Chapter 26: Borrowing Money Everywhere

Not until the sky had turned completely dark did Shazhu slowly return home.

But just as he returned to the Siheyuan, Shazhu sensed a hint of something wrong.

"What's going on? My door was closed tight, why is it suddenly open?"

"There wasn't even a strong wind today, was there?"

A bad premonition rose in Shazhu's heart.

He immediately rushed back into the house, and what met his eyes was a scene of utter chaos.

The drawers of the cabinets at home, every place that could be opened had been opened; even the bedding on the bed had been tossed onto the floor, and not even the space under the bed had been spared.

A pile of snot-stained tissues under the bed had also been rummaged through.

Even the only iron pot in the house had a hole punched in it.

Most importantly of all, his money was gone!

A full 90 yuan of hard-earned money, not a single cent left!

All that remained was the small iron box that held the money!

"Oh, vast heavens, why are you so cruel to me?!"

"Ah!!!"

Shazhu let out a wild howl—he didn't even know where he'd picked up that phrase—then his eyes rolled back, and he nearly fainted dead away.

His home had been hit by a thief! They hadn't left him a single thing!

If Shazhu were his usual carefree self, he might have been able to recover, but in this current situation, he had to pay a 20-yuan fine tomorrow.

If he couldn't pay it, he would first be fired from his job, and then starve to death on the streets.

Hearing such a commotion in the Middle Courtyard, many neighbors who loved to watch the drama and gossip gathered around; seeing the tragic state of Shazhu's home, everyone had a pretty good idea of what had happened.

It had to be said that this kid Shazhu had been truly unlucky lately; first his fist was smashed by Zhao Gangzi, then he was dunked in a latrine, and now he had caused such a huge incident at the Rolling Mill.

Third Uncle: "Our courtyard has been hit by a thief; this is no small matter. I think we should report it to the authorities!"

"What's the use of reporting it? These days, if a thief isn't caught, you just have to accept your bad luck. Who knows who took it?"

"That's right! The two little hens our family keeps, the eggs they lay always go missing too, and we reported it but there's still no result..."

"This Shazhu deserves it too. Who told him not to do good deeds? Now he's getting his comeuppance, right? Hahaha!"

There were quite a few neighbors in the Siheyuan who worked at the Rolling Mill, and many of them had been on the receiving end of Shazhu's stingy portions; seeing Shazhu in such a miserable state, they naturally couldn't help but gloat.

"Get lost! You're all here to watch my joke, right? Get the hell out of here!"

Hearing the mockery of the crowd.

Shazhu's inner limit had been reached; he had completely broken down!

What kind of sins did he commit in his past life to be so unlucky in this one!

But Shazhu did not notice that despite such a huge commotion in the courtyard, the Jia Family living across the way showed no reaction at all, yet there was a pair of eyes constantly peering over here.

"Good grandson, don't tell anyone about going to borrow things from your Uncle Shazhu's house today, you hear me?"

"Otherwise, Grandma won't buy you any more candy!"

Jia Zhangshi took out a piece of stove candy and stuffed it into Bang Geng's hand, warning him very sternly.

"Mm, I won't tell anyone, hee hee."

Bang Geng's eyes lit up as he took the stove candy.

And Qin Huairu, who was eating leftovers on the side, asked curiously: "Mom, Bang Geng, what are you two talking about? Why can't I understand a word of it?"

"Is that any of your business?"

Jia Zhangshi scolded her, then continued to curse: "It's a waste to even let you eat leftovers. If it weren't for that Shazhu across the way, how could we have had two yuan deducted from our wages today?"

"Are you trying to starve us to death? It's a plague that we ever married you, you thing!"

Scolded by Jia Zhangshi, Qin Huairu lowered her head and dared not speak, only able to hug her bowl and eat the scraps, not even daring to talk back.

At the same time, she couldn't help but start to hate Shazhu in her heart; if he hadn't insisted on letting her cut in line, Factory Director Yang wouldn't have discovered it and deducted those two yuan.

Not until the next morning did Shazhu struggle to crawl up from the floor, dazed and confused; he had to scrape together those 20 yuan no matter what, he couldn't lose his job.

"Sigh, I have no choice but to go ask First Uncle for a loan,"

Shazhu sighed helplessly, then went to the Back Courtyard and knocked on First Uncle's door.

"Is First Uncle home? It's Zhuzi, I've come to see you!"

"It's Zhuzi," said First Aunt as she opened the door, but she didn't let Shazhu in, instead saying to him: "Old Yi said he isn't feeling well today and doesn't want to see you."

"You really are something, look at what you've done, making your First Uncle so angry his old illness flared up."

Hearing that First Uncle was ill, Shazhu felt a bit guilty, but he had to borrow those 20 yuan, and besides, First Aunt was the truly kind-hearted one.

Before Shazhu had to beg for long, First Aunt had no choice but to let him in.

At this moment, Yi Zhonghai was lying on the bed resting.

His complexion was visibly pale.

"First Uncle, it's me, Zhuzi, I've let you down!" Shazhu knelt before First Uncle's bed, weeping bitterly, snot and tears streaming down his face, as if his own father had died.

"Alright, stop the damn crying, I'm still alive!"

Yi Zhonghai coughed twice.

He struggled to sit up from the bed, his mouth still incessantly lecturing Shazhu.

To tell the truth, although Jia Dongxu wasn't exactly a good person either, in terms of conduct and handling affairs, he was far superior to Shazhu.

"First Uncle, the factory is making me pay a 20-yuan fine, but our house was hit by a thief yesterday, and I really can't come up with the money."

"Could you see if you can help me out a little? I'll pay you back once I get my wages later, please help me!"

Seeing that First Uncle wasn't in any serious trouble, Shazhu got straight to the point.

And Yi Zhonghai cast a glance out of the corner of his eye, seeing that Shazhu had come to see him empty-handed, and hadn't even asked about his health upon entering, but instead asked for money first.

In an instant, his heart turned cold.

However, he did not refuse to his face, but instead said tactfully, "Sigh, Shazhu, look at my current situation as your First Uncle!"

"You also know that your aunt and I both have some ailments. Don't look at how much I earn as a Level 8 Fitter every month; it all goes toward medical treatment, and there aren't many bills left over at the end of the month."

"I really can't scrape together any extra money to help you, but how about this: I'll give you the retirement savings I've scraped together over these past two years?"

Hearing First Uncle say this, Shazhu felt too embarrassed to ask again, and even took the last remaining yuan from his pocket and tucked it under First Uncle's pillow.

Afterward, he respectfully knelt before First Uncle, kowtowed once, and left without saying a word.

After all, Shazhu had not yet become so shameless as to ask for someone's retirement savings.

Plus, he knew that the old couple had always been ill, and that Yi Daye's illness was actually caused by Shazhu's own temper.

But he still had to find someone else to borrow the money from.

There were only a few wealthy households in the entire Siheyuan; Xu Damao had a grudge against him, and he hadn't dared to return to the Siheyuan all day today.

Second Uncle was even less of a possibility; before he could even enter Liu Haizhong's door, he was chased out by Old Liu's two sons wielding pitchforks.

As for Third Uncle Yan Bugui, Shazhu did thicken his skin to go to his door, but it was obvious that Third Uncle was even poorer than he was.

Having been a teacher for so many years, his salary had never seen a raise, and he still had to support a whole family, not seeing a scrap of meat for half a year.

Let alone borrowing the huge sum of 20 yuan from Shazhu.

"Sigh, I can only go see Sister Qin and her family. I've been bringing them lunch boxes for so long, no matter what, she has to give me this much face," Shazhu sighed, though he understood that Qin Huairu certainly wasn't wealthy either, but he was truly out of options now.

Seeing the sun nearing noon, if he couldn't deliver the money before dusk, the next time he went to the Rolling Mill, he wouldn't be stir-frying vegetables.