12dz Chapter 119 You have to taste the bitter fruit you sowed.
Chapter 119 You have to taste the bitter fruit you sowed.
Manager Li scoffed and added, "Dream on. Their indentures alone aren't enough. Don't you have four sons?"
"They've all been signed!"
They only let the second and third sons work at the restaurant; even if they worked their whole lives, they wouldn't earn enough for six hundred taels.
Mr. Shen's face turned deathly pale, his chest heaved violently, and he couldn't catch his breath. He swayed and fell backward, but his quick-thinking wife caught him.
Sun cried out in terror, "Father, please don't scare me! What will I do if you collapse? What will happen to the second and third sons?"
Song and Zhao also stepped forward to check. Even though they were furious with their mother-in-law, what would happen to them, the two widows and orphans, if their father-in-law fell down and their husbands went to jail?
So, we still have to rely on my father-in-law to find a solution!
The two sisters-in-law asked anxiously, "Dad, how are you? You mustn't collapse..."
The courtyard was a flurry of activity.
Just then, the third and fourth brothers, who had already led their nephews to the school, waited and waited but their father did not come to the school. So they left their nephews to practice calligraphy at the school and the two brothers ran back to check.
As soon as I entered the gate, I was restrained by the restaurant's staff.
"Let go, let us go!"
"Where did you come from? What right do you have to arrest us?"
Unable to break free, the two brothers began to shout loudly.
Mr. Shen, who had just been struggling to catch his breath and was about to collapse, rolled his eyes, coughed violently, and then regained his composure and gasped for air after hearing that his other two sons had been arrested.
"Let them go, Steward Li! Quickly, have someone release them!"
……
Soon, the fourth and youngest brothers learned from Manager Li that their mother's braised pig's trotters had gone wrong, and that their second and third brothers had been detained at Juxian Restaurant. They were also to be forced to sign indentures and stay at the restaurant as long-term laborers. The two brothers struggled violently and went crazy.
Unable to struggle, he then knelt down and begged for mercy.
The youngest son cried out, "My mother made the braised pig's trotters, my second and third brothers signed the agreement, and they were the ones who supplied them to the restaurant. It has nothing to do with me. Please let me go, okay?"
Manager Li said, “You need to understand, it’s not that I don’t want to release you, it’s just that your parents have been dragging their feet on paying compensation for half a day. Who will compensate our restaurant for the losses? As the saying goes, brothers share both good times and bad. If you can’t pay back the money, you brothers will naturally have to sign indentures and work at the restaurant.”
The youngest brother was quick-witted and immediately shouted, "We have money! Our eldest brother made money in business, we can ask him to help us lose it."
Mr. Shen and Mrs. Sun looked up suddenly, a glimmer of hope seemingly igniting in their eyes.
Yes, the eldest son made money, but then something happened at home, so he couldn't just ignore it.
After the youngest child reminded them, the whole family immediately placed all their hopes on the eldest child.
Mr. Shen said, "Manager Li, could you allow us to try to find the boss first? He has money and might be able to help pay it back."
Manager Li hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Alright, I'll let you go find Lin Qingchuan first, but your two sons also have to come back to town with us first. If they can't raise the compensation, then the four brothers will have to sign indentures and stay at the restaurant to work."
Even though they were unwilling, the elderly couple had to grit their teeth and agree through tears.
So, Manager Li ordered his men to escort the man back to town.
The second and third sons' wives wept uncontrollably, their tears falling in a steady stream.
Wiping away her tears, Madam Song said, "What's the use of finding my elder brother? That couple worked so hard to earn money, how could they possibly give it all to us? Besides, that's six hundred taels of silver. What kind of business can earn that much in such a short time?"
Zhao nodded in agreement with her sister-in-law, and immediately complained to Sun, "It's all my fault! You never want to work in the fields or do any chores. When I ask you to embroider, you complain that your eyes hurt. When I ask you to weave, you complain that your arms and legs can't lift them. You're always looking at other mountains and envious of your elder brother and sister-in-law's money. You want to do business with them, but instead of properly talking to someone, you secretly follow them to buy seasonings. Now look what's happened, you've ruined the family."
Madam Song gritted her teeth and joined in the accusation, "If you weren't so lazy, doing nothing and leaving everything to your sister-in-law, all the brothers would have followed your laziness and refused to work in the fields. Would your eldest brother and sister-in-law have insisted on dividing the family property even though they didn't want anything? If they hadn't divided the family property, and they started a business, wouldn't they have taken everyone with them? Why would you have secretly learned and done this shady thing?"
Sun felt guilty and aggrieved when she was being reprimanded, but she still remained defiant.
"Now you're remembering how good the eldest couple were to you? When I made them do all the work, where were you? Why didn't you lend them a hand?"
The two sisters-in-law were stunned for a moment before they remembered that they had also been watching coldly at the time, and were even glad that they weren't the ones being tormented.
At this moment, the two began to regret that if the family had helped each other and lived in harmony, things would not have turned out this way.
Madam Song emphasized, "We were both wrong, but the biggest fault lies entirely with you. You came up with the dirty trick of making these braised pig's trotters. You ruined their reputation, so you should pay the six hundred taels in compensation!"
Mr. Shen sighed heavily and said, "Now is not the time to argue about right and wrong. Let's hurry up and find Qingchuan to see how much silver he has!"
So the old couple led their two wives and hurried towards town, leaving their second son's daughter, Yinxiu, to look after the house.
By the time they arrived in town, it was past noon.
After Lin Xiaotang and her father finished buying pig trotters and returned to Qinghe Town, they heard everyone in the streets and alleys talking about Juxian Restaurant.
When Manager Zhang led his men to cause trouble at Yunlai Restaurant, Liu saw that her two younger brothers-in-law had been brought back and detained. Fearing that this would implicate her family, she hastily packed up her stall and returned home with her youngest daughter.
Fortunately, none of the people at Juxian Restaurant recognized her. They were too busy causing trouble to notice the mother and daughter.
She stood at the entrance of the Su residence, looking out repeatedly, anxiously waiting for her husband and eldest daughter.
Seeing the mule cart turn the corner in the distance, and confirming that it was her husband and eldest daughter, she immediately went to greet them.
"Dad, Tang'er, come home quickly and listen to me."
"Fengniang, what's wrong? What happened?"
Lin Qingchuan immediately led the mule cart to the back door, parked it in the stable, and Lin Xiaotang scrambled off the cart.
Liu hesitated for a moment before saying, "Father, something terrible has happened. Jiang Chuan and Hai Chuan secretly supplied braised pig's trotters to Juxianju Restaurant. I'm afraid they asked the shopkeeper what we bought when they went to the pepper shop to buy seasonings. They even used the seasoning for boneless chicken feet... They're tied to a pillar outside Juxianju Restaurant now. They'll definitely have to pay a lot of money this time."
Lin Qingchuan was so angry he didn't know what to say.
I never expected them to do something so stupid. They're all usually so clever, but they're all bullies at home and useless at everything else.
"Let them pay up. They should reap what they sowed!"
Lin Xiaotang immediately said, "This matter is definitely not that simple. We heard it on the way here. Juxian Restaurant is demanding six hundred taels of silver in compensation. Even if you weighed and sold their entire family by weight, it wouldn't be enough. Maybe the master is going to turn his attention to us."
She added, "Mother, you and Xiaoyu should stay home and look after the house for now. Don't go set up a stall to sell roasted sweet potatoes, lest Grandpa and Stepmother find out."