Carrying the little lucky star, leading the villain on the road to exile

Chapter 286. Debt Collection

Gu Lihao gave a long lecture and found that everyone had listened, so he breathed a sigh of relief, at least there was still hope.

He only stopped talking when Gu Baihe and the others pushed Gu Baijiang over.

"Uncle," Gu Baijiang, who was initially somewhat reluctant, immediately put on a smiling face upon seeing so many clansmen, "all the elders and brothers are here."

“I won’t beat around the bush with you. I called you over to discuss something with you,” Gu Li said directly. You can only talk to Gu Baijiang directly, otherwise he will keep going on and on. “Everyone is having a hard time right now. Give me the money you promised before.”

Gu Baijiang had already guessed it, but he smiled bitterly and said, "Uncle, it's really not that I'm unwilling to give it, but I really don't have that much money right now. Give me some more time, and we can go back soon."

Once the imperial edict of pardon is issued, they can return to their hometowns, and there will be no need for compensation.

"You make it sound so easy. We're barely surviving right now, and we can't wait that long."

Besides, who knows if what you're saying is true? We've put up with you for so long, don't push your luck.

“That’s right,” the villagers began to protest. “Look at you hauling back loads of stuff, saying you have no money. Who are you trying to fool?”
Yesterday, while I was doing laundry, I overheard your daughter-in-law saying that you've been eating lavish meals every day these past few days.

"My God, they owe us so much, and they still have the nerve to eat meat and fish like this, while we're practically digging up the roots of grass..."

Gu Baijiang cursed his two daughters-in-law in his heart. Why did these two stupid women have so many mouths?

But they forgot about Xu Shuanghong and her daughter who had gone to do laundry these past few days...

“We won’t make things difficult for you, nor will we ask you to pay back everything at once. Look, we’re about to start clearing the land, but we don’t even have any tools on hand. You should supply all the farm tools and equipment for everyone first, and we can talk about the rest later.”

Gu Li knew he couldn't push too far; the silver in Gu Baijiang's hands was probably from that Lord Ming.

"Chief, what about our food rations?" someone immediately objected. "We need to eat. Are we supposed to just eat dirt with our farm tools?"

Everyone started talking at once, and they wouldn't let it go.

Gu Baijiang was too frightened to speak and regretted not bringing his two sons along.

These people are so agitated, are they planning to attack me again?

Seeing everyone so indignant, Gu Li looked at Gu Baijiang with a troubled expression, "Now you see, forcing everyone to the point of not being able to survive is not good for anyone."

“I still have two hundred taels of silver here,” Gu Baijiang knew he couldn’t leave without taking some silver today. He was somewhat glad that he had given some to each of his two sons before. This time, he took out the remaining silver notes he had on him. “I only kept a few taels for myself. I’ll return these to you all first.”

Seeing Gu Baijiang so readily hand over the silver, the people who were still indignant immediately quieted down. It seemed that Gu Baijiang really didn't lack money.

As the saying goes, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; it seems the Gu family has quite a bit of wealth and influence.

If we keep squeezing out little by little, when will we ever be able to pay back what we owe them?

“That’s not right. You owe us more than just this. Two hundred taels of silver isn’t much if we divide it among so many households.”

Gu Li glanced at the person who spoke and was so frightened that he quickly shut up.

“Buying some farm tools and some food should be enough for everyone to get through this winter. But Baijiang,” Gu Li hesitated for a moment, then said, “you should also understand that everyone is going through a tough time. Now that we are all in trouble, we should be even more united…” After giving a lecture, he let Gu Baijiang leave.

None of the other clansmen left; they all waited quietly for their share of the silver.

"Dad, why were you so polite to him just now?" Gu Baihu asked, puzzled. Just now, the old man had acted like a kind elder, giving him detailed instructions.

"Now all the hopes of our entire family are on him. Besides the money he owes us, there's also the crime he's committed. It's not a good thing to be at odds with him."

In the future, when you encounter this family in the village, treat them like any other clansmen. Even if you occasionally have a quarrel, don't go too far.

"Yes, we can't afford to fall out with him, otherwise where will we get what he owes us?"

Everyone then came to their senses. They were now creditors, and they had to treat the debtors well, otherwise, what would they do if the debtors refused to honor their debts?

I have two whole silver notes in my hand, and it's not easy to divide them right away. I can only decide on the amount of silver based on each family's situation, and then we'll break the silver notes apart when we go to the city to buy them early tomorrow morning.

☆

Gu Baijiang walked back dejectedly. He was poor again. He had asked Ming Peifeng for money several times, but each time he couldn't get any. He felt that everything had gone wrong since he was exiled...

When they looked up again, they saw another convoy heading towards the end of the village; it turned out they were there to deliver things to Gu Kaiyuan again.

For so many days, they haven't stopped working, and they don't know how many good things the Bai family has given them.

After Gu Kaiyuan was adopted out, he completely treated his biological father as if he didn't exist. He hasn't even shown his face in all these days in the village.

His expression was somewhat complicated. It was one thing for him to despise himself, but when his son no longer cared about him, he felt angry and resentful.

Even if he was a bit biased, he still raised him to adulthood and helped him get married. Gu Kaiyuan is really an ingrate.

"Father, why does the clan chief want to see you?" Gu Kaiping saw this from afar and hurriedly came out to greet him, with Gu Kaichen following closely behind.

"What else can we do but ask for money?" Gu Kaichen said disdainfully. What's wrong with his older brother? Can't he see through something so obvious?

“That’s what we owe them,” Gu Baijiang said helplessly. His eldest uncle had already decided to adopt the third son. If they angered him again, he might kick their whole family out of the clan, and that would truly ruin everything.

"It's not like we're the ones going to confiscate their property and exile them. If they're so capable, let them go find the local magistrate." Gu Kaichen was truly fed up with the Gu clan. "Our lives are already hard enough, and they still keep coming out to beg for our money. If this goes on and on, will we ever be able to pay them back?"

“Don’t say things like that,” Gu Baijiang quickly turned around and looked, and when he found that his clansmen were not nearby, he warned, “We need the protection of our clansmen right now.”

"What can they protect us from?" Gu Kaichen asked impatiently. "Dad, why are you so timid now?"

You never cared about your clansmen before, and you still lived a good life.

They can't offer our family any help, and they keep threatening us with their old tricks. We're controlled by them in every way. If this continues, they'll drain our family dry sooner or later.

(End of this chapter)