Chapter 18 Debt Crisis How could there be such a bastard in the world! ...
The leading man kicked Meng Ge'er aside and searched for a long time with several other people, but only found a small pottery jar filled with copper coins. They weighed it but it didn't make much sound, so after taking out all the coins, they threw it hard on the ground.
"We are so poor."
The leader spat and pointed at Zhao Xiangping, saying, "I'm only waiting until the 30th of this month. If you can't come up with the money to pay me back, this shop will be ours!"
After this commotion, the diners at Li's Cooked Food immediately put down their money and dispersed. The onlookers tutted a few times, and only three or two people stayed.
Jin, the wife of Qian's Soup and Noodle Shop, helped Zhao Xiangping put the tables and chairs in order. Uncle Li, who sold straw weaving, carried in the broken duck cage. Zhang Renbai slowly walked out of the shop and waved to Meng Ge'er, who was wiping away tears...
"We've even been here for Qingming Festival."
Jin skillfully took out a broom and swept away the bone fragments on the ground. "Ah Ping, that coward Li Dabing has disappeared since New Year's Day, leaving you, an orphan and a widow, to guard this shop and suffer. What are you waiting for with such an irresponsible man? You didn't borrow the debt!"
All the money Zhao Xiangping earned these days was used to pay off debts, but it was still like a bottomless pit and could not fill the gap.
Wei Jinyun put down the jar and helped Wang Qiulan tidy up the place. After all, they were neighbors living under the same roof, and Zhao Xiangping often gave her sisters good food.
Wei Fuqiu and Wei Fuling stood beside Zhang Renbai, using some candies to cheer up Meng Ge'er. They usually saw Meng Ge'er grinning and happily following them.
Now that she couldn't stop crying, they were very anxious. When they first arrived, it was Meng Ge'er who introduced them to other people. How could they let others bully them?
"He said he'd changed this time... He'd take some money and start a business outside and come back in a few months."
Zhao Xiangping sighed and wiped away the tears that were streaming down her face. "I remember, I didn't have so many debts during the Qingming Festival..."
Hearing this, Jin became even more furious. "A few months? It's already been half a year! Didn't he take the money from the shop on New Year's Day? I guess he ran away secretly and then went to borrow money. Such a heartless person! When I married you, I watched you and talked to you more sweetly than I sang. Now that you've lost money gambling outside, you just hide like a rat!"
Jin was only a few years younger than Wang Qiulan, and Zhao Xiangping had grown up under her watch, eating soup noodles at her house twenty days out of every month. Li Dadan, originally a porter, had learned countless local folk jargons and, through sweet talk, had coaxed Zhao Xiangping into becoming her live-in son-in-law.
Zhao Xiangping's parents gave them money to open a delicatessen shop. In the first two years, Li Dabing was still a decent person, the business was booming, and Meng Ge'er was also born. This should have been a good beginning for them.
Unexpectedly, this guy, with some spare money, became addicted to gambling. After a few years, he lost a lot of money. The delicatessen shop that he should have been in charge of was now run by Zhao Xiangping alone. Thanks to the good food and good business, she could fill in some of his vacancies.
But after making up for it, he went back to gambling.
After losing the bet, Zhao Xiangping knelt down, slapped herself in the face, banged her head against the door, and then used Meng Ge'er as an excuse, saying she would take him to a lit charcoal pit to commit suicide...
There are such shameless men in the world.
Uncle Li was helping to nail the door panel that had been kicked loose. He thought for a moment, then hammered the nail, as if the nail was Li Dabing.
"A Ping, this guy isn't even human... Last month, a well-traveled peddler stopped by to rest and said he saw someone like him in Bianliang, drinking wine in a tile shop with a prostitute in his arms. I scolded the peddler for his nonsense at the time, but now I think it's probably true. This bastard, his wife is working herself to death here to run the shop, while he's out there having a good time!"
He originally didn't want to say it, but if he didn't, he would kill the mother and daughter in the future. Today those people just smashed and looted things, but who knows what they would do next time.
Wei Jinyun stood aside and helped Zhao Xiangping tie up her loose hair.
She dipped a handkerchief in the water she had fetched and handed it to her to wipe the blood from her forehead. "Aunt Zhao, we'd rather not have a man like him. He hasn't been heard from in six months, so he's as good as dead. Why don't you go to the government and file a complaint, saying he's abandoned home and run away, so he doesn't have any such thoughts. You can run this delicatessen shop on your own in the future, and you might be able to make a good living."
Wei Jinyun's teachers had taught her many examples of this kind when she was in school, all about debts between spouses. Unexpectedly, a real-life case was now before her, and she couldn't help but speak a few more words.
"Can I submit a petition?"
Zhao Xiangping raised her eyes and stared at her blankly.
She knew that Miss Wei was a capable person. With her grandmother and sister, she had transformed the "haunted house" jokingly called by the neighbors into a brand new one in just a few days. She could also make delicious cakes to make money.
Now, she actually knows some other tricks.
"Of course you can."
Wei Jinyun continued, "This man stole the shop's money and ran away, leaving behind a mountain of debts. This is 'dying after defrauding his wife of her wealth.' Remember, if you really go to the government, just say this: he ran away with your private property, leaving you starving. According to the rule that 'a wife who cannot support herself may marry someone else,' the government will definitely approve the divorce... Did Aunt Zhao vouch for him?"
"No."
Zhao Xiangping shook her head. "He borrowed all of them without telling me."
Zhang Renbai stood aside with his eyes wide open. He had come across things like laws when he was studying, but he would forget them as soon as he glanced at them. Who would remember these things for no reason? They were not part of the imperial examination.
How come Miss Wei is so proficient in this?
Why did she look so majestic when she said these words?
He can climb trees, preach, and make sweet cakes.
Like a piece of dough.
"Since there's no guarantee, you don't have to worry. If the money he borrowed wasn't used to support your daily life, you just need to explain it to the official and bring in the neighbors to prove that it wasn't borrowed for household expenses, and then the debt won't fall on you."
Zhao Xiangping's daily expenses were all earned by herself. The money the man borrowed was not spent on her, so it was not considered a joint debt of the couple.
She didn't spend money, nor was she a "complice", but in fact she was brought to the government office and it was very easy to sentence her.
"really?"
"Well, if Aunt Zhao doesn't know what to say, that's easy. We can hire a lawyer."
Wei Jinyun certainly couldn't be a lawyer at the moment, but lawyers were very common in the Song Dynasty. She had inquired about them when she came here. Not to mention their eloquence, which could make a dead person alive, even a case as easy to win as this one would be rushed to take if paid.
"Aunt Zhao."
Wei Fuqiu stared at her and suddenly said, "My father once said that a gambling addiction is incurable."
"Yeah, yeah, there used to be one in our alley. It looked like someone had their legs broken, yet they still went gambling."
Wei Fuling hadn't swallowed the candy in her mouth yet, and nodded in agreement with her sister.
"A Ping, look at Meng Ge'er. He used to be very smart. At the age of three, he could even recite a few lines of poetry to us. But he was ruined by that charcoal-lighting man!"
Jin looked at the twins and talked about the past, and tears were about to fall.
After hearing this, Zhao Xiangping began to tremble all over.
Yes, her Meng Ge'er was originally as smart as the twins of the Wei family.
"...I want to divorce him."
Zhao Xiangping clenched her fingers until they turned white, took a deep breath, and looked at Meng Ge'er who had been coaxed into Zhang Renbai's arms.
If the sun had not been shining brightly at that time, she would have wanted to take out the bedding in the house to dry it in the sun, and perhaps she would never have been able to see Meng Ge'er again.
Meng Ge'er was only four years old at that time. The man could still crawl up and kneel to ask her for money, but Meng Ge'er's lips had already turned purple.
Wei Jinyun, standing aside, was also surprised.
No wonder she felt that Meng Ge'er thought slower than ordinary children. Although he was taller than the two sisters, he always spoke in a way that was difficult to understand.
It turned out that he inhaled too much carbon monoxide when he was a child.
There are such dogs in the world!
Wei Jinyun's anger flared up. "Aunt Zhao, please don't worry. The rules of our Song Dynasty are clear and straightforward. How can we allow you to suffer such an injustice? After the magistrate orders the divorce, we will call the creditors to the yamen for confrontation and have them go after the one who ran away to collect the debt. Why should you be held responsible for his debt?"
The others were originally amazed at Wei Jinyun's clear and reasonable words, but when they heard the word "divorce", they became angry.
Jin wiped her tears and immediately stood up. "That's right! The other day I went to Changmen to look for things and saw a widow and her daughter running a breakfast stall. Their business was booming. Your duck-braising skills are excellent and everyone in the neighborhood knows you. Without him as a burden, things might go even better. If he still had some conscience, he would have returned long ago. But now he's like this, he's heartless and not worth your concern. Divorce him, you can't live without him!"
Uncle Li saw that Zhao Xiangping's eyes were still red, so he slowed down his tone. "Ping, don't cry. It's not worth it to hurt yourself crying over this murder. I'll pay for the lawyer's fee!"
"Then I'll pay too, this bastard!" Jin became more and more angry as she thought about it, and reached into her waist pouch to take out money.
Zhang Renbai was immersed in Wei Jinyun's "tall figure" and was brought back to his senses by the word "dog thing". "Well, I'll do it too!"
Everyone had come to comfort Zhao Xiangping and her son, but after Wei Jinyun's words, they were all furious. Even though Zhao Xiangping refused to leave, after helping to clean up the shop, he took advantage of her back to put some money and ran away.
"elder sister."
Wei Fuqiu tugged at Wei Jinyun's sleeve as he stirred hot milk with a spoon, "Next time, don't talk about the law like this..."
"Didn't I tell you the reason?"
Wei Jinyun smiled, added a spoonful of brown sugar, and sat beside the clay stove to simmer it slowly.
Seeing the fine white foam rising on top, she hovered her fingertips over the clay pot to test it. It was warm but not hot, just hot enough to cook an egg, so she quickly removed it from the heat.
She turned around and picked up the bowl of finely ground ginger juice sieved with a cloth. She raised her hand and lifted the pot of boiled milk high up, poured it into the ginger juice, covered it with a plate, and waited for half an incense stick of time.
"Oh, so you're just saying you read a lot while you were sick at home, so that's why you learned so much."
Wei Fuqiu waited for Jiang to finish her milk, then looked at Wei Fuling who was still comforting Meng Ge'er in the distance and laughed, "That's... that's a really good excuse."
"Oh, how come my sister Qi is so considerate of me?"
"Who's thinking about you?"
Wei Fuqiu looked away.
"Open your mouth."
Wei Jinyun scooped a spoonful of the condensed ginger milk into Wei Fuqiu's mouth, "Is it sweet, my dear sister?"
“Sweet, sweet!”
Wei Fuqiu blushed like a ringing apple and swallowed it, but still hesitantly said, "Anyway, I will follow you when you set up your stall tomorrow..."
"Watch if you're talking nonsense!"
The author has something to say:
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I will raise this Qi Jie'er as a respect. [Cat Head] In Chapter 15 of Wife, Lord Lu added a new line.
Note: "If a man deceives his wife into taking her property and dies, and his wife cannot support herself, he is allowed to remarry" is from "Zizhi Tongjian Changbian", but it was a regulation during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty.
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