Officer Qiao and Madame Qiao were very distressed and kept sighing for the lack of money. They started with an amiable discussion, but soon the discussion developed into an argument. The whole backyard was filled with anger and darkness.
In the end, Madame Qiao came up with an idea.
"How about borrowing some money from those rich families again?"
Officer Qiao was startled.
He already did it once. Otherwise his coffers would have been empty ages ago. Officer Qiao did not think that it was good for his reputation if he turned to them again.
It was not a very good thing if a County Magistrate borrowed money from locals. It would turn him into a joke.
He had chosen five very rich, not tricky families when he borrowed the money for the first time. He got 1,000 liang from each of them.
They were nice families, but they were not very happy when they had to fork out so much money to the County Magistrate. If he turned to them again…
If he ran to them again, it would be unreasonable, and his reputation would be ruined among all the rich families.
The fewer people knew about it, the better.
1,000 liang was already a lot of money. If he borrowed 1,000 liang again… that was still not enough. He needed to find some more families to help him gather the amount.
Officer Qiao felt really uncomfortable thinking that his name would be ruined.
Madame Qiao sneered seeing his confused face.
Reputation? His reputation was worth no money. His reputation could not be worthwhile compared to his future prospects.
Madame Qiao did not want to give up now, especially since they had invested so much in this position.
"Old Master, your future is more important! Think about this, if you can be higher in the position, the reputation is nothing!'
She continued coaxing him. "Also, when you step into a higher position, you can return the money to them, and it would be their luck to be related to you at that time. They would be so happy about it."
Officer Qiao nodded, and he gradually felt better.
"True. As long as I attain a high position in the capital, I will have enough money. I can return the loaned amount to them by that time!"
Also, nothing else mattered if the future was promising.
More importantly, if all worked well, he could be back to the capital by the end of spring. He did not have to stay here for one more year. Then, he would not need to worry about being laughed at.
Soon… he would be away from this place.
Officer Qiao made up his mind to do so.
The rich families, including Old Master Zhao, were all shocked.
They had just lent out 1,000 liang. They still had to give more this time? They would not ask him to return the money since he was County Magistrate.
So, they never held any expectations that the money would be returned.
But that was 1,000 liang! Even rich families like Old Master Zhao were not happy to have it in other people's hands, let alone to someone who would never return it.
The old masters gathered together, exchanging some thoughts with each other.
"What is wrong with Officer Qiao? He wants 1,000 liang again. I don't have this much money!'
Someone broke the silence and started to complain.
"Yeah, I only have fields, not cash.."