Free Web NovelChapter 286: Chapter 286: Debt Collection
Gu Li preached for a while, realizing that everyone had listened, he finally breathed a sigh of relief; at least there was still hope.
When several people of Bai He pushed Bai Jiang over, he stopped the topic.
"Uncle," Bai Jiang, who was initially somewhat unwilling, immediately put on a smile when he saw so many clan members, "All the elders and brothers are here."
"I won’t beat around the bush with you, calling you over is for a discussion," Gu Li spoke directly, because someone like Bai Jiang can only be dealt with straightly, otherwise he would endlessly go in circles, "Everyone is having hard times now, you should give the Silver you promised before."
Bai Jiang had suspected this, but his face showed a bitter smile, "Uncle, it’s not that I don’t want to give, but I really don’t have that much Silver right now, give me some more time, it won’t be long before we can go back."
By then, once the Holy Decree of pardon is issued, they can return home, and there wouldn’t be any compensation issues.
"You say it lightly; we can hardly live anymore, we can’t wait that long.
Besides, who knows if what you say is true? We’ve endured you all along, don’t get too greedy."
"Exactly," clan members started denouncing, "You’re bringing cartloads of stuff back, saying you don’t have Silver, who are you fooling?
Yesterday, while doing laundry, I heard your daughters-in-law saying you’re feasting on fish and meat every day lately."
"My goodness, owing us so much, yet still having the face to feast on fish and meat, while we’re nearly digging roots..."
In his heart, Bai Jiang cursed his two daughters-in-law, these silly women, why can’t they keep their mouths shut?
But he forgot, it was Xu Shuanghong’s mother and daughter who went to do laundry these days...
"We’re not trying to make things difficult for you, nor asking you to compensate everything at once. You see, we’re about to open up the land, but we don’t even have any tools at hand, first provide the agricultural tools for everyone, and the rest can be discussed later."
Gu Li knew not to push too hard, Bai Jiang’s Silver was probably from Lord Ming.
"Clan Leader, what about our provisions?" someone immediately opposed, "We need to eat, relying on tools, should we eat dirt directly?"
Everyone started arguing noisily and refused to give in.
Bai Jiang was so scared he didn’t dare speak, regretting why he didn’t bring his two sons along.
These people are so agitated, will they want to use violence on him again?
Gu Li saw everyone so agitated, looking troubledly at Bai Jiang, "Now you see, forcing everyone into a corner does no good for anyone."
"I still have two hundred taels of Silver," Bai Jiang knew he wouldn’t be able to leave without giving some Silver today, luckily he had distributed some to his two sons earlier. This time, he took out the remaining silver note from his pocket, "I only kept a few taels for myself, the rest will be repaid to everyone."
Seeing Bai Jiang so straightforwardly taking out the Silver, those who were angry quieted down immediately, it seemed Bai Jiang wasn’t lacking Silver.
The old saying is true, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, it seemed the Gu Family had strong foundations.
But squeezing a little each time like this, when will they repay what they owe?
"This isn’t right, you owe us more than this, these two hundred taels won’t be much divided among so many households."
Gu Li glanced at the speaker, scaring him into silence.
"Use these to buy some tools and provisions, it should help everyone get through this winter, but Bai Jiang," Gu Li hesitated, then continued, "You also need to understand everyone’s struggles, now we are all in hardship together, we should be more united..."
After preaching a bit more, he finally let Bai Jiang leave.
No other clan members left; they were all waiting to divide the Silver.
"Father, why were you so polite to him earlier?" Bai He, somewhat puzzled, asked, as the old man had seemed like a kind elder, advising carefully earlier.
"Now, all the hope of our whole family is on him, apart from the Silver he owes us, there’s also the stigma, being at odds with him isn’t good.
In the future, when you encounter their family in the village, interact like regular clan brothers, even if there are occasional quarrels, don’t make too much fuss."
"Yes, we shouldn’t make a clean break with him, otherwise where will we get what he owes us?"
Everyone came to their senses; they were all creditors now, needing to be more cordial to the debtor, otherwise if he denied it, what would they do?
Holding two intact silver notes, it was hard to divide them immediately, so they had to decide on the amount according to each household’s situation, and the next morning, go to town to buy what was needed, then break the silver note.
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Bai Jiang walked back dejectedly, now even poorer; after asking Ming Peifeng for Silver several times, he never managed to keep any. He always felt that since exile, nothing went smoothly...
Looking up again, he saw another convoy heading towards the end of the village, again delivering things to Gu Kaiyuan.
Day after day, they never stopped; who knows how many good things the Bai Family had sent them.
That lad Kai Yuan, upon being adopted out, completely ignored his biological father, having not shown his face in the village all these days.
His expression was somewhat complicated, disliking was one thing, but truly having no presence in his son’s eyes felt angry and resentful.
Even if he was somewhat biased, he at least raised him to adulthood, and helped him marry; Kai Yuan was truly ungrateful.
"Father, what did the Clan Leader want with you?" Kai Ping asked, having seen from afar, quickly approaching, followed closely by Kai Chen.
"What else could it be, asking for Silver." Kai Chen said disdainfully, how could elder brother not see something so obvious?
"That’s what we owe them," Bai Jiang sighed, the elder already decided to adopt the third son out, if they angered him again, getting expelled from the clan, they would truly lose everything.
"We weren’t the ones exiled; they should find the local County Magistrate." Kai Chen was truly fed up with the Gu Family members, "Our lives are already hard enough, they still want to exploit us from time to time, will we ever clear our debt at this rate?"
"Don’t say such things lightly," Bai Jiang quickly looked back, seeing no clan members nearby, he warned, "We need the clan’s protection now."
"What protection can they offer us?" Kai Chen was impatient, "Father, why are you so timid now?
Before, you didn’t bother with the clan either; weren’t we living just fine anyway?
They provide no help to our family, yet constantly use old tricks to threaten us, under their control everywhere, if things continue like this, they’ll empty our family sooner or later."
