Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 17 Repayment of Debt

In the hall, Luo Feng divided the freshly cooked Butuo from the earthenware pot into wooden bowls, half a bucket of flour boiled the Butuo, and finally filled ten sea bowls.

This wooden sea bowl is huge, even the soup and water can't hold three catties.

"What are you still doing, why don't you eat it while it's hot?"

After Luo Feng made a face-to-face meeting, seeing that everyone was still standing there in a daze, he couldn't help urging. "I don't have any ingredients at home, so I asked Xiao Liu to borrow some cabbage from the third uncle's next door, and borrow some lard from the fourth aunt's house, and pull a few green onions from the vegetable field at home. Let's make do with it first."

"It's so fragrant!"

Qin Qiong took a breath, and gave her cousin a thumbs up, "It smells good, but it looks good too. I never thought that you, Xiao Wu, have such a skill in cooking."

"What kind of cooking is this? When I have time, I will buy some fish, meat, wine and vegetables and make a good meal for everyone to try."

At noon that day, scents wafted from the small courtyard of Luo Laizi's house, and the hall was full of laughter, which was a long-lost laughter.

The black horses in the yard, the strings of copper coins in the main room, the one bucket of rice and the remaining half bucket of flour, together with the fragrant fragrance, made everyone happy.

Several other houses in Nanshan Village also smelled fragrant.

"Mother feels like I'm dreaming, I'm afraid I'll wake up from this dream." Mother Luo put down her chopsticks after eating only half a bowl, and sighed.

"Mother, if you don't eat it, it will be cold." Xiao Liu ate a big bowl of noodles in one go, seeing that his mother had only eaten half a bowl, he hurriedly said.

"Mother is full, I'll give you this bowl." Luo's mother loves this child who has been a little silly since she was a child. Others always like to call Xiao Liu Luo a fool, but Luo's mother never treats this child as a fool, let alone dislikes it. , On the contrary, give the child more care.

"Thank you mother." Xiao Liu didn't know how to be polite, seeing his mother let him eat, so he took the bowl with a smile and started to eat it.

"It would be great if your father and brother came back." Luo Mu said.

The Luo family is very prosperous, but now several strong men are away, especially Luo Daddy and the boss have been away for a year, and only received a letter in the middle, saying that the task of building ordnance is urgent, so they will return in a while Not coming.

"I don't know if they have enough to eat in Zhuo County. I heard that it's cold early there. I don't know if their clothes are warm enough."

The son travels thousands of miles and the mother is worried. The lame husband is in Hebei with several sons, the one in Dengzhou is in Dengzhou, the one in Luoyang is in Luoyang, and the fifth son in Jijun is back. The son is away, especially the husband and eldest son. It has been a year since they left.

"Mother, I will write a letter to my father and brother later, and go to the county to see if there is anyone going there, and ask them to bring the letter there."

Everyone enjoyed the meal, and Luo Feng's food was very popular. Even the two weak sister-in-laws ate a large bowl each. Luo Feng was secretly worried that they would be overwhelmed.

"Boss, daughter-in-law, go and put the grain that Xiao Wu brought back into the grain tank, and cover it properly, so that the mice, insects and ants won't destroy it." After the meal, Luo's mother began to arrange, "Although Xiao Wu brought some The food comes back, but we can’t waste it like today. From now on, our family will still have two meals a day, morning and evening, with some wild vegetables and vegetables, and cook millet porridge to drink. Don’t move the flour and rice. Keep them waiting for your father-in-law and the boss and the brothers. Eat it when you get back."

"Okay, mother." The sister-in-law didn't say anything about the mother-in-law's arrangement.

Today's meal was very happy, but none of them thought about living like this every day in the future, it was too extravagant, and they couldn't even imagine it.

"Second daughter-in-law, go and collect the money that Xiaowu brought back. The family will have a long life in the future, so the money must be used quickly, so don't waste it."

"Yes, mother."

Luo Feng laughed and said, "Mother, I got sixteen guan rewards for catching the thief, and the county magistrate gave me another five guan rewards. Later, the county magistrate's daughter thanked me for saving me and gave me some gold leaves. I changed them into white leaves at the gold shop." Money, a total of 58 pennies were exchanged for white money, and later it was spent ten pennies to buy a horse, and more than 100 pennies to buy food..."

He took the initiative to report to Luo Qinshi that at the gold shop, he not only exchanged the gold leaves given by the county magistrate's daughter for white money, but also the copper coins and silk cloth rewarded by the county magistrate, and other items from the county magistrate. All the copper coins rewarded were exchanged for white money, adding up to 58 pennies and 72 pennies. It cost ten pennies to buy a horse, two hundred pennies to buy grain, and one hundred pennies to buy food and flax cakes.

At this time, there were a total of 47 coins and 770 coins left, Luo Feng didn't keep them privately, he took them all out.

Although it is white money, more than 40 pennies is still a lot of money.

Mother Luo said gratifiedly, "Xiao Wu, that's what Mother thinks. Save the money first, and later use it to marry your brothers and buy your sister's dowry. Let your sister-in-law keep the forty pennies. If you have a lot of money, I will let your pocket expenses go, and you will be working in the county soon, so there must be expenses."

"Mother, don't our family still owe some old debts? I think it's better to pay off the old debts first, and then have the remaining money. Let's make up a dowry for the two sisters, and we'll talk about the rest." Luo Feng also had his own It is only natural to pay back the debts. In the past, the family was poor and couldn't afford it, but now that they have money, they must pay it first.

After all, if someone is willing to borrow money, it is because of their friendship. Now that you have money, you have to pay it back first, and you can't default on it, otherwise you will be sorry for your friendship.

As for making up the dowry for the two older sisters, he felt that it should be done, and he could not owe the two sisters, otherwise the two sisters would always be unable to hold their heads up in the husband's house without the dowry, and life would be difficult in the future.

"Xiao Wu, you can think of this. I'm really gratified as a mother. Our family has indeed borrowed a lot of foreign debts over the years, and the total principal and interest is more than 1 yuan, nearly [-] yuan. Originally, I planned to wait for your father to come back to get it. Since you plan to pay back the money first, I will listen to you."

The foreign debts borrowed by the Luo family are mainly the medical expenses for Luo's father who injured his leg, the gift money raised by the two older brothers when they got married, and the dowry money for the two daughters when they were married. I had no choice but to borrow money everywhere, some from relatives, most of them from nearby landlords and merchants. The interest on this money is not low, and often the interest is repaid without paying the principal. As a result, a year After one year of debts, the old debts accumulate new interest, so the debts become more and more, until now the debts are almost twenty.

"Then invite all the creditors to come over tomorrow, and we will pay off the debt together and return the principal to the interest." Luo Feng immediately decided that it is difficult to borrow money these days, and the interest rates are generally high. The interest is still eight cents per month, and the annual interest is nearly double the capital. Private lending interest is even higher, such as lamb interest, donkey rolling, and nine out of ten returns. Once you owe debts, Often it just keeps getting more and more, and in the end, you can only sell the fields and land, or even sell your wife and daughter.

Luo's family still has a blacksmith's shop, and there is some extra income from farming every year, otherwise it would have been dragged down long ago.

After discussing with his mother, Luo Feng finally decided to repay the foreign debt of nearly [-] guan, and then give a dowry of [-] guan to each of the two newly married sisters, so that the family still has more than [-] guan. Keep a spare.

In the end, Luo's mother agreed, but the family only kept five pens for saving, and the minus 700 yuan was left for Luo Feng to use.

(End of this chapter)