Chapter 195 - 187: Paying off a Debt with a House
Chapter 195: Chapter 187: Paying off a Debt with a House
Lu Changchun handed the IOU to the constable. "A signature can be forged, but how do you forge a thumbprint? Besides, when she made her print, plenty of people from the village saw it. They can all be my witnesses."
The constable glanced at the IOU in his hand and beckoned to Old Mrs. Bai. "Come here."
Terrified, Old Mrs. Bai didn’t want to go over, nor did she dare. She remained rooted to the spot, refusing to budge.
Seeing this, the constable simply walked over himself, seized the old woman’s hand, and compared her thumb to the print.
The match was, of course, perfectly clear.
The middle-aged constable roughly flung the old woman’s hand away and snorted, "What else do you have to say for yourself?"
Old Mrs. Bai shook her head frantically. "Impossible. This is impossible! I clearly tore that IOU to shreds!"
Doctor Lu sneered. "What’s so impossible? You know to tear up an IOU to dodge a debt, so couldn’t I have just swapped it out to ensure I get paid?"
Old Mrs. Bai was so furious she could barely breathe. She knew she couldn’t squirm her way out of this one, and her heart seethed with hatred. ’That Lu Changchun actually played mind games with me! The IOU he showed last time was a fake! I was happy for nothing all this time, thinking he hadn’t come looking for me because he had no evidence and had to drop the matter.’
The middle-aged constable said angrily, "Refusing to pay your debts? Do you have no respect for the law?"
With a THUMP, Old Mrs. Bai fell to her knees before the constable. "I do! Of course, I respect the law! I was just old and confused for a moment. Don’t arrest me! Please, don’t arrest me! I’ll pay the money, I swear I’ll pay it back."
The constable glanced over at Lu Changchun, as if to ask for his opinion.
Lu Changchun nodded at him. "Then let’s give her one more chance."
The middle-aged constable turned to look at Old Mrs. Bai and Liu, who were kneeling on the ground, and said in a grave voice, "You have three days. Within three days, you must return the six taels of silver to Doctor Lu. Otherwise, we will seize this house to cover the debt."
’What? They’re going to take my house to cover the debt?’
Old Mrs. Bai was so furious she almost fainted, and didn’t even notice when Lu Changchun and the two constables left.
"Mother, what do we do now? They’re going to take our house for the debt! If they really take it, where will we live?" Liu was utterly panicked. Those two constables hadn’t looked like they were joking.
Ms. Zhang’s expression darkened. As bad as things were in the Bai Family, at least they had a roof over their heads and hadn’t starved to death. ’But if they even lose the house, what will my family do?’
Her gaze fell upon the red string around Old Mrs. Bai’s neck. Erzhu had told her about it. The old woman wore a Jade Pendant that had been found inside a small wooden shelf. When Sanzhu was still alive, he’d bought that shelf cheap from a second-hand shop in town. After Sanzhu’s death, the old woman had moved it into the main hall for her own use. The Jade Pendant was probably hidden inside by the shelf’s previous owner.
’Knowing the old woman’s personality, she’d give that Jade Pendant to the eldest son’s family sooner or later. Our branch of the family can forget about it; we’d never get a turn.’
’Since our side of the family can’t count on getting that Jade Pendant, then maybe it would be better to—’
Having made up her mind, Ms. Zhang stepped forward and said to the old woman, "Our house is so big, and that’s including the land. How could it only be worth six taels of silver!"
Liu said, "Isn’t that obvious? You probably couldn’t buy a house this big for even sixty taels of silver."
Ms. Zhang said, "Exactly. So we should hurry up and pay the money back. Otherwise, if they really do take the house, our whole family will end up as beggars."