Chapter 41: Borrowing Money

The house had just been renovated recently and still looked quite new.

Xin Xiujian’s heart skipped a beat. The girl from Liu Laifu’s family always had her eyes on other people’s houses.

Afraid that she was actually targeting her house, Xin Xiujian glared at her in anger. “What are you thinking? You lent ten yuan and now you have your eyes on my house? Dream on!”

Liu Yinyin shrugged. “Auntie, even you think ten yuan is too little? Then that settles it. Your house is worth more than ten yuan, but surely you have something cheaper, right?

If you really don’t have money to repay, you can settle the debt with goods—grain, eggs, anything will do. I won’t mind.”

“Pah! You little girl sure have some nerve!” Xin Xiujian scoffed coldly. “I don’t have money, and I don’t have goods either. Who asked you to lend him money? You’re just meddling in other people’s business!”

Liu Yinyin was speechless and didn’t want to argue any further. She simply said, “Anyway, so many people saw it happen. Your son borrowed money from us. If you keep refusing to pay it back, I’ll report it to the police.”

“You… who are you trying to scare?” Xin Xiujian, a simple village woman, felt uneasy at the thought of the uniformed policemen in the county town.

Liu Yinyin wasn’t afraid of not getting her money back. “If you’re not scared, then go ahead and try. Oh, and since I’m pregnant, it’s inconvenient for me to come and collect the money. Once you have it, bring it to my house. Otherwise, I’ll have to ask my mother to come and collect it instead.”

Jiang Cuihua was known for being fierce in the village—there were very few women who could stand up to her.

Not only that, but Liu Yinyin had three older brothers to back her up. Anyone thinking of bullying her had better think twice.

In these times, having support from one’s maiden family gave a married woman real confidence.

Xin Xiujian was speechless.

She had given birth to five children, but only one was a son, and not having more boys was a sore spot for her.

She had been hoping her daughter-in-law would give her more grandsons, but to her frustration, she had only given birth to two girls.

Now she would have to keep a low profile in the village—after all, the more sons a family had, the stronger their position.

Thinking about Liu Laifu’s aggressive wife and her three tall, burly sons, Xin Xiujian hesitated. If she tried to default on the debt…

They might really come and tear her house down!

Seeing her stunned into silence, Liu Yinyin was satisfied and left with Gu Cheng to go home.

After all the commotion, they had barely gotten any sleep before morning arrived.

She wondered how Liu Ergou and his wife were doing. Would ten yuan be enough?

After breakfast, Gu Cheng had to go to the county hospital to check on them. Before leaving, he told Liu Yinyin, “I’m going to mother in law ‘s place first. You’re about to give birth soon, and it’s not safe for you to be alone at home. Since I have to work during the day, how about having my mother come stay with you?”

If Liu Yinyin were alone and went into labor unexpectedly, no one would know.

To be honest, Liu Yinyin was a little scared too. “Okay, go quickly.”

Since the busy farming season was over and there wasn’t much work left in the fields, Jiang Cuihua should have time to come over.

Jiang Cuihua was listening to others gossip about what had happened the previous night when she saw her son-in-law coming over to ask her to stay with her daughter.

Without hesitation, she stood up, patted the dust off her clothes, and headed straight to her daughter’s house.

In fact, she had been worried about her daughter too and would frequently visit her from time to time.

As soon as Jiang Cuihua arrived, she bombarded her with questions. “What happened last night? I heard that you and your husband went to Liu Ergou’s house and even lent them money?”

Liu Yinyin nodded and sighed. “Sister Guizhi had a difficult labor. Two lives were at stake—we couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.”

Besides, as a pregnant woman herself, she couldn’t bring herself to be indifferent.

Jiang Cuihua also sighed and said, “Guizhi is a good girl, but she’s unlucky to have such a mother-in-law. Still, no matter how pitiful they are, they must return the money.

Otherwise, other families will start following their example and come to your house to borrow money too.”

A small favor could turn into resentment when the expectations grew. The village had its fair share of loafers who wanted something for nothing.

“I know. If it weren’t a matter of life and death, I wouldn’t have offered,” Liu Yinyin said helplessly. “But I’m afraid Sister Guizhi’s mother-in-law won’t be so willing to repay the debt. When the time comes, I might need you to help pressure her a little.”

Jiang Cuihua actually enjoyed handling such matters. “Don’t worry. If she refuses to pay, I’ll stand at her door and curse her at every mealtime. I don’t believe she won’t be sick of it!”

Jiang Cuihua was not one to sit idle. Staying in her daughter’s house all day would bore her, so while Liu Yinyin stayed in, she would often go out for a walk.

She never left for long, just long enough to exchange a few words with others before returning. Her main goal was to gather news about Liu Ergou’s family—how Yang Guizhi was doing in the hospital and whether the baby had been delivered safely.

Since it was the farming off-season, the household chores were left to her two daughters-in-law. Jiang Cuihua simply decided to stay at her daughter’s house for lunch and even helped prepare the meal.

For lunch, Liu Yinyin prepared two dishes: stir-fried eggs with chives and eggplant and green beans braised with potatoes.

The main staple was sweet potato and cornmeal steamed buns.

Their household ate refined grains about once a week; most of the time, they relied on cornmeal.

Since Liu Yinyin hadn’t had the time to forage for wild vegetables, the dried wild greens she had saved up were reserved for feeding the chickens in winter. It had been a while since they had eaten wild vegetable buns.

Even so, Jiang Cuihua still exclaimed that her daughter’s household was living well.

At first glance, their meals seemed similar to those of other families, but there was a significant difference.

Her daughter was generous with ingredients—she used oil and salt as if they were free. Just watching her cook made Jiang Cuihua feel distressed.

The food was rich with oil, making even plain vegetables taste delicious.

Other families, on the other hand, were extremely frugal. When making a dish, they would only dare to drizzle in a few drops of oil—just enough to coat the pan—while skimping on every other ingredient as well.

Even their cornmeal was different. Rural families would grind corn with the husk intact to increase their food supply, making the cornmeal slightly coarse and scratchy to eat.

But the cornmeal in Liu Yinyin’s house was made from pure corn kernels, finely ground to a soft texture, almost as good as wheat flour.

In the afternoon, with nothing else to do, Jiang Cuihua helped her daughter make sweet potato starch noodles.

Liu Yinyin planned to set aside about three hundred pounds of sweet potatoes for making starch noodles.

The Liu family also made dozens of pounds of sweet potato starch noodles every year, and Jiang Cuihua was skilled at the process, so she took on the task.

Mother and daughter sat in the courtyard, one washing sweet potatoes while the other grated them into a pulp.

They were busy until around three o’clock when Li Chunfang suddenly rushed over.

“Cuihua, good thing you’re here! Come help me carry the fish.”

Hearing that her daughter had asked Li Chunfang to buy some fish for her, Jiang Cuihua wiped her hands and followed her out the door.