Chapter 27: Selling Off Furniture

In the end, Shazhu still made up his mind and knocked on the door of the Jia Family.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Shazhu!"

Shazhu squeezed a smile onto his face.

Hearing that it was Shazhu, Jia Zhangshi, who was hiding by the door, did not dare to open it; if he discovered any clues inside the house, wouldn't it all be over?

"What the hell are you doing at our house? We don't welcome you, get lost!" Jia Zhangshi forced herself to stay calm and cursed.

"Don't be like that, I'm here to borrow money from you, borrow 20 yuan, I will pay you back later," Shazhu said, feeling a bit anxious.

If the Jia Family didn't lend him money, he would really have to go outside and drink the northwest wind.

Besides that, he really didn't know where else to go to borrow money to make up for the factory fine.

But upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi was even more displeased; asking her to borrow money was no different than taking her life, was it?

"Screw you, Shazhu, because of you our family had two yuan deducted from our wages again, I'm keeping track of this!"

"When you pay back those two yuan, then we can talk about borrowing money!"

Jia Zhangshi cursed and blocked the crack in the door as well.

After all, she still had a guilty conscience, and secondly, she wouldn't lend money to Shazhu, even if she had stolen everything from him.

Even Qin Huairu, who was still at home, said just as bluntly: "Zhuzi, you should go find someone else! I don't want to see you right now."

Qin Huairu's words were like a basin of ice water poured onto Shazhu's burning heart; he had been so good to her, yet he received this kind of treatment in return.

However, Shazhu was not angry with Qin Huairu; after all, for Sister Qin to treat him this way meant she still cared about him very much!

Yes! That must be it!

After all, it was because of him that Sister Qin had two yuan deducted from her wages; I, Shazhu, really deserve to die!

Shazhu hadn't even felt this uncomfortable when he angered the First Uncle into getting sick.

"This goddamn Shazhu, why is he lingering at our door and not leaving? Tell me, does your family have something going on with this kid too?" Jia Zhangshi asked Qin Huairu with some dissatisfaction.

"Mom, what are you saying?"

"With the way that fool looks, one look and you know he's destined to be a bachelor for life; how could I ever take a fancy to someone like that?"

"If it weren't for the fact that he often helps our family out, I wouldn't even pay him any mind," Qin Huairu hurriedly retorted.

"That's true..."

"After all, this silly kid can count as a free meal ticket..."

Only then did Jia Zhangshi's expression soften.

………

At this moment, Shazhu was hesitant and restless inside.

Seeing that there wasn't much time left, he felt for the first time that these 20 yuan were so hard to come by; even if he racked his brains, he couldn't think of anyone else to borrow from.

"Damn it, what should I do?"

"Don't ever let me find out which little thief stole from my house, or I'll strip them down to their underwear, it's infuriating!"

Shazhu was so hateful he almost shattered his back molars.

Why did he have to get into trouble at this critical juncture, of all times?

Just as he felt his mind and body falling into confusion, Yan Bugui, who was sitting outside reading by the light, gave a well-meaning reminder: "Zhuzi, come over here, Third Uncle will think of a way for you."

"Third Uncle, don't you have no money?"

Shazhu glanced at this poor wretch, then walked over very reluctantly.

"What kind of look is that, kid?"

"Let me tell you, Zhao Gangzi is home right now, and he's a bachelor all by himself, making nearly 50 yuan a month; 20 yuan is just pocket change to him, isn't it?"

"I know you two have a grudge, but no one goes against money, right? At worst, you can write him an IOU and pay him back an extra yuan or two later..."

Shazhu thought about it and realized it made sense, but could he really get the money given his relationship with Zhao Gangzi? And regarding the interest, wouldn't he be charging him usury?

If he borrowed 20 yuan and it suddenly turned into 200, he wouldn't be able to pay it back even if he sold his kidneys!

"I know you have this concern, but do you have any other way right now?"

Third Uncle sneered; he only said that much, and as for what to do, it was up to Shazhu himself.

After a while, at Zhao Gangzi's place in the Back Courtyard.

Zhao Gangzi looked at the fawning Shazhu before him and smiled with some disbelief: "Zhuzi, you'd come to me to borrow money? I'm afraid you won't pay me back..."

"How could that be, Gangzi, we both grew up together, you can't just stand by and watch me die!"

"Besides, I came with sincerity!"

Shazhu didn't know where he had gotten a small bag of eggs, and regardless of whether Zhao Gangzi was willing or not, he placed them directly on the table.

"Came with sincerity? I find that a bit hard to believe."

Listening to Shazhu's sweet talk, the Hatred Value on Zhao Gangzi's System Panel kept increasing, and it was all coming from Shazhu.

He had only been here for five minutes, and it had already accumulated to 3000 points of Hatred Value.

"No, no, no, at worst I'll write you an IOU, even if the interest is high it's no problem, I can handle it!"

Shazhu completely threw away his pride this time.

He had to borrow 20 yuan no matter what; even if it meant borrowing from his enemy and losing face, he couldn't lose his job.

"Borrowing is definitely out of the question; with your sorry-looking self, you might get fired any day, what's the use of high interest?"

Zhao Gangzi shook his head and refused.

But then he offered a condition: "However, it's not impossible to give you these 20 yuan, you have to trade me something valuable from your house; take a look and see what our house is still missing?"

Shazhu glanced around Zhao Gangzi's place with his peripheral vision; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was bare as a bone, and apart from the cooking stove and a bed, there wasn't even a decent table.

One of the bed legs was even missing a chunk, simply propped up with two bricks.

When Lao Zhao left, he didn't leave behind anything valuable at home; even the cabinets were as old as the Deaf Old Lady.

"Fine!"

Shazhu thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, and agreed.

Anyway, he had plenty of furniture at home, originally kept for when he would take a wife, but now it seemed that the 20 yuan was more important; after all, furniture could be bought later.

If the job was gone, there would be no chance to find another.

Soon, the two of them arrived at the main room of the Middle Courtyard, and they even brought in Third Uncle, who had the most learning, to act as a witness; as for the payment, they gave him fifty cents.

"Whoa, Shazhu, your place is not bad! It's quite luxurious, just a bit too messy," Zhao Gangzi said, pinching his nose and teasing as he looked at the terrible environment in front of him.

As for Shazhu's home, there wasn't much that was truly valuable, though there was quite a bit of furniture that was decent to look at, such as a wooden box placed at the head of Shazhu's bed; it was made of golden nanmu, yet Shazhu used it to store peanuts—what a waste of a precious object.

"These are solid wood trunks my dad had made when he married my mom, eight in total, one yuan each, not a penny less," Shazhu said, pointing to the eight large solid wood trunks stacked in the corner.

"Fifty cents each, no bargaining."

Zhao Gangzi held up one finger.

"This, alright..." Shazhu gritted his teeth and agreed to it anyway.

"That's four yuan, still 16 yuan short; Gangzi, look around and see what else is valuable in Shazhu's place, take it all away, hahaha," Yan Bugui laughed heartily.

Moreover, Yan Bugui had some learning and could tell what was valuable and what was not; those eight trunks at Shazhu's place were indeed worth one yuan each, yet Zhao Gangzi had managed to drive the price down to fifty cents.

This made Yan Bugui feel a bit tempted as well.

It wasn't that he couldn't come up with any money; he had to take away some of Shazhu's furniture one way or another.