and continued cooking.

"Huh? Where's the child?"

Old Man Su came in with a load of chopped firewood. He had clearly heard the voices of a few little guys just now.

"What happened to your hand?"

He saw Su Xiaoxiao's index finger wrapped like a rice dumpling.

"Nothing, just an accidental scratch." Su Xiaoxiao said, "They went to look for Niu Dan."

"Are you really okay?" He knew his fat daughter very well. She would cry for half a day just because of a small cut.

"It's okay, Wei Ting wrapped it." It was wrapped so tightly, it looked very serious.

"My son-in-law is so thoughtful." said Old Man Su.

Su Xiaoxiao: Hello, have you missed the point? "I'll go check on the kids." Father Su went around to the back door of Liu's house and took a look. He saw three little guys wrapping something around Niu Dan's hands. Niu Dan's hands were twitching, as if he had just cried.

Father Su automatically imagined a scene of bullying by a little bully and nodded with satisfaction.

He felt relieved that the three little guys were not harmed, and went home to continue chopping wood.

The quarrel in the Liu family became more and more intense. Liu Shan even threw the chair, and Niu Dan was frightened and burst into tears again.

The three little ones grunted over and slammed the front door of the kitchen together!

Niu Dan was stunned: ...Is this also possible?

This is the bad thing about living in the countryside. Whenever there is any trouble in someone's house, most of the village will come to watch the fun.

Upon learning that they were actually trying to split up the family, everyone tried to persuade Liu Ping to stop.

Although they also knew that the eldest wife had a hard time in the Liu family, the saying still applies: as long as the parents are alive, the family will not be divided.

Whenever there is a split, it always ends up being extremely ugly.

Liu Shan felt that he couldn't afford to lose this person: "If you want to split up, you have to die!"

"Oh, Brother Ping, listen to my advice. Who will be the one who gets the best out of this division of the family? If you don't think about yourself, think about the two children as well."

"Yes, life has become difficult since the family split up."

"One pot of rice cannot support two families. What grudge can't be resolved? Why must it reach the stage of splitting up the family? Yes, your eldest son has had a hard time, but you are the eldest son. Which eldest son hasn't gone through this?"

The villagers criticized the rebellious couple from the moral high ground.

"Aunt Zhou is right. The eldest son is the head of the family, so he has to work harder than the second son!"

Su Xiaoxiao walked in with big strides.

Everyone looked at her strangely, not understanding why she came here to join in the fun.

Su Xiaoxiao put her hands behind her back and said in a leisurely manner, "I think Liu Ping is really ungrateful. He just did more hard labor and worked like a slave for others. Why did he feel wronged? And Xiao Wu is the boss of the family. She does all the laundry, cooking, sweeping, and chopping wood. As the eldest daughter-in-law, this is what she should do!"

Everyone: Why does this sound weird?

However, Su Pangya's words successfully reminded everyone, or rather, broke the window paper that they had never dared to tear.

Liu Ping worked as a laborer in the town. In order to get more work, he could only go home a few times a year.

He worked so hard, how did the Liu family treat his wife and children?

Little Mrs. Wu does the work of the whole family and even has to go to the fields to farm during the busy farming season. In comparison, Mrs. He and Mrs. Wu have much more free time.

Their two children were dressed in rags and were skinny, far inferior to the second wife's son, Niu Dan.

Mrs. Wu told everyone how much she loved Liu Ping, and she was not so heartfelt even to her own son.

Yes, she was expressing her distress with words.

He said everything he should say, but didn't do anything he should do. This is Mr. Wu!

In everyone's heart, it's not that they can't tell right from wrong, but it's similar to the principle of "it's better to tear down a temple than to ruin a marriage", advising others to separate will be criticized.

They are not that stubborn!

After all, Liu Shan is a grandfather. He would not be so timid when facing a little bully from the Su family, especially in front of the whole village. He had to save some face.

Su Xiaoxiao didn't care whether he was timid or not, she wasn't here to scare people with her weight.

She said sarcastically, "Grandpa Liu, it's better to break up with such an unfilial son!"

Liu Shan finally realized that this girl was here to cause trouble! The Su family hadn't extorted money from anyone for a while, so he thought they had turned over a new leaf, but it turned out they were still just a bunch of bastards!

Liu Shan said coldly: "Liu Ping is my son. Unless I die, he can't leave this family!"

Su Xiaoxiao let out a long sigh: "Oh, I feel relieved with your words!"

The villagers were confused. What did Su Pangya mean? Su Xiaoxiao smiled and said, "You just said that Liu Ping is your biological son. Unless you die, he can't even think of splitting the family property! In that case, you should pay off the debt Liu Ping owes!"

The villagers stared in amazement. What kind of development is this? Liu Shan frowned.

Liu Ping was also confused.

Xiao Wu glanced at Su Xiaoxiao. She knew Su Pangya best. Although she didn't know what Su Pangya wanted to do, she believed in Su Pangya.

"Su Pangya, you want to extort money again, right?" It was He from the second house who spoke.

Su Xiaoxiao took out an IOU from her wide sleeves, dusted it off gently, and showed it to the Liu family and fellow villagers.

"This is the IOU signed by Liu Ping himself, with his fingerprints on it! He owes me thirty taels in total! Eighteen taels of interest, a total of forty-eight taels! You, the Liu family, pay me back quickly!"

Liu Ping: "What am I——"

Xiao Wu pinched Liu Ping! Liu Ping's voice was interrupted, and Xiao Wu hurriedly asked: "Didn't we agree to give you some time?"

Liu Ping looked at Xiao Wu as if he had seen a ghost.

Xiao Wu's words indirectly verified Su Pangya's "extortion". No, it can't be called extortion if there is an IOU!

Su Xiaoxiao secretly admired that Mrs. Wu did not disappoint her and was very sensible.

Su Xiaoxiao said fiercely: "But you also promised to give me some interest in advance! Did you give it to me?"

Little Wu hesitated and said, "I...we really can't take it out..."

Su Xiaoxiao pointed at Liu Shan and said, "If you two can't take it out, ask your father for it!"

Mrs. Wu's expression suddenly changed! She didn't want to pay off the debt for the first wife! "What on earth is going on!" Liu Shan was angry.

"I guess you two haven't told your families yet. Okay, I'll tell you then."

Su Xiaoxiao smiled slowly.

"A while ago, Liu Ping was carrying sacks for someone in town and accidentally broke a jade pendant of a noble scholar. The jade pendant was originally worth fifty taels. I happened to be doing business nearby, and Master Shen from Wutong Academy was there too. Master Shen stepped forward, and for his sake, the other party only asked Liu Ping to pay thirty taels! I paid the money first, with a six percent interest rate, and it was clearly written in black and white! Master Shen is a witness, and if you don't believe it, you can go to Wutong Academy to find him for verification!"

Now that Master Shen from the academy has been brought up, who would dare not believe it?

They saw with their own eyes that Master Shen came to give Su Pangya a New Year gift!

Su Pangya does have a friendship with Master Shen!

As for why Su Pangya is so kind——

Bah! 60% interest, is this kindness? This is to blackmail the Liu family!

It was still that Fatty Su, still that little bully! Su Xiaoxiao stretched out her chubby hand and hooked it: "How about it? Pay me back!"

Liu Shan was so angry that his blood boiled. He suppressed his anger and looked at Liu Ping who was kneeling on the ground: "Is what she said true?"

Su Xiaoxiao raised her eyebrows and said, "I told you, if you don't believe me, you can go and ask Shen Chuan for confirmation! There are Liu Ping's handprints on it, as well as Shen Chuan's!"

Okay, actually it belongs to Wei Ting and Su Ergou.

Liu Shan called his youngest son and said, "Go and invite the village head."

Su Xiaoxiao was not panicked at all.

The head of the village came over and carefully checked the IOU: "According to what is written above, I do owe thirty taels of capital, six percent interest, and a daily interest of 1,800 wen. I owed it ten days ago, and as of today, the interest is exactly eighteen taels."

This matches what Su Pangya said.

Su Pangya asked, "Li Zheng, Liu Ping is from the Liu family. The Liu family should help him pay off his debts, right?"

The village head frowned and thought for a moment: "That's how it should be."

Mrs. Wu's eyes went dark, she staggered and fell to the ground, slapping her thighs with both hands and crying, "What kind of sin have I committed——"

Forty-eight taels, forty-eight taels! Even if I sold her, I still couldn't pay it back! If I had known this, I would have agreed to split the family! Liu Ping only earned a hundred copper coins a month, less than half a tael of silver at most, and the profit a day was nearly two taels. How long would it take to pay it back?

In other words, the Liu family cannot afford to pay it back even if they lose everything they have!

Liu Shan's face was also devastated. He was so angry that he was shaking all over. He asked Liu Ping: "Such an important matter... Why didn't you tell your family!"

Liu Ping: "I..."

Su Xiaoxiao laughed and said, "Luckily I discovered it in time. If I had discovered it a step later, you would have separated from our family and you wouldn't be able to pay the Liu family back! On your own, humph, I'm afraid you'll have to pay it back in your next life! Grandpa Liu, I remember you always have a coffin book, it's time to take it out!"

When the villagers heard this, they suddenly realized.

Could it be that Brother Ping is trying to split up the family just because he doesn't want to burden his family?

He wanted to bear the debt himself, rather than have his whole family dragged down by him!

If this is true, they have misunderstood Ping Ge'er and his wife! Ping Ge'er is not unfilial at all, he is clearly a great filial son!

(End of this chapter)