Chapter 63: Li Daniu's Gratitude, Li Xiuqin's Emotion

Su Sheng had taken a fancy to Li Xiuqin at first sight, so when he saw someone bullying her, naturally he could not hold back his temper.

However, Su Yu pulled him back. Just as old man Li had said, if this external debt was not cleared, Li Xiuqin might be dragged down for the rest of her life. Even without exorbitant usurious interest rates, a mere one hundred and fifty yuan was enough to crush an ordinary family, let alone Li Xiuqin who was just a rural girl—how could she possibly pay it back?

In his previous life, Li Xiuqin was married off in her thirties. He did not know the exact details of how this matter was handled, but given how bitter her later life turned out, it must have been connected to this incident.

Since old man Li agreed to use his house as collateral to settle the debt, that was the best possible outcome.

"Wait a minute, don't leave yet."

Su Yu grabbed Li Dakui, who was about to leave, and everyone turned to look at him.

"Using the house to settle the debt is fine, but you must put down your promise in black and white, and sign and fingerprint it. Verbal promises are worthless. After all, once you sell the house later and someone comes to take it, where is my uncle supposed to live? Will he live at the village secretary's house, or with some clansman? You can't just watch him freeze to death. If that word gets out, you might not care, but the reputation of us villagers in Lijiadwa will stink for a mile against the wind."

His words made everyone wake up. Indeed, this was an era with an extremely strong sense of collective honor. If a murderer appeared in the village, it would become very difficult for the young men in the village to get betrothed, and people would be extremely picky when marrying off their daughters.

Ordinary people might find this hard to understand, but if you compare it to a courtyard courtyard where a thief appears, making it impossible for anyone in the courtyard to find a spouse, it becomes understandable—it was all caused by incompetent management, and this was a matter of collective honor.

"That's right, what this young man says makes sense. Your promise is one thing, but what if you fail to deliver and old man Li ends up homeless? Should we take care of him or not? We can't just watch the man die, can we? If this gets out, none of us will have an easy time."

"Yes, yes, yes! It must be in black and white, with signatures and fingerprints!"

In just a few words, everyone unanimously agreed that Su Yu was right. Watching the fun was one thing, and they wouldn't step forward to help, but if old man Li became homeless and the village secretary called upon everyone to take turns caring for him, would they agree or refuse? Would refusing ruin their reputation? Dumping such a difficult problem on everyone was simply out of the question, so it had to be written down clearly.

The villagers swarmed forward in a crowd, blocking the few men and preventing them from leaving.

"What the hell? Who the hell are you, kid? You meddle in everything. Our family affairs are none of your damn business!"

As he spoke, Li Dakui, relying on being half a head taller than Su Yu, made a move to push him.

Su Sheng had already lost his patience with this. He stepped forward, grabbed the other man's wrist, and twisted it hard, causing Li Dakui to cry out in pain.

Su Sheng was of a similar height to Li Dakui, but Su Sheng was much more robust than him. Having frequently engaged in fights since childhood, he was not afraid at all of the three or four men Li Dakui had brought with him. To put it bluntly, he could handle all of them by himself.

"Bullying my younger brother right in front of my face? In all these years, this is the first time I've ever seen such audacity. Try pushing him again and see what happens?"

Su Sheng glared fiercely and swept a cold glance at the other three men, causing everyone to instinctively take a step back. Sometimes you have to admit to something intangible and invisible: that is, the existence of a genuine murderous aura, or formidable presence, in this world.

The momentum emanating from Su Sheng just then made him look like a fierce ruffian who might stab someone to death at any moment and flee to the ends of the earth, forcing everyone to step back involuntarily.

"This... are you Brother Sheng?"

Fortunately, one of the three men had happened to see Su Sheng before. Although they were not really acquainted, he had at least heard of his formidable reputation.

"Oh ho, so someone recognizes me! Well then, kid, what do you think we should do about today's matter?"

With every word Su Sheng spoke, he slapped Li Dakui across the face. Although the blows were not heavy, they were immensely humiliating.

Su Yu hurriedly grabbed his eldest brother, thinking they had come to propose marriage—why was his brother revealing his true savage nature again? With such a fierce and malevolent look, which good family's virgin daughter would dare to marry him?

Not being frightened to death by him would already prove they possessed immense courage.

"Ahem... My fault, my fault. Please show mercy, I can offer an apology, is that alright?"

Seeing that it was about enough, Su Yu stopped his eldest brother. With so many people watching, they couldn't just beat the guy up, and if things kept escalating, it wouldn't look good for anyone.

"Brother, it was my fault earlier for failing to recognize a person of importance. I apologize to you, I'm truly sorry."

Although Li Dakui was tall and sturdy, he made his living through gambling and shady side hustles, occasionally hanging around murky establishments. If you asked him to engage in a genuine, life-or-death brawl with real weapons, he simply couldn't do it.

Judging by the murderous aura Su Sheng had just displayed, which was not the least bit inferior to Brother Kui from the county town, he wouldn't dare provoke such a fierce character even if you gave him ten times his courage.

"An apology will do, but there is a matter of fairness that I must speak of. Your uncle's house is worth at least three hundred yuan, right? And you, his own biological nephew, casually drop a usurious demand of thirteen returns on nine to snatch it away? Do you think such a good deal exists?"

"If every junior follows your example, what kind of world would this be? You lent this money for three years, and nobody expects you to lend it for free. Paying back two hundred yuan is indeed not much, but the house is worth three hundred yuan. What do you have to say about the excess amount?"

Good grief, was Su Yu planning to settle accounts and extract more from him?

Building a house nowadays—especially a five-room red-tiled house—cost around fifteen hundred yuan. But old man Li's house was merely an adobe mud-brick house, which was practically worthless; only the plot of land held value. Because it was located right in the center of the village, the homestead land was valuable. Even if not five hundred, three hundred yuan should be a fair estimate, right?

After all, villagers with many children had to build their houses at the head or the tail of the village, places completely cut off from civilization where even buying soy sauce required a trip back to the village center.

The central location was undoubtedly the most perfect spot, and that was precisely where its value lay.

Li Dakui could now see that these brothers were here to back up Li Xiuqin, but since they were currently under the eaves, they had no choice but to bow their heads.

"What do you suggest we do?"

"How about this: you cough up fifty yuan to cover the excess value, and treat the remaining fifty yuan as the room and board fee for your uncle to live in this house. We will write it down clearly in black and white: whenever your uncle passes away, this house reverts to you. How about that?"

Goodness gracious, not only did he fail to get his money back, but he also had to fork out an additional fifty yuan?

Naturally, Li Dakui was unwilling, but seeing his underling frantically signaling to him and glancing at Su Sheng, he gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement.

In the end, Li Dakui managed to gather fifty yuan and handed it over to old man Li. With the village secretary and several respected elders in the village acting as joint witnesses and under their supervision, both parties signed and pressed their fingerprints on documents drawn up in triplicate—each party holding one copy, and the production brigade retaining the final one.

This matter was finally brought to a close.

"Young man, thank you, thank you so much for your help."

Li Xiuqin also looked gratefully at Su Yu, who hastily averted his gaze. Heavens above, what kind of look was that? She was going to be his future sister-in-law!

Su Yu hurriedly glanced at the village secretary and gave him a meaningful look.

The village secretary understood instantly, nodded, and said to old man Li, "Daniu, don't stand out here anymore. Let's go inside and talk.正好, I can introduce you all so you can get acquainted."

So old man Li's name was Li Daniu—truly plain and unpretentious, just like his destiny, working bitterly all his life only to dress the bride for someone else.