Many from the village came over for the drama. Some of them who didn’t think that the drama was entertaining enough even added, “Old Mr. Shu, Shu Yan doesn’t just have ‘some money’. We heard from Old Mrs. Ye that it is close to 3 million yuan!”
“Exactly. That’s so much money. Why does one woman need so much money? She should be more familial to his parents. What she was doing was wrong.”
“Exactly. So what if Shu Yan’s three brothers have houses already? They still need to be remodeled. She could spare some of hers.”
“Oh, Aunty Lanhua, that sounds nice. Then how come you didn’t shell out some money for your brother to find himself a wife? He’s close to 40, no? I heard that he was talking to a woman last time and they asked for 800 yuan as betrothal gift and he was short 300. Why didn’t you top it off for him? Getting married is much more important than remodeling a house,” said Shu Jianyang as he chuckled.
Aunty Lanhua was wordless for a second then retorted with, “I’m a farmer. Where am I getting this money from? If I have 3 million yuan, never mind about 300 yuan, I’ll be pay as much as 30,000 yuan.”
Someone agreed with her right away.
“I know you don’t have 3 million yuan but for sure you have 3,000 yuan. So why can’t you shell out 300 yuan?” Shu Jianyang took a look around and said, “All you care is that the drama is not entertaining enough. If all of you are so nice, let me go talk to your family a little while later and have them come and take your stuff away. Why do you need so many things at home instead of giving them away to your brothers?”
Now everyone had it figured out. Shu Jianyang was on Shu Yan’s side.
“How’s that the same? We have elders and young ones at home.”
“Shu Yan have two kids too. Don’t you think she will need money settling down in an entirely new place? Don’t you think she will need money to send her two children to school? Don’t they need to eat? As much money as she has, they are hers. It’s not your place to be concerned about that. Besides, all three news houses that belong to my Second Uncle’s family were paid for mostly by Shu Yan. In addition, I didn’t just return today because you had filed a police report against me. Shu Yan, too, had something that she wanted to do in this village.”
The villagers exchanged looks with each other. What was it that Shu Yan wanted from this village?
Shu Jianyang went to fetch the Village Party Secretary and the Party Director before placing a call to Shu Yan.
“Mr. Village Party Secretary. This is Shu Yan.” Shu Yan’s voice came from the other end at a moderate pace. “I have been busy where I am and was not able to make it there in person. I had asked Third Brother to go in my place. I want to talk to you about having a contract on supporting my parents when they grow old. I have shared the content with my Third Brother and he had it prepared already. He will be signing for me and I would like to trouble you to be the witness.”
The Village Director was displeased. She only needed one of them for something like this. There was no need to have them both there.
“And the other thing that I want to talk about is the road in the village……”
Everybody’s ears perked up.
“Even after I was married but I am still part of the Shu family. I know that you and the Village Director have always wanted to have a road that leads out of our village. I would like to donate 50,000 yuan of my own money. I am not sure if that will be enough, if ……”
“If she is short, I will top it up,” said Shu Jianyang. “I am in construction and have both the machineries and the manpower. I will also be able to get the best prices for materials. 50,000 yuan should be enough. I will pay for anything that goes over that amount.”
The old Village Party Secretary was almost in tears when he heard that. As were the Village Director and the villagers gathering around.
Their village located at the foothills and was 1.5 km from the next closest village, all of them little pathways next to the fields and were particularly difficult to travel on when it rained. If they could have paved roads, it would benefit everyone in the village.
All of those who were just calling Shu Yan unfamilial changed their tunes immediately.
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Translator’s rambling:
This got my blood boiling all over again. So what if she has money! Who are they to decided that “she can’t spend it all herself”? Just because she has “too much money”, she must spend them on these cretins???
AND, it wasn’t even Shu Yan’s family saying that (not that that will be any better) but like random people. How is that any of YOUR business???
