Chapter 90: Chapter 91: A Lifetime’s Hard Work Is Lost
But they still have more than ten thousand yuan right now. And if that were to become the talk of the village, it wouldn’t be about people wanting to borrow the money. There are so many households in this village, borrowing from one wouldn’t work, borrowing from another wouldn’t either; in the end, they’d all be stuck in a predicament between a rock and a hard place.
Indeed, the situation that Tang Zhinian was worried about had happened before in the village. A young villager who had made some money was eventually forced to move out of the village due to constant borrowing, leaving behind a whiff of bitter relationships. Even until now, the family hasn’t returned.
Tang Zhinian wasn’t fond of handling such complexities, so he just decided to act as if all their money had been washed away by the flood. He was firm in keeping this secret, for he knew he still needed to send his daughter to school – these were her future tuition fees.
Tang Zhijun tucked the money back into an oilcloth bag, climbed up the large tree in their yard, and hid the money high in its branches. They’d retrieve it once they had a roof over their heads again.
They moved their belongings to the little shed in their farmland early the next morning. Then, they carried on tending to their small plot of land. As the village chief had said, they could always rebuild their house; you wouldn’t freeze to death from sleeping outside, but if they abandoned their land, there wouldn’t be anything left to eat.
With old and young mouths to feed in the family, how could they survive without their crops? Then starvation would be the only outcome.
They needed to rebuild their house, feed three mouths, and Tang Yuxin was still young. They also needed to find a wife for Tang Zhijun, which might require building another house.
Tang Yuxin sat in Sun Zhong’s now empty house, clutching a wooden plank, practicing her needlework.
Chen Zhong ran his hand over the fresh wall of his house. The flood had washed away all the valuable things he had accumulated over the years, including his collection of books.
“Ah...” he sighed, reflecting on his life’s worth now washed away.
Thankfully, he walked over, squatted down in front of Tang Yuxin.
“You’re a tough little girl, not washed away by the flood. In the future, all of grandpa’s hopes lie with you.”
He gave her head a comforting ruffle, finding a glimmer of solace in his heart.