The old man hadn't expected Shuya to act so quickly, as if there was no room for discussion. He still couldn't believe it and asked again, "You mean you've made all the arrangements and plan to start construction this month, building a few rooms?"
Shuya replied with a firm tone, "Yes, the materials will be delivered to our door as early as the day after tomorrow, and the workers have all been contacted. I plan to build two floors, about 400 square meters."
Seeing that there was no room for maneuver, the old man said no more, only offering a reminder:
"Your aunt is not someone who can be easily fooled. You'd better figure out how to handle it yourself! I'm going back now."
Jiang Shuya followed and called out, "Dad, can you take Grandpa down the bike?" The old man waved his hand without turning his head.
As dusk fell, Shuya stood at the door next door, watching the old man walk to the end of the road. She sighed inwardly, "What a good man he was! He only had one year left before he passed away. He never imagined that after he was gone, his children would fight tooth and nail over the house and demolition compensation he left behind, and never speak to each other again."
I didn't sleep well that night. Tang Bao woke up twice, drank milk twice, and I had to change her diaper twice. Shu Ya finally fell into a deep sleep in the second half of the night.
The next morning, Jiang Shuya was still half asleep when she was groggily awakened by a commotion downstairs. The shouts and curses were particularly jarring, and Jiang Shuya frowned.
Impatiently, I pulled back the curtains and glanced out the window. It was my aunt, who was shouting and cursing downstairs with her hands on her hips, as if she were on steroids. Her words were so offensive that they attracted the attention of people at the door, people in the next courtyard, and passersby, who all stopped and gathered around to watch.
Jiang Shuya woke up and couldn't help but sigh. It was bound to happen. Seeing that Bao'er was still fast asleep, she casually put on a coat, smoothed her hair, took the bankbook from the drawer, put it in her pocket, and went downstairs.
Seeing her mother-in-law still arguing, her face flushed red with embarrassment, and she uttered a pleading tone:
"Wait another month, and I'll pay you back after I sell the grapes, with interest. I won't shortchange you a single penny. We're all family, so let's not make things so ugly."
Shuya ignored their tugging and rode her electric bike toward the ferry terminal.
It only takes 5 minutes to ride from home to the ferry terminal. There is a bank at the entrance of the vegetable market there. Jiang Shuya recalled the farce in her previous life and wanted to stay out of it.
But the money I borrowed from my uncle's family was for the banquet, so it was related to me. I felt remorseful, but I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. Given a second chance, I still made the same choice.
On second thought, things are different now. He is determined to get that piece of land. In his previous life, he helped pay off the debt, but his aunt's family still swallowed it up. Their behavior was rather unseemly.
Shuya went to the bank counter and withdrew all 10,000 yuan. She asked for an envelope, counted out 5,500 yuan and put it inside, and put the rest in the large pocket of her coat. After doing this, she understood. Thinking about where the 10,000 yuan came from, she couldn't help but scoff. This money was the toast money given by the elders when she got married, and the money she received as gifts for Bao'er's full-month celebration. It wasn't free money. These favors would have to be repaid in the future. She didn't expect it to come in handy so soon.
The bike ride was quick, and in the blink of an eye, she arrived at her doorstep. There were even more people at the door now. Shuya pushed the bike diagonally into her own doorway, secured it, and then noticed that her mother-in-law's face had red scratch marks with fine blood spots, and her hair was pulled and was messy and disheveled.
The aunt was still yelling and cursing: "You short, dark-skinned, body-stinking thing, you shameless thing, you who don't pay back your debts... You deserve to die a horrible death... You're lazy and good-for-nothing... You can't afford to pay for your son's wedding, you borrow money and don't pay it back... You borrow money and don't pay it back when your son is sick... Today you have to pay back this money, or I'll never let you off the hook."
Jiang Shuya stood on the outside watching Old Lady Wang try to break up the fight, while the village chief and the others watched with their arms crossed, as if it were a lively show.
Shuya squeezed into the crowd and saw that her aunt was disheveled and looked like she wasn't going to leave until the matter was resolved, ready to fight to the bitter end.
When her mother-in-law saw Shuya arrive, she grabbed her as if she were a lifeline, saying, "You wanted that land, you can't just ignore it... You!... Why did you only come now..." Shuya glanced at her mother-in-law, expressionless, not wanting to argue with her anymore. She thought to herself, "You still have the nerve to say that? You don't owe anyone money, so why would anyone have a reason to expose your shortcomings?"
Without saying much, he took an envelope from his pocket and handed it to his aunt, saying, "Here is 5,500 yuan. I lent it to you for less than a year, so I rounded up the interest to an even number. You can count it. The village chief is here today, so I'll take this opportunity to add that we don't plan to sell our homestead. You'll have to find another way. We have our own plans for that land. Thank you for helping us back then."
Having said that, she paid no attention to the stares around her and went upstairs to check on her child without looking back.
The aunt looked at all the people staring at her, opened her mouth but couldn't utter a curse. Just then... the village chief shouted, "What are you all doing here? Go do what you're supposed to do! Disperse! Disperse!" He then waved his hand to signal them to leave.
Seeing that Bao'er was still asleep, Jiang Shuya closed the door, intending to take a nap. A short while later, she heard a knock on the door. It was her mother-in-law standing outside. She replied, "You go ahead and do your work. I want to sleep for a while. Bao'er was fussy last night, so I didn't sleep well."
"Okay, take good care of Bao'er, I'm going downstairs." The next moment, the sound of someone coming downstairs could be heard.
Logically speaking, the mother-in-law's honest character is worthy of sympathy. She is honest and upright in her dealings with others, and has the most simple and honest side of a farmer. Jiang Shuya tried hard to recall that her mother-in-law in her previous life was quite good to her before the demolition, and the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was relatively harmonious.
The biggest change was after the demolition. With a sum of money in hand, he became arrogant and started going out to restaurants and hotels every few days. Relatives he hadn't seen in a long time suddenly appeared, full of flattery and envy. He became conceited.
Later, she even felt that Shuya was no longer good enough for her son, and her words were often sarcastic, which only exacerbated the already strained relationship between the couple.
Jiang Shuya didn't know if this family was always like this, or if they had restrained themselves for two years and then their true nature was revealed in the face of the huge changes that followed.
She watched helplessly as her mother-in-law and husband gambled away all the money they received from the demolition compensation, eventually borrowing huge sums of money at exorbitant interest rates. Debt collectors came knocking on their door, and they had to mortgage and sell the house to pay off the debts. The family ended up living in the smallest house they could find, and from then on, they endured several years of hardship and mistreatment.
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