Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 196

"What? You're kidding me?"

"Brother Gao, would I joke about something like this? The money really was stolen," Jia Dongxu said, sounding somewhat aggrieved.

"No, did you collude with someone else to set this up for me?" Gao Jun asked angrily.

What a coincidence! Skinny Monkey just brought the money over and then went to pay for the alcohol. In just a few minutes, 340 yuan was stolen.

It's important to understand that not all of this money was earned by them; a significant portion was their own initial investment.

After all, what you get from others is just the flour purchase certificate; you still have to pay for the flour yourself before you can sell it to wealthy customers.

If we lose this money, wouldn't we be losing a huge amount of money instead?

Jia Dongxu suddenly knelt down, slapping his face with his hand, and cried, "Brother Gao, how could I do such a thing? A group of people suddenly came and knocked me unconscious. When I woke up, the money was gone."

Enraged, Gao Jun kicked Jia Dongxu in the chest and said viciously:

"That's all my capital. If you don't give me your money back today, I'll cripple your hand, you hear me?"

"Brother Gao, I really didn't collude with anyone to do this. I don't know who they are."

Gao Jun was furious. He had just made a lot of money and the group was about to divide the spoils when a mistake occurred in just a few minutes.

All the money suddenly vanished. Not only were the profits gone, but even the initial investment was completely lost.

"Jia Dongxu, whether what you say is true or false, you have to pay me back the money today, or I'll put you in a sack and throw you into the moat."

If even one hand couldn't ease Gao Jun's tension, he was practically ready to stuff Jia Dongxu into a sack and throw him into the moat.

"Brother Gao, please have mercy! I really didn't do this. Where am I supposed to get the money?"

Seeing Jia Dongxu's attitude, Gao Jun rushed forward and punched and kicked him repeatedly, only then did the others react.

After working so hard and taking such great risks, and with the money about to be distributed today, Jia Dongxu has lost it and can't find it.

They were all furious and joined in the beating. That damned Jia Dongxu! It was all his fault that they lost all their money today.

Jia Dongxu was beaten so badly that he was covered in bruises and swelling, and he huddled in a corner.

Gao Jun said, "Jia Dongxu, don't think you can get away with this by faking your death. Go home and raise the money. Give it to me tomorrow, or you'll be in for a world of trouble."

Jia Dongxu simply nodded mechanically, it was unclear whether he understood or not.

Seeing that Jia Dongxu was pretending to be dead, Gao Jun said, "Da Mao and Shouhou, you two carry him out and send him home."

"Okay, big brother."

Xu Damao and Shouhou helped Jia Dongxu up from the ground, brushed the dust off his body, and then carried him out of the yard.

Gao Jun's face turned ashen with anger. If he didn't get the money this time, how was he going to explain himself tomorrow?

One of the underlings asked, "Boss, shall we still drink this?"

"Eat, eat your grandma's mouth, all you know is eating."

After cursing, they felt hungry, sighed, and opened the brown paper package. The group then began to eat and drink.

After receiving the money, He Yuzhu thought about it and went straight back to the courtyard house.

It's obvious how things will turn out today. The money was lost by Jia Dongxu, and whoever is in charge will only make Jia Dongxu hand over the money.

He took out some braised meat and a bottle of liquor from his storage space, and went inside to eat and drink with He Daqing.

Not long after, Jia Dongxu, with a bruised and swollen face, walked in by himself.

He Yuzhu feigned surprise and exclaimed, "What happened to Jia Dongxu? Was he robbed?"

Jia Dongxu said irritably, "What's it to you?"

After saying that, he went into his house with a "whoop whoop" sound.

He Daqing said, "Jia Dongxu is so old, but he still acts like a young boy."

"Yes, he's been to jail twice already, and he still can't handle interpersonal relationships."

When Qin Huairu saw Jia Dongxu enter looking distraught, she was startled and quickly went over to help him sit down, asking, "What happened? Were you robbed?"

She hurriedly went to get the medicine. Granny Zhang put down her needlework, walked over and looked at it carefully, cursing and swearing.

Jia Dongxu knelt down with a thud and started talking about his business of reselling these past few days. He then said that he had been robbed and lost 340 yuan.

Granny Zhang was stunned. Even losing 30 or 50 yuan would be a huge sum, but this time she lost 340 yuan and had to make up for it.

"Why should we take this money? Why don't we report it to the police and have them arrest them all?"

"Mom, what nonsense are you talking about? Gao Jun is the son of Deputy Factory Director Gao. If we report him to the police, how can he possibly get away with it?"

Granny Zhang thought about it and realized that was indeed the case. If they reported it to the police, Jia Dongxu wouldn't get away with it either. So she asked, "Do we have to pay for this? How can we not?"

Jia Dongxu covered his swollen face and said, "If I don't speak up, Gao Jun will beat me to death."

Qin Huairu, standing to the side, had already been wiping away tears of grievance, wondering what kind of jerk she had married.

She originally thought that marrying into the city from the countryside would bring her a happy life, but Jia Dongxu was too troublesome and caused trouble every day.

He was arrested and sentenced on his wedding day. Later, he sold braised meat and added more smoke inside the prison, which led to him being imprisoned again.

After a few days of peace, he went back to reselling flour. This time, he wasn't caught by the police, but he lost 340 yuan.

That's 340 yuan! You couldn't save that much even if you didn't eat or drink for a whole year!

Since getting married, I haven't enjoyed any happiness; I've been living a miserable life every day. When will this end?

Old Mrs. Zhang certainly didn't want to spend a single penny, but she couldn't ignore her son's situation. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Go find your master and borrow money from him first."

Jia Dongxu said, "How could my master still have money? He just gave Xu Damao's family 400 yuan a few days ago."

“That damned Xu Wude cheated your master out of 400 yuan. If it weren’t for him, all that money would be ours.”

"Yes, Xu Wude is too bad. He hit my master, stole his things, and in the end, my master had to pay for Xu Damao's family."

The mother and daughter first scolded Xu Wude, saying that if they hadn't done bad things, Yi Zhonghai wouldn't have paid to support them.

After scolding him, Jia Dongxu entered the east wing with a troubled expression.

When Yi Zhonghai and Aunt Yi saw that Jia Dongxu's face was covered in bruises and his mouth was bleeding, they quickly asked what had happened and whether it was Sha Zhu who had hit him.

Jia Dongxu also knelt down and tearfully told Yi Zhonghai what had happened that day. He then said that his family was really out of money and had come to this master to borrow money.

Yi Zhonghai said with difficulty, "Dongxu, as you know, a lot has happened recently. I only gave Xu Damao's family 400 yuan. I still have to take out 30 yuan every month to support them. I really don't have any money on hand."

"Yes, Dongxu, your master's family has been completely drained of their wealth," Aunt Yi added.

Hearing this, Jia Dongxu felt a chill run down his spine. If he couldn't borrow the money, how would he explain it to Gao Jun tomorrow?

She cried and said, "Master, please lend me some money. I'll get through this difficult time and pay you back slowly later."

"Hey, this is all I have, just for emergencies. But your situation is important right now, so I'll lend you two hundred. You'll have to figure out the rest yourself."

"Old Yi!" Aunt Yi couldn't help but call out.

Upon hearing the voice, Jia Dongxu understood that his master's wife did not want to lend him the money. A resentful look flashed in his eyes. He had already knelt down and begged his master and mistress, but she still did not want to give him the money.

Some people also resented their master, Yi Zhonghai, who should still have money, but was only willing to give out 200 yuan. They would have to figure out how to get the remaining 140 yuan themselves.

However, since he had two hundred dollars right now, he could hold off for a while. Jia Dongxu gratefully borrowed 200 dollars from Yi Zhonghai and thanked him profusely, promising to pay it back as soon as possible.

After Jia Dongxu left, Aunt Yi said angrily, "This is our life savings, meant for emergencies. If we give all this money to him, how are we going to live?"

Although it has been several years since liberation, these years have not been peaceful. After all, inflation is severe, and if you don't have money on hand, it is easy for accidents to happen.

To be honest, even though Jia Dongxu was the apprentice she had chosen before, Aunt Qian Yi didn't want to lend him the money at all. Would he ever be able to pay it back?

Aunt Yi had long regretted taking Jia Dongxu as her apprentice. In the past two years, Jia Dongxu had been doing something strange, engaging in all sorts of shady activities and spending her family's money.

Yi Zhonghai said, "We can't just stand by and do nothing, can we?"

"Help? Pay money to cover it? How much money has been spent on him? If it weren't for him, how could we have spent thousands of yuan?" Aunt Yi said angrily.

Yi Zhonghai also felt a pang of regret. After all, it wasn't easy to accumulate some wealth, and now he was watching his savings slip away like water. He wondered when this would ever end.

"Alright, I know what I'm doing. This time I'm only giving him 200. He can figure out the rest himself."

Aunt Yi said, "You didn't explain to Dongxu whether the money was a loan or a gift?"

"This...this is of course a loan. If he doesn't pay it back, we won't lend it to him again," Yi Zhonghai said confidently.

"You said it yourself," Aunt Yi pressed.

Yi Zhonghai could only bite the bullet and say, "Yes, I said it, I won't lend it to you again."

He Yuzhu was also somewhat surprised. The silver dollars he received were worth 340 yuan. The Yi family had enough money. Jia Dongxu only took 200 yuan and did not borrow all of it.

It seems that Yi Zhonghai's love for Jia Dongxu has dwindled and he's starting to hold back.

When Granny Zhang saw that Jia Dongxu had only received 200 yuan, she curled her lip and said, "Why did Lao Yi only give 200?"

Jia Dongxu said, "Master said he didn't have any extra money. He had given it all to the Xu family before, and he said the money was borrowed."

"Borrowed?" Granny Zhang's voice suddenly rose eight octaves.

Jia Dongxu nodded sheepishly and said, "It's a loan, and I'll pay it back later."

Granny Zhang immediately objected, shouting, "What do you mean, 'give back'? What belongs to your master is yours. He's childless and has no children. What does he need so much money for? It'll all be yours when he dies anyway!"

Jia Dongxu hurriedly said, "Shh, keep your voice down. Why is Your Highness making such a fuss? If Master hears this, do you think he'll be happy?"

Only then did Granny Zhang realize that she had blurted out her innermost thoughts.