Ji Dashan’s face turned pale instantly, and he stammered, "You, you, how could you have...?"
The man burst into laughter: "This is the mortgage your son gave me personally. Even his handprint is on it! You better take a look. With these house deeds and handprint, reporting to the authorities will be useless!"
Ji Dashan stared at Ji Xiaobao, only to see that he was already scared and had hidden behind Lady Ding.
"What on earth is going on!?" Ji Dashan roared, feeling as if his lungs were about to explode.
The man sneered, "Your son borrowed fifty taels of silver from me, using these house deeds as collateral. The deal was that if he couldn’t repay within three days, your house and land would all be mine. Now the three days have long passed, and not a single cent has been repaid. This house and land belong to me!"
Ji Dashan’s lungs were about to explode as he yelled at Ji Xiaobao, "Ji Xiaobao! Where’s the money!?"
Just being yelled at by Ji Dashan, Ji Xiaobao was frightened and stammered, "I, I, I spent it..."
Even Lady Ding did not defend him this time, as she fiercely grabbed his ear and scolded, "Where was it spent?! How dare you mortgage our family’s land and property to get money?! You impudent child!"
Wailing, Ji Xiaobao cried, "Mother, I didn’t waste the money. I didn’t."
"Then where is the money?! Where did you use it?" Ji Dashan rushed over, his eyes red with rage. This was the heritage passed down from generations! If it were indeed sold by this brat, wouldn’t they have to become beggars?!"
Ji Xiaobao sobbed and choked, "The money... I bought a cricket with it."
Ji Dashan’s chest tightened painfully, his face turning from black to green to pale white. Trembling for a while, he gritted his teeth and asked, "What did you say?"
Seeing Ji Dashan’s face, Ji Xiaobao turned pale and collapsed onto the ground, wailing, "Dad, I was trying to earn money for the family, too! I spent fifty taels of silver on the black market to buy the largest cricket, even more ferocious than the one owned by the young master of the Guo Family. I planned to use that cricket to fight against his, and if I won, I could earn the villagers’ bet money."
Ji Xinhe glanced at Xiao Bei and saw a hint of surprise in her eyes, swiftly followed by understanding.
Well, sure enough, he was the true son of Ji Dashan and Lady Ding. Stupid, impulsive, and unable to handle pressure. The truth was that this mess was probably triggered by Xiao Bei’s deliberate provocation on Ji Xiaobao, causing those young masters to realize that Ji Xiaobao was just another "mud leg." Unable to stand their mockery, he had stolen the house deeds and land deeds from home to mortgage just for the sake of buying a cricket fiercer than that of the young master of the Guo Family.
It’s hard to say if he should be scolded for being foolish or laughed at.
Ji Dashan snatched up the fire stick and started whipping Ji Xiaobao, yelling, "Where’s the money?! Where?!"
Ji Xiaobao cried and dodged, whimpering, "I originally won, but the young master of the Guo Family wasn’t willing to accept defeat, so he deliberately cheated and killed my cricket. I, I, I didn’t dare to cause trouble."
Ji Dashan felt like his heart couldn’t take it anymore. Fifty taels of silver spent on a cricket, and it was dead!
What about his house and farmland now?!
Suddenly, Ji Dashan felt as if all his strength had been drained, unable to even lift the fire stick. His home was already crumbling step by step, but he endured it all. Little did he know, that when he thought he had hit rock bottom, his own son was going to push him further down the path of destruction!
Ji Dashan’s head became dizzy, and he fell straight to the ground.
Frightened, Lady Ding hurriedly screamed and helped him up, making a scene, "Help! There’s a murderer! Bandits have entered the village and are killing people! Quickly get Li Zheng to drive them away!"
The ugly man leading the group sneered, "Don’t pull this stunt with me. I’m not a soft persimmon, nor a person you can scare off by yelling. Even if the county magistrate came today, with these mortgage agreements and house deeds in my hands, you won’t get any benefits! Either pay up or get lost!"
Ji Dashan looked at him weakly, his voice barely a whisper, "Give me a few more days, fifty taels of silver, I’ll gather it and pay you."
The man scoffed, "Ha! Fifty taels? Are you joking?!"
Lady Ding’s anger flared, "My son borrowed fifty taels from you. Are you saying you want more?!"
"When your son borrowed from me, he agreed to pay an additional ten taels for each day he was late. Now he’s been late for five days which means he owes a hundred taels of silver!"
"You, you, you’re talking nonsense!"
"It’s clearly written in black and white. Don’t accuse me of talking nonsense. I will give you another three days’ grace, but the interest is still counted during these three days. Let me tell you, if the money isn’t paid off after three days, your house and land will be mine!"
The hideous man sneered before he left arrogantly.
Ji Dashan’s eyes rolled back, and he passed out completely.
Lady Ding furiously glared at Ji Xiaobao, as if she wanted to kill him, "You even borrowed from usurers!"
Ji Xiaobao cried in terror, "I, I, I didn’t know. They just asked me to use our deeds as collateral. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know that the mortgage agreement had such high interest."
Lady Ding slapped him, her eyes red with anger, "You scoundrel!"
As Lady Ding cursed Ji Xiaobao, a group of villagers made a commotion and called for Doctor Liu to treat Ji Dashan. Ji Xiulan was crying non-stop. The courtyard was noisy until evening, and finally quieted down a bit.
During dinner, Ji Xinhe was also somewhat distracted, mainly fearing the main room would come to ask for money. Why should she help clean up the mess Ji Xiaobao had made? Besides, hadn’t that family mistreated them enough?
Ji Xiaobei couldn’t help but say, "Sister, for fifty taels of silver, how could Ji Xiaobao mortgage all the house deeds and land deeds of their home? Their seven acres of land should be worth forty or fifty taels. Adding the house, the total value is close to seventy or eighty taels. It’s ridiculous they would use it as collateral for fifty taels, especially for usurious lending."
"Because he’s stupid! But while he’s stupid, the housing lender isn’t. Otherwise, why would they deliberately wait five days before coming to collect the debt? Isn’t it to earn the extra five days’ interest? Now, their family has to repay more than a hundred taels. Whether they pay cash or give up land, they’re almost equal. Losing everything is inevitable."
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