Chapter 53: Chapter 51: Financial Debts Are Easy to Repay, Debts of Favor Are Hard to Settle

The pork intestines were rich but not greasy, the taro stems were spicy and appetizing, and the pig’s blood with pea shoots was tender and refreshing. By the end of the meal, all three of them were stuffed.

Little Douzi sat on a chair, his little belly sticking out. Lin Lan mixed a bowl of food for Dahuang with broth from the pork intestines, and the dog stood guard by his bowl, wagging its tail nonstop.

The old lady looked at Little Douzi. “Go play with your iron hoop in the courtyard, or you’ll get indigestion.”

“Okay!” Little Douzi grabbed his iron hoop and went to roll it in the courtyard.

The old lady sat before the stove. “Xiangyang told me yesterday that two women went to the Eucalyptus Forest. Was it that woman from next door and Sun Xiuhua?”

Lin Lan nodded. “Yes! It was those two mad dogs.”

The old lady said, “Xiangyang said you’re selling things over by the garment factory. That road is too far, and the alley isn’t safe. You shouldn’t go there if you plan to sell in the evening. He said his business is slow, so you can just give him your things to sell.”

Lin Lan shook her head. “Grand-aunt, I’m afraid that if I go back to the Eucalyptus Forest to sell things, I’ll drag down Master Li and the others and get them reported and investigated by those two mad dogs.”

’If I just endure for half a year, I can save up some capital by the end of the year. Then, next year, I can open my own shop. And when that time comes, I’ll find a way to get my revenge!’

The old lady sighed. “Yes. It’s fine if Xiangyang knows, but I’m afraid if other people find out, they’ll start to exclude you.”

Seeing the old lady’s worried expression, Lin Lan’s heart warmed. “Don’t you worry. There’s always a way.”

The old lady nodded, gratified. She stood up and patted her. “You’re right. There’s always a way out. Who knows, you might wake up tomorrow with a solution. I’m going to head back now. Bring Douzi over when you go to work.”

Lin Lan nodded. She saw the old lady out and went back to clear the table.

Yang Liying walked into the courtyard and saw Little Douzi rolling his iron hoop. “Little Douzi, where’s your mama?”

Little Douzi looked at her and pointed to the kitchen. “Third Aunt, Mama’s washing the dishes.”

Lin Lan came out of the kitchen and saw Yang Liying and Zhao Dehai standing in the courtyard. She smiled and asked, “Third Sister, Third Brother-in-law, you’re here! Have you eaten?”

Yang Liying smiled. “We’ve eaten. Your brother-in-law came to see which room is leaking.”

Lin Lan gave a wry smile. “All the tiled rooms are leaking a bit.”

Zhao Dehai said, “Let’s go inside and take a look.”

“Okay!”

With that, Lin Lan led the couple inside for a look around.

After coming out of the house, Zhao Dehai pointed at the roof. “The gutters are probably clogged with bamboo and other leaves. We’ll need to go up there and sweep them out, then buy two hundred tiles to check the leaky spots and patch them up.”

Lin Lan smiled and nodded. “That’s what I was planning, too. Third Brother-in-law, could I trouble you to help me hire a couple of workers to fix the roof? I’ll go buy the tiles.”

Yang Liying laughed. “You don’t even know where the kiln is. Just let your brother-in-law go buy them.”

Lin Lan looked at Yang Liying gratefully. “Of course, it would be best if Brother-in-law could help. I’ll give him the money.” She then went inside, got ten yuan, and handed it to Zhao Dehai.

Zhao Dehai didn’t take it, just gave an honest smile. “The small green tiles are only a few cents each. What do you need so much money for? The loudspeaker said it’ll be sunny tomorrow. Move your things into the side room, and I’ll bring some men over first thing in the morning. We’ll have it all fixed in a day at most.”

Lin Lan pressed the money into Yang Liying’s hand. “Third Sister, I won’t be providing meals. This amount definitely won’t be enough for the tiles and the labor. Take this for now, and we can settle the rest tomorrow when the work is done.”

Yang Liying assumed the money came from Lin Lan’s family and readily agreed. “Okay. I’ll give you back the change or you can pay the difference tomorrow.”

Lin Lan looked at her. “I’ll have to trouble you both, then.”

Yang Liying gave her a reproachful look. “Now you’re being too formal.”

Lin Lan grinned. “Okay, my mistake!”

Yang Liying laughed. “You get back to it. We’ll head home now.” With that, she called Zhao Dehai and they left.

“Little Douzi, come say goodbye to your Third Aunt and Third Uncle.”

“Okay!” Little Douzi came running over, rolling his iron hoop. “Third Aunt, Third Uncle, you’re leaving already?”

Yang Liying smiled and patted his cheek. “Mhm! Don’t run around, and listen to your mama, remember?”

Little Douzi nodded obediently. “I remember.”

Lin Lan held Little Douzi’s hand as she saw Yang Liying and her husband to the door. She then went back, moved everything from her room into the east side room for safekeeping, and took a nap with Little Douzi. When they woke up, they headed to the old lady’s house.

The old lady came out with a smile, carrying a bag of high-quality flour. “This was issued by Ding Bang’s work unit. He got five or six bags and brought them all home. Take this back with you.” ’I’m always eating at Lin Lan’s house, and she won’t take rice from me. I should give her a bag of flour to help her out.’

Lin Lan accepted it readily and smiled. “This afternoon, I’ll go to Master Li’s and buy some meat. We can make steamed buns!”

“Are you a mouse? You never save anything for tomorrow, spending everything you get.” The old lady rolled her eyes at her. “We haven’t even finished the pork intestines from home! Let’s talk about meat buns in another ten days or half a month.”

’In this day and age, a family is lucky to eat meat even once a month. How could she not get criticized for spending so freely!’

She grabbed the old lady’s arm with a cheeky grin. “I get it. I’ll listen to you from now on.”

The old lady was growing fonder and fonder of her, thinking she was a bit like her younger self. She patted her happily. “Hurry up and take it back, then go to work. Since I have nothing else to do, I’ll take Douzi to the police station for a visit.”

“Okay!” Lin Lan thought for a moment, then added a reminder, “Don’t get mad at his youngest uncle!”

The old lady laughed. “I can’t be bothered to get angry with him. I’m going over to see if I can find someone to introduce him to a potential partner.” ’I’m worried he’ll become a lonely old widower if this drags on any longer.’

“Don’t worry. With his youngest uncle’s character, any good girl would be lucky to have him,” Lin Lan said.

The old lady closed her door, walked with Lin Lan to the tractor path, and then left, holding Little Douzi’s hand.

In the afternoon, just as Lin Lan got home from work, the old lady arrived with Little Douzi in tow.

“Lin Lan, Xiangyang said you shouldn’t go to the garment factory. He’s going to come to my place to pick up the crispy fava beans and kidney bean rolls before he sets up his stall.”

’Debts of money are easy to repay, but debts of kindness are hard to settle.’ Lin Lan felt that if this continued, she would owe Li Xiangyang a debt of gratitude she could never repay.

“Grand-aunt, this is too much trouble for Master Li. I was thinking of taking Little Douzi to the garment factory with me. With him as my companion, I’ll be fine.”

The old lady smiled. “Xiangyang said he’ll help you run the stall for two more days. If those two women show up again, *then* you can go sell at the garment factory.”

Since the old lady had put it that way, Lin Lan couldn’t insist. After preparing the kidney bean rolls and crispy fava beans, she delivered them.

“You go on back and do your own thing. When Xiangyang comes, I’ll give them to him.”

“Alright!”

Lin Lan agreed and went home with Little Douzi. She finished weeding the rapeseed field, then took him to the foot of the mountain to cut grass to feed the pigs.

When Li Xiangyang arrived at the old lady’s house, he was a little disappointed not to see Lin Lan, and left with the goods.

After dinner, the old lady brought the money and the back basket back to Lin Lan’s house. She said cheerfully, “Xiangyang said the kidney bean rolls sold well. He wants you to make more.”

“Okay, I’ll make more tomorrow!” Lin Lan smiled as she took the back basket. She set out bowls and chopsticks, and the three of them ate dinner. Afterward, the old lady slowly headed home.

After cleaning up, Lin Lan closed the door, took Little Douzi to the side room, and emptied the money from the bag onto the bed.

When Little Douzi saw the money on the bed, he gasped, theatrically covering his mouth and whispering in amazement, “Mama! We made so much money again today!”

“You little money-grubber!” Lin Lan laughed and tweaked his nose. “This money will belong to someone else by tomorrow!”

Little Douzi looked at her. “Are you going to give it back to Third Aunt, Mama?”

Lin Lan smoothed out the small bills one by one. “Mama is going to get the roof fixed first. I’ll pay back your aunts at the end of the month.”

“Mama, why is our roof leaking? Is it broken?”

“That’s right! When a house gets old, some parts start to have problems.”

“Little Kai said that Sun Wukong can just pull out one of his monkey hairs, blow on it, and make lots of little meat bites. He can make lots and lots of fruit candies, too.” Little Douzi rested his chin in his hands. “Sigh! If only I had a monkey hair, I’d make lots and lots of money to build a new house for Mama.”

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