Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 348

"Besides, isn't your husband Qingmin preparing to run for deputy section chief? If your relatives make a scene and things escalate, then Qingmin will definitely not get the deputy section chief position. You decide what to do."

Li Qingfeng shook his head, feeling somewhat troubled by the matter. It wasn't that he didn't want to help, but he hadn't expected the other party to be so stubborn and shameless, not caring at all about losing face. The security guard came to him and said that his whole family had only one request: to get back the money Zhao Chunqin owed them.

Xiao Zhao said they were lying, while Zhao Tiesheng and the others said Xiao Zhao borrowed money.

This confused Li Qingfeng. If Zhao Tiesheng had left directly, Li Qingfeng might have believed Zhao Chunqin's story and thought that Zhao Tiesheng's family left because they felt guilty. But with Zhao Tiesheng's family putting on this show, he was starting to wonder who was lying and who was telling the truth.

After Li Qingfeng left, Zhao Chunqin looked out the window at Zhao Tiesheng's family holding up a banner downstairs and said through gritted teeth, "I gave them several hundred yuan at noon, and now they're still causing me trouble. They really think I'm a pushover if they don't show their true colors!"

Zhao Chunqin has been very irritable these past few days, but she has to deal with the current situation. The leaders have spoken, and if she doesn't handle it, her reputation will be damaged, and her family member will definitely not be able to take the position of deputy section chief.

Thinking of this, Zhao Chunqin got up to go find Zhao Tiesheng. Some people nearby saw this and whispered among themselves, seemingly enjoying the spectacle, "Hey, Little Zhao is going down to find her second brother, let's go down and watch the show."

Someone hesitated and said, "Wouldn't it be a bad idea to go down like this?"

"Hey, what are you afraid of? They've already made a big fuss about it. We're just pretending to be passing by. What's there to be afraid of?"

"Okay then."

Many people followed Zhao Chunqin down; watching a spectacle is one of humanity's favorite things.

After Zhao Chunqin went downstairs, she saw Zhao Tiesheng's family and felt a surge of anger. However, she took a deep breath and decided to hold back for now. Her priority was to get rid of her second brother's family first, and then she would take some time to go back to the Zhao family and ask her parents to make a decision for her.

In the blink of an eye, Zhao Chunqin suppressed her anger and forced a smile. She politely went over and said, "Second brother, second sister-in-law, what are you doing? Get up. It's not like I'm not going to pay you back."

As they were talking, Zhao Chunqin stepped forward to pull at the banner, but Zhao Tiesheng came over and blocked her way, his face dark, and said coldly, "Zhao Chunqin, give me an explanation. The security guard just said that our family borrowed money from you. Is that what you're saying to the outside world?"

Zhao Chunqin felt a little guilty when she heard this, but then she thought about it and realized that the reason she did this was because Zhao Tiesheng was pressing her step by step and threatening Qingmin's election as deputy section chief. So she said that. Thinking about it this way, she wasn't wrong.

Zhao Chunqin patiently explained, "Second brother, I was forced by circumstances. Did you even consider me when you made such a scene? When you came over at noon, I was questioned by my boss. He said I was ruining the company's reputation and threatened to fire me. In desperation, I revealed that you borrowed money from me. Oh, don't worry, I will pay back the money I owe you, second brother."

She thought Zhao Tiesheng would forgive her, but Zhao Tiesheng suddenly said, "If you had returned the money, would so many things have happened? We are sitting here holding this banner because you forced us to. I have only one answer: either let me continue making a scene here, or return the money."

Upon hearing Zhao Tiesheng's words, Zhao Chunqin's eyes widened in disbelief. Her second brother, who had always been so obedient to her, would say such a thing.

Zhao Chunqin asked incredulously, "Second Brother, doesn't my future matter to you at all?"

Zhao Tiesheng sighed and said, "Chunqin, relationships are reciprocal. I paid for most of your college expenses. I don't ask for anything in return, I just want you to find a good job and marry well. But how have you treated me? Without my consent, you secretly borrowed all the money from Mom. A week ago, I came to your house and knocked on the door, but you ignored me and pretended not to be home. Do you think I don't know about your little tricks? A few days ago, you lied to me and said you brought the money and could pay me back, asking me to return the gold bracelet. You even called Mom over to stand up for you. In the end, I gave you the gold bracelet, but I didn't return the money. This time, I came to you, and only after threatening your job did you agree to return two hundred yuan, and you even made up such a ridiculous lie."

Zhao Tiesheng was extremely disappointed in Zhao Chunqin. He looked into her eyes, shook his head and said, "Zhao Chunqin, don't call me Second Brother anymore. I can't bear the title of Second Brother."

Zhao Chunqin trembled all over, her mind was a bit muddled, and she was in a state of utter confusion. Had she done something wrong?

What did she do wrong? She just wanted to do some business to make a little money, and she could pay it back when she had the money. She couldn't understand why Zhao Tiesheng had such a big reaction.

Moreover, with so many people watching, Zhao Tiesheng really didn't give himself any face at all, and his voice was so loud that even the people who came to watch the show could probably hear it.

Zhao Chunqin's mind raced. She couldn't let others know the truth, otherwise her reputation would be damaged, and the position of deputy section chief would definitely not go to her.

Thinking of this, Zhao Chunqin pinched her thigh hard, and tears welled up instantly. Her eyes were red from crying, and she suddenly knelt down in front of Zhao Tiesheng. Under the shocked gazes of Cheng Jinxiang and the others, Zhao Chunqin reached out and slapped herself again and again.

Zhao Chunqin pleaded, choking back tears, "Second brother, I really don't have any money to lend you. Please stop making a fuss, okay? I've lent you all the money in the house. The few hundred yuan left is for my son Li Ping's tuition. I can't give you that money. Please wait a little longer, okay? We'll lend you the money after we get our salaries!"

This was Zhao Chunqin's plan to retreat in order to advance. She pretended to be weak and that Zhao Tiesheng's family had come to borrow money from her, but she had no money on her and that Zhao Tiesheng's family was causing trouble. She had been forced to kneel down before Zhao Tiesheng and beg him not to borrow money from her anymore. She even brought up her child's schooling as an excuse.

Regardless of the truth of the matter, the visual impact alone gives the initial impression that Zhao Chunqin is the victim.

Zhao Tiesheng was also bewildered by Zhao Chunqin's kneeling. He couldn't understand why his younger sister was still acting and kneeling before him.

Seeing this, the bystanders didn't care about the truth; they only believed what they saw. Now that Zhao Chunqin was kneeling on the ground in such a pitiful state, they were sure that Zhao Tiesheng's family had bullied her. After all, they had been colleagues for several years, so they all spoke up for her.

"Poor little Zhao."

"She lent all her money to her second brother, and now she has no money left. Why is her second brother still asking her for money? He's just greedy and can't keep his mouth shut."

"Shh, keep your voice down, or Chunqin's second brother might hear you and come looking for trouble."

"Hmph, I'm not afraid of her second brother. Let him come and cause trouble if he wants."

"If we go by Xiao Zhao's story, then this second brother is just distorting the truth and lying. Tsk tsk tsk, I don't know who in this whole family is telling the truth and who is lying."

"In my opinion, it must be Xiao Zhao's second brother lying. Didn't you see Xiao Zhao kneeling on the ground and even slapping himself?"

In an instant, everyone onlookers sided with Zhao Chunqin.

Zhao Tiesheng understood Zhao Chunqin's intention. He took a step back in disbelief and said through gritted teeth, "Zhao Chunqin, you are so heartless. You would even go to this lengths to avoid paying back the money. Is it really necessary? If you had just paid back some of the money, your second sister-in-law and I wouldn't have made things so difficult for you. And now you are still lying to people."

Cheng Jinxiang scoffed at Zhao Chunqin's tactic, saying it was just a ploy to gain sympathy from those around her.

She will too!

Cheng Jinxiang immediately unwrapped the cotton cloth covering Zhao Xiaojuan, hugged her tightly, and then knelt down in front of Zhao Chunqin while still holding her. Cheng Jinxiang cried out in a loud voice, "Sister-in-law, what are you doing? You're the one who borrowed 40,000 yuan from our family, and now you're telling others that my family borrowed money from you. Your second brother and I have worked hard farming all these years, not only taking care of your parents but also supporting your two nieces. I really have no money left, so I thought of asking you to pay me back."

"We don't expect you to pay back all 40,000 yuan you borrowed, but at least a few thousand or ten thousand yuan would be good! Your second brother and I are in dire need of money right now. A while ago, I had a severe hemorrhage in the hospital while giving birth to Xiaojuan, and I owed the hospital 7,000 yuan in medical fees. I had to borrow money from others to pay it back. Now someone is coming to urge our whole family to pay back the debt, saying that if we don't pay back the money, they will take your second brother away and chop off his hand. In desperation, we came to you!"

She claimed she owed money to others, but the medical expenses were actually paid by her uncle who forced her husband to pay them. She said this purely to make her family seem more pitiful.

Don't blame her for lying. Since Zhao Chunqin lied, it's not a problem for her to lie either. Are we just going to wait for that person to slander us for nothing?

Cheng Jinxiang wiped away her tears, and Zhao Da'e understood what Cheng Jinxiang meant. Since Zhao Chunqin wanted to play the victim, their family would play along to the end!

Zhao Da'e pinched her thigh hard, her eyes red and she cried loudly. She hugged Cheng Jinxiang and tried to pull her up, sobbing, "Mommy, sob sob sob, Mommy! I don't want you to kneel, please get up!"

Cheng Jinxiang felt a pang of sadness as she watched Zhao Dage cry. She choked back tears and said, “My poor daughter. She’s so young and she’s already looking for work everywhere to earn some money to help support the family. A few days ago, she even went to the city to help an old lady sell eggs. She’s only seven years old and she’s so obedient. She’s never been to primary school. We originally wanted to arrange for her to go to school, but our family’s situation is not good enough to send her to school.”

"My dear daughter, it's all my fault. I've made you suffer!" This time, Cheng Jinxiang was truly sincere.

She couldn't help but hug Zhao Da'e and cry, "Da'e, my daughter! Why did you have to be so unlucky to become my child! Now you can't even afford to go to school."

Zhao Da'e's nose tingled, and she sat on the ground sobbing. She wiped away her tears, then threw herself into Cheng Jinxiang's arms and cried out, "Waaaaah, Mom! I'm not tired at all. Being your daughter isn't hard at all. I blame myself for being too young and not being able to share some of your burdens!"

The crying of the mother and daughter also affected Zhao Xiaojuan, who was sleeping. Because of their blood relationship, she seemed to feel that her mother and sister were being wronged, and she also couldn't help but cry.

A helpless woman holding an infant and a seven-year-old child embraced and wept. Zhao Tiesheng was also affected by this emotion, walked over and hugged the mother and her two children, blaming himself, "Da'e, Jinxiang, it's my fault. I haven't fulfilled my responsibilities as a father or a husband. I rarely considered your feelings and didn't listen to what you said. Now that things have turned out like this, it's partly my fault. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have given the money to Mom to keep. I never thought that Mom would be biased towards my younger sister and give all our family's savings to Zhao Chunqin. Now we are having such a hard time, it's all my fault."

At this point, Zhao Tiesheng blamed himself and slapped himself hard, leaving a clear red mark.

Cheng Jinxiang felt a pang of heartache. After all, he was her lover of ten years, and there was still some affection between them. She stopped Zhao Tiesheng's hand, touched the clearly visible handprint on his palm, and said emotionally, "Why did you slap yourself?"

Zhao Da'e was crying her heart out when she saw her own father slap himself in the face. She felt a little smug, thinking, "Good job! My dad deserves to be hit!"

Zhao Da'e felt a little regretful, but unfortunately her mother stopped her, otherwise she would have liked to watch Zhao Tiesheng slap himself a few more times.

If Zhao Tiesheng knew what Zhao Da'e was thinking, he would definitely think to himself, "This daughter is like a leaky cotton-padded jacket. How could a daughter want to see her own father get beaten?"

The behavior of Zhao Tiesheng's entire family stunned everyone around them.

Standing upstairs with the window open, Li Qingfeng couldn't help but take a deep breath. "They really are a family. Little Zhao knelt down and slapped herself, and her second brother followed suit and knelt down and slapped himself too. It's true that birds of a feather flock together. I just don't know who's telling the truth."

People nearby were also whispering, "I saw this little girl selling eggs at the market before. What that woman said is true. That little girl was indeed helping others sell eggs to earn some money to supplement her family's income. Seeing how badly the mother and daughter were crying, I think it might be because of Xiao Zhao. Think about it, doesn't Xiao Zhao usually love buying new clothes?"

"Since she said all her money was borrowed, how did she have money to buy new clothes? Look at Xiao Zhao's family, the clothes they are wearing are very simple, and you can even see the marks of patching. I guess they have been wearing these clothes for several years and they are reluctant to throw them away. Then look at Xiao Zhao's new clothes, tsk tsk tsk."