Chapter 479: Chapter 249: A Bad Debt_1
"This is simply not true!" Old Master Lian and Lian Shouren hurriedly denied.
"The monk may run, but the temple won’t run with him. Scholar, Old Master Lian, we’ve shown you enough respect. You tell us, how should this matter be resolved?" a government officer said.
Lian Manman was very annoyed; she didn’t really believe that Old Master Lian had sent word for Lian Shouyi to flee. She thought that it must have been Lian Shouyi, realizing the wine was compromised, who ran away out of fear of bearing the consequences.
How could brothers born of the same mother be so different? Lian Shouxin, who had already separated from the family and gone out on his own, dropped everything about building his house and hurried back when he heard the family was in trouble. Similarly, upon receiving the message, Lian Shouli rushed back to answer Old Master Lian’s call. But the person in question, Lian Shouyi, had slipped away like a slippery eel?
Was Lian Shouyi too clever? Were Lian Shouxin and Lian Shouli too foolish?
At this moment, Lian Manman deeply realized the importance of having a sense of responsibility. Generally speaking, it’s the family’s eldest son or those born early who are more responsible due to the expectations placed upon them, but this is not always the case. Specifically, in the Lian Family, both the eldest, Lian Shouren, and the second son, Lian Shouyi, were "smart" individuals; however, they seemed to lack any real sense of responsibility toward the larger family unit. In contrast, Lian Shouxin, the youngest, had a sense of responsibility that was off the charts.
Lian Manman had seriously pondered the factors that led to this situation. She felt that it had something to do with the changes in the Lian Family’s circumstances. When Lian Shouren and Lian Shouyi were young, the Lian Family was at its wealthiest, with Old Master Lian young enough to provide a wide sky for his wife and children. By the time Lian Shouli and Lian Shouxin came along, the family’s fortunes were not what they once were, and Old Master Lian, now older, faced even greater burdens; he needed his sons to help sustain the family business.
Do the children of the poor take on responsibilities earlier? Does the environment shape one’s character?
Lian Manman shifted on the bench and, at the same time, pulled her thoughts away from this complex philosophical issue to focus on the pressing practical matter at hand.
Everyone was looking at Old Master Lian. As the government officer said, the monk might run away, but the temple remains. Lian Shouyi had fled, but the Lian Family was still there. How to shoulder this situation depended on what Old Master Lian, as head of the family, said.
Old Master Lian was puffing away at his dry tobacco pipe, using it to calm his nerves and think about how to clean up the mess left by Lian Shouyi.
The Xu Family and the government officer had come to him, and he had told them that the wine matter had nothing to do with the Lian Family. But the Xu Family made it clear that two people had sold them the wine: He Laoliu and Lian Shouyi. He Laoliu had pushed all the blame onto Lian Shouyi, claiming he was merely helping out.
Old Master Lian had sent Si Lang to summon Lian Shouyi back so he could confront He Laoliu. As for the profit Lian Shouyi had made from He Laoliu’s wine-making – the thirty taels of silver he handed over to Lady Zhou – he was willing to return it in full.
However, Lian Shouyi had run off in fear, leaving no one to confront He Laoliu. He Laoliu was a dubious character, even more reckless than the He Family, having squandered his fortune. He adamantly insisted that the Lian Family was the main culprit; being owners of house and land and having dependents, their situation became exceedingly unfavorable.
Old Master Lian felt an unpleasant taste in his throat and pulled hard on his smoke.
"... they say it’s the Lian Family’s wine; that refers to my fourth son who’s separated from the family. The wine they made has all been sold to the Shen Family of Prefecture City," Old Master Lian put down his tobacco pipe and finally spoke. "The Shen Family of Prefecture City is the family of Empress Shen, the ones currently building the temple on the mountain."
When it came to the Shen Family, neither the government officer nor the people from the Xu Family uttered a sound. Old Master Lian had already mentioned this before, and it was for this reason, along with the fact that Lian Shouren was a Scholar, that they had not clapped irons on anyone as soon as they walked in.
"Old Fourth, aside from selling to the Shen Family, have you sold your wine to anyone else?" Old Master Lian deliberately asked Lian Shouxin.
"No," Lian Shouxin replied promptly.
"The wine made by the Old He Family is theirs; it has nothing to do with our Old Lian Family," Old Master Lian declared. "You gentlemen, you went to his house to buy the wine, didn’t you? You never paid a visit to this old man, did you?"
"Old Master, you’ve repeated this several times. We bought the wine from He Laoliu’s house. But it wasn’t just He Laoliu who was selling the wine at that time; your second son, Lian Shouyi, claimed he had made the wine. He also told us that the Shen Family was eager to buy the wine from the Lian Family, that his wine was the Lian Family’s wine." The Xu Family’s steward said, "He Laoliu, am I lying?"
