The cloth bundle clearly contained the family’s land deed!
Chu Xun looked very surprised.
Second Uncle was actually going to divide the family’s land directly to him… this was a farmer’s lifeblood.
Second Uncle’s family had raised him for more than ten years, with meticulous care.
He never imagined they would now even give him the land.
Second Uncle Chu carefully took out several land deeds.
“There are seven mu of land in total here, three mu left by your father. Later we’ll go to the village head and transfer the land to you.”
Back then, in order to treat Chu Xun’s illness, he had mortgaged his own four mu of land to borrow money.
As for Chu Xun’s three mu, they had remained completely untouched.
Second Aunt pressed her lips together slightly, but still said nothing.
She could chime in on trivial household matters.
But when her man truly made the decision, she would never interrupt.
Second Uncle Chu placed the three land deeds in front of Chu Xun. “Take them. After we eat, we’ll go to the village head’s house.”
But Chu Xun shook his head. “Second Uncle, there’s no need to give me the land. Even though I won’t be studying anymore, I still don’t want to become a farmer working the fields. In a famine year with such severe drought, farming won’t even fill our stomachs.”
He had a very clear plan: with the system, food was not a problem.
The most important goal now was to make money.
Without money, even if he could use Shop Coins to exchange for a large amount of grain, he still wouldn’t be able to explain where the grain came from.
Besides, he also felt it was a bit of a waste to buy grain with Shop Coins alone.
If he made money, the reason would be much simpler.
If he had money, wouldn’t he just go to the city to buy grain?
No matter the era, making money was the number one priority.
The shop could buy all kinds of items, but it couldn’t buy the kind of money usable in this era.
With money, no famine year was frightening; without money, even in a harvest year people could starve to death.
When Second Aunt heard that Chu Xun didn’t want the land, she, who had already been somewhat reluctant, brightened up a little too.
“Alright, Xunzi is a scholar, after all. You want him to scratch out a living from the soil like us?
“How can he do hard labor? In my opinion, Xunzi can go to the city and work as a writing clerk, helping people write characters and letters. He won’t be worn out, and people will respect him.”
Hearing Second Aunt’s words, Chu Xun also smiled slightly.
Although Second Aunt felt sorry about the household expenses, she was genuinely concerned about him.
From childhood to adulthood, she had always given him the best things, grumbled a little, but never complained.
Meeting such a family was his good fortune.
Second Uncle Chu was about to persuade him again when a noisy commotion suddenly came from outside the yard.
“Chu Mancang, when are you going to pay back the silver you owe my master? It’s been seven or eight days already!”
Hearing that voice, Second Uncle Chu’s face instantly turned very ugly.
He hurriedly stood up and said to the others, “It’s Squire Liu’s people. I’ll go out and deal with them.”
Second Aunt’s hand shook so badly that the bowl nearly fell to the ground. “Didn’t they say they’d be paid back in early spring? Why are they here demanding the debt so soon?”
Chu Qing also stood up nervously. “Dad, we didn’t make any money on this trip to the city. What are we supposed to use to pay them back?”
At home, there wasn’t even a single silver coin, let alone a few copper coins.
She only had a dozen or so copper coins buried under the foot of the bed, and that money was meant to buy Chu Xun a new set of clothes.
Second Uncle Chu frowned tightly, opened the door, and forced himself to walk out calmly.
“Don’t come out. I’ll talk to them outside.”
Chu Xun frowned slightly. That Squire Liu was a rich man in the small county town.
By wildly lending grain and money, he had exchanged for quite a bit of land from the people of Xiling Village.
Sending people here this time definitely meant no good.
So he followed Second Uncle out as well.
Chu Qing saw this and quickly followed after him.
Just as Second Uncle Chu reached the yard, the already dilapidated wooden door was kicked open viciously.
Then a skinny man with a thin mustache swaggered in.
Behind him followed Zhao Ergou, whom Chu Xun had beaten before, as well as two burly men.
As soon as Zhao Ergou saw Chu Xun, he immediately showed a smug smile.
He had never expected the Chu family to have borrowed money from Squire Liu’s household. Since his uncle happened to work for Squire Liu, he had called them over to deal with them.
Chu Xun’s expression turned cold as well. He should have killed Zhao Ergou yesterday while he had the chance, so today’s trouble would not be so bothersome.
The skinny man grinned wickedly. “Chu Mancang, the five strings of cash you owe my master… it’s time to pay up.”
Second Uncle Chu showed a bitter expression and said softly, “Eighth Master, didn’t we agree to repay it after early spring? The day is still far off. Please give us a little more time.”
“Give you more time my ass!”
The man called Eighth Master spat on the ground.
“It’s almost the autumn harvest, and this year is a major disaster year. Your family probably can’t even pay the tax.
“Wait until early spring? You probably won’t even survive the winter. You’d better pay up now!”
Second Uncle Chu clasped his hands and pleaded, “Eighth Master, don’t worry. We can sell grain and go work in the city. By early spring, we’ll definitely earn enough money to repay Squire Liu.”
Eighth Master twisted his two wisps of beard and let out a sharp laugh. “Who said we’d wait until early spring? If you can’t produce the money now, then hand over the land deed immediately. Stop dragging your feet.”
As he spoke, he waved a hand, and Zhao Ergou along with the two burly men grinned viciously and moved forward, ready to force their way into the house.
Second Aunt Chu panicked and quickly took the land deed into the inner room, bracing the door tightly.
“Let’s talk it out properly, Eighth Master. Give us a little more time.”
Second Uncle rushed forward to stop them, but a burly man shoved him aside, knocking over a pile of farming tools.
“Don’t you dare touch my dad!”
Chu Qing instantly panicked and tried to rush forward.
But Chu Xun, standing nearby with an icy expression, raised a hand to stop her.
“Big brother?”
Chu Qing’s eyes turned red, making her look especially pitiable.
Chu Xun’s voice was cold and dark. “Don’t be afraid. Nothing will happen.”
In his previous life, before he retired, he had ranked in the top hundred in the entire military competition. His combat instincts were superb.
Coupled with the system doubling his physical strength, he could utterly crush these rough men who only knew a few peasant fighting tricks.
Chu Qing looked at her big brother, whose expression was cold and whose face was firm.
For no reason at all, the tips of her ears turned red, and she showed a trace of shyness, softly answering, “Mm.”
Seeing how arrogant Chu Xun sounded,
Eighth Master sneered: “You little brat, ignorant of how high the sky is and how thick the earth is. Ergou, go teach him a lesson.”
Zhao Ergou laughed viciously twice and strode forward.
He raised his foot and kicked hard at Chu Xun’s chest.
Didn’t you beat me pretty hard yesterday?
Today I want to see if you still dare to hit me!
But Chu Xun merely sidestepped with ease.
Then, like lightning, he reached out and grabbed Zhao Ergou’s kicked-out leg.
Right after that, he lifted his right knee and drove a powerful knee strike into him!
With a dull bang!
Zhao Ergou curled up like a bent shrimp.
He hunched over, clutching his kidney, and knelt on the ground screaming in agony.
“Ahhh, my uncle is here, and you still dare to hit me!”
When the other two burly men saw how skilled Chu Xun was, they charged at him together.
But Chu Xun only sneered.
He stepped forward and grabbed one of their arms.
Crack!
One burly man’s arm dislocated, and he collapsed to the ground howling in pain.
“Ahhh! My arm! My arm’s broken, it’s broken!”
The other burly man was the same. He also took a kick from Chu Xun to the jaw and was left lying on the ground foaming at the mouth.
In the blink of an eye, all three men had been knocked down by Chu Xun.
Chu Xun drew back his fist and looked coldly at the skinny man with the thin mustache.
“Who did you just say needed a lesson?”
His upright figure, combined with his icy expression at that moment, gave off a fiercely intimidating air.
Eighth Master was startled badly, his eyes bulging and his jaw nearly dropping off.
The three of them had actually been completely overwhelmed by this one man.
Since when had Chu Mancang’s family had someone this fierce?
He nervously stepped back and said, “A debt must be repaid; that’s only natural. How dare you hit someone?”
Second Uncle Chu grabbed Chu Xun’s arm from the side and said urgently, “Xunzi, don’t fight. It won’t be good if this gets taken to the authorities. Second Uncle is fine.”
Eighth Master’s legs were trembling with fear.
That idiot nephew of his had really screwed him over.
This was not a scholar at all. He was practically a martial champion, able to take on three men alone!