Even Ke Wenpei's son and daughter couldn't stand what he said.
They looked at Bian Haifang with teary eyes and cried out, "Mom, we don't want to go hungry, we want to eat!"
Bian Haifang looked at her two precious children with heartache, "My sons, it's not that your mother is heartless, but your uncle's family really has a hard time making a living."
Ko Wen-pei almost laughed in anger when he heard this.
He thought to himself, "Not easy? What's so difficult about it! Although they live in the countryside, they have several family members and several acres of land to cultivate, and they harvest so much grain every year. How could they not have a hard life? Only someone in their family with a screw loose can't see how wealthy they are in secret."
However, this couldn't be said outright, otherwise Bian Haifang would start wailing again, and their rare moment of peace would be shattered once more.
“Your brother and his family took a lot of grain from home before the New Year. It doesn’t seem like a bad idea for them to come back and help us out. If you really feel bad about it, you can return some to them after the summer harvest.” Ke Wenpei thought to himself, he’d try to get the grain back first.
When Bian Haifang heard that it could be repaid, she nodded, "Okay, I'll go back and discuss it with my brother. If it really doesn't work, we can give my brother some interest, and when it's repaid, we'll give him an extra 20%."
Ke Wenpei is unbelievable. I don't know how Bian Haifang has the audacity to say such a thing. Does she want them to starve to death before she's satisfied?
However, he can only appease them now, otherwise they won't even be able to borrow emergency food, and the whole family will be in real trouble.
As for the "interest," he'll hide the summer grain among the laborers and see who dares to cause trouble there.
After all these years, he has had to tough it out for a living.
His mind raced, but he didn't show it on his face. He nodded, "Alright, you and your brother should discuss it properly."
Ke Wenpei's thinking was simplistic, but he didn't consider that his brother-in-law didn't believe him at all.
When Bian Haifang returned to her parents' home and explained the situation, her entire family of more than ten people kicked her out of the house, even though she was a married daughter.
She was still cursing and swearing, saying that she had been married for over ten years and still had to go back to her parents' home to beg for food, and that she wasn't ashamed. These days, nobody's life is easy, right? She has a stable job in the city center, yet she's begging for food from these country bumpkins. Doesn't she care if people laugh their heads off?
Bian Haifang was stunned; she hadn't expected her family to react this way. She was overwhelmed with grief, yet she still tried to find excuses for her brother and sister-in-law, thinking that they must be having a very hard time to do this, otherwise they wouldn't have disregarded family ties.
When she got back, she told Ke Wenpei about not being able to borrow any grain, and at the same time, she kept praising her brother and sister-in-law.
Ke Wenpei listened with a somber expression, but remained silent, because he really didn't want to talk too much with someone who couldn't think straight.
After Bian Haifang finished rambling, he simply said, "Then let them all go hungry!" and left the ward to return to the laborers' team.
Because he was worried about his family, he often got distracted at work, and within a few days, he made several small mistakes.
Although it didn't cause any major impact, his absent-mindedness was noticed by everyone.
The captain was very worried about this and called him directly to his office for a talk. Without much hesitation, he told the captain about his family's difficulties.
After hearing the story, the captain fell silent. He didn't know how to handle such a bizarre family relationship.
However, given Ko Wen-pei's good performance recently, it wouldn't be unreasonable to lend a hand.
He told the other person to go back and wait for news, then left the office and reported his subordinate's situation.
After discussion, the leaders decided to lend Ke Wenpei 200 jin of grain so that he could use it in an emergency.
They thought that although the other side didn't have much surplus food, they had vegetables in the fields and wild vegetables and mushrooms on the mountains. If they worked hard, they could make it until the summer harvest.
Ke Wenpei never expected that the labor service team would be so lenient and accommodating towards him, someone who had made a mistake in the past. When he received this good news, he almost cried tears of joy.
He immediately rushed to the leader's office to thank him and promised to work hard in the future and return the money as soon as the summer grain was harvested.
The leaders nodded, telling him to take care of his family matters first, and then come back to work properly.
Ke Wenpei happily borrowed a car from a colleague and hauled a bag of rice and a bag of flour home.
When Bian Haifang saw him bring back the grain, she smiled and said, "My husband is really capable! He managed to get so much grain in just five days. He's really amazing!"
Ke Wenpei wanted to nod, but he felt there was something sarcastic about the words. Afraid of something going wrong, he said directly, "This is a loan, and you have to pay it back after the summer harvest. Be careful with your food at home."
Bian Haifang waved her hand dismissively, saying impatiently, "I know, I know, aren't you annoying!"
Ke Wenpei didn't want to argue with her, so he went to his elderly mother and reminded her, "The grain was borrowed from the labor team. The leaders only gave us special permission because they felt sorry for our family being robbed. Although it's not much, it's enough for emergencies."
It's warm and sunny outside now, so let the two kids go to the fields to plant some vegetables or to the nearby hills to forage for wild greens. Hang in there, we can get through this famine.
With tears in her eyes, Ke's mother nodded, "I know, don't worry. Focus on your work, don't worry about things at home."
Ke Wenpei nodded, glanced at his son and daughter, and then returned to his workplace.
With no worries about the future, he was full of energy in his work.
Everyone witnessed this scene and, upon inquiring, learned that such a major event had occurred in the Ke family. They also understood why he had made so many mistakes before.
Now everything is alright, the storm has finally passed and the sun is shining again, and everyone is happy for him.
However, this happiness was short-lived, as Ko Wen-pei was once again struck by a bolt from the blue.
It turned out that his unreliable wife thought that if he could borrow grain once, he could borrow it a second time, so she poured out most of the grain and took it back to her parents' home to ease tensions.
The mother was so angry that she almost had a stroke, but she held her breath and waited for her son to come back so she could explain the whole story before she finally recovered.
When Ke Wenpei had a holiday in the middle of the month, he happily went home to visit his family, but he never expected to see his lifeless old mother and his emaciated children.
He asked his mother in disbelief, and after learning about the stupid things Bian Haifang had done, he wanted nothing more than to tear her to pieces. He was even more determined to drive this scourge out of the house.
This time, even his son and daughter stood by his side, because they were both terrified of being hungry these past few days.
They used to become cold and indifferent simply because they disliked their mother's domineering nature and their father's cowardice.
But after Ke Wenpei made up his mind to clean house, the two of them were extremely excited.
They valued their father, who had risen again, more than their mother, who often subsidized her family without realizing it.
At least, most of the time, he genuinely cared about his family.
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