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315: Silver and favors, return from the imperial examination
No matter whether it was reasonable or unreasonable, it was impossible to reason with an animal that couldn't talk, especially a wolf. Especially when this wolf was a holy beast that would not be punished even if it bit a person to death, smart people would choose to back off. So, the Niu family finally backed down.
Although the Niu family showed weakness, the Shen family also suffered a lot. The Niu family would not make any demands on the Shen family and just return empty-handed. After they failed to get Shen Ziju to become their son-in-law, they also wanted some material compensation for Niu Xianhua, and that material compensation was naturally money.
The Shen family finally agreed to give the money, but they would not give it now until Shen Ziju's letter came back. After all, the Niu family had only said this, and they had no evidence to prove that the Niu family was telling the truth. The Niu family finally left Hebian Village angrily.
"It seems to be true, otherwise they would not have returned empty-handed."
Shen Zhang frowned and said that she had originally hoped that the Niu family was lying, but it seemed to be true. If they were lying, they would not be afraid of being confronted by Shen Ziju when he came back.
Sun said, "What are you afraid of? When the fifth brother is imprisoned, he will find some people to scare them. Will they dare to compete with the old imprisoned man? They must be tired of living!"
Shen Zhu looked at Sun with contempt and said, "This family must have set their sights on the fact that my brother passed the imperial examination and became a successful candidate, so they are forcing him to marry! They have already thought of this, so why would they be afraid?! Even if my brother became a successful candidate, he is not an official yet. If they really make a fuss, it will not be good for his future!"
Sun smiled at Shen Zhu and said, "Zhu Er is still the one who thinks things through."
Sun said this, but in her heart she was thinking, "Why are you so proud? Aren't you a couple who used a trick to cancel the arranged marriage in order to climb up? Now Shen Ziju has done such a bad thing again, and he still has the nerve to look down on us here. At least we have never done such a shameless thing!" However, she only thought about it in her heart, but she didn't dare to say it out loud. Who asked her to rely on Shen Ziju in the future? Even if it was Shen Zhu, it would be good for her if she became the wife of a rich family.
Shen Ziping frowned and said, "The Niu family asked for three hundred taels right away! Where can we get three hundred taels to give them? Dad, Mom, we don't have any money! Please don't ask us for money again. I, your son, don't have any money, I only have this wife and children."
Sun glared at him and cursed, "What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Do you want to sell your wife and children?!"
Shen Ziping immediately said, "Please listen to me! I only have my wife and my son and daughter. You can't let me sell them for my brother, right?"
Sun then snorted and looked at the gloomy faces of Shen Youfu and Shen Zhang. She thought that although her husband's words had taken the burden off him, he had also offended his father-in-law and mother-in-law, so she had to redeem herself.
"Dad, Mom, don't be angry with Zi Ping. We are so poor that we don't even have a penny left. In order to get money for my fifth brother's admission to school, we haven't even had enough to eat these years. We have suffered a lot. We have also tried our best. But my fifth brother has been tricked this time. He has worked so hard for so many years, he can't be ruined like this. We have to get through this hurdle no matter what! Everyone in our family has to do their best! In my opinion, those who have money should give more, and don't hide it anymore. Don't let people feel disappointed."
Sun looked at Shen Zian and Su Zhi, and said with a smile: "Fourth brother, fourth sister-in-law, don't you agree? Now you are the only ones in the family who have money, why don't you just relax and take out some money?"
In fact, Shen Zian and Su Zhi had already realized that they would have to pay money again, maybe all of it, when the Shen family and the Niu family were arguing about how much money to give to settle the matter. Because the Shen family had spent all their wealth to help Shen Ziju take the exam, and the family certainly had no savings. And the Niu family asked for three hundred taels. The Shen family had never had three hundred taels in their lives, right? The Shen family agreed, so where would the money come from? Of course, the rich ones would give first. And now the fourth branch of the Shen family is the richest, and this is something that cannot be hidden.
In fact, Shen Zian and Su Zhi are not stingy people. They are willing to help their family members when they are in trouble. They are just a little unhappy with Sun's calculating attitude.
When the other people in the Shen family heard what Sun said, they all looked at Shen Zian and Su Zhi. They all knew that this time, only the fourth branch could come up with the three hundred taels of silver.
Shen Youfu and Shen Zhangshi didn't want Shen Ziju to marry Niu Xianhua. Even if they had to borrow money, they would borrow the three hundred taels. However, they did set their sights on the fourth room, so they were not so worried and were so confident. Now they all looked at Shen Zian and Su Zhi. Shen Youfu's eyes were very frank, that is, let Shen Zian take the initiative to come up with the money, while Shen Zhangshi was a little embarrassed.
"Third brother's wife, don't say that. This is Zi Ju's business. We are still alive as parents. It is not Zi An's turn to intervene. Even if we don't want our old bones anymore, we have to get this money."
Shen Zhang lowered her head as she spoke, looking extremely sad and tired.
With her behavior, anyone would say she is a fair mother. In fact, she did this because she knew that someone else would ask Shen Zian and his friends for money. She just wanted to act pitiful here. She acted like this. If Shen Zian and his friends didn't give her money, it would be their fault!
Shen Zhu went over and put her hand on Shen Zhang's shoulder, wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, and said sadly: "Mother, if it really doesn't work, we still have our daughter!"
It sounded as if she would sell herself if Shen Zian didn't give her money.
Shen Zhang immediately hugged Shen Zhu and burst into tears. Although the mother and daughter did not cry together, they still looked extremely pitiful.
Su Zhi rolled her eyes in her heart, wondering who was she acting for. She knew that Shen Zhang and the others were anxious after Shen Ziju brought this up, but she believed that these people were sure that they could get the money from them. She really didn't like the feeling of being calculated to get money from them.
Shen Youfu's face darkened, and he said to the mother and daughter who were acting out a sad story, "Why are you crying? Ziju, this matter is not bad! Zi'an, you have to pay the three hundred taels! I know you have silver, if you don't, just sell the garden! Let alone three hundred taels, someone would buy the garden even for three thousand taels."
Shen Youfu thought that since there was a pond in the garden and a holy beast had lived there, the environment there would be much better than outside, so there would definitely be wealthy people willing to buy it.
Shen Zian and Su Zhi both frowned at the same time. They never thought that Shen Youfu would have his eyes on Fuyuan. What was he thinking?! The family had been divided. Even if he was the father, he had no right to tell his son whether to sell the property or not! Did they really think Shen Zian was still the same Shen Zian before the family was divided? Even Shen Zian at that time was not so obedient!
Shen Zian said: "That is our home. We won't sell it even if you pay us 3,000 taels or 30,000 taels!"
Just as Shen Youfu was about to get angry, Su Zhi took a step forward.
"My husband is right. That is our house. We will not sell it even for 30,000 taels. The inscription written by the prefect himself is still hanging on the gate. How can we sell the house? Ziju is our younger brother. He has encountered such a difficult situation. As his brother and sister-in-law, we will naturally do our best to help him. We will lend him the 300 taels of silver even if we have to borrow it."
Su Zhi had no intention of refusing to give the money from the beginning, because the money was given for Shen Ziju. Shen Ziju was a scholar, and he was a bit scheming, but he was not the kind of person who liked to take advantage of others, or rather, he was not the kind of person who took advantage of others directly, especially when it came to money. It was for such an embarrassing thing. Shen Ziju would definitely pay back the money, and even if he didn't, it would in some way offset the fact that they gave him the money to help him through the difficult times. Su Zhi thought that she would use the three hundred taels of silver to do Shen Ziju a favor.
Shen Ziju is a talented person. As long as he can overcome this hurdle, he is likely to pass the imperial examination and become an official. The favor of such a person cannot be bought with three hundred taels of silver.
Su Zhi thought to herself that even if Shen Ziju was an ordinary person, as long as he was Shen Zian's brother, if something happened, they, as brothers and sisters-in-law, would have to help him.
As soon as Su Zhi said this, the atmosphere in the room obviously eased up. Once the money was paid, the problem could be solved.
"Well, you are kind-hearted. Then you should prepare the silver and bring it over as soon as possible." Shen Youfu said with satisfaction.
Su Zhi said, "We will try our best, but we have to wait until Fifth Brother comes back. We have to personally watch him confront the Niu family. Only then can we hand over the three hundred taels in front of him and the Niu family."
Sun grumbled to the side, "What's the matter? Are you afraid that we will deduct the money? You hold it tightly!"
Shen Youfu glared at her and said, "You have no right to speak! Shut up!"
Shen Zigui stepped forward and said, "It would be too much of a burden for my fourth brother to pay all the money by himself. We don't have much money at home. How about we divide it into several parts, and I will return it to my fourth brother slowly?"
Li also said, "That's how it should be."
Shen Zifu was about to speak, but was stopped by Wang. Three hundred taels, divided into several parts, they would have to contribute several dozen taels, which was not a small amount.
Shen Ziping seemed not to hear. Sun said, "Second brother and sister-in-law, what are you doing? Fourth brother's family has plenty of money. Do we need to sell our children to raise the money? You should just do what you need to do!"
Li glared at Sun angrily and said, "Fifth brother's affairs have always been shared by all of us. Why is this matter left to fourth brother and his family alone? They have some money at home, but they are not wealthy anymore. They have used all their money to build houses and gardens! Now they are not much better off than us. Do we really have to let them borrow money? If they can borrow, why can't we help them borrow some? Is fifth brother just fourth brother's fifth brother?"
Sun was speechless. She shrank back, thinking that her parents-in-law would take care of the matter, so it wouldn't fall on them. Even if it did, so what? They didn't have any money anyway!
Shen Youfu said with a sullen face, "When your fifth brother goes to Beijing to take the exam, the fourth house won't have to worry about the trouble. Let them take care of it this time. All the family will use their energy to help Zi Ju to go to Beijing. That's it."
Shen Zhu also said, "Yes, let's do it this way. We have to endure some hardships these days and save more money. Fourth brother, you guys can relax now."
Su Zhi spit in her heart, thinking that three hundred taels had already been spent, what was there to relax about? She was not a fool, she did not have to worry about the entanglements of Shen Ziju going to the capital. If Shen Ziju passed the imperial examination, even if he did not pass the imperial examination, he could still be an official. At that time, countless people who flattered him would come to give him gifts. Of course, there would be no shortage of money. The entanglements would come naturally. They did not need to prepare at all.
Wang also helped out.
Su Zhi looked at all this and thought that the second branch of the Shen family seemed to be the purest. The people in the first branch were not bad, but they also had selfish motives. Then she would treat them differently in her future money-making plan. She would let the second branch get rich together with her, and as for the first branch, they could make money from her, but she would not let them participate in the management, and would only let them help to make money.
Wang had her own little selfish thoughts. She thought that as long as she did not help either side, she would be fine. She did not want to offend either side. However, she did not expect that Su Zhi had noticed these details, thus cutting off her path to making a lot of money.
After seeing off the Niu family and solving the problem of the three hundred taels of silver, Shen Youfu and his friends finally breathed a sigh of relief, but they still felt heavy in their hearts, wondering when Shen Ziju would come back. They also wanted to know what was going on. They thought Shen Ziju would be back soon, at least his letter would be back soon. The Niu family had already received the letter, so he would definitely send a letter back for such a big thing, right?
Sure enough, Shen Ziju soon sent a letter with just a few words, asking them to keep the Niu family calm and wait for him to come back if they met them.
This letter completely shattered Shen Youfu and his friends' extravagant hope that the Niu family was deceiving them. It seemed that Shen Ziju was really having an affair with Niu Xianhua.
A few days passed in a blink of an eye, and Shen Ziju hurried back, followed by the official who brought the good news.
This time, the Shen family had already had experience in receiving officials, so they naturally received the officials very well. The officials were also very polite, because after Shen Ziju passed the imperial examination this time, he could become an official.