TATLC Chapter 44 — The Lu Family's Current Situation

At the Zhang’s

Zhang Jin¹ walked into the house and saw his father sitting on the kang, smoking, while his mother sat beside him with a displeased look on her face.

“Dad, I saw people from the Lu family come by. What did they want?” Zhang Jin asked.

“What else could they want? It’s not like they’re short of money, but they still came to us.”

“Not lending them a single coin,” the old woman snapped, her voice rising as she shot Zhang Cheng a sharp glare.

Zhang Jin had felt something was wrong when he saw the Lu family people earlier, and now hearing this, he knew he was right. Zhang Cheng muttered unhappily, “Isn’t this just borrowing money? It’s not like they won’t pay it back.”

His wife scowled. “Pay it back? When will they pay it back? The Lu family has so much land. If they really need money, they could just sell a few mu. There’s no need for you to put on airs when we can barely put food on our own table? Whose family are you even living for, handing out money to them like that?”

Zhang Cheng glanced at her and said, “They are just tight on money because they’re preparing for a wedding, that’s all.”

“They’re not short of money. Lu Tong’s in-laws gave twenty taels as betrothal gifts, and they got ten taels of silver when they sold off Lu Lin before. They have plenty of money, why would they need yours?” The old woman retorted disdainfully.

Zhang Cheng took a drag from his pipe. “What nonsense are you spouting? How is it selling Lu Lin off?”

The old woman huffed. “How is it not selling him off? Making the only heir left by the second branch marry into another family, making the family line end, isn’t that the same as selling him?”

Zhang Cheng sighed and said, “Aren’t Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi doing well now?”

“That’s Lu Lin’s own good fortune. Back then, he was carried out on a door plank. That old hag Wang even had the gall to steal money from Chen Xiaomi after marrying him off. How shameless. Instead of staying away from them, you’re rushing to hand them money,” the old woman sneered.

“Dad, how much silver did you lend?” Zhang Jin asked.

“Not much.”

The old woman grumbled, “Those shameless people had the nerve to ask for five taels right off the bat, as if we were some wealthy landlords. A family like that should just be ignored, but your father still went and lent them two taels. And from the look on Tang’s face, she probably thought it wasn’t enough.”

Hearing the amount, Zhang Jin’s heart clenched. Two taels… Getting that back won’t be easy.

He turned to his father and said, “Dad, your own grandson even hesitates to spend money on a steamed bun, and our family isn’t particularly well-off either. You shouldn’t take on the Lu family’s problems.”

Caught between his wife and son’s scolding, Zhang Cheng grew defensive. “I just want our village to produce a scholar! If someone from here passes the exams, it would improve the reputation of our entire village.”

Zhang Jin scoffed. “That’s only if Lu Chengyu can actually pass!” Before, Tang swore to everyone that Lu Chengyu would pass the scholar exam this time, but what happened? He still failed.

“Things will be different once he marries that rich girl from town,” Zhang Cheng muttered awkwardly.

Zhang Jin shot him a look. “Dad, I work so hard not so you can subsidize that family. If you keep doing this, I’ll keep the money myself from now on.”

Hearing his son’s words, Zhang Cheng couldn’t help but feel anger rising from his heart, feeling that his family didn’t understand his good intentions.

Before his father could explode, Zhang Jin turned away. “I’m going to work!” and left.

When Wang saw Tang return, she immediately went up to ask, “Did you borrow the money?”

Tang sighed. “I only borrowed two taels of silver.”

Wang’s face immediately showed displeasure. “Only two taels? The village head is getting stingier and stingier.”

“It’s not him,” Tang said somewhat depressedly. “The village head was still easy to talk to, but his wife wasn’t so easy to deal with.”

Wang let out a displeased snort. “That woman always likes to interfere with the village head’s affairs. So annoying.”

Tang sighed again. “Two taels won’t be enough.”

Wang’s expression soured further, “Then we’ll have to sell some land.”

Without the second branch’s labor, the family couldn’t manage all the land anyway. Since they couldn’t manage the land, Wang also had to work in the fields. Wang was getting old after all, and farming was becoming too much for her, so she wasn’t particularly reluctant about selling the land.