The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 94: Borrow Money from the Entire Village to Do Business

Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Borrow Money from the Entire Village to Do Business

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When Qin Jinlian learned that her eldest daughter-in-law had gone to the city and hadn’t borrowed a single cent, she cursed in anger, "What a blockhead, if she didn’t lend you the money, couldn’t you just cling there and not leave? To think you came back empty-handed..."

Du Juan let it go in one ear and out the other. After Qin Jinlian finished, she finally spoke up.

"Mom, I still want to borrow money from you. Ten or twenty yuan would be okay. Do you have any to spare?"

"Where would I have money? I spent it all on Lizhen’s gold necklace."

Du Juan then looked toward Yang Lizhen, who, without waiting for her to speak, blocked her words with a smile that was not quite a smile.

"Eldest sister, don’t come to me for a loan. I’m flat broke too. My mom’s asking me to scrape together money for a watch for my brother’s girlfriend, and I can’t even come up with that."

Hearing this, Du Juan didn’t say anything more and walked away, dejected.

As she left, Qin Jinlian muttered under her breath about Shen Mingzhu, "That wretched girl, clutching her money so tightly, miserly to death..."

Yang Lizhen, uninvolved, continued to crack sunflower seeds.

When she got home, Du Juan took a small notebook and pen and, with Shen Chaobei, went door to door in the village asking to borrow money.

The couple had a good reputation in the village, and not borrowing much, one house lent three yuan, another five.

Although those were hard times and every household didn’t have much, they could still manage to spare three or five yuan.

It wasn’t until nightfall that Du Juan and Shen Chaobei returned home, wearily.

The scattered bills on the kang table formed a small mound, while several densely-written pages in the notebook listed the amounts borrowed from each household.

Du Juan counted the borrowed money according to the ledger. It totaled sixty-eight yuan.

It wasn’t much, but it was just enough to start a small stall.

After dinner, and tucking their daughter into bed, the couple sat cross-legged on the kang, quietly discussing what they needed to buy for the egg cakes the next day at the market: steam baskets, eggs, flour, sugar, oil, and so on.

Considering the economic level of the countryside, Shen Mingzhu had taught Du Juan to steam rather than bake the egg cakes.

Steaming didn’t require purchasing an oven or charcoal; they could just use the large iron pot usually used for cooking rice, burn firewood under it, and steam on a rack like steaming buns, which would be much cheaper.

While they were talking, there came a knock at the door.

Shen Chaobei opened the door to find his father Shen Jianguo.

It was late, and Shen Jianguo didn’t come inside. He just handed twenty yuan to Shen Chaobei at the door and left.

Right after Shen Jianguo had gone, Shen Xiangnan showed up and also handed twenty yuan to Shen Chaobei.

Forty yuan lay on the kang table as the couple looked at each other.

"Wife, what do we do with this money?" Shen Chaobei asked.

"Let’s keep it for now, note it down, and pay it back all together later," Du Juan decided.

So, the couple made a note at the back of the notebook for Shen Jianguo and Shen Xiangnan.

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The next morning, after breakfast, Du Juan and Shen Chaobei were ready to take Daya to the market when Yang Lizhen arrived in a huff.

Shen Xiangnan, flustered, followed behind Yang Lizhen, trying to pull her back, but she pushed him away.

"Big brother, big sister, did Xiangnan give you twenty yuan yesterday?"

"That was money I borrowed intending to send back to my parents’ house. I need you to return it, please."

It was then that the couple realized the twenty yuan Shen Xiangnan had brought over the night before had been taken stealthily from the house. Lizhen found out that morning and had come to reclaim the money.

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The husband and wife, both good-hearted people, immediately returned the twenty yuan to Yang Lizhen.

This scene was witnessed by many villagers who had gotten up early for the market, and before half a day passed, the news had spread throughout the village.

After Qin Jinlian learned about the incident, she severely scolded Shen Xiangnan and told him he was not allowed to upset Yang Lizhen again, to avoid harming the grandson in her belly.

Although they had returned the money to Yang Lizhen, Shen Chaobei and Du Juan still had a lingering worry, concerned that the twenty yuan Shen Jianguo gave was also "stolen." They didn’t dare to spend it at the market, only daring to use the sixty-eight yuan they had borrowed from other villagers.

With careful scrimping and budgeting, they barely managed to buy everything needed to make the steamed egg cakes.

Since buying the gold necklace, Yang Lizhen wore it every day, visiting neighbors.

In just a couple of days, everyone in the village knew about the gold necklace Qin Jinlian bought for her second daughter-in-law.

The shiny, fine chain glimmered on her neck—every young wife in the village was green with envy.

However, regarding Qin Jinlian’s favoritism between her two daughters-in-law, people in the village spoke about it in private.

Some said she was partial; both were her sons, yet she treated the elder like grass and the younger like gold.

Others ridiculed her foolishness; the elder son was honest and serious, his wife hardworking and capable of managing a household. Rather than relying on them, she chose to side with the pliable younger son. With the younger daughter-in-law’s lazy, scheming nature, she would have a tough time ahead.

Qin Jinlian was oblivious to the villagers gossiping about her, and she was quite happy every day.

She was either busy embroidering clothes for the unborn grandson or concocting various nutritious dishes for Yang Lizhen, hoping she would bear her a chubby, rosy-cheeked grandson.

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Early one morning, while it was still dark, Qin Jinlian was awakened by a delicious aroma.

"My goodness, who’s that getting up and cooking breakfast so early?"

Qin Jinlian flipped on the light and, while sniffing the air, peered out into the pitch-black sky and muttered to herself.

Shen Jianguo turned over, squinting his eyes and said, "Seems like it’s the elder brother and his wife. They have the market today, so they’re probably going to set up their stall."

Upon hearing this, Qin Jinlian couldn’t go back to sleep and immediately got dressed and left the house.

In the northern room, Shen Chaobei was shouldering the load of steamed egg cakes, Du Juan was carrying Daya, still fast asleep, in a flower-patterned baby sling, as the family of three prepared to head out to the early market.

After the division of the family, Qin Jinlian was unwilling to help the couple look after their daughter, so they had to take her wherever they went.

As they stepped out of the courtyard, they bumped right into Qin Jinlian, who was coming towards them with a bamboo dustpan.

"Chaobei, give me some of the steamed egg cakes you’ve made. Just in time, I won’t have to make breakfast this morning," Qin Jinlian said casually, completely disregarding that the egg cakes were made from the debts the couple owed to the whole village and were meant to be sold at the market for money.

Shen Chaobei was in a tough spot.

Qin Jinlian was his own mother. It would be rude to refuse his mother a bit of steamed egg cake, but a pound of steamed egg cake was worth one yuan and fifty cents.

He was counting on the sale of the steamed egg cakes to pay off the village debts early.

Du Juan thought the same as her husband and declined tactfully, "Mom, a pound of steamed egg cakes sells for one yuan and fifty cents. How much would you like weighed out?"

Qin Jinlian immediately showed her displeasure, "What’s wrong with eating a little bit of your steamed egg cake? Asking me for money? Have you become so focused on money?"

Perhaps awakened by Qin Jinlian’s scolding, Daya on the back let out two feeble moans, her tiny body wriggling about in the baby sling.

Du Juan gently patted her daughter on the back to soothe her, while continuing to face off with Qin Jinlian.

"Mom, it’s not that we care so much about the money. Chaobei and I owe debts to the entire village. We’re counting on selling these egg cakes to pay it off. If everyone was like you, wanting a little of this and that, how would we continue our business?"