Chen Xingling shook his head: "People are shaped by the land and water they live in. Every place has its own cultural background. This kind of thing is not something that anyone can control."
"Are they specializing in loan sharking?" Gu Yi frowned and asked, "Could there be any thugs in the gang? Will mom really be okay?"
Chen Xingling explained: "They are not all the old gangsters you think they are. Most of them are small collective organizations that are spontaneously formed by a group of people. When there is work at the dock, the cargo owner will directly find the small leader. The small leader is their boss, and he can immediately bring a group of younger brothers to work. The small leader will take a commission, and will also ensure that the younger brothers have work regularly and are not bullied by people from other gangs."
"Oh." Gu Yi nodded: "That means - those who go to find work alone will most likely be bullied or driven away?"
"Yeah." Chen Xingling whispered, "They also want to protect their own interests. They don't want everyone to compete with each other by offering low prices and engage in vicious competition. There are many people who want to make money, but not necessarily many jobs. It is easy for them to compete to lower prices and affect their own interests. This is also the reason why such an organization will appear."
Gu Qi couldn't help but ask: "Are there also some who engage in illegal activities, such as gambling and loan sharking?"
"Yes." Chen Xingling answered, "But it's less. In fact, usury is very common here. Yucheng is a coastal and riverside city, and there is a lot of trade on the sea and the river, so some private lending organizations have always existed. For example, if a merchant ship wants to buy goods to go out to sea, the funds may not be enough for the time being, so some money will be borrowed to buy goods and then paid back when the money is earned. There are also some small gangs that will pool money to do this. For those who have real estate to mortgage, the interest rate will be lower. If there is no real estate, the amount of money borrowed will be small, and the interest rate will be very high."
After listening to this, Gu Qi began to analyze the situation calmly.
"My mother has a strong northern accent, is a stranger from outside the city, and is old. Logically, she shouldn't lend her money. Could it be that - Mom has already mortgaged the house on the first floor facing the river?"
Chen Xingling shook his head: "No, everyone knows that the house belongs to the shipyard, it is collective property, and it cannot be counted. Your mother probably has some valuable personal property, otherwise she wouldn't be able to borrow several hundred dollars."
Gu Qi seemed to guess something and his face darkened.
"As far as I know, Mom also has some gold and silver jewelry."
Everyone stared in surprise and looked at Gu Qi one after another.
"Gold jewelry? What kind?"
"Silver coin? Really? We still have that old stuff at home?"
"Dad, what is a silver coin? Is it money made of silver? Is it the currency from ancient times? Can it still be used now?"
Gu Qi frowned and explained, "We don't have many gold jewellery. They are all left by our ancestors. We used to have a few sets of head ornaments, but when Dad passed away, our family was in a difficult situation, so Mom secretly sold some of them, leaving only a few pieces."
"That's impossible." Gu Yi found it unbelievable. "With my mother's personality, how could she keep something like this? She would have destroyed it long ago!"
At this time, Gu Xuan, who had changed his clothes and dried his hair, walked out from behind the screen and slowly sat down.
"When we came to Yucheng, my mother said that we had to take all the valuables with us. Ah Miao asked us where there were any valuables at home, and my mother said there were some. Ah Miao asked her what they were, but she refused to tell me."
Gu Qi said calmly: "I saw it a few years ago. There were more than a dozen silver coins in the house, it seems to be eighteen."
Then, he explained to his son: "The silver coin is made of silver. Although it has no circulation function, it has a certain value. Currently, a silver coin can be sold for about ten yuan on the market."
Chen Xingling guessed, "It was probably sold. It says the loan is over 400 yuan, and the interest is over 200 yuan, but it doesn't mention anything as collateral. Maybe it has already been mortgaged."
As a foreigner, my mother-in-law doesn't have a reliable house or collateral, so those people won't rashly lend her money.
Most likely, she had taken out valuable things, which made them think that the old lady was probably from a wealthy family and could lend them to her.
Gu Yi was angry and upset, and said angrily: "I told her last time that she shouldn't be too addicted to playing mahjong and not stop all day long! She even scolded me and told me to leave her alone! Look! Something bad happened, right?!"
Gu Qi thought for a moment and guessed, "The things she has with her, plus the four hundred dollars, add up to almost a thousand dollars."
Zhao Xiaoxing didn't dare to speak, but finally couldn't help whispering: "The money we paid every month...was all gambled away by mother-in-law?"
Chen Xingling smiled bitterly: "If she had money, why would she borrow from loan sharks?"
"I never thought she would gamble - and bet so much." Gu Qi frowned, "When she comes back, don't let her do anything stupid again. We will buy rice and grain for her, and only give her ten yuan to use. She can't hand over the money to her anymore."
Every failure is a learning experience. The money is earned by my son and daughter, not blown by the wind, so how can I let her squander it!
Lao Qiqin has never been a reliable person. In the past, her family was so poor that she had no choice but to curb her bad habits.
The family's financial situation has improved in the past two years, especially this year. Her son and daughter-in-law have given her more and more money for household use, but she has less and less to spend. Now that she has extra money, she can't help it.
They were careless before, thinking that she was bored at home, and asked her to go out and chat with some aunties nearby and play mahjong to kill time. Who knew that such a big thing would happen when they were not paying attention!
Gu Yi snorted coldly: "I still owe her several hundred yuan and I don't know how to pay her back! Not to mention ten yuan, I don't even have a penny to give her!"
Around their young couple
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