"New clothes, huh? That's fine. At least you guys have a conscience. Where are they? I'll try them on."
Old Xu couldn't wait to put on his new clothes so he could take a walk around the village.
"Everything's on the bed. You can try on the coat, but you can't wear the thermal underwear right now. You have to take a shower first," Granny Liu said immediately, seeing the old man's excited expression.
"I know, I know, you don't need to tell me."
Xu Minghan rubbed his stomach. He had gotten up early to catch the bus, and the little food he ate that morning had long since been digested.
"Mom, what's for lunch? Oh, and where are Xuemei and Xiaowan?"
"We'll press the tofu later, and I'll just make some noodles for lunch. Are you hungry? Let's make it now! Can you give me a hand and scoop out the tofu?"
Xuemei is sleeping inside with the child! Xiaowan has probably gone to see her friends.
The tofu pudding in the pot inside is ready to be scooped out and pressed down, leaving an empty pot for cooking noodles.
"Okay, Mom, save me a bowl of tofu pudding first."
"You don't need to tell me, I've already saved some for you..."
...
After dinner, Xu Minghan noticed that it was getting dark outside, and after thinking about it, he decided to return the money to the other person first.
If I'm not mistaken, if I don't return Granny Liu's money tonight, she'll be blocking my door demanding it back tomorrow.
In my past life, I went out to do business but didn't make any money, so I didn't dare to go home until New Year's Eve.
That's how Granny Liu knew immediately that I was back, and on New Year's Eve she would block my door demanding money.
Of course, I really didn't have any money back then, so there was nothing I could do when people pointed fingers at me and yelled at me.
Later, Mom couldn't stand it anymore, so she took out all the money that the fourth and fifth sons had saved at home and paid back part of it to Granny Liu before she stopped.
At that moment, I really wished I could find a river and jump in right away, so as not to implicate my wife and parents.
But when I turned around and saw Panpan hiding in the corner, terrified and not saying a word, my heart softened.
The child is so young, how could I have such outrageous thoughts!
So the couple went to work in factories to pay off their debts. Over the course of more than ten years, they not only paid off all their debts but also saved over 100,000 yuan.
But faced with ever-increasing housing prices, they hesitated to make a move. Although they had over 100,000 yuan in savings, their child was still in school at the time, and they worried about what would happen if they needed the money.
So it dragged on and on, and the speed at which I saved money couldn't keep up with the speed at which housing prices were rising, until eventually it was simply hopeless.
There was really no other way. Panpan was getting married, and she couldn't possibly get married in a rented house!
So I gritted my teeth, borrowed from all my relatives and friends, and finally bought a resettlement house, which meant I could finally settle down.
Then the couple went back to working to pay off their debts. Fortunately, Panpan was frugal after she started working and was able to save a lot of money every year. With the efforts of the three of them, they paid off all the money they had borrowed in less than five years, and they were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Now that he and his wife have been reborn, they have bought a house early on, and they can pay back the money they borrowed. It's so much better than their previous life.
Zhang Xuemei was inside soothing her child when she saw her husband rummaging through his bag as soon as he came in. She quickly asked, "What are you looking for?"
Xu Minghan lowered his head and replied, "I want to pay back all the money I borrowed before the New Year. By the way, where did you put the money you withdrew?"
Zhang Xuemei pointed to the cabinet, "It must be in the cabinet, in the red plastic bag where the clothes are pressed down at the very back. I've sorted them all out, into bundles, and written a note on each one. Check it again."
Xu Minghan stood up from the ground, opened the wardrobe, and took out a red plastic bag from the very back.
Then he took out a backpack, took out a small notebook, and counted out the money one by one according to the numbers in it.
"You can't go to Granny Liu's place empty-handed! Even though she asked for interest, she still lent us money."
Before Zhang Xuemei and her family returned, they bought some dried cuttlefish. The family of the third uncle who lent them money, as well as the families of two cousins, all had some, but the family of Granny Liu hadn't prepared any.
Xu Minghan had just put the money in his bag when he realized he hadn't expected this. He hadn't planned to give it to her, but his wife's words made sense. In any case, he owed a lot to the money he borrowed from Granny Liu to buy the house.
He looked around and realized he had only bought two cases of orange juice at the supermarket in town. Was he going to bring those with him?
Zhang Xuemei rummaged through the New Year's goods she had bought and pulled out a bag of dried shiitake mushrooms. "How about I give you a bag of dried shiitake mushrooms? I originally bought three bags. I was going to give two bags to my mother when I visited her for the New Year, and I was keeping one bag for myself."
Xu Minghan took the dried shiitake mushrooms and stuffed them into the bag. "It's okay if you don't eat them. I'll go out first. You and the child should get some rest."
"Okay, come back soon." Once the money is returned, all the money earned from now on will be theirs.
After dinner, the family members went about their own business. Old Xu saw his third son carrying a bag on his back and holding a sack in his hand as he went out.
He turned to Granny Liu and asked, "Where is the third son going? Why is he carrying a bag so late at night?"
"What can you do? It's almost New Year's, don't pay back the money you owe!" Granny Liu felt much more at ease when she remembered that the third son had secretly returned the money to her before. After all, part of it was the fourth son's salary, and he might ask her for it someday.
Old Xu's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he quickly moved closer to Granny Liu and asked, "What? Did the third son make money this year? That can't be right, he's only been gone for half a year, he couldn't have found money so quickly, could he?"
Granny Liu lowered her head and whispered to her husband, "I asked the third son, and he set up a braised food stall. Business is pretty good, and he's made some money."
"Look, as soon as we got back, Xuemei gave us both a red envelope. I saw it, it was two thousand yuan!"
"Two thousand?" Old Xu's voice immediately rose upon hearing "two thousand," then, as if realizing something, he lowered his voice and asked, "Is it really two thousand?"
He even held up two fingers and waved them in front of his wife.
Granny Liu turned around and said, "How could it be false? I counted it several times!"
"Good, good, the third son has made something of himself, not bad at all." Old Xu said happily. He knew that his third son was clever and promising.
Granny Liu folded the clothes she had just brought back and, seeing how happy Old Man Xu was, couldn't help but remind him, "You can be happy, but don't tell anyone, not even your second and third brothers, understand?"
Old Xu touched his nose, feeling a little guilty. He had really wanted to chat with his two younger brothers! Now that his wife had said that, he really couldn't show off.
Granny Liu didn't need to look to know the old man's expression; she knew he wanted to show off. Luckily, she had already warned him.
"You know, Xu Peng, the son of Xu Baiqiang, went out and made some money. He came back and showed it off everywhere. The New Year isn't even over yet! Several groups of people have already come to borrow money. You know, we see each other all the time, so it's not good to lend to anyone. We just can't bring ourselves to ask."
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