Chapter 165: Chapter 165 Reason Chapter 165: Chapter 165 Reason “No, there’s nothing!”
Su Ningxiu’s expression stiffened, and she sipped her sweetened drink hesitantly, saying, “Sister, our eldest brother is perfectly fine working in town, what could be wrong? Don’t think too much.”
“Ningxiu, I want the truth!” With Su Ningxiu looking so guilty, even a fool could tell there was something off about her words.
And how could Su Yunjin not see it?
With determination, Su Ningxiu continued, “Really, Sister, what I just said is the truth! I didn’t deceive you, and if you don’t believe me, you can ask Father and Mother tomorrow!”
As she spoke, Su Ningxiu couldn’t dare to meet Su Yunjin’s eyes. Her assurance faltered, and if Su Yunjin had only been suspicious before, Su Ningxiu’s evasive demeanor now confirmed Su Yunjin’s doubts.
“Ningxiu, we’re family. I want you to be honest with me about our eldest brother’s situation, don’t hide things from me! If something truly happened to him, I could also help you and our parents think of solutions, don’t you agree?”
Su Ningxiu looked at Su Yunjin.
And didn’t speak again.
Su Yunjin pressed on, “Ningxiu, look at your situation this time, we solved it by brainstorming together. Grandma didn’t make you marry Old Master Huang, and she learned her lesson. As for our eldest brother’s situation, tell me, and perhaps we can solve it together as well.”
“Sister, our eldest brother, he…” Su Ningxiu hesitated, though Su Yunjin’s words had swayed her somewhat. When Yunjin had fallen into the water and was unconscious, all the Silver in their family’s hands was taken by their step-grandmother, Mrs. Tao.
When her parents went to Mrs. Tao to borrow money, she refused to even give a copper coin and said that Yunjin had drowned, so why save her? “Just drag her out and bury her,” she’d said.
To save Yunjin, her parents and eldest brother had to borrow money from all over, but no one would lend to them.
With no other choice, her eldest brother, Su Muze, reluctantly went to the town and signed an Indenture Contract, selling himself to a rice shop Shopkeeper to work as a laborer.
A laborer at the rice shop was paid sixty copper coins a month, but someone like Su Muze, who’d sold himself into indentured servitude, only earned thirty copper coins a month.
To borrow money for Yunjin’s doctor, Su Muze had taken two taels of Silver from the rice shop Shopkeeper. To be free from the rice shop, he had to earn back those two taels of Silver to repay the Shopkeeper.
Otherwise, he would have to keep working at the rice shop.
Back then, to avoid worrying Yunjin, Su Muze and Su Ningxiu told her the money they brought was borrowed.
They didn’t tell her the truth.
Originally, once Yunjin woke up and refused to take the Silver that her elder brother and Ningxiu brought her, Su Muze only needed to return the Silver to the Shopkeeper and wouldn’t have to work for him anymore.
But Mrs. Tao, somehow learning about Su Muze selling himself into indenture, schemed to take the Silver. With the Silver gone, Su Muze had no choice but to work in the town shop to repay the debt.
The matter of Su Muze signing the Indenture Contract was for Yunjin’s sake, so Su Ningxiu and their parents were afraid that telling Yunjin would make her feel remorse, thus they decided not to tell her.
This was why Su Ningxiu and their parents kept it a secret from Yunjin.