Chapter 267: Reborn in the 90s: The Tyrant Flower Chapter 268 One Old Life

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

Liu Zhanggui, upon hearing Chai Zhongxiao speak like this, immediately wore an expression of extreme difficulty. He sighed and said, "Seventh Uncle, look at what you're saying. What era is this? The two of us aren't bandits; could we still take your food rations? But no matter how you put it, we are village cadres. These years, whatever we've been to your family, you know in your heart. The money owed before, we never came to collect. Isn't it because there's really no other way? The township is pressing, so we came. If you can make the township stop pressing, say that this grain you owe doesn't need to be given, we'll leave immediately."

The actual situation is indeed exactly so.

Objectively speaking, every year in Sanjiacun there are commoners who owe the village grain. In such a big village, four or five thousand people, who knows which family might have a bad harvest this year and have no money to give the village.

Liu Zhanggui and Song Qingshan both try their best: whoever has it gives, whoever doesn't gives next year.

Of course, there are also four or five households that don't pay, and Liu Zhanggui and Song Qingshan have no way to deal with them either.

Like Chai Zhongxiao before, he just didn't pay; when asked, he said there was none, and Liu Zhanggui also pretended not to know.

If it weren't for the township pressing, Liu Zhanggui and Song Qingshan definitely wouldn't have cared.

Liu Zhanggui is an old nice guy, loves to muddy the waters. Song Qingshan is old, smooth and worldly. Neither of these two is the type who likes to offend people.

So, the village has been dragged into poverty by a group of people. This era has no salaries; the village's expenses all rely on that little bit of collected grain. If collection is low, the village itself has no expenditure. Otherwise, the village office wouldn't even exist anymore……

"You just give a little, token amount. Your family can't be that short of that bit of money even in difficulty. If you have it, take some out and give it." Song Qingshan also said.

Chai Zhongxiao fell silent.

Wang Huirong, however, cursed and grumbled, "There isn't any, there just isn't. If we had money, we would've given it to you long ago. You make it sound like we have money and won't give. Why don't you search? If you search and find cash, I'll give it all to you, how about that?"

"If there's cash, you'll definitely pay it back, right?" Liu Zhanggui asked.

Wang Huirong froze for a moment. She didn't expect Liu Zhanggui to speak like this, and she got even angrier: "No, Liu Zhanggui, who do you look down on? If I have money, I'll definitely give it to you. You search……"

Liu Zhanggui laughed awkwardly, smoking: "Not searching. Illegal…… But since Seventh Aunt said it, anyway, if your family has cash, you'll definitely give it to us. Then we'll just wait for you to have money."

"Heh, wait then." Wang Huirong thought Liu Zhanggui and Song Qingshan planned to sit and not leave, to tough it out.

"You two just qiu there. Anyway, I don't have the time to cook for you two." Wang Huirong said displeasedly.

(qiu zhe: means staying in someone else's house and refusing to leave.)

Song Qingshan's old face reddened, but he didn't budge.

Liu Zhanggui silently smoked.

The two really just sat there and didn't leave.

Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong saw they really weren't leaving, and their faces immediately darkened.

Although owing debts and repaying money is only right and proper, these are people they've known for decades. Sitting there hard like this and not leaving, Chai Zhongxiao was dissatisfied.

Chai Zhongxiao had said the previous two times that he truly had no money, not that he had money and wouldn't give. Now Laozhai's days have already reached the point of being at wit's end; Chai Zhongxiao is worried sick with no solution.

He has already gone from penniless to heavily in debt.

Although Chai Zhongxiao still cared about his face, a clever housewife can't cook without rice. He doesn't have a single cent. No money means he can't repay the famine debt. Even if he wants face, people won't give it to him.

"Liu Zhanggui, you doing this isn't loyal enough. Money — I truly don't have. I said it before: if I had money, I'd give it to you. You're sitting hard in my house like this now. Look at this life of mine — do you want it? Look at this old life of mine — how much is it worth? You take it."

Chai Zhongxiao's face showed bulging veins, a posture of 'I'll be damned if I don't die to show you,' rendering Liu Zhanggui and Song Qingshan silent.

Owing debts and not repaying isn't a capital crime.

It definitely doesn't involve this life or anything like that.

But rural people love this routine; at the drop of a hat it's 'I'll be damned if I don't die.'

But although this routine made Song Qingshan and Liu Zhanggui fall silent, they aren't afraid either: Chai Zhongxiao, you die, it won't scare anyone.

"You force me to death, I still have no money. Better to wait until I have money, then I'll voluntarily go give it to you. This hard pressing — what I don't have is still what I don't have. I have hands and feet. Our family has lots of land. In three to five years, I'll recover. This famine has no yellowing, you can rest assured……" Chai Zhongxiao said.

But, it's very obvious Liu Zhanggui and Song Qingshan aren't reassured.

Although what Chai Zhongxiao said has a tiny bit of reason, Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong have always been lazy and gluttonous. The family has a lot of land, but it's all relied on Chai Mi's father Chai Youqing and mother Su Wan to do the work and harvest for them. Now Chai Youqing and his wife no longer work for Laozhai, so no matter how much land Chai Zhongxiao has, it will ultimately go barren.

This era has no mechanization.

Planting and autumn harvest, daily field management — all rely on manual labor.

If no one goes to manage, before autumn arrives, the grass in the fields will be taller than the crops. What harvest then?

Just cut it to feed cattle; there's simply no grain at all.

Liu Zhanggui went to irrigate the fields the day before yesterday and happened to see Chai Zhongxiao's fields. The grass had already grown up thick. How to describe it?

Basically, the land is ruined.

In another year or two, Chai Zhongxiao's land will turn from good fields into entirely grass-covered wasteland, not worth a cent.

Some people don't quite understand the vitality of grass. That stuff has vitality that's bizarrely tenacious. Lots of grass affects grain yield — that's why glyphosate was invented later.

Just spray glyphosate on the land, the grass dies completely. Of course, the crops die too.

Later, genetically modified grain appeared.

It's because of this.

Put plainly, this grass can't be killed. You can only clear it crop after crop, but as long as a few grass plants slip through and mature, one grass plant's seeds can cover a whole field. Simply can't be managed.

All relies on manual removal.

Chai Zhongxiao's family land — maybe Chai Zhongxiao himself hasn't even gone to look — now the grass has basically covered the topsoil; no other color can be seen.

And drought only targets crops. During drought, crops don't grow and dry to death, but grass is fine; it even grows better……

Liu Zhanggui knows this perfectly well in his heart. Counting on Chai Zhongxiao farming to repay money is fundamentally impossible.

"Seventh Uncle, I'm not saying this to be unpleasant. Just your family's field situation — don't you two know in your hearts? Now in these big drought years, everyone uses whatever method they can. Those who can go irrigate go irrigate. Youqing dug a well to irrigate; if you two need it, whatever he says he'll let you use. But you two just sit at home, do nothing, and wait for autumn harvest? I'd say that's pretty scorching……"

Liu Zhanggui spoke very rudely: "You two don't work, relying on running your mouths. Opening your mouths and closing them saying 'I can repay' — that's meaningless. No matter where, it's Reform and Opening-up now, household responsibility system. You two aren't especially old. What work don't you do? The village can't provide emergency relief for you two. The village relieves emergencies, not poverty. Our village definitely won't find people to help you two farm. What you said — won't work. No need for three to five years; just a year and a half of you two sitting at home, holding onto ready-made land, let alone repaying famine debt — you'll starve to death. So, you'd better pay that money back, don't drag it out. I don't believe you."

"You……" Chai Zhongxiao's face turned iron-green, furious beyond measure. Liu Zhanggui's words belonged to straight-up heavy mockery; how could Chai Zhongxiao not be angry?

Chai Zhongxiao truly wanted to jump up and say: "Don't believe me? I'll do a job for you right now to show you!"

But Chai Zhongxiao didn't have any.

Farming is so exhausting...

As long as the harvest is collected, we won't starve to death. As for the famine, he had no intention of paying it back.

As long as you're shameless, the debtor is the boss.

"Anyway, I already said it: if I have money, I'll pay it back. Now I don't have any, so I can't pay it back."

"Then we'll wait until you have money. We haven't eaten since we got up this morning, Qi Gu, cook some rice." Liu Zhanggui said shamelessly.

Wang Huirong turned her face away; cooking was out of the question.

The room was filled with a silent and awkward atmosphere that lasted for a long time.

Suddenly, the door opened...

A man with a dark face walked in from outside—it was Chai Zhongxiao's father-in-law, Song Qingshu.

Song Qingshu and Chai Zhongxiao had basically severed all ties. He entered the house without speaking, and seeing his elder brother Song Qingshan and Liu Zhanggui there, he frowned and was stunned for a moment.

Then he quickly took out the money and threw it onto the kang head: "The money you added for your second son to build a house. This is two thousand three hundred yuan. I have nothing to say; as a father-in-law, I should die, but I've accepted having such a trash son-in-law. I'll pay this money."

After throwing the money, Song Qingshu turned around and left.

Everyone was collectively stunned.

Chai Zhongxiao didn't know what to say for a moment; his head short-circuited: Damn it! At this time, you come to deliver money? Isn't this purely making me look bad?

Wang Huirong was also very surprised. After all, the debt collector hadn't left yet, and this money was delivered—didn't it go straight into Liu Zhanggui's pocket?

Wang Huirong didn't wait for everyone to react, nor did she see Song Qingshu off; she just put the money directly into her pocket.

"Hey hey hey... Qi Gu, what do you mean? Didn't you say you'd pay back the village if you had money? Now you have money, and you put it in your own pocket?" Liu Zhanggui said with a fake smile.

If it were someone else, Liu Zhanggui wouldn't have said that.

But Wang Huirong was famously shameless, and the whole village knew it.

Wang Huirong said without blushing or skipping a beat: "This money was given to me by my father-in-law. Why can't I take it? I'll pay you back if I have money, but this money can't be touched; I need to keep it for living expenses."

"Uncle, what do you say?" Liu Zhanggui looked at Chai Zhongxiao.

Chai Zhongxiao's face turned red, and he didn't know what to do.

He really didn't want to take out this money, but he had just said himself...

He was in a dilemma at this moment.

"If I pay it all back to the village, I can't go on living. Paying some is fine. How about I pay half? Now grain is only two or three cents per unit. Owing that much grain is at most over two thousand yuan. I'll pay one thousand. Is that okay?"

"No, the Xiangli wants the exact amount. You said you didn't have it, but now you do, so you must pay it all back. I won't say anything else; I don't have time to come here every day to collect debts. Today, if you're willing to give, give it. If you're not willing, then go talk to the people from the Xiangli. See if the Xiangli is easier to talk to, or if we two are."

Chai Zhongxiao was so anxious his face and ears turned red. He naturally knew that if the people from the Xiangli came, Liu Zhanggui wouldn't have this attitude.

By then, people would say you have money but won't pay, and they'd arrest you and put you in the bamboo cage.

Not having money to pay and having money but not paying are two different concepts.

The situation remained deadlocked.

Finally, Song Qingshan smoothed things over: "How about this? Grain wasn't so expensive in the first few years, and this grain wasn't owed today. In the first two years, grain was only seventeen or eighteen cents, eighteen or nineteen cents. We'll talk to the Xiangli and set it at seventeen cents for you. Chai Zhongxiao, you pay one thousand seven hundred, and this matter will be settled with the village's famine debt."

"One thousand seven hundred is too much."

"It can't be less, or we won't be able to explain ourselves." Song Qingshan made a move to get up and leave: "Anyway, that's all there is. It's up to you what you think. We have other business; you decide."

After speaking, Song Qingshan pulled Liu Zhanggui to leave.

This tactic of retreating to advance directly put Chai Zhongxiao in an awkward spot.

If Liu Zhanggui and Song Qingshan left this time, the next people to come to the house would be from the Xiangli. By then, things would be even worse.

Although Chai Zhongxiao was already overwhelmed by debt, his famine debt was different.

The money owed to the Credit Union was something Chai Zhongxiao could bear himself. Whether to pay it back depended only on whether he had money.

Owing the village was a debt of the whole family.

If not, the matter would just pass.

As a result, Song Qingshu, without leaning to either side, at this time, sent back the money Chai Youfu owed. That meant having money but not paying it back.

Chai Zhongxiao also knew that for many years in the past, owing the village, the village hadn't said anything. This time, it was definitely required by the Xiangli. If he didn't pay it back, the Xiangli would cause trouble for Liu Zhanggui, and Liu Zhanggui couldn't possibly pay all the money himself. Besides, a few days ago Che Lianyun had just cheated the village out of ten thousand yuan. If he cheated again, it wouldn't be justifiable.

Besides, Liu Zhanggui definitely wouldn't agree.

Liu Zhanggui was already in such difficulty that he had to water the fields himself; he had no money either.

Chai Zhongxiao felt that if he didn't pay this time, the village might take back his land in the future, and then he would have no hope of turning things around.

"Uh... is 1500 okay?"

"1600. Liu Zhanggui and I will each give you fifty. This is money we two spent to make up the difference for you. This matter is settled like this."

"Okay."

Chai Zhongxiao trembled as he looked at Wang Huirong, gesturing for her to take out the money.

Wang Huirong didn't want to take out the money. As a result, she turned around and ran away...

Everyone stared at each other: Damn it... did Wang Huirong just run away like that?

"No, Uncle, this matter... you two should discuss it first before saying anything." Liu Zhanggui said with a troubled expression.

Chai Zhongxiao's face went from dark to pale, and then flushed red. Angry, he ran out barefoot, took two or three steps, caught up with Wang Huirong, and slapped her across the face.

Slap.

Clang.

Wang Huirong, without leaning to either side, knocked her head directly against the well handle used for drawing water at the Yangjing.

After that, large beads of blood flowed down cracklingly...