Chapter 22: Heartache

Chen Xinwan blinked without saying a word.

It was clear she had no intention of speaking.

Gu Zhuo’s face was puzzled. What was going on here?

Beside her, Xie Chong was anxious beyond measure. He had never considered that his mother might have spent all the money his elder brother had sent home. Yet, this was hardly the time or place to ask for details, so he forced himself to hold back.

He worried that his mother had used the money to buy something valuable—like a wristwatch or a radio. If that got out… He wasn’t afraid his sister-in-law or A’ning would fight him for it, but with outsiders present, it would be embarrassing. Besides…

Xie Chong, shamefaced, said, “Um… Sister-in-law, could you lend me some money to fix the house? I’ll pay you back when I earn it.”

That…

Except for Gu Zhuo, everyone else stared disbelievingly at the young man.

Even Xie Ning was surprised. She knew Xie Chong was not as ingenuous as he appeared to outsiders, but she had never expected him to be so… shameless.

Gu Zhuo, however, was not surprised at all. From what she knew of Xie Chong, he wasn’t borrowing the money with the intent of defaulting. Rather… how to put it? At heart, he had the temperament of a habitual debtor, though not entirely so.

If he borrowed a hundred yuan and had only a few hundred in his pocket, he definitely wouldn’t pay it back. But if he had a thousand, he’d probably return it. Still, whenever he needed money for himself, he’d never repay debts first.

How to describe him? He looked like a good person, but in truth, he was vain and calculating. Yet calling him wholly bad would be inaccurate.

The only word that fit him perfectly was probably “hypocrite.”

“I can lend you the money,” she said, before he could rejoice, “but you must write on the IOU that you’ll pay it back within two years. If you don’t, your food ration will be used as repayment.”

These days, nothing was more valuable than food rations.

No matter how much she resented Xie Chong, he was still her brother-in-law, and since Yinyin hadn’t actually gotten into trouble, she couldn’t truly refuse to lend the money and watch them become homeless. If she did that, people would talk. Besides, for her, losing a bit of money mattered less than getting the “outsiders” out of her house.

Gu Zhuo’s words were somewhat unfeeling, but ultimately fair. The old village chief was even a little gratified to hear them.

Qiu Xiu was a brilliant child, but she had a fatal flaw.

—Her temperament was too gentle; she never fussed over anything and could compromise on everything except matters of principle. For a child as capable as she was, her mind was so broad that things others saw as earth-shattering were trivial to her.

Yet now, she revealed a rare sharpness.

People only grow after experiencing hardship.

Captain Gu spoke up, “How much do you want to borrow?” If possible, he’d have preferred to lend from the brigade funds and deduct it from Xie Chong’s work points. Unfortunately, the brigade had little money, and Xie Chong wasn’t much of a worker; his annual work points couldn’t cover the debt.

Xie Chong hesitated. “Would a hundred be enough?”

“Do you think money drops from the sky?” Yang Xiuzhen couldn’t help herself, scolding him, “People only ask for twenty as a bride price, and you need a hundred just to repair the house?”

Repairing the old Xie house certainly wouldn’t cost a hundred, but much of the furniture had been given away by Chen Xinwan, and the rest was mostly broken. To rebuy everything, even a hundred might not suffice.

Just a single iron pot cost dozens, and it required an industrial coupon to buy—a scarce item.

But Yang Xiuzhen didn’t care. Every family accumulates household items bit by bit; no one borrows money to buy everything at once.

And Xie Chong really had no sense of propriety, asking Qiu Xiu to lend so much at a time like this. If she really gave it, there’d be no peace for her in the future.

She didn’t want her daughter’s second marriage prospects to be all about money.

What Yang Xiuzhen understood, Gu Zhuo naturally did too. She said, “I can’t lend you a hundred, at most twenty.”

If the old Xie house weren’t so dilapidated, she’d have lent only ten.

In these times, twenty yuan was a large sum.

Chen Xinwan glared, about to protest, but Xie Chong quickly stopped her, gritting his teeth. “Fine, twenty it is.” He could see now that his sister-in-law had it in for him; there was no room for negotiation.

Since that was so, he’d take whatever he could get.

Gu Zhuo looked at him coolly. “Write the IOU first.”

Xie Chong took a deep breath, went to his room, grabbed a sheet of notebook paper, and wrote an IOU in pencil.

Gu Zhuo checked it: “Owe Gu Zhuo 20 yuan.”

She frowned. “Write it as I instructed, and include the year and date.”

A smile flickered in the old village chief’s cloudy eyes. See, Qiu Xiu never liked to fuss, but she wasn’t incapable of it.

In truth, Gu Zhuo’s palms were sweating from nervousness.

—She had never negotiated so fiercely before, never haggled down to the last coin.

In the past, if Xie Chong asked for a hundred, she might have thought it a bit much, but for the sake of convenience, she’d hand over the money without a second thought, and wouldn’t have demanded an IOU.

She believed any trouble that could be solved with money was worth it.

Xie Chong, teeth clenched, rewrote the IOU as she required. Only then did Gu Zhuo retrieve twenty yuan from her room and hand it over.

Afterward, with the village chief and Captain Gu as witnesses, Gu Zhuo gave half the household’s grain to Chen Xinwan and Xie Chong from the kitchen storeroom.

“There’s also A’ning’s household registration. Since she’s living with me now, let’s transfer it to Xie Lin’s.” Gu Zhuo said at last.

Captain Gu paused, wanting to point out that Xie Lin’s registration was due to be canceled, but a glance from the village chief stopped him. He understood and replied, “Alright, bring the registration book tomorrow, I’ll handle it for you.”

Gu Zhuo wasn’t worried that Chen Xinwan might refuse to hand over the registration book. Her motives were easy to guess: her daughter’s registration with her daughter-in-law meant her daughter-in-law would pay the school fees, which suited her perfectly.

—She felt girls’ education was pointless and couldn’t bear to spend the money, but if someone else paid, she had no objections.

“Since I’m here, hurry and pack up. I’ll take you to the grain warehouse; I’m the only one with the key.”

Obviously, the village chief and Captain Gu wanted to supervise their moving out. Chen Xinwan and Xie Chong had no choice but to return to their room to pack.

They had quite a few belongings—clothes, bedding, enamel cups, enamel basins, and so on.

—Because of Chen Xinwan’s fastidiousness, the Xie family never shared things like cups and basins; everyone had their own.

That said, all these items originally came from Gu Zhuo. If she wanted, she could have withheld them. But after that confrontation, she had spent all her strength, and lacked the courage to press on.

Besides, their personal belongings would just gather dust if she kept them.