Xu Huaiqian leaned out of the door and saw a group of people outside the courtyard. Some were carrying chickens, some driving geese, some carrying vegetables, and it was as noisy as a big market.

Wang Wanwan went to the field to weed after lunch with a straw hat, leaving him and Chen Xiaomei at home.

“He’s not at home,” Xu Huaiqian took the initiative to be the head of the family and asked, “What do you want?”

“Who are you?”

When the villagers saw Xu Huaiqian at first, they didn’t remember who he was. Chen Jinhu hadn’t come back yet, and he didn’t look so thin.

Xu Huaiqian said calmly: “I’m Chen Liejiu’s new bought in husband.”

“Oh——!”

When he said this, the villagers remembered that there was such a thing. A few days ago, Chen Liejiu took a sickly man home to be his husband.

They were not from Xinghua Village, so they just listened to it as a joke and didn’t take it to heart.

 Only when it concerns their own interests, will they be particularly concerned.

“We are here to pay the debt. He is not at home. Can you make the decision?”

In the family, men have always been the breadwinners and women the homemakers. It is the same without a mistress, but this bought husband…

The villagers were not sure whether Xu Huaiqian was the homemaker or the outsider, so they had to ask first.

Xu Huaiqian never asked about Chen Liejiu’s affairs outside, but since they had come to the door, he couldn’t just shrink back and not take responsibility: “Yes.”

After saying that, he turned around and said to Chen Xiaomei: “Go find two people who often follow your brother to collect debts.”

With so many people coming to the door, Chen Xiaomei didn’t dare to delay. She went out of the courtyard gate in a flash and disappeared in a moment.

 Xu Huaiqian opened the courtyard door: “Come in and talk, don’t stand outside the courtyard, we are from the same village.”

He turned around and moved a few benches from the main hall to invite everyone to sit. Two women and gers saw that he was too thin and frail, and helped him.

A group of people sat on the benches and saw Xu Huaiqian busy moving benches and pouring water. Everything was arranged in an orderly manner.

With his frail figure, if they hadn’t known in advance that he was a man, he would have been a virtuous husband.

In addition, they came to the debt collector’s house as debtors and received the best courtesy, which made them quite uneasy.

 “Son…Liquor store owner,” he almost called out “son-in-law” for no apparent reason, “Stop busying yourself, we’ll just sit for a while and leave.”

“Cough cough cough——”

This body is really too bad. Just doing a little work, and Xu Huaiqian felt like his lungs were choking. He coughed a few times, and saw Chen Xiaomei coming back with two big men. He didn’t force it, calmed down a little, and asked, “Are you all here to pay your debts?”

When everyone saw Xu Huaiqian leaning against the kitchen door and bending over coughing, they were all scared. Not only did they not pay their debts, but they were also scammed.

Who is Chen Liejiu?

He is a well-known bully in the surrounding villages. If anything happens to his new husband, he will tear down their houses one by one.

When Xu Huaiqian calmed down, they nodded hurriedly: “Yes, yes, we are all here to pay our debts. You see… if the money is not enough, is there a rule?”

The two big men brought back by Chen Xiaomei were also smart. Seeing this, they hurried to Xu Huaiqian and whispered a few words to make the situation clear.

Country people can’t make much money except digging for food in the fields all year round. If they encounter a disaster year, the harvest is not good, the taxes are heavy, and the family is in trouble, what should they do without money?

Borrow from the big families in the village!

They are fellow villagers, and they can’t just stand by and watch you die. But as in all times, it is easy to borrow money but difficult to repay it. They are all fellow villagers, how can you have the nerve to ask them for money?

 So debt collectors came into being. After borrowing money, you give the IOU to the debt collector. When the time came, they would not ask about it. The debt collectors would come to your house to collect the debt.

It was the best of both worlds, as they did not offend anyone and did not have to bother to collect the debt.

But the debt collection was not to show off and go to the debtor’s house with the IOU when it was due.

Instead, they would send someone to the debtor’s house to remind them fifteen days in advance that the due date was approaching and it was time to pay back the money.

Most of the sensible people or those who had money would pay it back immediately. Some of those who still had no money would try to raise money on the fifteenth day. A few who were shameless and did not want to pay back or did not have money to pay back directly needed their help.

Chen Liejiu was a good person. Generally, if someone was really in trouble and had no money, he would give them more time. For poor families, he would sometimes advance money for them to pay back and help them find jobs.

 Just like Fifth Chen’s family. His land was hit by a disaster, and they really couldn’t pay back the money, so Chen Liejiu paid for him, and then took him everywhere to collect debts. He slowly paid back the money, and life became better.

But if he met a rogue like Xu Dalang, who obviously had money but didn’t want to pay back, he wouldn’t be polite!

The situation like today where all the debtors took the initiative to pay back the money, the two big men had never encountered it before, and they didn’t know what happened.

 After Xu Huaiqian understood clearly, he nodded and asked the villagers sitting in the yard: “Your IOUs are not due yet, why are you all here to pay back the money in advance?”

“Uh…” A group of people looked at each other, and finally seemed to have no other choice, gritted their teeth and said, “We still have no other choice. The harvest in the fields has not come in yet, and we don’t know how the harvest will be. There are only a few houses at home. If we can’t pay back, they will demolish them and the whole family will have to sleep outdoors…”

They talked about their own stories, and Xu Huaiqian only picked out the key points to listen to, which was still caused by Chen Liejiu demolishing his house.

Chen Liejiu demolished his house because he didn’t want the eldest family to take advantage of him, but in the eyes of the villagers and people from other villages, Chen Liejiu was just a bully.

If you owe him money, he will steal your child as a husband, demolish your house to vent his anger, and force you to pay back the money.

 Although the Xu family has been divided, in this era of filial piety and respect for brothers, they are still a family even if they are divided. Moreover, Xu Huaiqian’s parents have passed away, and the first branch helped him with the funeral. It is reasonable for him to marry to help pay off the debt.

It’s all because Chen Liejiu is too much of a bully. He didn’t give up after marrying him, and even forcibly demolished the house.

The only valuable things for the country people are the land and houses. The Xu family has extra houses to demolish, but they don’t. If they can’t pay the money and Chen Liejiu demolishes them, the family will have to freeze to death outside.

After thinking about it, the whole family couldn’t sleep at night. Finally, the whole family decided to pay back with whatever they had at home first. In case the harvest in the field is not good, it can also make Chen Liejiu tolerant.

 After Xu Huaiqian understood, he saw that they were wearing patched earth-gray linen clothes, their cloth shoes were worn out and their toes were exposed, but they were reluctant to throw them away. This was considered better. Most of them wore straw sandals and went barefoot, with thick calluses on the soles of their feet.

Knowing that they were all poor people, they were scared by Chen Liejiu’s house demolition to collect debts.

“My Liejiu demolished the house not to force the Xu family to pay back the money,” Xu Huaiqian explained to them, “He demolished it for me.”

“Demolished it for you?” A group of people were puzzled.

“Yes,” Xu Huaiqian nodded, “The eldest wife of the Xu family owed money and wanted to use me to pay off the debt and occupy my property. My Liejiu couldn’t stand it, so he demolished the house for me.”

The news of Chen Liejiu demolishing the house spread so quickly, and they were all bad words about him. Xu Huaiqian didn’t believe that there was no handiwork from the eldest wife of the Xu family. A family that dared to owe money and use their own grandsons and nephews to pay off debts, could it be so easy to let it go?

 It wouldn’t take much effort to just talk, blur the message, incite the villagers to fear him, and cause some trouble for Chen Liejiu.

“This…”

Sure enough, many people hesitated after Xu Huaiqian’s explanation. They only knew that Chen Liejiu was fierce and would demolish people’s houses when collecting debts. They didn’t expect there were such hidden secrets.

“I voluntarily married into the Chen family. I have nothing to do with my uncle’s family. They occupied my property without telling me. They owed money to my family’s Liejiu even though they had money. Of course, my family’s Liejiu would not let it go.”

Xu Huaiqian told the facts, and didn’t deliberately explain anything for Chen Liejiu. It’s better to have a good reputation in the country to do debt collection business.

 “He won’t go to collect the debt or demolish your house just because your family owes money, but he won’t be soft-hearted just because you can’t pay it back, so don’t worry, just do what you have to do.”

“This…”

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do. They had been thinking of a good idea all night, but it didn’t work. They wanted to believe Xu Huaiqian’s words, but they thought of Chen Liejiu’s bad reputation, and they couldn’t make up their minds. They didn’t know what to do.

“Here,” Xu Huaiqian saw that they were still panicking, and gave another solution, “Pay back as much money as you have, and I’ll write you a new IOU, and you’ll pay back according to the new IOU next time.”

Some people who thought this way clapped their hands and agreed: “Okay, okay, okay, this is good, this is good.”

These were people who borrowed money from the big households in the village, with no interest and paid back a little less. Of course, they agreed, but some people who borrowed money from money houses and signed loan agreements disagreed: “Then how about us who have interest? We can’t pay back some money in advance and still have the same interest.”

Xu Huaiqian said that there must be trouble waiting for him, and trouble came.

 “This is simple,” Xu Huaiqian was not afraid of trouble, and went to the main hall to get paper and pen, “I will give you three methods.”

“Either you still follow the original method and pay back what you should pay when you should, or you can do this,” Xu Huaiqian wrote directly on the paper without an abacus, “I will calculate how much you should pay back each month based on the money you borrowed and the interest, and the repayment time on the loan note. You can agree on a time every month to pay it back at this time, and replace the loan note every month.”

“Or use the above method, and recalculate the interest every time you pay back. However, our Liejiu can’t do this kind of thing, and we have to discuss it with the shopkeepers of each bank. I can make the decision on the above two types now. If you want the latter type, you have to wait and see what the shopkeepers of each bank say before making a decision.”

When it comes to money, Xu Huaiqian dare not be careless. He has considered all aspects and explained it to them clearly without getting tired of it.

Don’t ask him why he is so clear about these things. To put it bluntly, it is the sadness of mortgage holders.

 “If I don’t have money, can I use chickens, ducks, geese and vegetables to pay for it every month?” There are few people who can read in the countryside. They can’t understand Xu Huaiqian’s writing and drawing. But after listening to Xu Huaiqian’s calculation, they found that they only need to pay back a small part of the money they borrowed from the original large amount of money every month. Many people think that it is about the same as the price of a chicken, duck and a few buckets of rice in their family, so they want to pay the debt with goods.

“I can’t decide on this,” Xu Huaiqian looked at the things he brought, which were too many and too complicated. He didn’t know the prices very well, so he didn’t dare to agree. “But you can ask in the village or surrounding villages if anyone wants to buy.”

“…Okay.” 

Xu Huaiqian was patient and gentle. No one made trouble when the plan failed.

Some people who brought money said they wanted to change the IOU on the spot. Xu Huaiqian didn’t shirk his responsibility. He asked Chen Xiaomei to take out Chen Liejiu’s IOU box, find his IOU, check the handprints, collect the money, and write him a new IOU according to the old one. When he saw the person with lice and fleas approaching, he would cough violently twice and say to him with a smile: “I am not in good health and don’t want to infect you with the disease. Please stay away.”

The villagers saw that he was quick and efficient in doing things and was such a good person. They all praised: “This Chen Liejiu’s family is good!”

“He is literate and capable, and he is also a good person.”

“Chen Liejiu has found a good husband!”

Xu Huaiqian did not comment on the villagers’ praise, but just quietly wrote his loan note.

The villagers had no secrets. So many people came to the Chen family yard, and it had spread throughout the village. Many villagers who came to watch the excitement did not see the excitement, but saw this scene of praising Xu Huaiqian together, and they all opened their mouths wide.

This sickly person has this ability.

 Just as he was thinking, someone shouted, “Chen Liejiu is back! He’s back after killing wolves!”

This shout attracted everyone’s attention. Chen Liejiu was dragging a simple raft with a straw rope tied to his shoulder, and was struggling to walk home.

His red clothes were stained with a lot of dirt and grass debris. On his clean and white face, in addition to the scratches of gray and blood, there were also dried blood clots stained from somewhere. He didn’t look downcast, but more flamboyant and bright.

On the raft behind him were dragging five or six dead wolves with shiny fur. It was obvious that he had killed these wolves.

Xu Huaiqian, who put down his pen and came out to meet someone, saw Chen Liejiu and his eyes were full of stars.

His wife is so handsome.

The author has something to say:

Jiujiu: It’s nothing. Don’t get excited.