Chen Qingqing knew Chen Feng was shy, and seeing that even the tips of his ears were red, she couldn't bear to tease him any further, so she put on a serious expression.
“Father, since my elder brother says so, let’s go and propose marriage as soon as possible.”
Chen Zhanshan nodded in agreement, "Qing girl, you're right. Let's get ready and go to the Wu family to propose marriage tomorrow."
No sooner had she finished speaking than Lin, who was busy preparing dinner, walked in with a gloomy face.
"Stop talking, those people from next door are here again."
Before anyone could figure out what was going on, Old Man Chen and his wife, along with Chen Zhancai, walked in one after the other.
"Oh, everyone's here!" Old Mrs. Chen's cheeks twitched slightly, forcing out an extremely unnatural smile. If she weren't so desperate that she had no rice to cook, she wouldn't have come here to be treated like this, even if she had to eat chaff and wild vegetables.
Seeing this, Chen Qingqing understood. Night owls don't come to the house unless they have something to do. She wanted to see what tricks they were up to this time.
Chen Zhanshan frowned and asked in a calm tone, "What are you doing at our house? Is there something you want?"
"I'm not looking for you, I'm looking for Zhanliang." Old Mrs. Chen had completely lost her usual arrogance and looked at Chen Zhanliang nervously. "Second son, I went to your house to look for you just now, but you weren't there. I guessed you were here, so we came over. Could we talk in private for a moment?"
Chen Zhanliang looked bewildered. "What do you want? Is there something you need?"
"Something came up."
"Just say what's on your mind, why go out and talk about it?"
"This..." Old Mrs. Chen hesitated for a moment, then glanced at Old Mr. Chen behind her. "Old man, you should say it!"
Old Man Chen didn't want to come in the first place, but Old Woman Chen dragged him along.
He was seething with anger. How could someone be so shameless as to ask someone for money in advance? What's the difference between that and begging?
Now this old hag is too ashamed to speak. If you want him to talk, tell him to talk about his mother's head. I can't bear the shame of this.
He kept his head down, as if he hadn't heard anything, and ignored Old Lady Chen's comment.
Seeing this, Old Mrs. Chen really wanted to kick him to death. "Say something!"
"If you ask Zhan Cai to speak, I don't know how to start."
"You useless thing, you're driving me crazy!" Old Mrs. Chen glared at Old Mr. Chen, wishing she could slap him twice, then looked at Chen Zhancai, "Zhancai, you say it."
Upon hearing this, Chen Zhancai rolled his eyes in anger. He was more trouble than he was worth, and he was getting more and more useless as he got older. Where did his old-fashioned ability to act superior go?
He gritted his teeth inwardly, but forced a smile on his face and explained his purpose to Chen Zhanliang directly, "Second brother, Father and Mother don't have anything important to say to you. They just want to withdraw the two hundred coins in advance."
"What? You want money from me?" Chen Zhanliang immediately roared, "You're shameless! How could you say something like that!"
"It wasn't Second Brother, I..."
"Who's your second brother? Don't try to claim kinship with me." Chen Zhanliang interrupted Chen Zhancai before he could finish speaking, his face full of disgust. "If you have any humanity left, get out of here and stop making a fool of yourself."
Chen Zhancai immediately felt embarrassed and awkwardly defended himself, "I was just speaking up for my parents. This money wasn't given to me as a gift. Why are you getting angry with me and glaring at me like that?"
"I don't owe you anything, get out of here." Chen Zhanliang gave him no friendly look.
Seeing this, Old Mrs. Chen really wanted to point her finger at Chen Zhanliang and yell at him in the street, but she knew the family's predicament. If they really didn't have money to buy food, they would be starving and unable to get out of bed in less than three days.
Thinking about it this way, the anger in my heart instantly vanished.
He softened his tone and looked at Chen Zhanliang with pleading eyes, "Second son, I'm not asking you for extra money, I just want to withdraw the two hundred coins I give to your father and me every year in advance. Do you have any money on hand right now? Can you give it to me?"
Chen Zhancai glanced at them and said coldly, "I didn't even get a thatched house when the family split up. I'm still working as a doorman in the Wu family's old house. Where would I get spare money for you? How dare you even ask for it?"
"I'm really desperate. We have no money and no food. You can't just watch me starve!" Old Mrs. Chen had no choice but to tell the truth.
Chen Zhancai couldn't help but speak up, "You'll have to pay this money sooner or later, so why be so meticulous? Isn't it tiring? Besides, we're not going to renege on our debt. If all else fails, we can just give you a receipt."
"How dare you say that?" Chen Zhanliang was furious, pointing at Chen Zhancai. "If you had any backbone, if you were any decent person, our family wouldn't have fallen to this state. You used to..."
"Alright, is it any point for you to keep talking about this?" Chen Zhancai interrupted Chen Zhanliang impatiently. "That's enough. Hurry up and give the money to your parents. Let's not bother each other."
Seeing his matter-of-fact attitude, Madam Sun was so angry that her face turned pale. "It's clearly written in the family division agreement that we will give you the money when it's due. We will never make you come begging for it."
Seeing that Madam Sun was about to lose her temper, Da Bao quickly came forward to comfort her, "Mother, don't be angry. It's not worth getting sick from anger."
After saying that, he looked at Chen Zhancai and said indifferently, "Second Uncle, now that you're here, shouldn't we settle some accounts?"
"Da, Da Bao, what do you mean by this?" Chen Zhancai's heart tightened. He knew what Da Bao was referring to. If his parents found out that he owed someone sixty taels of silver, he would be kicked to the ground. Even if he didn't die, he probably wouldn't be able to get out of bed for the rest of his life. If that happened, he would be in deep trouble.
Thinking of this, he quickly moved closer to Da Bao and lowered his voice, "Nephew, we agreed beforehand that one thing is another, so don't confuse the two. If these two old folks find out, they might suddenly collapse here, which would be troublesome."
"Okay, then you'd better hurry up and pay me back."
"Don't worry, nephew, your third uncle will find a teaching job tomorrow. But could you please have your father give your grandparents next year's filial piety money first?"
"Okay, but let's be honest, you have to give me a receipt first." Da Bao knew that the old house was in dire straits, and out of humanitarian concern, he had to lend a hand.
Chen Zhancai nodded repeatedly, "Okay, okay, no problem, I've already written the receipt." As he spoke, he took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Da Bao, "Nephew, take a look and see if this is okay for me?"
Da Bao looked at it carefully, then casually put it in his pocket. He took out two hundred coins and handed them to Old Lady Chen, saying, "Keep this safe. This is your filial piety money for next year. Don't come asking for it again."
"Okay, okay, we would never do such a heartless thing." Old Mrs. Chen nodded in agreement. Her eyes lit up as she looked at the two hundred coins in her hand. With this money, she could buy grain and big sesame cakes to eat.
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