Jiang Bai never expected that he would see Jiang Cheng and Tian Rou, the young couple, again four or five days after they parted ways.
Tian Rou's belly was already very big. She stood in front of Zhao Yi and Jiang Bai's courtyard in the county town, smiling broadly.
When the wet nurse opened the door, she paused for a moment upon seeing the young couple. Not recognizing them, she asked, "Who are you?"
Tian Rou said softly, "We are Jiang Bai's younger brother and sister-in-law. We came to visit our sister and brother-in-law."
Seeing that Tian Rou was heavily pregnant, Xu, the wet nurse, first welcomed her in and arranged for her to sit on a stone chair in the courtyard to cool off before saying, "I'll go and talk to Jiang Bai."
Tian Rou nodded and watched as Xu, the wet nurse, entered Jiang Bai's bedroom.
Jiang Cheng said, "My brother-in-law's family doesn't have the arrogance of a wealthy family." He usually wouldn't let poor relatives into the door of those landlords and rich people.
Tian Rou smiled and said, "My sister and brother-in-law are kind."
Here, Nurse Xu found Jiang Bai, who was writing and drawing, and told him about the situation of the two people outside the door.
Jiang Bai put down his pen and asked, "You let them in?"
The wet nurse nodded: "That woman is heavily pregnant, it's not good to make her stand for too long, otherwise outsiders will say that you are mistreating your sister-in-law."
The outsiders she was referring to were Wang Zhongyi and his wife, who lived in the courtyard next to Jiang Bai's. Their medicinal cuisine restaurant had just opened and they had learned all of Jiang Bai's promotional methods, and now it was packed with customers.
Although Xu's wet nurse was unaware of the intricacies of the situation, she could tell that the Wang family had taken advantage of the medicinal cuisine restaurant, which was why she gave everyone next door a cold look.
Seeing Jiang Bai moving slowly, she asked somewhat guiltily, "What, is it that I shouldn't have let them in? Aren't they your brothers?"
She swallowed hard, moved her hand slightly, and glanced at the large broom sweeping fallen leaves in the yard: "Otherwise, don't show yourself. I'll just say you're not here. If they still bother me, I'll kick them out."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Bai was both amused and exasperated. She quickly reassured Xu, the wet nurse, "He's my younger brother, it's alright."
Her hesitation stemmed from her speculation about the two men's purpose in coming.
The previous statement was that they would send out invitations for the baby's one-month celebration after the birth, but Tian Rou also came, which means the baby hasn't been born yet.
Jiang Bai straightened his cuffs as he walked out.
When Tian Rou saw Jiang Bai walk out the door, she quickly stood up, supporting her waist, and even reached out to pull Jiang Cheng up.
She took a few steps forward and called out to Jiang Bai, "Sister."
Jiang Bai quickly walked over and helped Tian Rou up. Her big belly made Jiang Bai's heart tremble with fear, afraid that if she moved too much, she would give birth on the spot.
Tian Rou steadied herself and said softly, "I apologize for disturbing you, sister."
Jiang Bai glared at Jiang Cheng and scolded, "Your wife is pregnant, so you need to be more considerate and help her walk more often."
Jiang Cheng nodded blankly.
Jiang Bai then turned to Tian Rou and smiled, "I haven't been busy lately, so it's not like I'm bothering you. I'm just worried that it might be dangerous for you to move around so far in your pregnancy. Come on, let's go inside and talk."
The three of them arrived at the reception room, where Xu, the wet nurse, served tea and then left.
Tian Rou took a sip of hot tea to calm her discomfort, then looked around and asked, "Where are Ping An and Xi Le?"
Jiang Bai replied, "I sent them all to school."
Tian Rou touched her belly, lowered her eyes and smiled, saying, "Going to school is good. When my child and Jiang Cheng's child grow up, we will also go to school."
Jiang Bai thought to himself: Then you should pray that the child looks like you. If he looks like Jiang Cheng, then it's all over.
Before Jiang Bai could reply, Tian Rou turned to Jiang Cheng and said, "Take out the money."
After saying that, she turned to Jiang Bai and said, "I've never had any contact with my sister before, and I didn't even tell you about our marriage. It was really rude of me. After we got back that day, I had Jiang Cheng explain my sister's situation to you in detail..."
As she spoke, she took Jiang Cheng's package and handed it to Jiang Bai: "Putting everything else aside, when I borrowed money from you, most of it was spent by Jiang Cheng. I looked at these IOUs and scraped together some money to pay it back. See if it's enough?"
Jiang Bai was taken aback when he realized that their purpose in coming was to repay a debt. He instinctively took the package, opened it, and found a heavy bag of silver with an IOU on it.
The IOU was made in duplicate, and this copy was kept by Wang Xiufen.
Jiang Bai quickly pushed it back: "No need to return it, just consider it a gift to Mother."
Although he had severed ties with Wang Xiufen, Jiang Bai wouldn't take advantage of his sister-in-law, Tian Rou, who was offering him money.
If Zhao Yi's investigation is reliable, where do Wang Xiufen and Jiang Cheng get any money right now? This bag of silver must be Tian family's property.
Thinking of this, she glared at Jiang Cheng with a look of exasperation.
Tian Rou said seriously, "How can this be? A loan is a loan, and even siblings should keep clear accounts. If you don't accept it, then we'll feel embarrassed to let you come to the baby's one-month celebration."
Jiang Bai hesitated before accepting it, then said, "My IOU isn't in this house; I need to go back to the village to get it."
From the moment the money was lent out, Jiang Bai never expected that the other party would repay it. Therefore, a stack of IOUs were all on the roof of the Zhao family's old house. When they moved, they even took Zhao Xile's clay duck sculpture, but not these "waste papers".
Generally speaking, once someone repays the loan, the creditor should destroy the IOU on the spot, because someone might hold the IOU and deny that the other party has repaid the money.
Tian Rou quickly said, "It's okay, sister. What's there to be suspicious about between us? You don't need to go back specifically. Just take it and destroy it whenever it's convenient for you."
Jiang Bai said, "Otherwise, you can take the money back first."
Tian Rou quickly waved her hand to refuse, saying, "Sister, actually we came here this time because we have something we'd like you to help us with."
Jiang Bai raised his eyebrows and asked seriously, "What is it?"
Tian Rou, supporting her belly with her hand, said with a smile, "It's like this, didn't you rent out those two plots of land under your brother-in-law's name? Actually, they were rented to my third brother."
Jiang Bai's eyes widened: "What a coincidence?"
Wang Da Niang helped with the entire land rental process, and Jiang Bai hadn't paid attention to who the land was rented to. He never expected there would be such a connection.
“When we first rented the place, my brother-in-law’s family would occasionally come over and say some hurtful things, and my third brother would put up with it,” Tian Rou said, sighing. “But a few days ago, they went too far and said they wouldn’t rent it out after the autumn harvest this year. My third brother retorted a few times, and then his kid pulled up all the wheat seedlings in the field in the middle of the night.”
Jiang Bai was shocked: "This is too much." Crops are the lifeblood of rural people, and the Zhao family is clearly trying to kill them.
Tian Rou lowered her head: "My third brother was very angry and wanted to cause trouble for my brother-in-law's family, but I stopped him. But now they refuse to admit their mistakes and are blaming the child, trying to make my third brother suffer in silence..."
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