Chapter Sixteen: Harvest Homecoming

  After strolling around the market, I spent a few taels of silver to buy several dozen kilograms of rice, several dozen kilograms of flour, and some seasonings. Then, I spent another ten taels of silver to buy ten farm-raised chickens, with both males and females, each weighing five or six kilograms. When mother gives birth and is in confinement, she can have a good nourishment, and maybe we can even collect a few eggs every day to store for later use, so that I can cook some for her every day.

  But I don't know if I'll be driven to death by myself, if I can raise them well, maybe I can buy some chicks back to raise.

  "Xiao Fan, you wait here for me, I'll go call Su Bing over, otherwise how can we carry this past?" Yu Xiao Xi said with a frown, looking at the numerous items laid out in front of her.

  "Alright, hurry up." Su Xiaofan was so tired that she squatted directly on the ground. Passersby couldn't help but look at her strangely, wondering how someone dressed in such tattered clothes could afford to buy so many things.

  "Alright." Yu Xiaoxi spread her legs and ran away quickly.

  Before long, they rushed back in a flurry.

  Su Xiaofan's face lit up when she saw the cart in Su Bing's hand: "Great, I was just worried about how we were going to get all this back home."

  "Hey, Xiao Xi said you bought a lot of things, so I borrowed this cart from the building." Su Bing chuckled and started busily arranging the items on the ground onto the cart.

  "Thank you." Su Xiao Fan also stood up to help, perhaps she had been squatting for too long, when she got up, she felt a wave of dizziness and almost fell to the ground, fortunately Yu Xiao Xi quickly supported her.

  "Xiao Fan, you've just recovered from a serious illness. Haven't you been overworking these past two days? Do you want to go see a doctor?" Yu Xiao Xi asked with concern as she supported her.

  Su Xiaofan rubbed her temples until the dizziness gradually dissipated, then smiled and said: "It's okay, it's just anemia. Just pay attention to your diet in the future."

  Xiao Yi Mo silently furrowed his brow, staring at Su Xiao Fan. Just a moment ago, he had stretched out his hand, but unfortunately, his arm was too short and couldn't catch him. This small body really annoyed him. As he was entangled in this predicament, the whole person was directly picked up by Su Bing and put onto the board cart, then turned to glare at the troublemaker.

  "Hey, young master is still sitting on the cart, went out in the morning and now coming back, will get tired to death." Su Bing ignored his anger, adjusted the force, and slowly pushed the cart.

  "Come on, Xiao Fan, I'll support you." Yu Xiaoxi held onto Su Xiaofan's arm and followed behind Su Bing, walking towards the village.

  "Thanks." Su Xiao Fan smiled slightly, actually she could have walked by herself, but there was still a long way to go, so it's better to save some energy for now, and having someone to support her would be better.

  As the three of them slowly entered the village, they couldn't help but feel that every time they passed by a household, the people in that house would stand still and stare at them until they were far away, some even following them from afar.

  Leng Mo furrowed his brow slightly, it seemed that as soon as they got home, someone would come to the door to collect debts. He didn't know if the money left on him was enough to pay off those people's debts. If not, he'd settle with the more urgent ones first. Having made up his mind, he walked over to Su Bing's side and said softly, "Let's push together, I want to get home quickly."

  "Good." Su Bing nodded blankly, he knew that Xiao Fang's family owed money to many people in the village, but didn't know exactly how much.

  Su Xiaofan's home gate, Ye Shi looked at several people pushing a cart from afar and walked over with a puzzled expression: "Xiaofan, what is this?"

  "I've bought it." Su Xiao Fan and Su Bing, the two of them returned the things to the yard, then said to Su Bing and Yu Xiao Xi: "You two help me move these into the house first, put them in my room, I'll deal with those people."

  "What did you buy? Where did you borrow so much money from?" Ye stood beside Su Xiaofan, looking anxiously at the full load of things on the cart, and then looked at the people walking slowly towards their home not far away. If these things were pulled into her own home, those people would definitely come to collect debts.

  "Hmm, never mind that for now, Grandma. How much silver does our family owe to others in total?" Su Xiaofan was concerned about whether the silver on her body was enough to repay those people's debts.

  Ye thought for a moment and said: "I'll go ask your mother."

  Jia, who was resting in the house, heard the commotion outside and slowly walked out. After hearing Su Xiaofan's words, he replied: "Altogether, it's estimated to be several hundred taels."

  "Hundreds of taels?!" Su Xiaofan was slightly surprised, these villagers didn't seem to be very wealthy, how could they borrow so much money from others.

  Jia's head hung low, her eyes filled with remorse: "It's all because your mother's health has always been poor. For so many years, your father has been constantly borrowing money from everyone to treat her illness. Because your father is a good person, even if he didn't repay the debt, there were still people willing to lend us money. And then later on, your father suddenly fell ill and borrowed a large sum of silver from your second uncle and third uncle."

  Su Xiaofan furrowed her brow and thought for a moment, seemingly recalling that something like this had indeed happened. Originally, Su Xiaofan's father had suddenly fallen ill, borrowing a lot of money to treat his illness, but ultimately passing away. At the time, it was mainly because Second Uncle and Third Uncle were afraid that people in the village would gossip behind their backs, accusing them of being heartless for not lending money even when their own brother was seriously ill.

  "I understand, mother. You should rest first, I'll handle this." Su Xiaofan's expression was serious as he watched the crowd gathering, seeing that they were about to reach their own courtyard gate, led by his second and third uncles and their families.

  Su Er Fu walked into the yard and shouted: "Isn't it that you didn't have money to return to everyone? Where did so much money come from to buy such a big load of things?"

  Mr. Li chimed in on the side: "Right? Aren't you all secretly hiding the money and don't want to return it to us?"

  Su Xiaofan looked at them coldly and said calmly: "Anyone with a brain wouldn't say something like that."

  "What did you say?" Li shouted at Su Xiaofan in a rough voice.

  "If we were sincere and reserved, would we still be so ostentatious, pulling a cart full of things in broad daylight from the village entrance? " Su Xiaofan shifted her gaze, no longer looking at them. These people made her feel disgusted just by looking at them. They were supposed to be relatives, but they seemed even worse than strangers."

  "......" Li was speechless, because Su Xiaofan's words were indeed reasonable.

  Su Xiaofan slowly moved to the side of San Po and said: "San Po, today I went to help Su Bing's wine tower participate in the competition, won 100 taels of silver, my mother is about to give birth, so she bought some food first, there are still 85 taels of silver left here. I want to discuss with everyone, if you're not in a hurry, I'll return this silver to Er Shu and San Shu's family first, your money, I will definitely pay back as soon as possible."