Linxia

Chapter 2, Food Request

At the Song family's side, Song Guangcheng and his wife, children, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and eight or nine other people had finished their meal and were sitting down to rest.

"Hey, Linzi is here, have you eaten yet?"

Song Guangcheng greeted with a smile: "Linzi, what's the matter with you?"

"Ate."

Fang Lin smiled and nodded: "It's a small matter. Uncle Song borrowed three pounds of coarse rice from my family. My family is almost out of food, so I came to ask Uncle Song to return it."

Hearing this, Song Guangcheng's smile faded, he smacked his lips and sighed, "That's true, it happened last winter. But now my family is in trouble too, we don't have any extra food!"

"How about this!" He considered it for a moment and decided, "Give Uncle Song some face. After we get through this difficult time and have more money in the future, Uncle Song will come to return the three kilograms of coarse rice in person."

"We had a surplus after the summer harvest this year, but you didn't take the initiative to pay it back!"

Fang Lin thought so, with a smile on his face, ignoring the other party's proposal, and insisted: "Please return it, Mr. Song."

Song Guangcheng felt embarrassed for not giving face in front of his wife and children. His face turned cold and he said in a pretentious tone, "Linzi, you are still young and you can't handle this kind of thing. So, let your father come and discuss this matter."

He knew that Uncle Fang was a person who cared about his reputation and was easy to talk to, and if he pushed the matter onto the other party, the matter would most likely be left unresolved.

Fang Lin also knew this, so he naturally wouldn't follow the other party's pace: "Song Bo, think it through. My father asked me to come here first for the sake of the dignity of our two families. If I call Qiao Cunzheng, I will lose face."

You give me your suggestions and I will do mine.

"You're bothering Muramasa with such trivial matters? Moreover, you've made things like this," Song Guangcheng paused and said, "You're making it so that our two families can no longer be relatives!"

"Yes, we are relatives, how can we make such a mess? Linzi, you are still young and ignorant. Go and apologize to your uncle Song. Your uncle Song will not bear it with you." The Song Liu couple followed suit.

Xiaohe Village was established during the land reclamation a hundred years ago. Although their surnames are different, through marriages over the years, the Fang and Song families are indeed somewhat related.

If an ordinary boy of fifteen or sixteen heard such harsh words and criticism, he would probably panic immediately, but what about Fang Lin?
Facing the angry and red faces of Song Guangcheng and his wife, he remained calm and said slowly: "I have heard that relatives will not embarrass others. If they embarrass others, they are not relatives!"

The firm and powerful words stunned the Song family. They obviously did not expect Fang Lin to say this.

After pausing for a few breaths, Fang Lin saw that the Song family still did not mention the issue of returning the grain, so he turned around and went straight towards Qiao Cunzheng's house.

Yes, not going back to my own home, but going to find Muramasa.

"and many more!"

Song Guangcheng finally couldn't sit still anymore and called out to Fang Lin: "Linzi, don't be impulsive. It's just three pounds of coarse rice. It's not a big deal. Uncle will pay it back."

If Fang Lin walked back, he would not be afraid at all, because Uncle Fang was concerned about his reputation and would stop Fang Lin from making a big fuss; but if Fang Lin went to find Muramasa and made a big fuss, he would lose all face today - bullying the younger generation is not a glorious thing anywhere.

Of course, if it was just a loss of face, it would be fine, but the key point is that his family is frugal and has some surplus. This means that after losing face, they still have to return the three kilograms of coarse rice, unless his Song family is really shameless and wants to cut themselves off from Xiaohe Village!
"Thank you, Uncle Song. My family is waiting for three pounds of coarse rice to save our lives!" Fang Lin emphasized the word "three pounds" to prevent the other party from making any concessions.

Song Guangcheng was suddenly speechless. His idea of ​​getting rid of the one or two pounds first was aborted.

"Give Linzi three pounds of coarse rice!" he said.

Song Liu had no choice but to go and get three pounds of coarse rice.

Fang Lin took it, weighed it to confirm the weight, but still did not leave. He opened the bag, picked up a handful and looked at it, and couldn't help frowning.

"Not quite right?"

At that time, rice was processed roughly, and rice mixed with some rice husks was called coarse rice. However, even though it was the same coarse rice, there were great differences between them - the coarse rice borrowed by the Song family contained only 10% rice husks, while the coarse rice here contained 30% to 40% rice husks.

If Fang Lin had not taken a closer look and had taken the thing back directly, Fang's father would most likely have admitted his mistake. Even if he had come to find him, not only would he have been in the wrong, but he would have also created unnecessary trouble.

"Linzi, my uncle and I have a big family and life is hard. We can only survive by adding more rice husks." The subtext of this sentence is, my family only has this kind of rice, you can take it or not.

"Can't we eat coarse rice with more rice husks? Linzi, don't be too picky." Song Liu also said.

Is this a question of whether or not it can be eaten? This is a question of his family suffering a loss!

Fang Lin was unmoved and said slowly, "Two years ago, my family borrowed five kilograms of refined rice from the Geng family. When they returned it, they only had coarse rice, so my mother paid back an extra kilogram."

We are just playing tricks on you, and you are still giving us some advice? We really want to thank you!
Mr. and Mrs. Song Guangcheng looked at each other and fell silent; the other members of the Song family also looked at Fang Lin with strange expressions.

The scene fell silent for a moment.

This is a competition of face.

"Forget it!" Seeing Fang Lin refused to give up and leave, Song Guangcheng said coldly, "Mother, go get another half a catty!"

After receiving the grain, Fang Lin's attitude remained neither humble nor arrogant. He was neither arrogant nor self-deprecating because of his seniority. "Thank you, Uncle Song and Aunt Song. If my family was really in trouble, why would we come to ask for the grain back? If my words and actions have offended you, please forgive me and don't ruin the friendship between our two families for many years."

For him, getting actual benefits is enough, and there is no need to leave any room for a momentary anger. After all, in this world, who knows whether the other party will make demands tomorrow?
Silence again.

The silence before was a test of patience and thick-skinnedness. This time, the rest of the Song family were a little confused, wondering about Fang Lin's change of attitude. Song Guangcheng was shocked - Fang Lin's attitude made him look narrow-minded. Although he was an elder, he felt psychologically inferior to him. He felt ashamed of himself in dealing with people.

"Linzi, what are you talking about? It was originally a loan. My family should have paid it back long ago. I am wrong as your uncle to ask you to come here to ask for it." Song Guangcheng smiled again.

The grain has been returned, and you are still stingy with a few nice words?
After Fang left.

Song Guangcheng sighed, "Young people are really formidable! Linzi seemed silent before, but I didn't expect that he would be so powerful."

"Dad, you're still praising him?" Boss Song said dissatisfiedly.

"That's right. The Fang family is really a piece of shit. How can the three catties of coarse rice last year be the same as the three catties of coarse rice now when we are fleeing from famine?" Song Laoer was also speaking up for his own family.

"Let's be clear, I'm talking about the guy from the Fang family. Hey, he has so many tricks that even I was caught. If you can learn a few of his tricks, you will be able to stand firm anywhere in the future."

As Song Guangcheng spoke, he saw that his sons were not listening, so he sighed helplessly and said no more.

Coincidentally, just as Fang Lin left, Zheng Yu from the Zheng family came to ask for food.

"Brother Song, the five kilograms of grain you borrowed from my house in the spring..."

"If I can't control the kid from Fang Lao San's family, can I control you?"

Song Guangcheng thought about it, and sighed with a sad face: "Xiao Yu, my Song family is not unfaithful. We will admit our debts. We just paid back three catties of grain to Fang Lao San's family, but we really don't have any extra after paying it back. Now, even if you give me another pound, it will force my Song family to death. Even if you call Qiao Cunzheng here, I will still say this..."

Before coming, Zheng Yu had prepared himself mentally, but after Song Guangcheng's attack, all his fighting spirit was gone.

……

Next to the Song family, is the Geng family.

"Dad, second brother, I went to get some water just now, and I saw Fang Lin going to the Song family to ask for food... He spoke like an opera, with a knife hidden in every sentence!" Geng Cong described it vividly.

After listening to this, Father Geng was silent for a moment and said, "The Fang family and the Song family are relatives. They almost became enemies when they borrowed grain, let alone us. So, Congzi and Shitou, remember, don't have any dealings with the Song family in the future."

Both brothers nodded.

……

The places where each household in Xiaohe Village set up their stoves and rested were not far away, and the You family on the other side also noticed it.

"Learn from this. You have to be flexible and thick-skinned like this!"

Father You also took the opportunity to teach his son: "I don't need to see the Zheng family kid who went there later. I know that if you don't make a fuss, don't even think about going back to borrow grain. Even if you make a fuss, you may not be able to get it back... Hey, before, I only knew that in the Fang family, Mr. Fang is needless to say. The eldest son is a taciturn person, and his wife is a powerful one. The second son's family is not easy to mess with. The fourth son is a little hard to say. The third son's family is not very good. I didn't expect that there is a powerful one hidden in this family!"

"Sure enough, if they are not from the same family, they will not enter the same door. I really made a mistake, a mistake!"

……

"He's really coming back. My son is really capable." Fang Sun took the grain bag and said happily.

"Brother Lin is awesome." Tian Xuan was also proud.

"It's our own grain. What's so good about taking it back?" Uncle Fang said in a muffled voice.

"You are too embarrassed to ask for it. Your son is coming back, and you are still saying sour words."

Fang Sun scolded Fang's father for a while, then turned to Fang Lin and said, "Your father doesn't say it, but he's actually very happy in his heart. He's happy that you're better than him. Of course, he's really jealous of you."

"Hmph!" Fang Shuyou snorted, turned his back and ignored the mother and son.

Fang Lin smiled.

"It's great that you are still in this world," he thought.

"Oh, Linzi, go get half a catty... no, five taels of rice, and give it to your sister Guihua. Judging from her face, if she continues to starve, something bad might happen. After all, our family still owes her a job. If we don't care, we'll feel guilty if something happens!"

……

(End of this chapter)