Chapter 377: Chapter 195 Filial Piety_2
Everyone turned their heads and realized that Lian Shouyi was not in the room.
"Sir," Lian Manman walked up to the kang, and put the wood box and dry tobacco pipe in front of Old Master Lian, "when I went to find Sister Huahua, she scraped the money together on the spot." It was not as Lian Shouren and Lady Gu said, that they were prepared in advance, and they would have returned the money today even if Lian Manman had not gone.
"When we went to my uncle’s at noon, my uncle was still on the kang. Brother Erlang and Brother Sanlang had to carry my uncle out before we could see him." Lian Manman continued, "I told my uncle that Sir wanted him to come home. Auntie even said she needed to say goodbye to the Song Family and pack before she could leave... The luggage and everything were packed on the spot too, if we hadn’t urged them, they couldn’t have arrived by now."
"Manman is right," Lian Shouxin said.
Erlang and Sanlang also echoed the statement.
With the lie exposed, Lian Shouren and Lady Gu both hung their heads in shame.
"Stay away from me," Old Master Lian pointed at Lian Shouren.
Lian Shouren tried to stand up, but after glancing at Old Master Lian, he instead knelt down again and shuffled backward a few steps on his knees, making room in front of the kang.
"Manman, Old Fourth," Old Master Lian called the grandchildren who had gone to the county, "come sit in front of me."
Lian Manman was the first to climb onto the kang and sat down next to Old Master Lian, and then she opened the wood box.
"Sir, we have enough money. Why not call Old Jin over to settle the debt first?" Lian Manman took the initiative to suggest, guessing that the weight of the usurious loan was like a heavy mountain pressing down on Old Master Lian’s heart. Resolving this issue first might heal Old Master Lian’s sickness by half.
"Right, go get Old Jin," Old Master Lian said, looking at the silver in the box, his spirits seemingly lifted somewhat. "Ah, in my lifetime, I’ve never owed anyone money."
Soon, Old Jin arrived, and his eyes smiled upon seeing the box full of gold and silver. He weighed the gold and silver, totaling to eight hundred and sixty-four taels and nine mace. After Old Jin took the gold and silver and added a few strings of cash, the account was settled.
"Old Jin, that IOU..." Old Master Lian looked at Old Jin.
Old Jin took out his copy of the IOU from his chest now that the room was lit.
"This money is repaid cleanly. Old Brother Lian is a man of his word. This IOU is useless now; let’s burn it," Old Jin was about to burn the IOU over the fire.
"Don’t burn it," Old Master Lian quickly interjected.
"Alright, that was meddlesome of me, haha." Old Jin laughed heartily and passed the IOU to Old Master Lian.
Old Master Lian looked at the IOU, folded it together with the one that Lian Manman was holding, and handed them both to Lady Zhou for safekeeping.
"Old Jin, I’ve troubled you this time. You have things to do, so I won’t keep you," Old Master Lian said.
This was a clear sign for Old Jin to leave; although he still wanted to stay a bit longer, he now had to stand up and take his leave.
"All of you listen," after Old Jin left, Old Master Lian was silent for a while before he spoke again, "from now on, no one from the Old Lian Family is allowed to take usurious loans again!"
Because of his forceful emphasis, after saying this sentence, Old Master Lian began coughing again.
"Old man, stop talking. Take a rest now," Lady Zhou, worried for Old Master Lian, quickly advised.
"Rest for what? I need to say this all at once." Old Master Lian waved his hand, coughed for a while, and then said again, "Did you hear me? No one can borrow usurious loans ever again; it’s like drinking poison to quench thirst!"
Old Master Lian picked up his dry tobacco pipe and tapped it a few times on the edge of the kang.
"Whoever borrows usury again is no longer a member of my Lian Family. Did everyone hear that clearly?"
"We heard it clearly." Seeing Old Master Lian getting anxious, everyone hurriedly replied.
"Old Master, you’ve had your medicine, rest a bit." Lady Zhou brought over the bowl of medicine and said to Old Master Lian.
Old Master Lian had been anxious for so many days, but today he finally managed to repay the usury on time, and Lian Shouren’s family was also brought back by Lian Manman. His heart relaxed, and after drinking his medicine, he fell into a deep sleep.
Only then did Lady Zhou decide, letting Lian Shouren and his family stand up.
Some matters, some words, could only wait until tomorrow.
Back in the West Wing Room, Lady Zhang started to make a fire and cook with Lian Zhizhi, while Lian Manman freshened up, changed her clothes, and then asked Lady Zhang about the early morning shop’s business, concerned.
"It’s been the same as always, thankfully your third uncle’s family helped out, or I couldn’t have managed." Lady Zhang said, "Today’s accounts were done by your sister."
"I don’t know if she got them right, Manman, you’ll have to check them again tomorrow." Lian Zhizhi said while tending the fire.
"How was your day in the city?" Lady Zhang asked, "It must have been difficult to get the money."
Lian Manman nodded.
"Sister Huahua is pregnant."
"What?!" Lady Zhang’s pot-scrubbing hand paused, "Really?"
Lady Zhang’s voice was faint, and with the light from the fire below the stove, Lian Manman noticed Lady Zhang’s complexion didn’t look good. She just wanted to say that Lian Huahua could have made use of her pregnancy to quickly repay the debt. Yet Lian Huahua chose not to pay back the money and, because she had something to rely on, schemed against them. In Lian Huahua’s heart, her family only consisted of the few legitimate relatives from the main house; she had no affection for the other members of the Lian Family.
But for Lady Zhang, this clearly reminded her of the child she had lost.
"Mom, let’s eat quickly so we can go to the shop. I’ve missed it after not being there for a day," Lian Manman hastily changed the subject, "The county town is quite interesting, I’ll tell you all about it slowly when we go to the shop later."
...
The next day, Lian Manman was still helping out in the morning snack shop as usual, and when the customers thinned out, she went to the town with Wu Lang and Xiao Qi, pushing the family’s handcart.
With twenty taels of silver left, Lian Manman made a large purchase, only pushing a cartload of things back home.
As she entered the yard, Lian Manman saw thick smoke billowing out of the outer room.
It wasn’t yet time to cook lunch, so what was happening? Could there be a fire? Startled, Lian Manman hastened her steps, lifted the door curtain, and was immediately stunned.
...*****...
Twist and plead for pink, plead for motivation. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)
