Three days later.
Lin Laoyao was successfully discharged from the hospital.
After some quick calculations, Lin Laoyao urged his parents to go test the waters with Lin Qimo.
Old Man Lin and Granny Tan immediately went to Lin Qimo’s house without hesitation after hearing their youngest son’s words.
“Your third uncle said that the one thousand yuan your father owed is being demanded again. He told you to pay it back.” Old Man Lin sat on a long bench, smoking dry tobacco, asking for the money as if it were perfectly justified.
Granny Tan kept scanning the courtyard back and forth, almost as if she wanted to search through the house.
“Grandpa, it’s not that I don’t want to repay it I really don’t have money,” Lin Qimo said.
Granny Tan immediately chimed in, “Didn’t you just buy two hundred jin of soybeans from Li Daqiang’s family? The whole village is talking about it. You’re saying you have no money?”
Who would believe that?
“I didn’t buy them. My sister and brother-in-law bought them to make tofu,” Lin Qimo denied it, pushing the responsibility onto Qin Wenying and her husband.
She wanted to test whether there was something fishy about that 1,000-yuan debt.
Old Man Lin then asked, “Then tell me this you used a tofu-making method to apply for a family workshop at the village committee. Your mother’s family isn’t even registered in our village. How did the village committee agree to let them set up a workshop here?”
Lin Qimo thought to herself that her grandfather really was sharp much harder to fool than her grandmother.
“That question, Grandpa, you’ll have to ask the village leaders. After all, it was approved by the village committee, not something I can decide.”
“The tofu-dried recipe was also brought by them,” she added vaguely. “As for why it was said I applied for it, maybe my sister and brother-in-law saw that I had no support here in the village and wanted to help me leave a good impression with the leaders.”
Granny Tan asked again, “They have money to open a workshop, but they don’t have money to lend you?”
“They did lend me fifty yuan,” Lin Qimo replied. “Our family hasn’t bought bedding, pots, or bowls in years. I used it all.”
Granny Tan immediately exploded, jumping to her feet.
“Who uses a quilt for a lifetime? You went to the city and got spoiled! You spent all fifty yuan?” she shouted, spitting as she spoke. “No wonder there are suddenly seven or eight new enamel basins in your house you actually bought all that wasteful stuff!”
Lin Qimo leaned away in disgust, afraid of being hit by her spit.
“Those basins were brought by my sister and brother-in-law. I didn’t buy them,” she said.
Granny Tan was furious. “Then what did you spend the fifty yuan on?!”
Lin Qimo glanced at her coldly. “Why is Grandma asking so carefully? Are you planning to take those things back to the old house to ‘help us store them’ for now?”
Granny Tan was about to retort when Old Man Lin coughed to interrupt her.
“Big girl,” he said slowly, “our family is in difficulty. Relatives should help each other. Go borrow some more money from your sister and brother-in-law first and pay off this debt. Repaying debts is only natural we can’t be heartless.”
Compared to Granny Tan, his words were more tactful, and Lin Qimo was willing to continue dealing with him.
She thought for a moment, keeping a calm expression.
“Grandpa, do you really think my father such an honest and kind man would borrow one thousand yuan outside? I’ve never even heard him mention it before. What exactly was that money used for?”
Granny Tan spat. “What else could it be used for? It was all wasted by that fox-like mother of yours! She spent money like water if not her, who else?”
“Don’t listen to your grandmother’s nonsense,” Old Man Lin said, taking out a promissory note and placing it on the table. “Here’s the IOU. It has your father’s fingerprint and signature.”
Lin Qimo picked it up and looked at it.
In her previous life, she had seen this IOU before it was real.
But now, she was seriously suspicious whether this was truly her father’s handwriting and fingerprint.
She slipped the IOU into her pocket.
“Alright then. I’ll show it to my sister and brother-in-law when they come back. If they confirm it’s really my father’s debt, I’ll ask them to lend the money.”
When Granny Tan heard the word “borrow,” her expression changed instantly.
“Really?”
She turned sharply toward Lin Qimo, her triangular eyes lighting up like she had found gold.
Seeing her reaction, the suspicion in Lin Qimo’s heart deepened.
She immediately put on a troubled expression. “But Grandma, don’t be too happy yet. One thousand yuan isn’t a small amount it won’t be easy to gather.”
Granny Tan’s smile vanished in an instant. “If you can’t repay it, then use yourself to pay it off. Your third uncle said that if you marry over to settle the debt, then the money won’t need to be returned.”
Lin Qimo looked up, pretending not to see or hear.
Her grandmother really was wasting her talent by not going into opera.
In her previous life, she had paid for this one thousand yuan with her entire life. Now, looking at everything that had happened after her rebirth, she was certain the debt was not as simple as it looked.
Thinking carefully, there was no way Lin Laoyao had nothing to do with it.
At this point, dragging the matter out might reveal more answers.
After the family split, their life had not been easy. If her father had really borrowed such a large sum back then, her mother would not have avoided going to the hospital when giving birth to Xiaobao. She wouldn’t have died from massive bleeding during childbirth.
“I see the IOU is dated two years ago. I remember my father had already left the factory by then. Why would the factory still lend him money?” she asked casually.
“That’s because your third uncle spoke on his behalf. The factory gave the loan because of his influence. Now they’re demanding repayment from your third uncle,” Old Man Lin said with a sigh. “The medicine your father needed back then was paid from this one thousand yuan. He’s gone now, but the IOU clearly has his name on it. So you must repay it.”
Lin Qimo nodded slightly in confusion.
“Then I find it strange… why didn’t Grandpa and Grandma ask my mother for it back then?”