I bring bad luck to my husband, you bring bad luck to your wife.

"What should we do? You need to think of something quickly!"

"Uncle, you've already angered them. I can't think of anything else besides paying them compensation."

"Regarding the money..."

"I can't help with the money; I haven't even saved enough to raise my child yet."

"Don't rush the baby's matter. Babies are born with their own food supply, so it won't cost much. What's most important right now is your aunt's matter. When are your parents coming back?"

"I don't know, but if you're really short on money, you know the pawnshop where my older brother works, right? Shanshan still has some jewelry, you can take it there and ask for its price."

The father was embarrassed to say that Shanshan's last few pieces of jewelry were actually just gold-plated silver, a cheap imitation.

Those valuable, solid items have long been sold out.

The Tong family shouldn't be so short of money, but unfortunately, Tong Shenghu is too ambitious.

I want to start a small business today, and the day after tomorrow I want to partner with someone to trade some goods.

Sometimes it really does allow him to make some money.

Once he started making money, Tong Shenghu became arrogant.

Tong's parents also felt that their son was a business genius, so they strongly supported him.

Some time ago, on the recommendation of a friend, Tong Shenghu became obsessed with gambling on stones.

When his parents didn't give him enough money, he would steal things from his sister's house to sell.

Even after being discovered, they remained fearless and persuaded their sister to invest in the company as if it were her investment.

Tong Shanshan had a lot of arguments with her family about this, but at that time the Tong family thought that the tea merchant was so interested in Shanshan that they would have more soon, so the matter didn't escalate.

But gambling on stones is even more frightening than gambling itself.

In the beginning, they were all small stones. Sometimes they lost money, sometimes they made money, but they were basically able to maintain a balance.

Later, Tong Shenghu gambled on increasingly larger stakes, and his losses grew ever greater.

All the real gold and silver turned into a pile of useless stones in the yard.

Tong Shenghu himself didn't have much capital; most of the losses came from Tong Shanshan.

So now that people are demanding compensation from the Tong family, the Tong family really doesn't have much money left.

"Tongchuan, I beg you, please save your aunt and sister, I beg you." As he spoke, Tong's father knelt down before Yang Tongchuan.

An elder kneeling before a younger person greatly excited the onlookers.

A rustling sound came from inside, all of them gossiping about the Yang family.

Yang Tongchuan didn't indulge him either.

He knelt down before the father with a thud.

"Uncle, my mother has always doted on my aunt since she was little. She would rather go hungry or cold than eat anything herself. She fed her every bite of food and raised my aunt like a little girl. Over the years, the money my mother has given my aunt is enough to buy several acres of good land in the countryside. My father argues with my mother about this every day. Life is hard for our family."

Yang Tongchuan burst into tears, wailing even louder than Tong's father.

On the contrary, Tong Shenghu, who was standing to the side, was frightened by Yang Tongchuan's actions.

He never expected Yang Tongchuan, a grown man, to be so spineless.

It's just borrowing some money, why make such a fool of yourself? You're useless.

"Uncle, if you don't think pawnshops are suitable, I know a private lender who doesn't charge high interest rates. I can introduce you to him."

"No, no, the loan has to be repaid."

Pshaw, so you do know that borrowed money has to be repaid.

Yang Tongchuan's performance is almost over.

She stood up herself and helped the boy's father up as well.

Before the father could react, she pulled him outside.

"If that doesn't work either, Uncle, why don't you go back to the restaurant and borrow some money from your boss? You're the pillar of the restaurant, so the boss will definitely give you that much face."

"No, no..."

"That won't work either. I'll take you to the tea merchants now, and you can talk to them yourself."

Remembering how badly Tong Shenghu had been beaten by that family last time, Tong's father refused to go no matter what.

"Oh, that won't work either, Uncle. Do you even want to save my aunt, your wife, and your daughter?"

As soon as Yang Tongchuan said this, the people watching the commotion burst out laughing.

Even with the thick skin of the Tong family father and son, they couldn't withstand it anymore.

They could only leave dejectedly.

Yang Tongchuan thought to himself: I can handle you two unlucky bastards.

He turned around and saw that the door to his house was ajar, and a pair of round eyes were watching him from behind it.

Oh no. Did Xiangxi see me making a fool of myself?

In fact, Xiangxi had been hiding behind the door eavesdropping the whole time. When he heard Yang Tongchuan kneel down with a thud, his heart skipped a beat.

So he secretly opened the door to peek outside.

Xiangxi had never seen Yang Tongchuan act like a scoundrel before.

I was quite startled myself.

Yang Tongchuan pushed open the door and returned home, shutting out the discussions outside.

Did I scare you?

"A bit, I've never seen you like this before."

"I'm not just good at fighting. My uncle and aunt are elders after all. If we start fighting, we'll be the ones who suffer. So I have to be even more shameless than them."

After seeing off the Tong family father and son, Yang Tong and Xiang Xi settled down behind closed doors and began their own quiet lives.

Yanzi was sent out by Yang Tongchuan to buy roast duck.

Since there were only a few people in the family, he and Xiangxi each got one of the two duck legs.

The weather is nice today, and Xiangxi wants to take the quilts out of the house to air them out.

Yang Tongchuan, worried that he might strain himself, took the initiative to take over the work.

I had just finished airing the blankets when there was another knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Yang Tongchuan thought it was someone from the Tong family again and called out irritably.

"Master, do you need firewood delivered?" The other party was clearly startled by Yang Tongchuan's voice.

The Yang family lived in the east of the city and usually bought firewood.

A few regular farmers would come over every now and then to ask if they needed firewood.

A bundle of firewood costs about 15 coins, which is a small income during the off-season.

"Wait a minute." With so many troubles at home lately, Yang Tongchuan had completely forgotten about delivering firewood.

"Come in. Put it in the usual spot in the backyard. Xiangxi, go inside and get fifteen coins."

"Okay." Xiangxi took the money out of the money box.

These expenses were usually paid by Yang's mother from the public account. Since Yang's mother was not at home, Xiangxi did not care about these things.

The farmer stacked the firewood, and Xiangxi gave the other party fifteen coins.

"Thank you, boss." The other party bowed, took the money, and left without lingering.

Xiangxi recognized the man; he used to work as a porter at the docks and had even come to Xiangqiang's stall to ask for hot water.

"What are you looking at? They've all left." Yang Tongchuan felt inexplicably irritated when he saw Xiangxi staring at the man.

"He once asked me for hot water at the dock."

"An old acquaintance?"

"What old acquaintance? I don't even know his name. He didn't recognize me either. I just recognize his face."

"Stop looking. It's not like it's anyone important. What's there to see? Go back to your room and lie down." Yang Tongchuan closed the door again.

At lunchtime, Xiangxi wanted to make a winter melon soup to go with the roast duck and cut through the richness. Yang Tongchuan stopped her and asked Yanzi to make it instead.