Ruan Jianguo heard this and his eyebrows instantly furrowed.
The last time he lent money was half a year ago. At that time, Ruan Jiaojiao was still doing well. He routinely came back to check in, and Xiu Jianlin had saved some dried goods to sell to him, but the goods werenāt even enough to weigh. Normally, Ruan Jianguo would take care of him separately because they were from the same village. Although Liu Mei was annoying, Xiu Jianlin was still okay in his eyes, so he almost always gave more money, and generally, he would lend money. Just as Liu Mei thought, the hundreds of dollars really didnāt matter to him much now.
But that didnāt mean Xiu Jianlin could take it for granted.
He set down the hoe in his hand, took off his white gloves, pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pants pocket, stuck one in his mouth, and handed another to Xiu Jianlin. Seeing him with trembled, cracked hands, Xiu Jianlin accepted but didnāt smoke it ā he treasured it by placing it behind his ear. Ruan Jianguo sighed inwardly and asked, "Jianlin, I heard you havenāt gone out to look for work recently? And now you just casually ask me for three hundred, treating me like I run a bank here?"
"Brother Ruan, no, no, donāt misunderstand," Xiu Jianlin said humbly, bowing his head: "Itās because Liu Mei has been sick at home and hasnāt been able to get out of bed for almost half a year. She canāt be left alone, so I didnāt have time to do odd jobs outside. You see, New Year is coming soon, so Iām asking to borrow a little more. If itās inconvenient for you... two hundred will do, for now," Xiu Jianlin said, scratching his head ingenuously: "Youāre such a big boss, surely you donāt miss this bit of money?"
Those words.
Ruan Jianguo gave him a deep look: "Jianlin, your words are funny. Iām such a big boss, but money doesnāt grow on trees."
"Brother Ruan, thatās not what I meant..." Xiu Jianlin looked at him anxiously, unable to explain with his clumsy tongue, and could only repeat what he said every time he borrowed money: "I will definitely pay it back in the future, definitely..."
While he spoke these words, he looked at Ruan Jianguo eagerly, his eyes turning red.
Ruan Jianguo felt sorry for this grown man when he saw him like this. He was about to relent, but then he saw the faint look from Ruanlin Family standing by the back door of the building. Ruan Jianguo coughed deeply, and Xiu Jianlin immediately stepped forward to help him catch his breath, asking, "Brother Ruan, can you do it or not?"
"Jianlin." Ruanlin Family walked over from the back door, with a smile on her face: "I just heard you talking with Jianguo. You want to borrow three hundred, right?"
Xiu Jianlin felt apprehensive when he saw Ruanlin Family, hesitantly nodded, knowing todayās business was mostly not going to succeed.
Sure enough, the next second he heard Ruanlin Family say, "Jianlin, this isnāt because Jianguo didnāt want to lend it to you. Itās just that recently, our sweetheart Ruan Jiaojiao fell seriously ill, so we went to Beidu for treatment. Although now sheās gotten better, no longer a concern, weāve spent quite a lot of money. We were actually planning to go to your place later to look at those IOUs from previous years..."
"Aunt!" Xiu Jianlin was anxious upon hearing this, abruptly interrupting Ruanlin Family, turning to run away, saying as he ran: "Aunt, I wonāt talk to you anymore, I think I hear my wife calling, Iāll go back first, okay." His voice gradually faded away as his figure quickly disappeared into the hillside.