Chapter 92: Internal Conflicts in the Chen Family
In the Chen family.
"Father, you can't just stand aside when I'm drowning! Jing is your grandson, my son!" Chen Shou Xin said emotionally.
Chen Shou Ren, Chen Jing's uncle, said with a cold face, "Father, I've already said that my nephew Jing is no studying material. He got the title of Tongsheng by luck, no way can he become a Xiucai, we should know his limits."
Chen Shou Xin looked at Chen Shou Ren angrily, "Third Brother, what do you mean by that?"
Chen Shou Ren retorted, "Big Brother, Chen Jing has a debt of 100 tales of silver now! We have to sell at least half of our farmland to repay his debt, brother, have you thought about other family members? Have you thought about our future? You want us to starve to death so you can save your son?"
Chen Shou Xin was reluctant to admit it, "How can it be as serious as you said?"
"100 Taels is not serious, I beg your pardon! Brother, if you don't think it's serious, then you pay the debt by yourself. Don't beg our parents."
" Jing is your nephew. Do you want to watch him die? Why are you so ruthless?!"
Chen Shou Ren said discontentedly, "Big Brother, it is your son who has caused this terrible disaster. And now you are calling me ruthless?"
Grandpa Chen looked at his two sons and sighed, "Alright, stop this, let's solve this problem together like a family."
Chen Shou Xin changed the subject sullenly, "I cannot believe our Fourth Sister has only brought two hundred cents."
Chen Shou Xin was still a little frightened by the butcher Chen Chun'er married, so he didn't dare to say it directly. He only told Chen Chun'er that theri father was critically ill and father wanted to see her.
As soon as Chen Chun'er came back, the whole family surrounded her, asking for money. Chen Chun'er had to give them all she had -200 cents- before she could leave.
"Father, you really want to sell farmland!" Chen Shou Ren asked.
Grandpa Chen sighed and said, "We have to sell a few mus, and we can borrow the rest from Xiao Mi."
Grandma Chen said excitedly, "Chen Xiao Mi has money. If he is willing to help, we don't have to sell even one mu of our farmland."
Grandpa Chen glared at Grandma Chen and said, "Don't talk nonsense. You don't know what kind of personality Xiao Mi has, don't go too far!"
"But I don't want to sell our farmland. If he doesn't lend us this money, I'll hang myself in front of his store. I don't believe that I can't change his mind," Grandma Chen howled.
Chen Shou Xin nodded and quickly said, "Yeah! Xiao Mi is family. How can he fold his hands and see his cousin die?"
Chen Shou Ren and Chen Shou Xin saw eye to eye when it came to Chen Xiao Mi. Chen Shou Ren really didn't want to give Chen Jing this money, but it was impossible for him to not get involved in his nephew's matter. Moreover, even if he didn't help Chen Jing and Chen Jing didn't repay them in the end, he knew those people wouldn't leave them alone.
Therefore, in this situation, he just wished Chen Xiao Mi could help out with, so the rest of the family could have a break.
......
"Father, what did my grandparents say?" Chen He asked when he saw Chen Shou Ren enter the house.
Chen Shou Ren sighed and said, "Your grandparents are helping Jing out."
Chen He said unhappily, "Father, Cousin Jing owes 100 taels of silver this time! A hundred taels! The entire family toils all year round in the field for only has 20 taels of income. Honestly, what does the whole family work so hard for?"
Chen Shou Ren sighed and said, "Your grandparents and the entire family all know this is unreasonable, but son, the reality is even though we thrust aside your cousin Jing and he isn't able to repay the money, those people won't leave us alone! They will force us to repay the money anyways!"
Chen He gritted his teeth as hatred flashed across his eyes.
......
Chen Jing's thrashing had provoked much discussion among the villagers.
Quite a few people in the village were curious what Chen Jing had done, why he was beaten up.
"Chen Jing seems to have borrowed 100 taels of silver from someone."
"It was said that it was originally fifty taels of usury, and it has become 100 taels within a few days."
"In a few days? 50 tales has become 100 tales?"
"What did Chen Jing do? To thing he actually owed so much money!"
"Is he addicted to gambling? There's a gambler in Big Wind Village who has gambled his parents' pension money!"
"Geez, 100 taels of silver. How can he repay it?"
"I heard that Chen Chun'er was also called back. The Chens are counting on Chun'er to chip in as well."
"Chen Chun'er has been married for so long. How can they expect her to chip in?"
"There's no other way. This is 100 taels after all!"
......
Tang felt so great when she heard that Chen Jing owed someone 100 taels. The Chen family and Lu family were originally two big families in the village, and they had been competing against each other secretly. A while ago, the Lu family had been in bad luck, while the Chen family was doing good. Tang felt very uncomfortable. So she gloated over what happened to Chen Jing and the entire Chen Family.
The focus the villagers had shifted from Lu Cheng Yu failed the exam to Chen Jing's debt.
"Cheng Yu, do you know why Chen Jing owes money?" Tang asked.
Lu Cheng Yu said carefully, "He may have gone on a crooked road."
Tang asked suspiciously, "A crooked road?"
Lu Cheng Yu nodded and said, "I heard that some con artist said her had the examination paper before our exam, this isn't the first time that someone comes up with this scam, Chen Jing probably fell for it and bought the fake exam paper."
Lu Cheng Yu had a mediocre classmate who loved to be in the limelight. He and that classmate had a drink two years ago, 'when wine is in, truth is out', that classmate inadvertently blurted out that this year was going to be his year, he was going to get the title od Xiucai for sure.
Lu Cheng Yu tricked the classmate to confess why he was so confident. The classmate said he had bought the examination paper, Lu Cheng Yu disdain the classmate's behavior but he had secretly checked the paper bought by the classmate in case he missed out.
After entering the examination compound, Lu Cheng Yu found that the paper bought by the classmate was fake.
That classmate was so indignant after the exam, and he would keep quiet whenever others ask him why he was so angry.
That classmate was conned, but he didn't dare to say anything. He swallowed the bitter fruit. But he was a young master from a rich family, 50 taels was nothing to him.
Lu Cheng Yu found that every year, there seemed to be people who fell for this old trick.
Lu Cheng Yu suspected that Chen Jing had fallen for the trick when he heard that Chen Jing owed 50 taels of usury in the beginning which had become 100 taels in a few days. He suspected that Chen Jing was in the trap.
When Tang heard Lu Cheng Yu's theory, she couldn't help but feel triumphant, she felt that Chen Jing was delusional and he shouldn't have that wishful thinking in the first place. Tang had completely forgotten that Lu Cheng Yu wished to take the shortcut in the exam when he married Li Fang Yue.
"I'm afraid the Chen family is going to have a hard time," Tang shook her head and thought to herself, 'The Chen family is probably going to sell land this time. During this period of time, it seems like many people in the village have made some money by building kangs and selling embroidery products, they all have the capital to buy land. If the Chen family wanted to sell the land, I wonder who is going to buy them.'
......
In Chen family.
Chen Jing groveled on bed, feeling terrified. He secretly cursed the person who sold him the fake examination paper.
"Father, when will my grandparents repay my debt for me?"
Chen Jing was beaten savagely two days ago. He was terrified when he thought about how those people threatened to chop his arm.
"Your grandparents are trying to figure out a way. Your third uncle has been obstructing it!" Chen Shou Xin and Chen Shou Ren had many complaints against each other.
Hatred flashed across Chen Jing's heart. Chen Shou Ren's attitude made Chen Jing angry.
"Why didn't you investigate properly? You just paid 50 taels of silver for a fake exam paper!" Although Chen Shou Xin felt sorry for his son, he was still angry that his son owed such a large sum of money.
Chen Jing's face darkened. He had blamed himself for over 1000 times already, but there was a reason why a con artist being called a con artist! That con artist was such an eloquent speaker, he told Chen Jing that he and the governor were close friends and he was only selling the paper because his family had experienced some mishap. He even had described all kinds of beautiful prospects for Chen Jing, convinced Chen Jing that he would become a Xiucai as long as he bought this paper and life would be wonderful once he became a Xiucai.
Lu Cheng Yu was also part of the reason why Chen Jing bought the fake paper. Because Lu Cheng Yu married Li Fang Yue, many people in the village thought that Lu Cheng Yu had got the exam in the bag this year, and Chen Jing was so anxious. When Chen Jing knew that he could know the examination questions in advance, he couldn't help but imagine how great it was going to be if he passed the exam and Lu Cheng Yu failed!
But the hard cold reality was neither of them had passed the exam.
Chen Shou Xin looked at Chen Jing and sighed, "That's a hundred taels they are asking for!" Chen Shou Xin had been a villager his entire life, 100 taels was an astronomical figure, but he had no choice but to save his son.
Grandma Chen sat on the bed and sobbed.
Grandpa Chen looked at her and impatiently, "Cut it out, why are you crying?"
"100 taels! How are we going to get you out of this debt?"
"Sell some farmland then."
Grandma Chen got so emotional, "How can we just sell the farmland so casually?" The Lu family had been selling farmland recently, and Grandma Chen had been laughing at them behind their back, but never had she expected that it would be her turn so soon.
"What else can we do if we don't sell the farmland?" Grandma Chen sighed.
Grandma Chen felt that the sky and earth were spinning round in front of her. They had to at least sell 10 mus of farmland for 100 taels of silver. Grandma Chen dreaded to think that they might be poor soon.
Grandpa Chen said sullenly, "What is Jing thinking? Falling for a scam like an idiot!"
Grandpa Chen always felt that Chen Jing was the brightest kid in the family. If anyone could bring glory to the family, it would definitely be Chen Jing. Therefore, Grandpa Chen favored Chen Jing since he was a kid, he had even allowed Chen Shou Xin and Grandma Chen to sell Xiao Cai for money years ago. Never has he expected Chen Jing to cause such a big mess for him.
Even though that was the case, he couldn't just refuse to save Chen Jing. Grandpa Chen had heard many people talking about Chen Xiao Mi recently.
Chen Xiao Mi was working in town now. Many people in the village relied on selling embroidery products to the store Sino Commercial House that Chen Xiao Mi worked at for money, so they had a high evaluation of Chen Xiao Mi. Grandpa Chen had mixed feelings when he heard Chen Xiao Mi, the grandson who he had kicked out, was doing great.