“Oh dear, everyone come and see! The Zhou family’s third daughter-in-law borrowed money and won’t pay it back, bullying me, a widow who lost her husband! Oh heavens, I can’t go on living like this…”
It was currently the slack farming season when the snow was melting, and most people in the production team had nothing to do, bored stiff at home.
Hearing the cries, several households neighboring the Zhou family rushed out of their homes to watch the commotion.
“Chunhua, what’s going on?”
“Aunt Wang, please come and judge this fairly! I previously lent Wen Nianxin thirty yuan, and now when I asked for it back, she turned hostile and denied ever borrowing it! Oh dear, isn’t this driving a widow like me to her death!”
Lying in bed, Wen Nianxin felt completely overwhelmed.
She was already dizzy, and now she felt even dizzier.
“Mom, please help me outside.”
“Nian Xin, if you really borrowed money from her, you should pay her back. If you don’t have that much on hand, I can advance it for you.”
“Mom, I may have lost my memory from the fall, but I didn’t become stupid. Even if I wanted to borrow money, could Liu Chunhua possibly come up with thirty yuan?”
Zhou Mu thought about it and realized it made sense.
The Liu Chunhua family were all lazy, gluttonous people who shirked their duties. After marrying into the neighboring team, her mother-in-law was particularly strict. If she really had thirty yuan, it definitely wouldn’t be kept in her pocket.
“Zhou family’s third daughter-in-law, if you really borrowed money from her, you should return it quickly. You can’t bully a widow just because her husband is gone.”
“That’s right, repaying debts is only natural. How can you just deny it?”
“If she can produce an IOU with my signature, I’ll definitely pay. But she can’t produce anything and just claims I owe her thirty yuan out of thin air. Who would believe that? Well, I saw Liu Chunhua sneaking into the cornfield with someone from their team last time.”
“Wen Nianxin, don’t you spout nonsense! When did I ever sneak into a cornfield with anyone?”
“So only you, Liu Chunhua, can make up stories, but others can’t?”
“Zhou family’s third daughter-in-law, with whom? Which field? When? Tell us more!”
Hearing such explosive news, the onlookers’ attention instantly shifted.
A debt dispute was nowhere near as sensational as an affair!
Now they only wanted to hear more about who Liu Chunhua had been fooling around with.
“Don’t believe her! I didn’t do it!”
Liu Chunhua immediately grew flustered.
If these words reached her mother-in-law’s ears, she would surely be beaten to death!
“What’s all this noise gathered here?!”
Someone had called Wang Duizhang over from his home.
“Team Leader Wang, you must uphold justice for me! Wen Nianxin is falsely accusing me of having an affair. If this spreads, how will I ever hold my head up again!”
Wang Yongshun was rather annoyed. This Wen Nianxin, despite her serious injuries, still didn’t know how to keep quiet.
“Wen Nianxin, how could you say such things? Liu Chunhua was once part of our Fu Yi Production Team, and she was even your friend!”
“I don’t have a friend who would take advantage of my memory loss from injury to extort money from me. She’s the one who falsely accused me of borrowing thirty yuan from her, crying and wailing at my doorstep demanding repayment. If she can make baseless claims, why can’t I?”
“So did you borrow the money or not?”
“Team Leader Wang, everyone in the brigade knows my husband sends me money every month. Why would I need to borrow from her? What kind of person Liu Chunhua is—doesn’t everyone know?”
“She’s demanding I repay her thirty yuan without any proof. This act of fabricating facts to falsely accuse and frame others is something I can report to the public security, letting the officers arrest her and clear my name.”
“Extortion and blackmail would likely lead to a sentence of two or three years. Fortunately, everyone present here can serve as my witnesses.”
“You… you’re talking nonsense!”
Hearing this, Liu Chunhua broke out in a cold sweat down her back.
Her visit to the Zhou family to see Wen Nianxin was just a pretense; her real intention was to stir up trouble.
Seeing that Wen Nianxin genuinely didn’t remember people or events, she thought she could extort a few dozen yuan from her. But she had no intention of landing herself in jail over such a small amount.
“Whether I’m talking nonsense or not, you’re welcome to test it!”
“Liu Chunhua, did she really owe you money or not?!”
“I… Hmph! Consider me unlucky. I’ll treat that money as if I fed it to a dog. I don’t want it back!”
Liu Chunhua scrambled up from the ground, pushed through the crowd, and dashed away like a streak of smoke, terrified that Wen Nianxin would actually report her to the public security and have her arrested.
“Zhou’s third daughter-in-law, who exactly was Liu Chunhua having an affair with? Did you really see it? Tell us about it.”
“I don’t know.”
In truth, she wasn’t making it up. Although she hadn’t personally witnessed Liu Chunhua’s indiscretions, the book did mention Liu Chunhua’s promiscuous affairs.
If she remembered correctly, the matter would be exposed during the autumn harvest this year.
“Since nothing’s really going on, everyone disperse! Don’t go around watching excitement and stirring up trouble all day!”
“None of these unverified rumors better spread beyond today! If I hear anyone repeating them, they’ll have me to deal with!”
Before leaving, Wang Yongshun glanced at Wen Nianxin, whose face was still somewhat pale.
Although she remained one of the troublemakers, the events of the past few days had led him to believe that Wen Nianxin had undergone quite a significant change.
……
As the crowd dispersed, Zhou Mu and her eldest daughter-in-law, Li Xiaofen, helped Wen Nianxin back to her room.
“That Liu Chunhua is truly despicable. Nian Xin, you mustn’t have anything to do with her from now on!”
“I understand. I won’t interact with her anymore.”
Cutting ties with Liu Chunhua was one thing, but the incident of being extorted by her lingered in Wen Nianxin’s mind.
Liu Chunhua was somewhat cunning and, like the original host, enjoyed scheming for money through dishonest means. However, today’s events didn’t seem like something Liu Chunhua could have concocted on her own. It felt more like she was acting under someone’s direction, deliberately causing trouble at the Zhou family.
Whether her suspicions were correct and what exactly the underlying motives were—she would uncover the truth once her injuries healed.
Over the following week, Wen Nianxin didn’t cause any trouble and focused on recuperating in bed.
It wasn’t until the back of her head no longer hurt or felt dizzy that she finally got up and moved around.
Stepping outside, she surveyed the Zhou family’s courtyard and noticed a broom and dustpan placed under the eaves. Picking them up, Wen Nianxin mustered her courage and pushed open the door to the original host’s room.
It wasn’t right to let her father-in-law and mother-in-law sleep in separate rooms indefinitely. Sooner or later, she had to face the two pigsty-like rooms that belonged to the original host.
“Mom, is our sister-in-law planning to clean up?”
The eldest daughter-in-law, Li Xiaofen, continued gluing matchboxes without pause, though her eyes occasionally drifted toward Wen Nianxin.
“Probably.”
“But does she even know how to clean? Should I go help her?”
“Let’s hold off for now and see what she’s really up to.”
“If you go help her, getting scolded is the least of your worries. What if the responsibility of cleaning her room falls on you permanently? It’s not worth it.”
Li Xiaofen felt her mother-in-law made sense and sat back down.
However, Wen Nianxin never intended to ask her mother-in-law or sister-in-law for help. Cleaning was one aspect, but more importantly, she needed to lose weight—being too heavy was affecting her daily activities.
After several consecutive days of cleaning, including rewashing all the clothes and quilts, she finally finished.
While organizing the wardrobe, she discovered a small tin box inside.
Opening it, she found it was where the original owner kept her money.
There was a total of twelve yuan, five mao, and three fen left, but not a single coupon remained.
Besides the money, there were several IOUs, an agreement, and an old-fashioned pocket watch inside.
The IOUs were from previous Zhiqing who had borrowed money—it seemed the original owner wasn’t entirely foolish. At least when people borrowed her money and coupons, she knew to have them write IOUs.
Although these Zhiqing had already left the Production Team, she had to recover every bit of the money and coupons—it was now her property, Wen Nianxin’s.
Aside from this money, although Zhou Zhan paid no attention to the original owner, he reliably sent thirty yuan back every month.
Out of this, five yuan had to be given to Zhou Father and Zhou Mu as their monthly support, and another five yuan went to the sister-in-law for shared meals, leaving her with twenty yuan for herself.
She wasn’t foolish enough to refuse Zhou Zhan’s money. After all, she was now his nominal wife, and until she could earn her own income, Zhou Zhan had the obligation to provide for the family.
Folding the IOUs neatly and placing them back in the wardrobe, Wen Nianxin left the room.