20demayo Chapter 208 Zhang 4gui's Background 4
Chapter 208 Zhang 4gui's Background 4
Old Mrs. Zhang sat there, her face full of hesitation, as if two villains were arguing fiercely in her heart. On one hand, she thought that her son had passed away, leaving her second daughter-in-law to face the hardships of life alone, which was too pitiful; on the other hand, she felt that what her mother-in-law said made sense, and she fell into deep thought.
Thinking back to the past year, even though the second son was not at home, the second daughter-in-law always respected the two old people. Then she thought about how the couple in the first house broke her heart.
Now faced with such a choice, she really couldn't bear to bring any harm and blow to this kind woman again. But no matter how good it was, she was still an outsider, and she still had to consider her own children and grandchildren.
Just as he was hesitating, someone knocked on the door, "Open the door, open the door. If Zhang Goudan doesn't open the door, don't blame us for being rude."
Suddenly, a quick and heavy knock on the door broke the original silence in the house. Hearing this sudden sound, everyone in the room tensed up instantly, and they all stood up and walked towards the door. Old man Zhang took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and slowly opened the heavy door.
As soon as the door opened, a strong sense of oppression hit me. I saw six or seven burly, ferocious-looking men standing outside the door. Each of them held a thick wooden stick in their hands, and their eyes revealed ferocity and violence. The leading man had a face full of flesh and veins on his forehead. He yelled at the top of his voice, "Isn't it time for Zhang Goudan to pay back the money he owes us? Master Tiger said that if you don't pay back today, I will chop off one of your hands!"
This roar was like thunder exploding in everyone's ears, shaking everyone's heart. When Zhang Goudan heard this, his face suddenly turned as pale as paper, and his legs couldn't help but tremble.
He looked at the ferocious-looking men in front of him in horror, and said with trembling lips: "Master, please spare my life! I have... I will definitely pay you back if I have the money. Could you please give me a few more days? I beg you!" As he said that, he fell to his knees with a thud, and kept knocking his head, with his forehead hitting the ground with a bang.
"Zhang Goudan, we heard that the yamen runners sent fifty taels of pension to your family. You can do whatever you want. Lord Tiger said that you either pay back the money or have your hand chopped off today. You choose one!" The leading man shook the big knife in his palm after saying this.
Zhang Goudan was so scared that he crawled to the feet of Mr. and Mrs. Zhang, hugged their thighs and cried bitterly, his snot and tears covered their trouser legs, "Mom and Dad, please save your son. I am your only son now. If he loses his hands in the future, how will he support this family?"
Old Master Zhang took the pipe in his hand and hit Zhang Goudan a few times, "You rebellious son, that is the money your brother earned with his life, and you are still thinking about it. If you hadn't stolen your mother's and my coffin book, your brother wouldn't have joined the army, wouldn't... wouldn't have lost his life at such a young age..." The old man became more and more sad as he spoke, and his voice choked with sobs.
"Dad, I know I was wrong. I will never gamble again. I will work hard to earn money to support my parents in their old age. Please save me, Dad."
"My dear relatives, now that our child knows he is wrong, you should give him another chance. As parents, we can't just watch anything happen to our child, right? As for Erdan, there's nothing we can do. Swords and spears are merciless on the battlefield, but we can't just ignore what's happening in front of us, right?" Although Zhang Goudan is a bastard, he has been very good to his wife over the years, so Grandma Dagui doesn't want her son-in-law to have his hands and feet chopped off.
Even though her son was a bastard, he was her own flesh and blood after all. The old lady of the Zhang family couldn't bear to watch her son's hands and feet being chopped off. "How much money does he owe you? Do you have the IOU?"
The leading man took out an IOU and said, "It was five taels of silver when I borrowed it, but half a year has passed. Now it's thirty-five taels with interest. Here's the IOU, take a look. There's your son's handprint on it."
"What thirty-five taels? Why don't you go and rob? There's no money. Zhang Goudan is here, you can chop off his arms or legs as you like!" Old Master Zhang was so angry that he wished he could die instead of his second son.
"Uncle, please don't say anything careless. Everyone in our town knows that our Master Tiger is the kindest person. The interest for this month is only five taels of silver. If you borrow five taels of silver from the Qinglong Gang, you will have to pay back one hundred taels with interest compounded in half a year. You should be content!" said one of the thugs with a sly look and a mustache.
The big man in the lead didn't care about that and said to the man with a mustache, "Don't waste time talking to them. Since they don't care about Zhang Goudan's life or death, let's cut off one of his hands and go back to report to Lord Tiger." After that, he took out a dagger and pulled Zhang Goudan over.
"Mother, help! Mother, save your son," Zhang Goudan screamed in fear.
Mrs. Zhang softened her heart and said, "Wait."
The thug stopped chopping his hands.
"My dear friends, could you please wait outside for a moment while our family discusses this matter?"
Several thugs looked at each other and left. The big man in the lead said, "Hurry up, I don't have time to watch you dawdle."
"Thank you, uncle. Thank you, uncle." Grandma Dagui nodded and bowed as she escorted the thugs out the door and closed it.
"Goudan, I can pay you back this time, but you must not forget that this is your brother's life-saving money. You must swear that you will never gamble again. You two must treat Sigui as your own children. If you break your oath, you will be struck by lightning. Do you dare to swear?"
"Sigui?" Zhang Goudan was a little confused and didn't know who Sigui was.
"Sigui is the newborn son of your second brother's wife. You also saw the one your wife gave birth to. Your mother-in-law wanted you two to raise Sigui. I didn't agree at first, but in order to save you, I had to use the money your brother earned from his life, so I had to let Erdan and his wife down."
After saying that, the old lady burst into tears, "Erdan, I'm sorry for you! Don't blame me. I lost one son and don't want anything to happen to my only son."
"Mom, I promise. I swear that I will never gamble again. I will treat Sigui as my own son. If I break my oath, I will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death." Zhang Goudan thought that it didn't matter whether he swore or not, he would just pay back the money first.