In the battle for water, Xiahe Village won an unprecedented victory, winning ten flags. Each flag means five days of water period, and ten flags mean fifty days of water period, which ensures the harvest for next year.
The water race was won, and Xiahe Village was in a frenzy. After the rally, they went home and talked excitedly about how the child of Zhu's family was. Xiahe Village won, and the village elders and the head of the village happily went straight to the village temple to comfort their ancestors, feeling very happy.
When the Zhu family was preparing to have dinner, the head of Xiahe Village led a few young men into the door of the Zhu family, carrying a jar of old wine, a pig thigh and a bag of rice.
"Uncle Zhu, you have raised two good grandsons, especially your little pig, who is doing very well today. This is what I have discussed with the village elders, so please don't refuse." The head of Xiahe Village is a man in his forties, a very versatile person. He cupped his hands while talking to my grandfather.
The whole village celebrated the victory of the water competition. My grandfather only declined for a moment before accepting the gift. He then invited the village head and the young men to sit down and drink tea and wine. The village head declined, saying that other young men had to leave. He thanked my grandfather for his kindness and quickly left with the young men.
In the evening, Zhu's father made an exception and drank a few more glasses of wine and became a little tipsy.
Uncle Zhu also came home from the ancestral hall. He seemed calm and composed, just like always, with the pride of a scholar.
Time passed slowly for more than a month. Zhu Ping'an rode an old ox to school. During breaks, he told the two little girls about The Legend of the Condor Heroes and The Smiling Proud Wanderer. Except that the teacher talked about more and more things, there was basically no change in other things.
Oh, not really. Before telling stories to the little girls, I added an activity, which is watching them do the bunny dance and sing the "pa pa pa" song. Of course, eating is inevitable.
Zhu Ping'an conducted many experiments on this useless ability called luck, and roughly figured out part of it. The four words "bring honor to the family" are the key. He can check his luck roughly once every ten days, and each time he can only check it for about three seconds, which is quite useless.
In addition to these, Zhu Ping'an also used Chen's name to visit the neighbors and told the aunts and young wives that he would give them the raw materials for free and let them process them into purses, and then buy them from them at the town price of 10 wen each. The aunts and young wives went to Chen to confirm. Chen was also smart. Although she knew that Zhu Ping'an was using her name, she calculated the accounts and felt that there was money to be made, so she assured them that it was true. In short, except for some given to the eldest aunt, the third aunt, and the fourth aunt, the whole basket was given to these aunts and young wives. After deducting the labor fee, Chen went to the town to sell it to the store and made more than one or two taels of silver. It's just a pity that when she went to the cloth store to buy scraps of cloth, they were bought by someone else. This made Chen, who made more than one or two taels of silver, feel distressed.
Time passed slowly for more than a month. At dusk more than a month later, Zhu Ping'an rode the old ox back home as usual. The only difference was that this time many people gathered at the Zhu family again. When they saw Zhu Ping'an riding the old ox back, they looked at him with sympathy.
What happened? Zhu Pingan was startled.
When I pushed open the door, the house was in a mess. My mother, Chen, was sitting on the ground crying, and my eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan also had red eyes and tears.
Father Zhu Shouyi was lying on a stretcher, trying to comfort the crying Chen with a painful expression. One leg was intact but the other leg was wrapped in a white cloth, which was still soaked with blood...
Seeing this scene, Zhu Pingan was almost stunned.
In his mind, Father Zhu is a strong man like an ox. Although he is not good at expressing himself, the love he gives is no less than that of Chen. Moreover, he is the pillar of his family, using his body to protect his family from wind and rain. It is precisely because of such a strong man that he can be carefree like a child when he travels through time. Before going to the town to sell rabbit skins in the morning, Father Zhu asked Zhu Pingan with a smile if he wanted the rice paper from last time.
However, this iron-clad man was now lying on a stretcher with a painful expression on his face.
Zhu's father was such a simple and honest man, and he was also a righteous man, and he had never made enemies with anyone. This time he was going to the town again, so there would be no danger, it could only be someone who was plotting against him.
"Who, who hurt my father?"
There seemed to be a fire burning in Zhu Ping'an's heart. Gulu climbed down from the ox's back in an instant and ran to Zhu's father with red eyes. Tears slid down his angry little chubby face.
"Don't cry, I'm fine. The doctor said that there are no broken bones. I just need to rest for a month." Father Zhu lay on a stretcher, enduring the pain and trying to comfort everyone.
The rest of the Zhu family was also there. The women were all at a loss as to what to do. The fourth uncle was also terrified. This time he and Zhu's father went to the town together. However, the eldest uncle looked evasive.
"My second brother and I went to the town and sold rabbit skins for money. We didn't walk far when we were surrounded by five or six people. They asked my second brother if his name was Zhu Shouyi. My second brother said he was asking them what they wanted to do. They wanted my second brother to pay back the money, saying that my second brother had borrowed 10 taels of silver more than a month ago, and now the interest has increased to 15 taels of silver. My second brother was stunned at the time because he had never borrowed money before..."
"That man took out the IOU written by my second brother and said that we couldn't deny it because it was written in black and white. He robbed us of more than 100 coins from selling rabbit skins, and then he started beating us without any explanation. He said that this was just a light punishment and that we should keep our legs for now. If we couldn't pay the money in three days, he would really break our legs..."
When Fourth Uncle talked about what happened in the town, he still looked scared, because he was also kicked twice by someone.
"Second brother, why do you want to borrow money? What bad things have you done outside?" The grandfather was so angry that he almost fainted. He stood in front of Zhu's father with a thick stick in his hand, puffing his beard and glaring, and asked loudly.
"Dad, why would my son Shouyi borrow money?" Mother Chen cried and protected Zhu's father.
"No, Dad. I don't have any land that needs money, why would I borrow money? Besides, I can't read a single word, how can I write an IOU?"
Zhu's father looked aggrieved and bitter. He was beaten for no reason and was suspected when he returned home. He felt very bitter.
"It's definitely not the money my father borrowed!" Zhu Ping'an said loudly with red eyes.
"But your father's name is on the IOU, and he has his fingerprints on it." Aunt Si at the side also found it hard to believe.
"My father can't even write!" Zhu Ping angrily retorted, his chubby face flushed with anger.
Things seemed to have reached a dead end. Loan sharks would not come to ask for money without reason. They would only ask for money based on the IOU after the loan was signed and sealed. If they made up a random story, the county magistrate would not let them go. But Zhu's father obviously had not borrowed money from loan sharks, let alone signed and sealed it.
So how did this usury come about