Chapter 133

Those who loved to watch the drama didn’t give her any leeway and retorted immediately, “What’s wrong? Did we give you too little, 10 yuan?”

“Let me tell you, your daughter is worth that much. Who told her to be intimate with someone without a matchmaker and rush to get into the woods with him? They gave you 10 yuan, you should be grateful.”

Xia Muqing was furious. Everyone was mocking her with this matter. She really wanted to beat her daughter to death.

She had lost all face.

Her mother-in-law didn’t like her in the first place, and now she disliked the eldest family even more. The 10 yuan dowry was taken away by her. She didn’t care about the wedding banquet, and the money was in her hands. What was she going to use to hold the wedding banquet? She would definitely be laughed at tomorrow.

That old woman was really ruthless. Her words were harsh. She said that a woman who had lost her innocence shouldn’t hold a wedding banquet. She should just take her two tattered clothes and go. It was simply embarrassing.

Her third sister-in-law, Wu Zhaodi, was also adding fuel to the fire, saying that the money was public. They hadn’t divided the family yet. Why should they use this money to build a house for a married daughter? Even if it was a thatched hut, she wouldn’t agree.

In the end, Chen Zexuan took out three yuan, and Xia Muqing also took out a few yuan. They barely had enough to build a thatched hut. Otherwise, where would their daughter live?

The commune was so small and crowded with so many people. They definitely wouldn’t be able to fit in. Besides, they were married, so it wasn’t appropriate to live in the commune. Wouldn’t that attract attention? Their mother-in-law and sister-in-law wouldn’t be happy about it.

Time flew by. Today was the day Li Wenxi and Chen Zexuan got married. They went to town to get a marriage certificate, had a meal with their families, and didn’t even invite the villagers because they didn’t have money.

Others thought they were going to have a feast today and were preparing gifts. But it turned out like this. They were speechless.

Chen Zexuan didn’t care whether they held a wedding banquet or not. It was better not to hold one. If he could go back to the city, he would have more reason to dump her.

This became a joke in the village. Their daughter had been getting intimate with someone in the woods early on, and now they didn’t even have money for a wedding banquet. Those gossipy aunts were already spreading it around the village entrance.

Especially Mrs. Li, Mrs. Wang, Mrs. Zhao, and Mrs. Guan. Those women, taking advantage of their age, spoke without any restraint, saying whatever they wanted.

Mrs. Wang said, “It’s really embarrassing. Even though she’s marrying a commune member, they’re so poor. You know, no matter who in our village gets married, they have to hold a few tables, even if it’s all vegetarian dishes. They have to have a few tables of people, don’t you think?”

“Now, it’s just their family eating a meal. If you didn’t know, you’d think they weren’t even married.”

Mrs. Zhao said, “I also heard that the thatched hut was built with money from several families. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even have a thatched hut. What kind of thing is that?”

“They deserve it. Who told that Li Girl to do that with someone at such a young age? Who else would she marry now except that commune member? She probably even has a child. Does she want to find a keyboard warrior?”

“Haha,” the women laughed louder and louder, getting more and more excited. Even if the Xia family and the Li family heard it, they couldn’t argue. Who told their daughter to do that?

After lunch, everyone was resting when they suddenly heard noise coming from Xia Dayong’s house. Everyone was curious and didn’t rest. They rushed over to see what was going on.

When they arrived at the Xia family’s house, they saw a group of hooligans, some with knives, some with sticks, looking fierce and threatening Xia Guohua to pay back the money. They then learned that Xia Guohua had actually gone to town to gamble and had lost hundreds of yuan. He had borrowed it all from loan sharks.

Yun Guilan almost fainted. What was this all about? My goodness, hundreds of yuan! How was she going to pay it back? Even if they sold their house, they wouldn’t be able to pay back that much.

The Captain was sleeping. He was just about to fall asleep when someone knocked on the door loudly. He asked impatiently, “Who is it? It’s noon. Why aren’t you resting? What’s so urgent that you have to knock on the door? Better have a good reason.”

The Captain opened the door and saw Xia Yunqing. He asked, “Yunqing, why are you knocking on my door at noon when you should be resting? What’s the matter?”

Xia Yunqing was out of breath from running so fast. She said in a broken voice, “Captain, please go to my house. The debt collectors are here. They’re going to beat my brother to death. Please go and see.”

“What debt?” The Captain was confused.

“Yunqing, tell me what’s going on. What debt did your brother owe? How much did he owe? Why did they come to your house?”

Xia Yunqing stammered, “That… Captain, I don’t really know. I just heard the debt collectors say that my brother went to town to gamble and borrowed two to three hundred yuan from them. He lost it all.”

The Captain almost fell into the field when he heard this. My goodness, what was going on with the Xia family? Xia Dabao was already useless, Xia Yunrou was dead, Xia Yunyan and Xia Yunge were basically useless, and now Xia Guohua was gambling.

He was probably going to be driven to death. The Captain also ran very fast. If someone died, he, as the Captain, would be responsible. He quickly ran to Xia Dayong’s house. Seeing Xia Guohua standing there unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Good, good. At least he was still alive. The Captain thought, if this happened again, he would definitely faint from anger.

The Captain looked at the hooligans with knives and asked, “Gentlemen, I’m the Captain of this village. Let’s talk it out. Don’t take a life.”

The leader of the hooligans said, “You’re the Captain of this village. Xia Guohua owes our gambling house 300 yuan. It’s already past the repayment deadline. With interest, it’s 350 yuan. What do you say we do about this?”

“After all, when he borrowed the money, he signed his name and pressed his thumbprint on the paper. Besides, we’re good citizens who follow the law. No one forced him. It was his own choice.”

“Old man, as the Captain of this village, are you going to pay for him? If so, quickly take out the 350 yuan.”

The Captain smiled and said, “Although I’m the Captain of this village, where would I get so much money? Give them some leeway. Let’s think of a way.”

“If you drive someone to death over a few hundred yuan, we’ll all be in trouble. Let’s talk it out.”

“Besides, we’re all peasants from the countryside. Where would we get so much money at once?”

“You must have checked his identity when you lent him the money. You knew we were from the countryside. You shouldn’t have lent him so much money.”

“This kid is young and made a mistake. Can you give them a few more days to gather the money and send it to you?”

The leader of the hooligans said, “Impossible. If everyone was like him, borrowing money and not repaying it, would we still be in business?”