CHAPTER 403: CHAPTER 403 EVENTS

What could Yang Peijun possibly want from her?

Had something happened at home?

Or was he asking to borrow money?

Yang PeiMin hadn’t even returned to the room before she tore open the letter and skimmed through it rapidly. This guy actually wanted to come to her place!

He spoke of having a rift with the matchmaker, Li Hongniang, and quarrelling with Li Hong every day, claiming he couldn’t stand staying at home anymore and was seeking a way out by coming to her.

Yang PeiMin was rendered speechless by the letter. What did he think her place was? A refuge?

Shen Yiguang leaned over and asked, "What did Third Uncle say?"

"He said he wants to come here."

Shen Yiguang raised his eyebrows, "Is he coming to visit or what?"

"He’s coming to seek refuge."

Shen Yiguang: "..."

The next day, a letter from Yang Dahai, also from the Yang Family, arrived, addressing the issue with Yang Peijun.

It explained that Li Hong’s family’s second younger brother was caught stealing a chicken from a household in the same village and was about to be taken to the police station. Li Hong’s parents begged and pleaded on their knees, but the family of the stolen chicken stated they would let it go provided they were compensated with five hundred yuan.

Five hundred for a single chicken? This nearly knocked Li Hongniang and her family off their feet. Even if they sold out their whole family, they wouldn’t amount to five hundred yuan. They knelt before the team leader, pleading for mercy and asking him to broker the situation. However, the family was adamant on not budging from four hundred yuan, not a cent less, pressing Li’s family to make a clear choice between their son and the money.

Li Hong’s family was the epitome of a patriarchal household, where everything else could be overlooked except for any harm to their son, not even a single hair’s loss was acceptable. Yet, the eldest son had just married at the beginning of the year, and most of the family’s money had gone to his betrothal gifts. Where would they find the funds to pay for the second son’s compensation?

Then it dawned on them – their eldest daughter Li Hong, who had married into the Yang Family. Her marriage was considered good by village standards. Not to mention, her father-in-law was the production team leader and they were financially sound. Last year, her daughter mentioned how the Yang Family made their own candy to sell, bringing in dozens of yuan each month, and now they could afford meat every other day. It was time for Li Hong, who they had raised for so many years, to show her gratitude.

With a clear direction, Li Hong’s family immediately summoned her back home and discussed the matter, intending to borrow the four hundred yuan from the Yang Family.

Li Hong, though anxious about the troubling family situation, knew she wasn’t the one calling the shots at her in-laws’. Minor amounts were discussable, but now, with such a large sum, she feared her mother-in-law might refuse, especially with her second sister-in-law watching like a hawk.

Her family then berated her for being spineless, saying now was the best time to talk, referring to Li Hong’s pregnancy. In June, Li Hong became pregnant, hinting that she should use her condition to ask her in-laws for the money.

Li Hong gently suggested her family borrow less and contribute some money themselves, only to be scolded back by her parents. They had no intention of chipping in at all; they wanted to borrow everything from the Yang Family and even threatened Li Hong, saying if she didn’t acquire the loan, they’d disown her.

With no choice, as Li Hong didn’t want her family to disown her, which would make speaking up at her in-laws even more difficult, she bravely approached Zhang Minghua.

Zhang Minghua was disgusted upon learning of her brother’s sneaky acts and felt such a menace should be sent straight to the police. Li Hong watched her mother-in-law’s face turn sour, and her own face burned with shame, bursting into tears. Perhaps that initial breakdown helped, as she pleaded with Zhang Minghua for assistance, borrowing some money, claiming her brother realized his mistake and wouldn’t do such things again, ending with her sobbing to the point of nearly fainting.

Seeing the child in her belly, Zhang Minghua, suppressing her annoyance, asked how much she needed to borrow. Upon hearing it was four hundred yuan, Zhang Minghua lost her temper and began to curse, while Li Hong, quite a character herself, fainted right there.

After a tumultuous scene, Zhang Minghua only agreed to lend one hundred yuan, no more. Even this amount stirred discontent in Bai Hehua, who saw the Li Family’s brazen attitude as throwing money to a dog that would never return it, noting it was partly her own share too. Thinking thus, her dissatisfaction showed, and she regularly made veiled remarks at the dinner table until Zhang Minghua reprimanded her several times to stop.

Li Hong brought the one hundred yuan back to her family, nearly being kicked out as a result. That day she was made to do all the chores without a meal and was sent back to the Yang Family at night, warned that if the rest of the money wasn’t handed over, they’d sever ties with her in public.

Dragging her exhausted and hungry body back to the Yang Family just in time for dinner, Li Hong felt reinvigorated. Her voracious eating attracted no concern from the family, who still resented her failure to get money from her unworthy brother. After thinking it through and eating two bowls of rice, she finally told Zhang Minghua, "Mother, my family managed to raise the remaining money. My uncle’s been working with coal outside and brought some money back, just enough to cover the loan."

With those words, everyone in the Yang Family relaxed, fearing the Li Family might make a scene without consideration.

Two days later, things at the Yang Family went on as usual: Yang Dahai took his three sons to work in the fields, while the daughter-in-laws stayed home taking care of children, doing chores, assisting Zhang Minghua with sewing and candy-making.

Bai Hehua’s son, Xiao Bao, a year and a half old and walking steadily, loved Zhang Minghua’s room the most because he knew his grandmother kept a lot of candy and treats there. (Zhang Minghua liked to store such items in her room, occasionally giving some to her grandchildren or to prevent her daughter-in-laws from wasting good things by taking them back to their own parents.)

Xiao Bao, having seen where Zhang Minghua hid the sweets a few times, remembered the spot. As Zhang Minghua and the other daughter-in-laws picked peanuts in the yard, Li Hong remarked to Bai Hehua, "Xiao Bao is quite clever; he knows there are treats in his grandma’s room and constantly sneaks in there. He’s much bolder than his two sisters. It’d be great if Da Niu and Xiao Niu could eat half as much candy as he does, right, big sister?"

This was an attempt to drag Jiang Erni into the fray. Jiang Erni replied, "Da Niu and Xiao Niu are older; it’s only right they let their little brother have more."

Li Hong then turned to Bai Hehua, "Second sister-in-law, look how reasonable big sister is, not holding anything against Xiao Bao. In the future, we should also teach Xiao Bao to take after his sisters, especially since he’s about to have younger siblings soon..."

At that, Bai Hehua’s expression turned sour, unable to withstand Li Hong’s ridicule. She promptly stood up and went into Zhang Minghua’s room to bring her son out.

That very night, Zhang Minghua discovered the money she’d locked in an iron box inside a cage had been stolen—over 400 yuan was gone.

Such an incident had never occurred in their family or even within the entire team.