Chapter 233

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

Chai Mi chatted with Song Qiushui for a while, then didn't stay long and went home.

Chai Mi couldn't be bothered to ask Chai Youqing anything; anyway, Chai Youqing probably had nothing going on, so she didn't really care about the specifics of the old house anymore.

It was just watching the excitement.

Whether this excitement was big or small didn't matter; anyway, the old house was truly lively this time.

Mother Su Wan wanted to ask around, but when Chai Mi just got back, Su Wan was talking about this matter with Chai Youqing.

"Our dad and mom say Third Brother's head isn't working anymore, he's already been transferred to another hospital, but Third Brother's wife is still squatting by the fence, and he doesn't have much money either. The meaning is, Chai Mi just collected some share money, so lend it to Third Brother first to cover it, otherwise what will he do about medical fees?" Chai Youqing said with a sigh, looking very concerned.

Su Wan's expression changed a bit, but she felt this matter wasn't easy to handle: "It really is like that... shouldn't Sun Yuguang's family pay some money? Weren't it Sun Yuguang's two girls who hit? Whoever hit should pay. Our family's money..."

The family's money was all in Chai Mi's hands. Although Su Wan had some pocket money, it wasn't much. And thinking about it herself, Su Wan held a negative attitude toward lending money to Chai You De for medical treatment.

"So what do the old man and old woman use to pay back? If Chai You De really has no money, you brothers can't just watch him die, but Che Lianyun has money, right... what she eats and drinks, what we eat and drink... if Che Lianyun comes to borrow or Dajun opens his mouth, I might lend some. But you say the old man and old woman borrow... I won't lend. Last time money was borrowed, it still hasn't been paid back clearly, and it caused a chicken-flying-dog-jumping scene, and it's only been a few days."

Chai Youqing felt somewhat helpless; he didn't know what to do either.

When he came back in the afternoon, he actually knew Chai You De's condition had become serious and went to the city. And Che Lianyun was indeed locked up in the detention center.

Just now Chai Zhongxiao found him, saying to let Chai Youqing think of a way: you can't just watch your brother die...

So Chai Youqing also remembered his old father Chai Zhongxiao's words, seemingly with tearful eyes: "That... you can't just watch... Third Brother is gone..."

As he said this, Chai Mi happened to walk in.

She glanced at Chai Youqing, then at Su Wan, her complexion calm but her gaze somewhat strange as she said: "Look at you two... oh, Dad, what's a big deal? Here's what, you lend my Third Uncle twenty thousand yuan, so he can rest easy getting treatment and not worry about home, and my grandfather can rest easy too."

Chai Youqing seemed to feel he had misheard: "Ah... lend twenty thousand... isn't that a bit much?"

Su Wan was completely confused; she also felt it was a bit bizarre.

How could there be a possibility of lending Chai You De twenty thousand yuan!

"Chai Mi, you haven't drunk too much, have you..."

"No, lend. I agree to lend Chai You De twenty thousand yuan." Chai Mi said with a smile: "I can't let people say behind my father's back that he's unfilial."

Chai Youqing stared blankly at Chai Mi, not knowing what to say...

Chai Mi looked coldly at Chai Youqing: "What are you looking at me for? I agreed. You lend it... my Third Uncle is your real brother, his head isn't working now, if you don't lend money then you're good for nothing."

"Then..."

"Chai Mi..."

Chai Mi no longer paid attention to Chai Youqing and Su Wan: "I agree. Your business has nothing to do with me. Are you both pretending to be good people at home? Did you forget, when my mom was hospitalized last time, what you looked like when you came home? Chai Youqing, if you're capable, go raise the money yourself and lend it to Chai You De, go be your filial son and worthy grandson, no one's stopping you. You don't have a single cent, how can you have the face to come home and talk about how your brother is this and that, how your father is this and that? Have you earned any money?"

Chai Mi had never been this cold before: "From now on, don't mention this and that to me. If you have that free time, go earn some money; you see, quite a few people in the village have gone to work elsewhere. You go too; the family won't stop turning without you. You don't need to act like every job is done by you and nothing can happen without you. Really, you can go work elsewhere. Later I'll have someone find you some work. Our second brother's tuition—you can't expect me, as the older sister, to pay, can you? And you, as the father, don't care at all? Also, the money for my mom's hospitalization, I have to pay that. This originally wasn't my responsibility. You don't need much; just earn three thousand or two thousand this year."

"I..." Chai Youqing lowered his head without speaking.

"Don't put on this act. This year you only harvested those few mu of land, and now it's so dry you probably can't even make back the seed and fertilizer money. You didn't earn a single cent, you actually lost money." Chai Mi finally said: "If Chai Zhongxiao comes looking for you again, tell him to come find me directly. You can't face it, I'll be the bad guy. I'll give you two choices: during this time at home, go irrigate the fields and harvest the autumn crops. Or go work elsewhere, do whatever you want, if you don't earn money, don't come back."

Chai Youqing didn't dare say anything.

Chai Mi looked at Su Wan, who wanted to speak but hesitated, and gave her a sideways glance: "Next time, if Chai Youqing says this to you, won't you say eight hundred sentences waiting for him? Mom, when you were sitting the month he had no money, what face does he have to talk?"

Afterward Chai Mi glanced at Chai Youqing: "Go do what you need to do, just looking at you annoys me."

Chai Youqing left dejectedly...

Su Wan sighed: "Chai Mi, saying that about your dad is a bit..."

Chai Mi said nothing, returned to her own room, rested for a while, and saw Chai Xiu trembling and standing in the room, not daring to speak...

Chai Mi smiled: "I'm not scolding you, what are you afraid of."

"Sister... I just flipped through a book and looked, I think our dad should have been hit by Grandpa's thing called: Moral Kidnapping." Chai Xiu said softly.

Chai Mi smiled: "Without morality, they couldn't kidnap..."

By evening, when Chai Mi was cooking, she discovered Chai Youqing was really pondering how to irrigate the fields.

But it seemed limited to just pondering...

Chai Youqing squatted alone at the door, chattering on about something.

Chai Mi called Chai Xiu over to cook...

Chai Xiu had a blank look: My mom and my sister and my dad, asking me, not even eight years old, to cook?

It was really bizarre.

But Chai Xiu didn't dare resist, not even dare to say no, obediently holding a small stool, placing it on the cutting board beside the stove, cutting vegetables...

Without the stool, Chai Xiu wasn't as tall as the water vat, and the cutting board was right on the edge of a vat...

Chai Xiu: Sigh, this family without me would fall apart...

"What are you muttering to yourself again?" Chai Mi asked helplessly, looking at her old father squatting at the door: "Not letting you lend money, are you upset?"

Chai Mi was in a somewhat better mood now, and her speech wasn't so harsh: "You don't understand, this is obviously the old man and old woman's trick to coax you into giving money. With those few tricks of theirs, I really can't be bothered to expose them. They're just like that."

Chai Mi explained to Chai Youqing: "It's nothing but using Chai You De's impending death to scare people, is that interesting? Didn't Chai Chunfang just die? Isn't Chai Chunfang not the old man and old woman's biological child? Why didn't they lend money to bury Chai Chunfang? Was it worth fighting over today? I say Comrade Chai Youqing, you should grow some brains, don't make everything be said by me, your daughter; if I say too much it's not good. But I really feel your brain..."

Is a bit redundant.

The fact was indeed so.

After Chai Mi said this, Chai Youqing felt somewhat enlightened: "Right, my Old Aunt also just died..."

Chai Youqing thought of Chai Chunfang's death; Chai Zhongxiao had been extremely disgusted this morning. You know, before, Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong both really liked Chai Chunfang, but after Chai Chunfang was gone, they made a fuss.

Just to not spend money.

Although Chai Chunfang had her own faults, speaking from rural customs, if someone dies in your home, you should still spend some money to break fortune and avoid disaster.

But it was obvious that Chai Zhongxiao and his wife not only hadn't contributed money, but were supporting Chai You De and his wife and Sun Yuguang in fighting.

Thinking about it this way: Chai You De getting beaten wasn't too much at all.

"Don't mention this matter anymore. Chai You De wasn't beaten by you; whoever beats someone is responsible for them. If they can't take responsibility, that's the government's business, and the government will naturally give Chai You De justice. The old man and old woman thinking they can swindle money from me is a bit too much. Let's not even say Chai You De is just injured a little; even if he died, doesn't he still have a son? His son hasn't died either. Don't they often say: raising sons to prevent old age, storing grain to prevent famine. Or saying what use is raising a daughter, one must raise sons? Now is the time to see the real results; let my grandfather bring out his great-grandson... Isn't Chai Dajun also a big fellow of seventeen or eighteen? His father has no money to treat his illness, so he's dead? Is it up to an old man to swindle everywhere?"

After Chai Mi said these things: "If the old man and old woman ask you again, you just say: Our Chai Mi said, that money is to be kept for you to later give birth to a fourth son, preparing for your son to marry a wife..."

Chai Youqing was stunned for a moment: "It seems listening to you say this, giving birth to sons isn't of much use either. As for Dajun, he really isn't that kind."

"Alright, go irrigate the fields. All day long, I'm too lazy to argue with you."

"No well, no water pump, no pipe for irrigating fields..."

Anyway, Chai Youqing had nothing except people.

This land really couldn't be irrigated.

"Then why don't you go dig a well?" Chai Mi glanced sideways at Chai Youqing: "Anyway, I don't care. The crops are completely ruined this year; it's a loss. Since it's a loss, you just wait to drink the northwest wind in winter... By the way, the winter wind is strong; maybe it can blow some dirt for you to eat."

Chai Youqing was left speechless by Chai Mi's retort, so he went back into the house to discuss with Su Wan how to dig a well.

As a result, the two of them discussed back and forth, not knowing where it would be better to dig a well.

Liaoxi was actually particularly arid, and there weren't any rivers.

There actually wasn't much groundwater either.

Although this era hadn't yet experienced large-scale water shortages, digging a well was a matter of luck. No one could guarantee that the well they dug would be a good well and definitely have water.

Because after all, this had to be done on their own family's land, and the geographic location was very restricted.

As for specifically which piece of land could have water, it wasn't easy to judge.

Chai Mi was cooking. When they finished cooking and were eating, Chai Mi brought up a point: "You go dig at the land below the house; that piece has a corner adjacent to the former Xiaohe Tao ditch. You just follow that, find any place to dig a well, and there will definitely be especially good water."

Chai Mi thought for a moment: "Forget it. Tomorrow morning I'll go draw a circle for you."

Chai Mi knew from her previous life that digging a well there was especially ideal. The groundwater veins underneath that land were very good, as if there were an underground river. In her previous life, many wells had been dug on that piece of land, and the water was all especially good.

Basically, no matter where you dug a well, the water would be especially good.

"By the way." Chai Mi remembered something else: "Tomorrow I reckon maybe the old man and old woman, seeing you haven't replied, will send that brat Chai Dajun to borrow money. You two, when the time comes, don't just look and say: 'Oh, my big nephew has cried,' and then find trouble for me."

Chai Mi warned: "Che Lianyun has money; she's squatting behind a fence, not gone to jail. She wouldn't even forget where the family's money is kept. She can come up with twenty or thirty thousand to build a new house, but she has no money to treat Chai Lao San's illness? Heh, she's not afraid Chai You De will die; let her try. With Chai You De around, Chai Dajun might not necessarily be able to marry a wife, but without Chai You De, Chai Dajun will definitely be ruined. Look at the Village Chief divorcing, and Da Zhi marrying a wife is already so difficult; let alone if Chai You De is gone..."

Chai Youqing and Su Wan also felt Chai Mi was right, so they didn't say much more. The two of them mainly still studied the matter of digging a well.

Not to mention anything else, this couple was especially dedicated to farming.

After dinner, Chai Mi had originally planned to sleep, but then a tractor outside went putt-putt-putt, and afterward Song Qiushui ran in.

Song Qiushui was dressed so professionally: tall hiking boots, not too thick skin pants, a windbreaker plus a hat with a veil, a scarf around her neck, big sunglasses, rubber gloves...

"Chai Mi, Chai Mi, let's go, let's go, go catch scorpions. Get rich, it's today..."

Looking at the Spiritual Little Sister's excited appearance, Chai Mi really couldn't bear to expose her: actually there weren't many scorpions on Hongshan; one should go catch scorpions at Chai Mi's maternal grandmother's home, where there were more scorpions in the mountains... but the road there was harder to walk.

Just treat it as going out to play.

Chai Mi then changed into long pants and long sleeves, put on more slip-resistant hiking shoes, told Chai Xiu to sleep early, and then went out with Song Qiushui.

Song Qingshan sat on the tractor, hehe smiling at Chai Mi: "Qiushui insists on going tonight..."

Song Qingshan was a bit embarrassed.

Actually, he also knew there seemed to be no scorpions on Hongshan.

But since his precious daughter Song Qiushui insisted on going, even if there were no scorpions, they could catch them by force.

Chai Mi pursed her lips and got in the car with Song Qiushui.

The quilt from last time they went to buy vegetables was still on the car... The two sat in the car and didn't feel it was bumpy.

"This thing is usually more numerous in the first half of the night; by the second half of the night, the scorpions basically go to sleep. They feel hot in the first half of the night now, so they come out to cool off. We catch them in the first half of the night, then come back."

"Fine, anyway there's still tomorrow..."

"Going again tomorrow..."

"Look at what you're saying. I've spent so much money; if I don't make my capital back, how will others look at me?" Song Qiushui had an expression of 'I can't let this go without settling things with money': "I can't let others look down on me, Song Qiushui. I must work hard to earn money and strive to be the second richest person in the village..."