Yu Changhe and Madam Sun looked at each other. Madam Sun stood up and said, "I can't give you the land. I'll go back to my parents' house tomorrow to borrow money. I don't know how much I can borrow, but I'll definitely return this money to Auntie as soon as possible."
Madam Feng tugged at Madam Zhao's sleeve. "Mother, Zhao Kuo was the one who lent the money. Isn't it bad for you to take it?"
Madam Zhao turned around and slapped Madam Feng hard. "Are you saying that I can't make the decision for my son? I'm Zhao Kuo's mother. What I say is what my son wants!"
Seeing that Madam Feng had been beaten up, Madam Feng's eight-year-old daughter, Zhao Chunyu, hurriedly ran over and shouted at Old Madam Zhao, "Why did you hit my mother? Why do you keep hitting my mother these few days?"
When Old Madam Zhao saw her granddaughter shouting at her, she scolded angrily, "She can't even give birth to a grandson after so many years. She only gave birth to a girl like you. I've wanted to hit her for a long time.
"You brat, how dare you have any objections? Be careful or I'll teach you a lesson too!"
Zhao Chunyu was about to retort when Madam Feng covered her mouth and pulled her back to her courtyard.
Madam Zhao stared at Madam Sun. "Are you really going back to your parents' house to borrow money tomorrow? Don't tell me you're lying to me?"
Madam Sun was so angry that she laughed. "Auntie Zhao, you must be joking. Would I run away overnight for four taels of silver?"
Old Madam Zhao thought about it and agreed. Yu Changhe's acre of land was a high-grade field. If it was sold, it would be worth ten taels of silver. They would have nowhere to go even if they left.
"Let me tell you, although these four taels of silver did not have an IOU signed, the entire village can testify. You can't go back on your word."
After saying that, Old Madam Zhao turned around and went home.
Madam Sun was no longer in the mood to pick wild vegetables. She returned to her room and sat by the bed before crying.
As soon as Yu Changhe entered the house, Madam Sun cried and said, "Ever since you lost your leg, my sister-in-law has been annoying me. Every time I go back, she doesn't give me a good attitude. I'm afraid I won't be able to borrow money when I go back."
Yu Xiaolian saw that Yu Changhe was also frowning like a mute. She really wanted to take out the silver in her space, but she was afraid of scaring them.
Yu Xiaolian thought for a moment. Even if she took out the silver now, she wouldn't be able to explain where the silver came from. It was better to wait until Madam Sun went to her maiden home tomorrow. Then, she would place a package on the road and deliberately let Madam Sun pick it up so that she wouldn't have to think of an excuse.
Yu Xiaolian had thought of a countermeasure, so she used a tattered cloth to wrap up a tael of silver and another handful of silver.
At night, Yu Xiaolian lay on the bed and listened to Madam Sun's constant sobbing and Yu Changhe's long sighs as she fell asleep.
The next day, at dawn, Yu Changhe and Madam Sun had already woken up. They had probably not slept the entire night.
Yu Xiaolian also hurriedly put on her patched jacket and clamored to go to her grandmother's house with Madam Sun.
Yu Changhe thought that it was still dark and Madam Sun was afraid of the dark, so he agreed to let Yu Xiaolian follow him.
Madam Sun put on another piece of clothing for Yu Xiaolian. She said that there was morning dew and she was afraid that she would be cold.
In fact, she didn't know that Yu Xiaolian wouldn't feel cold even in winter because the Witches weren't afraid of the cold.
Yu Xiaolian didn't reject Madam Sun's good intentions. After putting on her clothes, she held Madam Sun's hand and left.
Madam Sun's maiden family was in the neighboring village. It was called Shanghewan Village and they walked upstream along the river to get there.
When they were about to reach Shanghewan Village, Madam Sun reminded, "When we reach your grandma's house, no matter what nasty words your aunt says, you're not allowed to talk back, understand? We're here to borrow money, not to quarrel."
Yu Xiaolian felt that there was no need to let Madam Sun send herself to be humiliated. She might not even be able to borrow money.
While Madam Sun was distracted, she threw the bag of silver into the grass in front of Madam Sun. As expected, the distracted Madam Sun staggered. Fortunately, she was pulled back by Yu Xiaolian, who was already prepared.
Madam Sun originally thought that she had been tripped by a rock. When she looked down, she saw that it was actually a small bag. Madam Sun opened it and was shocked.
There was no one around. She picked up a piece of silver and placed it in her mouth. After confirming that it was real silver, Madam Sun immediately smiled as if something magical happened. After wrapping the silver, she ran home with Yu Xiaolian.
"Mother, aren't we going to Grandmother's house?"
"Silly child, we have money now. Mother just picked up money." Madam Sun was overjoyed as she jogged along with Yu Xiaolian, afraid that the person who had lost the money would come back to look for her.
After pushing open the wooden door of the house, she pulled Yu Changhe, who was weaving baskets under the wall, into the house without any explanation.
"Why are you back so quickly? Is it because your brother-in-law and the others are unwilling to lend it to you? If you really can't borrow it, forget it. Just give that mu of land to the Zhao family."
Madam Sun placed the silver in her arms on the bed. "Look at this."
"Ah, why did you borrow so much? Could it be that brother-in-law has earned a lot of money from fishing recently?"
"What? I picked it up!"
"Picked it up?" It was unlikely that Yu Changhe had picked it up. Who would be so careless as to throw away so much silver? From the looks of it, there were probably more than twenty taels of silver.
"Keep your voice down. Don't let your mother hear you." Madam Sun walked back and closed the door.
Then, he began to count the silver. "Exactly 20 taels!"
Madam Sun was so happy that she wanted to fly. Yu Xiaolian didn't know how to weigh the silver in ancient times. At that time, she had only casually grabbed a large handful of silver fragments. She didn't expect that she would be able to gather twenty taels.
Madam Sun found four taels of silver and handed it to Yu Changhe. "Go and return it to the Zhao family later. You have to return it when there are many people. Otherwise, they will say that we didn't return it."
Yu Changhe said hesitantly, "But if our mother asks how we got the silver…"
"Are you stupid?" Madam Sun tapped Yu Changhe's forehead. "You can't let outsiders know that I picked up 20 taels of silver. If the Zhao family asks, just say that I borrowed it from my family's village. Do you hear me?"
Yu Changhe smiled foolishly and nodded. "Aye, got it!"
Madam Sun found another two taels of silver. "I'll go to town later and buy that muscle regeneration ointment for you. I'll also get you some medicine."
Madam Sun wrapped up the remaining silver and placed it in the cabinet.
After some thought, she took it out and placed it in the wooden box on the ground. After a while, she took it out again and walked around on the ground. She felt that it was not safe to put such a large sum of money anywhere!
In the end, when Yu Xiaolian saw Madam Sun put the remaining silver into the bed cabinet. She stuffed it in with all her might and locked a small lock on the cabinet door. Only then did she feel relieved.
Madam Sun reminded Yu Xiaolian, "Xiaolian, you can't tell anyone about Mother picking up the silver. We can't tell anyone where we hid the silver!"
Yu Xiaolian nodded obediently. "Mother, I promise I won't tell anyone. In a few days, I'll sell my medicinal herbs for money and hand them over to Mother for safekeeping. Mother has saved up a lot of money. In the future, our family will build a big house and stay away from my grandmother and the others!"
Yu Xiaolian's words touched Madam Sun's heart. Madam Sun stroked Yu Xiaolian's head with a loving expression, "Our Xiaolian is so obedient!"