Chapter 163 - 155: Borrowing Rice from the Maiden Family
Chapter 163: Chapter 155: Borrowing Rice from the Maiden Family
Old Mrs. Bai looked completely unconcerned. "Who saw anything?" she screeched. "What did they see? What good is it to just say they saw something? You need proof! In the end, only Doctor Lu himself knew what was written on that IOU. Outsiders were just watching for the spectacle; how could they possibly know the real story? Who’s going to stick their neck out to be a witness?"
There *had* been proof, but unfortunately, it was all gone now. And it was all thanks to her ’brilliant and heroic foresight’!
The more Old Mrs. Bai thought about it, the more pleased she became. Her face practically glowed, and even the ugly wrinkles on it seemed to diminish.
Ms. Zhang pursed her lips, unable to hide the disdain on her face. ’This old woman has gotten more and more full of herself lately,’ she thought. ’Does she really think the whole world is full of idiots, and she’s the only one with a brain?’
Ms. Zhang ignored how pleased Old Mrs. Bai was. All she wanted to know was whether there would be any rice for the pot at noon. "There’s not a scrap of food left in the house," she said. "Since everyone is so idle, why don’t we divide up the work? We’re out of rice. Someone has to either go buy some or borrow some."
Old Mrs. Bai had just been thinking about that very thing. Since Zhang Shumei had brought it up, it was perfect. "Shumei, why don’t you go to your brother’s house and borrow two pecks of rice? We’ll pay him back after our fields are harvested."
Ms. Zhang’s face immediately darkened. "Mother-in-law, that’s what you said when you borrowed rice the year before last, and last year too. But when the harvest came, I never saw you pay any of it back. And now you want to borrow again? Do you really think my family are a bunch of fools?"
Old Mrs. Bai’s expression soured. "You wretched girl, what nonsense are you spouting? Are you saying the Bai Family are the kind of people who don’t repay their debts?"
Ms. Zhang sneered. "Aren’t you? You’ve borrowed grain from the Zhang Family more than once or twice. So? Have you ever paid any of it back?" ’And she just tore up Doctor Lu’s IOU. Did she forget about that already?’
After getting an earful from his wife the day before, Bai Erzhu had come to see her point. He quickly chimed in to support her, "Mother, why don’t you go visit your second brother’s family? I hear they’ve been doing quite well for themselves lately. It shouldn’t be a problem for you to borrow two pecks of rice from them, right? If that really doesn’t work, we could have Eldest Sister-in-law go to the Liu family to borrow. She’s never gone to her family to ask for anything before, so they probably wouldn’t refuse a request just this once, right?"
Old Mrs. Bai’s face grew even darker. She had cut off all contact with her own family long ago. When she had married into the Bai Family, they had been a bit wealthier than her Wu Family. Her husband had paid a bride price of one tael of silver, which was no small sum in those days. He had also bought her a new set of clothes—it was the first time in her life she had ever worn something new.
Her sister-in-law from her maiden family, seeing that she was living well, started coming over constantly to borrow rice and oil, never paying any of it back. Although the Bai Family was better off than the Wu Family, they couldn’t withstand the Wu Family members constantly sponging off them like that.
Gradually, she grew distant from her family. It was just distance at first; they hadn’t completely cut ties. That is, until her second brother’s son suddenly fell ill. His family had no money for treatment, so they came to her for help. She had just managed to save up two maces of silver and couldn’t bear to part with it. So, she lied, claiming she had no money and absolutely refused to lend them any.
Later, her second brother’s child died from his illness. After that, no one from the Wu Family ever visited the Bai household again, and she, in turn, never went back to the Wu Family.
Liu’s expression was even more unsightly. While she was still in contact with her family, it was always them asking her for help, never the other way around.
Her family was dirt-poor, never knowing where their next meal was coming from. It was a blessing they hadn’t come asking her for a loan.