Chapter Twenty-Two: The Loan Agreement

That night, the two sisters squeezed together on the lower bunk. Listening to her younger sister recount the day's observations, Songyu couldn’t help but click her tongue in disbelief.

“But all of it is four hundred mu?”

At that moment, Songxiang completely understood her sister’s thoughts. The two of them held hands tightly for a long while before comforting each other.

“We shouldn’t be greedy. We already have a house and household registration. It’s better not to think too much beyond that for now.”

“But didn’t Dad have us sign loan contracts?”

“Yes, we did sign them.”

“So what about the money for leasing the orchard…”

While the sisters speculated, in the room of Songjianping and his wife, Bilizhu—who usually enjoyed some fruit and watched TV after dinner—was unusually serious. That evening, as soon as they finished eating, she had their two daughters clean up and then called her husband back to the room.

Earlier that afternoon, with the future daughter-in-law nearby, she had temporarily stopped pressing for details. But now, she wasn’t about to give Songjianping any more chances to hide the truth.

Once they were seated, Bilizhu asked directly, “You said you took out some loans. How much exactly? How did you get them?”

Songjianping looked at his wife, realizing he could no longer keep anything from her. He stood up again and took out several carefully preserved contracts, which were stored separately in bags.

The first bag Bilizhu opened revealed Songjianping’s loan contract and leasing agreement. There were two loan contracts: one secured by their current house, the other based on the village lease contract. The total loans amounted to a staggering sixty thousand yuan.

No wonder he had spoken so boldly; the leasing fee alone was over fifty thousand yuan.

There was only one leasing contract, covering a combined area of four hundred mu, including the mulberry fishponds and the orchard.

Bilizhu’s suspicions deepened as she opened the other two bags. As expected, they contained leasing and loan contracts signed under their two daughters’ names.

The leasing contracts were unremarkable—each daughter had leased one hundred mu of mulberry fishponds and orchard land.

But the loan contracts left Bilizhu wide-eyed with disbelief. “How is this possible? Can loan amounts really exceed the leasing fees?”

“The leasing fee is only for one year so far,” Songjianping explained cautiously, pulling out his own leasing contract for her to examine more closely.

The contract spanned thirty years, but except for the first year, payments for the remaining terms were made every two, three, or five years. This arrangement was a hard-won concession from the village committee, acknowledging Songjianping’s limited funds and inability to pour too much money into leasing fees at once.

It also explained why he immediately took charge of managing the mulberry fishponds and orchards after securing the lease—this was explicitly stated in the contract and was something he genuinely wanted to do.

Still, Bilizhu frowned deeply. She thought Songjianping’s actions were reckless. Though the whole family had confirmed the demolition news Songyu had heard seemed very likely, that was based on reverse verification after they learned of it.

Without that demolition news, even people who noticed these circumstances wouldn’t have done what Songjianping did—risking his future in-laws’ trust and exhausting the family’s resources.

He hadn’t only taken out loans himself; he had involved their two daughters as well. The fact that even their home had been mortgaged infuriated Bilizhu.

She was angry at Songjianping’s boldness and at his failure to consult her, his wife. Beyond that, a deep fear threatened to overwhelm her.

Seeing his wife’s reaction, Songjianping regretted his choices. He quickly sat beside Bilizhu, tightly clasped her hands, and spoke earnestly:

“Lizhu, I didn’t take out these loans without a plan!”

“My plan is that if we manage the mulberry fishponds and orchards well, even without demolition, we can repay these loans.”

“It will be hard work for us and the repayment period will be long.”

“But if the demolition news comes true, as we expect, we will receive a windfall.”

“At that time… at least our three children won’t have to worry about buying a house.”

“Also, as I said before, I don’t intend to give up on developing in this direction.”

“Though if I move to another village, it won’t be as convenient as it is now.”

“So I want to try now while the opportunity still exists.”

“To see if I truly have the ability to make this work.”

“And to understand the difficulties we might face.”

“Lizhu, to be honest, though I grew up in the countryside, I’ve never managed anything like this before.”

“I don’t have complete confidence!”

“I never even planned on doing this until now.”

“But this time, I came not just with pure intent—I’ve gained recognition, hope, and help from many.”

“Sometimes I feel ashamed.”

“So when I took out these loans… it wasn’t that I didn’t want to discuss it with you.”

“Except for the loan mortgaging our house, the others were arranged with Uncle Lin’s help.”

“At the time, I was still working at the factory and was suddenly called away to sort out the loans.”

“I admit I was impulsive.”

“By the time I realized it, the loans had already been processed.”

“Later, I worried you would be upset if you knew, so I kept quiet.”

“You know, with all that’s going on in Jiang Village, only our youngest and Uncle Lin can help me. The rest is on me.”

“Between that and everything else, I truly forgot to mention this.”

Seeing Bilizhu’s expression soften slightly, Songjianping pressed on:

“Lizhu, think about it. If I really wanted to hide things from you…”

“When you planned to go to Jiang Village, wouldn’t I have stopped you with all sorts of excuses?”

“Even when you went to Jiang Village and came with us to see the mulberry fields and orchards, I never hid anything, right?”

“You never stopped me once! If you had, just imagine what would have happened!” Bilizhu glared fiercely at him, teeth clenched.

Considering he hadn’t actually done those things before, she reluctantly suppressed the complex feelings stirring inside.

What had been missed was already lost. And while she was unaware, Songjianping had invested so much of their family’s fortune.

From now on, Bilizhu wouldn’t let him handle these matters alone.

In the days that followed, whenever the family had time off, they went to Jiang Village.

Only Song Songlin and his wife found a day they could both take off to complete the leasing procedures in An Village, after which they seldom had time to visit again.

The young couple’s wedding was set for May 1st of that year.

Originally, they planned to finish all wedding preparations during the period after the New Year.

But due to the issues in Jiang Village, they had already lost more than half the time.

In the limited days of April, they took wedding photos and prepared dresses, jewelry, and so forth.

Throughout the entire process, the Song family hardly helped much.

Naturally, the Xuan family had some complaints.

But thanks to the secrecy maintained by Ying Xuan and Song Songlin, the Xuan family remained unaware of these matters before the wedding.