247: Borrow Money

A few days ago, Wang Ningkai’s company was finally forced to transfer owners due to some problems. However, not long after, a group of debt collectors gathered in front of Wang Ningkai’s house. It turned out that after Wang Ningkai transferred the company, the money he received was only used to pay off the debt, and the rest was put in his own pocket - but the wages owed to workers was not paid. So, the workers became unhappy with this and blocked the gate of Wang Ningkai’s house, asking him to pay back the money. Both Li and Granny Wang were accustomed to living a good life, and couldn't adapt to their lives changing back to as it was before now, so neither agreed to pay it back.

Now, every day in the Guan’s Village, dozens of workers gathered in front of Wang Ningkai’s house and shouted loudly. Some of them held flags and large banners with the words ‘Repay the Money’ on it, blocking the door and refusing to leave. If Wang Ningkai did not pay back the money that day, they would not disband.

Embezzling other people's hard-earned money was immoral behavior.

However, when these workers went to work in Wang Ningkai's company, they did not sign any labor contracts. Most of them did not understand the law. The Wang Ningkai father and son continued to hide in the Guan’s Village without leaving their home, but soon, had no choice but to come to the gate.

Their families needed to pay bills, and their children had to eat. There was absolutely no end if they didn’t pay back the money. Some workers were so irritated that they even started to throw stones at their home.

The windows that had just been renovated less than a year ago were broken due to the stones, and sometimes people could be heard knocking on the door in the middle of the night, or other such loud noises that caused them to be unable to sleep. Li and Granny Wang were scared to death, but despite this, did not agree to take out the money.

They had been deadlocked in this situation for two days. Secretary Guan finally came forward and told everyone that they could get their wages back through legitimate channels, because regardless of a contract or not, if there was any evidence that they had a labor contract with Wang Ningkai, Wang Ningkai must pay them their wages.

Therefore, if Wang Ningkai did not return the money to the workers, they could take the Wang Ningkai father and son to court in accordance with the relevant laws.

As soon as this news spread, Li and Granny Wang were shocked.

If something happened to the Wang Ningkai father and son, their lives would become even more difficult. For many years, they had regarded them as the pillars of the family.

The Wang Ningkai father and son also knew that this matter was of great importance. The situation would be worse for them if defendants went to court. So, when the workers gathered at their door again, Wang Hongwei, as the head of the family, finally stood up and promised everyone that he would return the money to them. It was just that things were a bit tight right now, so he hoped that they could give him a grace period.

The workers certainly disagreed. Many were worried that they would take the opportunity to wriggle out of their end of the deal, so they refused to leave. In the end, Secretary Guan had to come forward and ask Wang Hongwei to pay back a portion of the workers' wages to stabilize their worry. Wang Hongwei hesitated before reluctantly agreeing.

"Are you really going to pay it back?" Li reluctantly watched as her husband took out one hundred thousand yuan from their safe. If this money was used in the past, she would not have needed to pay much attention to it, but now it was different. Without this money, how could they make a living? There was not much money left for their son, who would have to make a comeback.

"Do you want them to keep blocking the door of the house every day, and let them sue Hongwei and Ningkai? If this matter gets out in the future and Ningkai starts a company again, who will dare to work for him?" Grandpa Wang was the kind of person who wanted to save face, so now that the trouble had reached this point, he didn’t dare to go out at all.

Although Granny Wang was unhappy about it, her husband was right. "Your father is right. We are all reluctant to let the child get tangled in this mess, so now, he can only take some money to go out and stabilize that group of people."

Seeing that Granny Wang had already spoken, he could only compromise. She stood at the door and painfully watched her husband send out one hundred thousand dollars in cash. After he promised to pay back all the remaining wages in three days, the workers reluctantly left.

They’d already agreed, but if they couldn’t get money from other places in three days, they would have to pay for it out of their own pockets. Li was so anxious that the corners of her mouth twitched.

That night, an unexpected guest came to their house.

The two sides talked for half an hour before that person was sent away. Wang Ningkai's family seemed to have ignited a new hope. That night, everyone had a good night's sleep. The next morning, Granny Wang Li had their breakfast. The two of them hid in the room and discussed for over an hour before coming out. Then they went straight to Wang Cheng's house, since they found that the Guan Lanfang husband and wife were home today.

After the new year passed, Wang Cheng’s jam shop had recruited two more workers, both of whom previously lived in the Wang’s Village. One was younger and his name was easy to remember: his name was Wang Da. Because of his limited knowledge, he was unable to get recruited by a big company. After working outside jobs to pay the rent, he found that he didn’t make much money, so he came back. Papa Wang had watched Wang Da grow up, and was familiar with him.

The other worker was the wife of Second Uncle Guan, who was the middle-aged man who had sold seeds to Wang Cheng. His wife was from the Wang's village. Because his son and daughter were both in college, they consumed a lot of money. Although their family opened a small shop to make money, it still wasn’t enough to cover the cost of college, so Second Aunt Guan also came out to look for a job.

There was also Wang Cheng’s third aunt, who was now temporarily taking the place of his eldest aunt. With them, Papa and Mama Wang didn’t have to go to help as often. Now, they would only go there once in a while, and lived comparatively leisurely most of the time at home. Mama Wang was watering the vegetable field in the backyard when she heard a noise in the front. She walked out only to see Granny Wang and Li. Granny Wang was proud, as if Papa Wang’s family was blessed to have her presence at their house. However, Li didn't act so high and mighty, but even uncharacteristically smiled at them.

"Hongxin, Lanfang, why haven’t you guys been coming home recently? Mother and Father miss you a lot, and we just had time to come and visit you today,” Li said as soon as she entered the door.

Both Papa and Mama Wang were quite surprised, but after so many incidents, they learned to feel more polite rather than affectionate towards Granny Wang.

"Just tell us if you need anything, Hongxin and I have something in a while."

Mama Wang didn't believe that they really missed them. As she recalled recent events, she guessed that this was most likely related to the matter of the workers' wages. She suddenly had an unfavorable premonition.

When Granny Wang heard her words hurrying them, her face immediately became displeased.

Li secretly comforted her that they were now asking for help from others; if they acted out, they would upset the Wang Hongxin husband and wife.

Who knew if Granny Wang really understood, but she didn't make any rebuttal as was expected.

Li was satisfied, but sighed on the surface, pretending to be embarrassed. She said: "Since you have something, I'll just say it straight. You must have heard about your eldest brother's household’s matters. Hongwei and I finally got together one hundred thousand yuan to dismiss the group of workers blocking the door, and promised to pool the remaining money to give back to them in three days. However, you also know that Ningkai’s company closed down recently, so we really don’t have much money. But we still owe them a lot. If we don’t pay it back in three days, they will take Ningkai and Hongxin to court. Our parents and I really can’t help this, but we also can’t sell our house. Therefore, we wanted to borrow some money from you so that we can solve the urgent matters first. We will definitely return the money to you when we get through the immediate difficulties.”

Her words surprised Papa Wang. Li's eyes always held a superior gaze, and this was really the first time Mama Wang heard her speak in such a low voice, but she wasn’t a fool. She immediately asked, "How much money does sister-in-law want to borrow?"

Hearing these words, Li thought Mother Wang had surrendered, and she was overjoyed. She immediately said: "Not too much, with your family's current situation, you should be able to afford it. It's only 300,000."

In fact, there was no need for so much. They had already calculated it: besides the 100,000 they had paid back, only 200,000 more was needed. The extra money was deliberate. If it could be borrowed, who was to say they wouldn’t need it in the future? After all, even if they could get that much, they could slowly lower it and barter.

"Only three hundred thousand?" Mama Wang mocked: "Sister-in-law's tone is really flippant. Your company has closed down, but three hundred thousand is still not much in your eyes? Why bother borrowing from us?"

Li's expression froze.

"What's with your attitude? Do you not put us in your eyes now that your company is developed? Don't forget that you are still my Wang family's daughter-in-law!" The old lady burst into anger on the spot.

Mama Wang was not afraid of Granny Wang, and smiled before saying, "Mother, what you said isn’t correct, our family’s business is not developed. The jam factory is not owned by me and Hongxin, but by Chengcheng. The money is also his. Chengcheng is not a descendant of the Wang family; when Hongxin picked up Chengcheng, I remember exactly what you said. You said at the time that you would never recognize a weed picked up by the roadside as your grandson.”

When it came to holding grudges, if Mama Wang wasn’t ranked first, she was definitely ranked second.

"On the other hand, should you be talking to your elders like this?" The old lady was furious. She then pointed a finger towards Papa Wang, "You still consider me your mother, letting your wife say such things to her sister-in-law, and treating your mother like this? Things would have been better had I never given birth to you."

Papa Wang frowned. Granny Wang’s attitude towards him had always been unswervingly negative. What did he expect now? "Lanfang is right. Our family's money is all Chengcheng’s. If sister-in-law wants to borrow money, you will need Chengcheng’s nod in agreement.”

"Are you purposefully angering me?" Granny Wang didn't even recognize this rebellious son.

Mama Wang said, "Mother, don’t say that. I heard that Ningkai still has a house in the city? Isn’t that house unoccupied now? Since sister-in-law is short of money, just sell the house. If I’m remembering correctly, sister-in-law said at that time that the house is worth 1 million. You won’t only pay back the 300,000 worth of wages after selling it, but there will also be 700,000 left. Maybe Ningkai can borrow that money to make a comeback."

"No!" Li retorted without even thinking about it.

***

Back    ToC    Next