Acting cute?

Playing dumb?

Beauty trap?

Shuzhen was feeling a bit conflicted, unsure of which tactic would finally persuade her husband.

Ugh, blame it all on this little ingrate in her belly!

Otherwise, even if she wanted to reach for the stars or dive into the sea, her husband wouldn’t even frown. Not only would he go all out to help, but he’d also shoulder all the preparation, the risky parts, and the responsibility in case of failure.

In his own words: After twenty-six years as an ’old bachelor’, marrying such a perfect wife is worth betting my life on pampering her to death, right?

But now with the pregnancy, all her advantages have turned into disadvantages.

Because he’s spoiling, pampering, and caring about her, he couldn’t easily agree to let her suffer, tire, or face danger.

And right now, in early autumn, going mushroom picking on the mountain after the rain is just a trifecta of suffering, tiring, and danger.

You can imagine how hard it is to get this wife-loving guy to agree.

While Shuzhen was pondering without coming up with a quick solution, the helpful little assistant—Lian Yue arrived.

"Brother, Saozi, are you home?" Lian Yue called out loudly from afar.

Even though she personally thought they didn’t need such formalities within the family, her hubby’s words made sense, didn’t they?

Big Brother and Saozi were just newlyweds, basking in sweet lovey-dovey moments, wishing to stick together all day long. If she barged in as she used to, what would they do if they were caught in an awkward scene?

Glancing out the window, she saw her sister-in-law in patchy old clothes, a faded triangular headscarf on her head, yellow rubber shoes on her feet. She had a big earthen basket in her right hand, and a wooden-handled, wire-tied small rake in her left. Beside her, Ning Jianshe was similarly equipped. The whole mushroom-picking gear made Shuzhen laugh.

Without waiting for Lianshan to reply, she quickly got up, took a few steps out the door: "Yes, yes! Xiao Yue and Jianshe, here to ask me and your brother to pick mushrooms and repay the debt together? But since both of you are out here, what about the little nephew?"

Coincidentally, there were a few passersby outside, and Shuzhen seized the chance to raise her voice, airing their busy money-making, debt-repaying business as if out of concern.

Originally, when she was at the peak of her life, she was kicked to the curb by Dai Weiguo, the scumbag in traditional tales, full of topics. Going all out to find him and ask for explanations, heartbreak pushed to the brink, she becomes a full topic of conversation. Her experiences and choices were discussed over meals and tea. So naturally, her life garners some extra attention.

With her shouting as she did, the few pedestrians halted and stopped chatting, focusing their gossip-filled gazes on the group.

Lian Yue, being straightforward with her thoughts, didn’t have much experience dealing with situations where you seize chances to smear the enemy.

Fortunately, Ning Jianshe was quite cunning, more observant than anyone else.

Listening to Shuzhen, he glanced at the dazed pedestrians with his peripheral vision and let out a long sigh, his face immediately showing a deep bitterness: "The child’s at Hai Zi’s place, letting Hai Zi’s wife take some trouble to look after three kids. Me, Xiao Yue, and Hai Zi will go up the mountain with you and Big Brother to pick mushrooms and such to sell to the collection station.

Earn as much as possible, every cent counts, how else are we going to repay all the accumulated debts to the brigade?"

While Lian Yue might not be as clever, she was definitely not stupid, okay!

With Saozi and her husband frequently mentioning the old debts, and then hearing Saozi talk about how to trick Lin Yuanzhi last night.

Linking all these together, she instantly caught on and naturally chimed in: "Absolutely! Let’s call Liu family’s brother, second brother, and Saozi to join us later when we pass by. Given the circumstances, who cares about pride or not. Didn’t the brigade leader say it yesterday? Now the country and the party are in difficult times. As commune members, shouldn’t we strive to support the socialist construction? Quickly repaying debt so we don’t hold the party and the country back is the right thing to do.

Even though the brigade leader was a bit tactless forcing debts on your wedding day with Big Brother, hinting he’d seize your bicycle as a dowry, it was for work, we understand.

After all, repaying debts is justified and reasonable, who can escape it?

From now on, we’ll go up the mountain to pick mushrooms and find wood ears. Work more, eat less, save every penny like it’s cut into eighty pieces, it’s only a hundred bucks!"

For the ensuing comfort among siblings and in-laws, the pedestrians weren’t the least bit interested. They were shocked that Lin Yuanzhi actually pressed for the debt on Lianshan’s wedding day, even threatening to use the new wife’s dowry as collateral. More shockingly: that bastard would actually use the excuse of not holding back the party and the country to start a full-fledged debt collection?

The shameless one is looking at all of us debtors to make himself look good!

Originally in this era, there was more work and less grain shared. Every family has old folks and kids who earn less or simply don’t earn work points.

Low income with many mouths, there’s inevitably a time when it doesn’t add up.

Borrowing money from the production team had long been the village’s go-to solution for hardships, poverty, weddings, and funerals that exceed income levels.

Some lazy ones don’t like working, always complaining about headaches or buttocks hurting. By year-end, they still owed the production team. Others who felt the team wouldn’t chase them, believed they could get away with borrowing. Thinking they’d be fools if they don’t take such advantages, they borrowed anyways...

No matter the reason, the Liu family village collectively owed a substantial amount to the production team.

Regardless of whether it was dishonest indebtedness or genuine difficulties, they really couldn’t find anyone able to repay it. And those who technically could smooth things over, well?

Don’t be silly, they borrowed with the intention of gaining an advantage, okay!

Could they repay it? Sure, but everything needs to follow the sequence, right? Considering the party and the country, we need to be reasonable! With everyone owing the same type of debt, why not go after those who owe more and longer, instead of us who owe less and later?

Really want the money?

Alright then!

Collect from those who owe more and longer first, then we can discuss further!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com