Mrs. Liu asked another question: “You work for Bai Zhi, how much did she give you?”

Mrs. Zhang replied: “We plowed and watered the fields for her. 1 acre is worth 1 silver coin. We plowed and watered 2 acres, we earn 4 silver coins in total.”

Old Lady Bai hurriedly came forward: “2 acres? Zhao Lan and Hu Changlin have 3 acres of fields. Why did you only work on 2 acres?”

Mrs. Zhang looked at the old lady and said: “Bai Zhi is in a hurry to use the fields. She wants us to finish all every 2 days. We can only work on 2 acres, and then let Sanhui work on the other one.”

Old Lady Bai showed a trace of regret in her face and unconsciously glared at Mrs. Zhang: “You put those 2 silver coins in vain by letting other people work on it. If you work much harder, you can also work on that acre, right? You useless thing!”

Mrs. Zhang’s sneered: “Yes, we are useless. Your eldest son is useful. Your favorite grandson that will become a big official in the future is useful. Why don’t you let them work in the field and see if they can even finish 1 acre in 1 day? I’ll give them money.”

Old Lady Bai became speechless. She knew Mrs. Zhang was not the same as before. Now that they have separated, she doesn’t need to give them a face. She can’t scold her arbitrarily.

“I just said it out of a whim. You shouldn’t take it seriously.” Old Lady Bai dryly smiled.

Mrs. Liu was lost in thoughts. Thinking about that they plowed and watered 2 acres of fields, they earned 4 silver coins in total. Bai Xiaofeng only needs 5 silver coins to go to school, she can just go to Zhang Sanshui and borrow 1 silver coin, by then, won’t she be able to gather all the needed money?

Mrs. Liu’s face blossomed in happiness. Then, she hurriedly whispered on the old lady’s ear.

Old Lady Bai listened to Mrs. Liu’s calculations and find it feasible. Now, they can only do this. Old Lady Bai walked in front of Mrs. Zhang and dryly smiled: “Second daughter-in-law, I have something to discuss with you.”

Why wouldn’t Mrs. Zhang not understand what they were thinking? Remembering that the academy will start soon, they might be looking for money for Bai Xiaofeng’s studies. They wanted to take their money for it.

“If you have something to say, just say it directly. But I am reminding you, we don’t have money or food to lend you. We still have debts to pay. Those 4 silver coins are not enough to pay our debts.”

Old Lady Bai and Mrs. Liu’s face drastically changed: “What debts? We just separated for a few days, how come you have debts?”

Mrs. Zhang sneered inside her heart. They even have the guts to mentioned separation to her like nothing.

“That’s right, we just separated. But because of the separation, we need to borrow money to buy food. We need to borrow money to buy winter clothes, quilts, and food for the winter. Next spring, we need to grow cucumbers. How we will buy seeds if we don’t have money? When we separated, you only gave our family 30 copper coins. What do you think you can buy with 30 copper coins? Even our quilts last winter was taken away by the first branch. How are we going to survive if we will not borrow money?”

Old Lady Bai felt a bit guilty in her heart, but she still said with a smile: “I didn’t see you bring those things back. If you really borrowed money to buy those things, why I didn’t see them at all?”

Mrs. Zhang patted the mud on her body and walked towards the house while saying: “I’m afraid that if I brought them here, they will be stolen. I’m sure it’s safer to put them in someone else’s house. I can get them when I need them.”

Mrs. Zhang swore inside her heart that she will plant melon next year. The first thing she will do is to buy a piece of land like Bai Zhi and build another house so that she would never have to meet these people.

They only lived a leisure life all day long. They just eat and drink at home. Old or young, they were all the same. She couldn’t afford to stay with them.

 

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