Zhang Chuntao brought a handful of dried bamboo shoots from home and went to find Yang Cui.
"What brings Auntie over today?" Yang Cui noticed Zhang Chuntao's smiling eyes and sensed that she had ulterior motives.
"There's a small thing I need your help with, something you can easily solve with a simple gesture."
Hearing this, Yang Cui felt that something was off.
Immediately afterwards, Zhang Chuntao explained her purpose: "I want to build an additional house, but I don't have enough money. Your little brother Xiaobai is not young anymore, and he doesn't earn as much money as Xiaojiang and Xiaohe every month. If we don't have a wedding house, no girl will be willing to marry into our family. Xiaocui, we are all family, you must help me with this!"
“Aunt, I’m running a farm now. To be honest, it looks glamorous on the surface, but the expenses are huge. I can recoup my investment in three or four months with the ducks, but I won’t be able to sell the pigs until at least March next year, so I can’t be of much help. But as you said, we’re all relatives, and this is about my little brother Xiaobai’s lifelong happiness. As his older sister, I certainly can’t stand idly by. So I can give you an advance of one tael of silver for earthworms and pig feed.”
Yang Cui didn't say she was borrowing, but rather asking for an advance. She'd seen plenty of people who owed money and didn't pay it back in her past life.
Yang Cui buys earthworms from various households every day, and she knows exactly how much each household earns each day. Since Yang Cui started buying earthworms, Zhang Chuntao's family has earned at least three or four hundred coins, not to mention the money they made selling peaches and plums before. These past few days, they've been earning twenty or thirty coins every day.
Adding a mud-brick and tile house without needing to buy a separate plot of land would cost at most three taels of silver for materials and labor. If it's not a tiled house but a thatched roof, it would cost at most two taels of silver. Of course, furniture and such are not included in the cost.
Upon hearing Yang Cui mention an advance payment of only 500 wen, Zhang Chuntao's expression darkened. She felt Yang Cui was stingy, as 500 wen wasn't even enough to buy tiles.
“Xiao Cui, five hundred coins is a bit too little. Since it’s an advance, then five taels will do. I’ll build a tiled house and buy some furniture, otherwise Xiao Bai won’t be able to get a wife! Don’t worry about the money. There are so many of us in our family. We dig earthworms and gather pig feed every day. We’ll definitely be able to pay it back.”
He immediately asked for five liang (a unit of weight) of tea, which shocked Yang Cui so much that she almost spat out her tea. He really dared to ask for so much!
Yang Cui smiled and said, "Aunt, you think too highly of me."
“It’s not that your aunt thinks highly of you, it’s that you’re capable, you can make money, you run such a big farm, and you know so many important people in the city. Five taels of silver is nothing to you. Xiao Cui, whether Xiao Bai can get a wife depends on you, his older sister.”
“Aunt, what you’re saying doesn’t make me feel comfortable. His marriage is his parents’ business. It’s not that I won’t help if he has difficulties, but no one builds a house without contributing their own money and expecting all the relatives to pay for it!” Yang Cui said bluntly. “I don’t have five taels of silver. You should know how much I spend every day selling earthworms, so I can’t come up with five taels. Right now, people in the village and your family’s area are digging for earthworms to sell, so they must have saved up some. Why don’t you go and borrow some more from them?”
“You have money to hire people you have no connection with, but you don’t have money to lend to us relatives. Xiao Cui, you can’t be like this. We are the relatives.”
“If my aunt weren’t a relative, I would have to think twice about lending her even five coins, let alone five hundred.”
“Then let’s get an advance of one tael of silver, one tael should be fine. When you argued with the Lin family before, your Uncle Gousheng always stood up for you. Now that we’re in trouble, you can’t not help us.”
Is this an attempt to blackmail someone into repaying a debt of gratitude?
Yang Cui chuckled lightly: "If that's how you put it, then I'll consider my help this time as repayment for Uncle Gousheng's righteous assistance back then. You can't use this to blackmail me into repaying you in the future."
Zhang Chuntao was taken aback, not expecting Yang Cui to say that.
"Xiao Cui, do you have to be so calculating with us?"
“It’s not that I want to figure it out, it’s that you want to figure it out,” Yang Cui said. “Since we’re going to figure it out, let’s do it now so that you won’t bring up the matter of helping out later.”
"Why would I want to calculate? We're relatives, how can you calculate such a thing as friendship!" Zhang Chuntao was also afraid that if Yang Cuizhen argued with her, she would ignore her when it came to making money in the future, so she changed her words and said, "Then let's advance one tael of silver, one tael is fine, right?"
"Okay, but I won't pay for the earthworms you deliver every day from now on. I'll just deduct them from the debt until it's paid off."
"How can that be?" Zhang Chuntao exclaimed anxiously.
"Since it won't work, then forget it and please leave!"
Wanting to borrow money but not wanting to pay it back? Where can you find such a good deal?
"We've already paid off all our debts, so we're broke! Xiao Cui, you're so wealthy now, why are you in such a hurry for us to pay it back? We're all family, what are you afraid of us not paying?"
"Zhang Chuntao, what do you mean? Paying back debts is a matter of course. I, as your proper aunt, have had four sons and never asked for money to build a house or get married. I'm already being generous by lending you money, and you're still spouting so much nonsense! Who gave you the nerve?" When Madam Wen arrived and heard Zhang Chuntao's words, she angrily lectured her, "Xiaocui, don't lend it! How can you do this?"
"What kind of house can you build if you don't have money? Without Xiao Cui, could your peaches and plums even be sold? Can your family earn more than twenty coins a day now? Don't be ungrateful!" Madam Wen scolded. "If you want to build a house, go save up the money yourself!"
Zhang Chuntao's face flushed red, and she cursed inwardly for Wen Shi's meddling and ruining her plans.
Because of Wen's sudden appearance, Zhang Chuntao ultimately had to return empty-handed.
After Zhang Chuntao left, Wen instructed Yang Cui: "That woman Zhang Chuntao is very calculating. Xiao Cui, don't be shy. If you open the door to borrowing money and advances today, tomorrow a lot of people in the village will come to you to ask for advances. You'll be in an even more difficult position then. So don't be shy. Refuse when you should. Don't let yourself suffer a loss."
“I understand these aunts.”
"If you're too embarrassed to say no, come to me and I'll talk to you."
"Well, thank you in advance, Auntie."
"We're family, no need to thank me."
Now that An Xiaojiang and An Xiaohe both have jobs, and An Xiaohai has also been arranged a decent marriage, Wen Shi is extremely grateful to Yang Cui and naturally sides with Yang Cui in everything.
"Aunt, are you planning to build a house?"
“The house is the key, but we don’t have any money right now. We won’t have enough until after the New Year, once we’ve sold all the ducks at home,” Wen explained.
In fact, Wen had previously considered borrowing some money from Yang Cui to build a house as well, but An Dafu stopped him, saying that Yang Cui needed a lot of money to run the breeding farm and that Wen was not allowed to bring it up, for fear of causing trouble for Yang Cui.
“Building it after the New Year is actually a good idea. When we have more money, we can build a big one all at once. If nothing unexpected happens at the farm, I can lend you some money then.”
Mrs. Wen laughed heartily: "With you saying that, I can rest assured. But don't worry, I'm definitely not the kind of person who doesn't pay back debts."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
