Chapter 91: Chen Jing Borrowing Usury

After the Spring Imperial Examination, Lu Lin's shop became the center of the attention again. There was a Councilor who bought the giant rooster doll from the store for 50 taels of silver, and his grandson had passed the exam and became a Xiucai!

The grandson was only fifteen years old. Among the candidates who had passed this time, he was the youngest and the most outstanding one.

Everyone was impressed and they praised him for his talent. They all said in the future, this young man would definitely succeed in the government examination and be conferred a rank of nobility.

The Councilor was bursting with happiness, he held a banquet for a few days straight to celebrate.

On the banquet, the Councilor took out the rooster to impress the guests, he said that it was all thanks to this rooster. His grandson had such luck was all because of this auspicious rooster from Sino Commercial House, even though to tales of silver was expensive, it was totally worth it.

It was rumored that the dolls at Sino Commercial House were auspicious and they would do wonders. This rumor even spread to the surrounding towns and villages. Many people came to buy dolls with admiration, and all kinds of dolls became popular again.

Granny Shen had been busy working and training new workers, but she found pleasure in it.

Recently, business in the shop was good, so the workers had to work day and night. Although it had been a little hard, the workers were grateful.

Xique and Lin Chun became proficient thanks to Granny Shen's training.

The rooster dolls were sold out right away. The customers had to pick other dolls.

Lu Lin didn't think that the dolls in his shop could do wonders like helping people pass exams. He felt that it was just a coincidence, but he was happy to see how satisfied the customers were.

......

The villagers all liked to talk about Imperial Examination.

"Have you heard that, a 15-year-old young talent has passed the exam, amazing!"

"It's Councilor Xu's grandson, right? It is said that Councilor Xu hired a scholar for his grandson when he was three years old. Tut tut tut, they are so privileged, our kids could only play in the field when they were three years old."

"Yeah! The price of writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones are not cheap, let alone hiring a scholar. The rich people in town don't have so many concerns."

When the villagers thought of Lu Cheng Yu, they sighed again. They all thought that Lu Cheng Yu could make it this time, they did not expect him to fail again.

"I heard that this time Councilor Xu said that it was all thinks to the doll in Sino Commercial House that his grandson could pass the exam. The most-treasured piece in the store!"

"This most-treasured piece in the store is just a big doll, isn't it? It doesn't seem special at all."

"Why isn't it special? It's worth 50 taels."

"In my opinion, no doll is worth such a big amount of money! That Councilor Xu was just too anxious for his grandson. "

"I heard that when the giant doll was first launched, quite a few Councilors offered to buy it."

......

In Sino Commercial House.

Wan Li noticed a woman staring at the store from afar with a strange expression.

After a long time, the woman finally walked up to him and said that she was Chen Xiao Mi's aunt Chen Chun'er and wanted to see Chen Xiao Mi.

Wan Li was surprised to hear that and he sent Qin Lang in to report this to Chen Xiao Mi.

Chen Xiao Mi asked Qin Lang to bring took Chen Chun'er into the backyard to see Chen Xiao Mi.

Chen Chun'er ranked the fourth in the family, she was Chen Xiao Mi's Aunt.

Grandpa Chen preferred sons to daughters, so he didn't care much about this daughter.

Chen Chun'er got married when Chen Xiao Mi was young. Chen Xiao Mi didn't have a deep impression of this Aunt.

Chen Chun'er married to a village far away, and she was married to a butcher due to the high betrothal present.

Butchers made good money in this time and space, but people tried to keep away from them as much as possible because of their occupation, no one deemed a butcher as a good match.

The butcher offered 20 tales of silver as betrothal present, Grandma Chen and Grandpa Chen agreed to marry Chen Chun'er to the butcher with boundless joy. After Chen Chun'er got married, she chose not to be estranged from her family.

Chen Chun'er came back home when Chen Xiao Mi's father passed away, she wept bitter tears of remorse on the funeral. Before Chen Chun'er got married, she and Chen Xiao Mi's father was very close.

Chen Chun'er stuffed 100 cents into Chen Xiao Mi's hand before she left, telling him to take good care of himself.

100 cents was not a small amount for Chen Xiao Mi back then, therefore, Chen Xiao Mi was forever grateful to this aunt.

......

"Aunty, welcome! Long time no see, how have you been? " Chen Xiao Mi was so happy.

Chen Chun'er hesitated for a moment and said, "Your grandfather and grandmother came to my house two days ago."

Chen Xiao Mi was confused, "Why?"

Chen Chun'er was married to a butcher. Chen Xiao Mi was very young when his aunt got married, he couldn't recall what the butcher looked like. However, Chen Xiao Mi remembered how the villagers talked about that butcher, he had an ugly, ferocious pugnacious look, he was short-tempered and he showed a propensity for violence.

Chen Chun'er didn't have much dowry when she got married. The two villages were pretty far away, so Chen Chun'er didn't visit her parents that much.

"A while ago, Chen Jing met someone who said that he could get the examination paper for 50 taels of silver."

Chen Xiao Mi was shocked, "Is there such a thing? How is that possible?" It was the governor who kept the examination papers, Chen Xiao Mi doubted anyone could have access to it. "It's a lie, aunt, right? "

Chen Chun'er nodded. "It is indeed a lie."

Chen Xiao Mi thought to himself, 'Sure enough, it's a big scandal if anyone else has access to the paper other than the governor."

"Did Chen Jing fall for it?"

Chen Chun'er nodded. "Chen Jing falls for it. He went back home and asked Mother to give him some money, Mother turned him down and he went so far as to borrow usury!"

In fact, Grandma Chen was very excited when she heard that Chen Jing could get the examination paper with fifty taels of silver. However, Chen Jing pressed too hard and Grandma Chen didn't have that cash in hand. If they wanted to gather fifty taels as soon as possible, they had to sell some farmland at a cheap price.

Grandma Chen thought about it and found that too risky, she had to bite the bullet and turned Chen Jing down.

Chen Jing fell prey to the con artist, he felt that success or failure would be a hang upon this single action, so he borrowed usury at extortionate rates of interest.

Chen Xiao Mi frowned and said, "He's crazy! I can't believe he has borrowed usury!"

Chen Chun'er shook her head. "Jing was not in his right mind."

After Chen Jing bought the so-called 'examination paper' from the con artist, he slacked off on his study completely, all he had in mind was getting the title of Xiucai and having a meteoric rise. He couldn't wait for the exam to come. He thought he could always return the money after the exam, his whole family would act upon whatever he said after he passed the exam.

As a result, on the exam day, Chen Jing realized that he had been deceived. The contents of the test were completely different from the test questions Chen Jing bought before.

Chen Jing realized that he was deceived. When he went to look for the person who sold him the exam paper, the person had already disappeared.

Buying imperial examination paper was pure slick opportunism. If you were to report the con artist to the government, the government would detail you first. Self-seeking misconduct like that would incur severe consequence like fine and jail time.

Chen Jing had no choice but to swallow the bitter fruit.

Chen Jing flunked the exam. The family was disappointed, and Chen Jing dared not mention the matter that he had borrowed usury.

Chen Jing was terrified at first, but to his surprise, no one had sent him any waring about the money, as time went by, he decided to muddle along in the hope of repudiating his debt.

People who practiced usury were not to be trifled with. No way could you repudiate a debt with them.

A few days ago, a few husky fellows burst the Chen family's door open and gave Chen Jing a good beating, they threatened the Chen Family that if they failed to return 100 taels of silver within a certain number of days, they would chop Chen Jing's right arm.

Grandma Chen had always been domineering, but she couldn't go crazy when facing a few hired roughnecks.

Chen Xiao Mi asked with indifference, "Really? But it shouldn't be a problem, his grandparents will save him, they still have over 20 mus of farmland which are worth about 200 taels of silver in total, they can just sell half and repay the debt for Chen Jing."

Chen Chun'er sighed.

Chen Chun'er and the Chen family hadn't been in contact for a long time. Unless something major happened to the Chen family, otherwise they usually wouldn't bother to inform Chen Chun'er. Grandma Chen lied to Chen Chun'er, she just said Grandpa Chen was sick, she didn't mention a word of Chen Jing and the usury.

Grandpa Chen was already old, so Chen Chun'er wasn't suspicious when she heard that Grandpa Chen was sick.

When Chen Chun'er returned to the Chen family, she was surprised to find that her father was hale and hearty. But her nephew Chen Jing was beaten black and blue.

At first, Chen Chun'er was still wondering why her family insisted that she should pay a visit home. Later on, she found out her older brother, Chen Jing's father, was too desperate to think straight. Her older brother demanded that she should contribute some money to repay Chen Jing's debt as well.

......

By the time Lu Lin came back, Chen Chun'er had already left.

"Xiao Mi, I heard that your aunt was here," Lu Lin walked in and asked.

Chen Xiao Mi nodded, "Yeah!"

"Why is she here? Shouldn't we ask her to stay for dinner?"

"I've asked her to, but she said she needed to go back home. Otherwise, it would be dark and it wouldn't be safe to walk at night."

Chen Xiao Mi told Lu Lin what Chen Jing had done.

" Aunt borrowed 5 cents as fare," Chen Xiao Mi said.

"Five cents?" Lu Lin asked in surprise.

Chen Xiao Mi nodded. "She is cash-stripped due to the Chen family, so..."

When Chen Chun'er heard that her father was sick, she didn't think much about it and headed straight back to the Chen family. In the end, Chen Chun'er found out that she was tricked.

Lu Lin rolled his eyes and was a little speechless.

"Chen Jing is deceived by a con artist! The thing is even though he is a victim, he dares not to report this to the government, because he will be in big trouble as well!"

Lu Lin had heard the students in the store talking about buying exam papers as well, but the students seemed to know it was a scam and they would just dismiss the matter with a sneer.

Chen Xiao Mi pouted and said, "This idiot actually believed in such a thing."

Lu Lin thought to himself, 'Because some people are gamblers who don't believed in shortcuts! There are people who spend their entire fortune in the casino in modern society."

"If Chen Jing really owes one hundred taels, surely Grandma Chen and Grandpa Chen will bring us into matter as well, they know we are doing pretty good now," Lu Lin said.

Chen Xiao Mi nodded, "That's most likely the case."

100 taels of silver was not a small sum for the village people. It was not impossible for the Chen family to repay it by themselves, their constitution would be greatly undermined.