Chapter Thirty-Six: Brother Qiu—Don’t Worry, I Will Act

When the other creditors left at night, the three men simply laid out their bedding and slept right there in the main hall. At dawn, roused by the crowing of the rooster, they packed up their bedding and began another day of debt collection. At least now, they no longer had to worry about fighting for chairs...

Whenever hunger struck, Su Tai and Su Lu would head to the back of the distillery to search for crushed sorghum grains; steaming a pot could feed them for three days. For reasons unknown, the sorghum in He’s storeroom had all been ground to bits. Of course, if it hadn’t, the creditors would have already carted it all away, and it wouldn't have fallen to them to enjoy. In the storeroom, the brothers also found a good number of oranges and hawthorn berries, golden-yellow and crimson, temptingly bright, but so sour they made one's teeth ache. That must be why they survived—no one would accept such mouth-puckering goods as payment from the young widow.

But the three men weren’t picky. They cooked the oranges and hawthorns together with the crushed sorghum, creating a “fruit sorghum porridge.” The fruit's sourness and the sorghum's bitterness surprisingly balanced each other out, making it rather palatable.

The three men had settled in, but peace was completely lost for the widow’s household. Before, no matter how chaotic the day, they could at least breathe easy at night. Now, with outsiders occupying the house around the clock, her daughter was too frightened to step out of her room, day or night.

He Chengshi, the widow, felt her head swelling with anxiety, but could do nothing. As a delinquent debtor, she had no way to stop these three from their shameless conduct...

The young widow pleaded with the old bachelor, “Please don’t sleep in my house.”

Su Youcai replied, “Pay the debt and we’ll leave at once. It’s cold in your main hall anyway; who’d want to sleep here?”

She protested, “Then don’t eat our food! My daughter and I only have a little left.”

“My rice jar is so empty even the rats have starved. Once you pay up and I buy rice, I won’t touch a grain from your house,” Su Youcai retorted.

“Big brother, staying in a widow’s home overnight—it’s not good for your reputation,” He Chengshi tried appealing to his sense of propriety.

“My son got into school but can’t attend. What do I care about reputation? Between two evils, I choose the lesser, so I’ll keep staying,” Su Youcai was unmoved. “Besides, I’m not alone; I have the boys with me. Who’d gossip?”

His words were polite, but on matters of principle he would not yield an inch. Against such soft-spoken yet unyielding resolve, the widow had no choice but to let things be...

~~

Truth be told, the widow’s delaying tactics were rather successful. As the New Year approached, fewer creditors showed up.

And so it went, right up to the morning of New Year’s Eve—only Su Youcai and his sons remained.

Early that morning, the sparse crackling of firecrackers echoed across Erlangtan, heralding the arrival of New Year’s Eve. Unable to afford firecrackers, Su Youcai and his sons chopped a few bamboo sticks and threw them into the fire, delighting in their pops.

“Now this is the real ‘crackling of bamboo drives out the old year,’” Su Youcai earnestly explained to his sons. “What they set off are just firecrackers—dangerous things.”

Su Lu thought to himself, “Isn’t this just sour grapes?”

“Oh, now I see why they call them ‘bamboo firecrackers’ even though they’re made of paper and gunpowder,” Su Tai exclaimed, thoroughly impressed by his father’s explanation.

Besides, someone had only just died in this household—setting off firecrackers in their courtyard, was that really appropriate?

“It doesn’t matter. They say firecrackers aren’t allowed, but we’re burning bamboo, not firecrackers,” Su Youcai replied calmly. “If the debt isn’t paid, I’ll keep burning bamboo till next year.”

The three men had been squatting here for twelve days. Today, they needed a resolution.

Su Lu had heard that only in desperate situations does one see a person’s true nature. His dear father’s nature, then, was... ruthless.

He was forcing the widow to pay for a peaceful New Year’s Eve.

When Su Youcai set off the fourth round of bamboo pops, He Chengshi finally couldn’t take it anymore. She emerged and called out, “Big brother, please stop. I’ll give you the money, alright?”

“Should have said so sooner,” Su Youcai immediately gestured for his sons to stop.

---

He stepped up to the widow and bowed deeply. “I’m truly sorry. If I had any other way, I wouldn’t have come to this.”

“I know, sir, you’re a good man,” He Chengshi sighed. “Just like me, we’re all unfortunate souls.”

She remained courteous to Su Youcai, not only as a debtor to a creditor but because he had helped her two days before...

~~

On the twenty-eighth, someone’s payment still hadn’t arrived. Irritated to madness, he lost all restraint and blurted out, “Why not sell yourself to pay the debt? Work at my house for a year, and we’ll call it even.”

“No way, she owes my family the most. If she works, she should work at my house first,” another creditor chimed in.

“Don’t boast. Your wife would break your legs,” the crowd laughed.

“If it’s really impossible, I could take her too…” The creditor grew ever more shameless.

“Go to hell!” From the corner came an angry curse; Su Youcai had had enough. He slammed the table and stood up. “We’re all neighbors—have you no shame?!”

“If you want me to have shame, pay up!” The creditor, embarrassed, shouted back at Su Youcai.

“Talk about paying, but leave personal insults out. The Ming Dynasty forbids selling oneself to pay debts!” For Su Youcai, facing ordinary folk was an overwhelming advantage. He declared loudly, “The Ming Code clearly states: anyone who entices or sells decent people as slaves is to be flogged a hundred times and exiled three thousand miles!”

“In this backwater, why quote laws…” The creditor tried to play the fool and fell silent.

“Cool your temper, cool your temper,” the other creditors, awed by Su Youcai’s righteous presence and the imposing Su Tai beside him, quickly softened. “We just lost our heads in the heat of the moment.”

“Yes, yes, we’re all neighbors. The boss lady is Cheng Xiang’s daughter—no one would dare do anything rash.”

“Even so, crude talk isn’t right. Debt collection should be civilized!” Su Youcai proclaimed. “Otherwise, people will think we’re thugs.”

After that day, no one dared make lewd remarks to the widow again.

Well, it had only been two days...

~~

He Chengshi knew Su Youcai was a gentleman. With no men left in her house, she treated the three men as security. In the days that followed, she even cooked for them...

The two sides, by now, got along almost as friends. The widow managed a bitter smile. “Never imagined your persistence would surpass mine, Big Brother. I’ll pay the debt.”

She drew from her sleeve a sachet scented with delicate fragrance and presented it with both hands.

“Thank you.” Su Youcai carefully took it, wary of any skin contact.

The widow sighed inwardly. Truly a gentleman—and a handsome one, too...

But the handsome man weighed the purse, and his expression soured. He quickly poured out a handful of loose silver. “This is only about one tael, isn’t it?”

“Your hand is as precise as a scale, Big Brother. Not a fraction more or less—exactly one tael,” the widow replied.

“But that’s far too little. There’s still two taels and five more!” Su Youcai’s smile faded.

“I searched every corner—this is all I could gather,” the widow said with a bitter smile. “I’d planned to keep it for the lean spring ahead, but your persistence is unmatched. Take it for your New Year.”

---

“I’ll keep the money, but I won’t use it for the festival. After New Year, I need to pay my son’s tuition,” Su Youcai said solemnly. “The tuition is three taels and five. Just give me two taels and five more, no interest.”

“We’ll talk next year. Today is New Year’s Eve, surely you men will go home?” The widow was exasperated—wasn’t giving him one tael the cue for him to leave?

“No matter. Wherever the three of us are together, that’s home,” Su Youcai replied with a laugh. “Sister-in-law, may we borrow your chopping board? We need to knead dough for dumplings.”

“Sichuan folk don’t eat dumplings!” The widow’s face flushed red, finally losing her composure.

“We’re military households relocated from Fengyang Guard—we mustn’t forget our origins,” Su Youcai argued earnestly.

The widow’s hair fell across her brow, whipped by the mountain wind.

She was thoroughly defeated. Pointing behind her, she said helplessly, “Big Brother, see if there’s anything in my house you like. Take whatever you want. There are thousands of pounds of sour oranges in the storeroom—if you don’t mind their looks, take them all.”

“What would I want with your things?” Su Youcai shook his head. Everything of value was long gone, and what remained was either too heavy or worthless—he had no interest.

“I only want the money,” he emphasized.

“Fine, let’s spend New Year together then…” The widow slumped, “I’ll go fetch the board.”

“Sister-in-law, I truly have no other way—it’s all for the children…” Su Youcai apologized.

“Brother, please go home. I really have no money left.” Driven to despair, the widow’s eyes brimmed with tears. “If you won’t leave, I’ll have no choice but to… sell myself to pay the debt, just as they say.”

“That won’t do!” Su Youcai gripped the one tael tightly, retreating in alarm. “I’m not that kind of man… I couldn’t bear your burden of debt…”

Whether his retreat hurt her feelings or she discovered his weakness, the widow pressed forward, face tear-stained yet smiling challengingly. “You usually live in my house, but now you want to spend New Year’s Eve with a widow. We’ll be scandalously entangled! If you don’t leave, I’ll cling to you for good!”

“Please, sister-in-law, have some self-respect…” Su Youcai retreated again, flustered. If the boss lady truly got serious, he couldn't handle her.

Seeing his father about to be defeated, Su Lu suddenly stepped in, blocking the widow’s path. He grinned, “If you want to be my mother, shouldn’t you ask my opinion?”

“Don’t talk nonsense—who wants to be your mother?!” The widow’s face burned red to her ears. In the heat of the moment, she’d forgotten his sons were right here.

“But aren’t you trying to cling to my father?” Su Lu sneered.

“I—I…” The widow, daughter of Scholar Cheng, possessed both the passionate openness of the locals and the restraints of strict propriety—a tangled, contradictory nature. Moments ago, she’d dared say anything to drive Su Youcai away. Now, shame overwhelmed her; she wished she could disappear.

At last, overcome by emotion, she buried her face in her handkerchief and wept. Her tears, once unleashed, brought forth all the difficulties and heartaches since her husband’s death; she sobbed as if her heart would break.

Her crying summoned her nine-year-old daughter, who ran out and clung to her mother, wailing in chorus.

The scene left Su Youcai and Su Tai heavy-hearted. Su Tai whispered, “Old man, maybe we should go home first…”

“Ah…” Su Youcai was helpless, about to nod, when Su Lu spoke slowly:

“I’ve thought of a way that might help your family through hardship. But you must promise to repay us first if you earn money.”

“What is it?” The crying stopped. Mother and daughter, father and sons—all turned to Su Lu.