Chapter 63: Clan Obligations

  Lu Mama asked in surprise: "Miss, you're asking about the land of the Eighth House? Are you really planning on buying it?"

  The Xiao Er Fang estate was not short of land, and when the family first divided up the property, they got ten mu of ancestral land. The dowry land that Zhang Shi brought with her also had a hundred mu, and adding to that the properties she had bought over the years, it all added up to twenty mu. Most of it was in Fengxian, but some was in neighboring counties. It sounded like not much, only two thousand mu, but in fact, this was just the land formally registered under Xiao Er Fang's name. The hundred mu of good land bestowed by the emperor, every year the grain harvested would be converted into money and sent to Zhang Shi's hands, this part of the land was no different from what Xiao Er Fang owned, and didn't need to worry about it, the people sent by the emperor would take care of it.

  The Xiao Er Fang has a small population, and apart from the fields, there are other sources of income. It's not entirely dependent on the output of the land. Nowadays, Zhang Shi no longer buys land for the family, mainly because he doesn't have the energy to manage it. Zhao Xuan suddenly showed great interest in the Eighth House's land, which is why Lu Ma was surprised.

  Zhao Xun explained, "It's not a matter of whether I want to buy or not. The eight houses are now selling land, and one sale is over 200 mu, which is still ancestral land and can only be sold to family members. But which family in the clan can afford to buy so much land at once? Besides our small second house, only the sixth house has money. The sixth house does business and doesn't need a lot of land, and they're planning to open more branches and expand their business, so they may not be willing to spend the money. So who's left but us? If I don't buy it, can I really just watch as the eighth house's uncle is taken to court for debt because of his unfilial son? If grandmother were at home, she would definitely buy it too."

  Lu's mother suddenly realized, indeed this is the reason. She sighed: "Although the Eighth House can't be considered wealthy, it's also a well-to-do family, and life has always been fulfilling. The old master of the Eighth House is still fair-minded and has some prestige in the clan. Who would have thought that when he got older, he would be implicated by his unfilial son, and even the clan's fields would have to be sold? Without the clan's fields, what face would this branch of the family have left in the clan?"

  She sighed and then returned to the topic, answering Zhao Xuan's previous question: "The eight-room family's ancestral land is a bit far from our small second room's ancestral land, separated by about two miles, which is considered middle-grade land. It's not very fertile, almost all of it is planted with cotton, only six mu are planted with rice, and they were cultivated by hired labor, never rented out. I heard that the eight-room family is selling their land, including everything growing on it now. The price is five taels of silver per mu, which is quite cheap. If they weren't in a hurry to get money, they could sell it for seven taels per mu. However, with the recent rain, they're busy taking care of the sick person and haven't had time to deal with the land, so some places have been flooded. If Miss really wants to take over, she'll probably need to spend a lot of effort to clean up afterwards."

  It's easy to handle afterwards, Zhao Xuan has been watching his grandmother manage the household for years and has a good idea of what needs to be done. Even finding people to dig the ditches isn't a problem. Since the land in the Eighth House is reasonably priced, this deal can also be made.

  Zhaoxuan didn't have the concept of taking advantage of someone's misfortune. Now that Wai Ba Fang is in urgent need of money, they are proactively selling the land, and even if the price is low, it was their own decision. By buying it from them, she would be helping them out. What else could they complain about? Others have no reason to gossip either.

  However, she was just a young girl, and buying land wasn't that simple. Two hundred acres of land, five taels of silver per acre, the total price would be one thousand taels. Although it was half the price her brother and sister-in-law had offered, it still wasn't an amount she could easily come up with. Before leaving, Zhang had instructed the accountant that any small expenses under a hundred taels could be taken by Zhao at will, but anything over a hundred taels would require Shen's approval, and if it exceeded five hundred taels, it would need the joint agreement of Zhao, Shen, and the three elderly masters of the third house. Now, wanting to spend one thousand taels, Zhao couldn't help but inform Shen first.

  She personally ran to the Zong house, but unexpectedly, Zhao Jing and Shen Shi were not at home. They went to the eighth house to visit the sick. She had to chat with Qing sister while waiting.

  The affair of the Eighth House is the biggest news in our clan recently, and Qing's sister naturally couldn't help but discuss it a bit: "I heard that the uncle from the Eighth House even went to Xiao Er Fang and asked you to buy their family's ancestral land, right? And they opened with a high price too?"

  Zhao Xuan nodded: "His wife said that the price of superior fields in Songjiang is twelve taels per mu, but considering we are from the same clan, they are willing to lower it to ten taels per mu as a 'discount' to sell to me."

  。”

  "Can't believe they have the nerve to say that! Their land is just average, and four taels per mu is already a high price. They actually have the face to ask for ten taels per mu, it's like robbery!" She lowered her voice mysteriously: "I heard my dad and mom talking, that creditor has some issues, probably set up a trap to harm people. Otherwise, who would accumulate a debt of one thousand taels in just a few days?"

  Zhao Xuan was shocked: "Is it a gambling debt? I only knew he owed debts, but didn't know it was a gambling debt."

  "It was a debt from gambling, he went to his younger brother-in-law's house and ran into his younger brother-in-law and several friends gambling together. He got itchy hands and also gambled a share, but unexpectedly owed over a thousand taels in three days. His father-in-law and younger brother-in-law were unwilling to bail him out, even his wife was blaming him, now she is still staying at her parents' home and refuses to come back with him."

  Zhao Xuan furrowed her brow, feeling extremely disgusted. What she hated the most were the three words "Huang Du". If it weren't for her relatively good impression of Ba Fang's paternal uncle, she really didn't want to get involved in this matter.

  However, the matter is that the debt was indeed intentionally set up to extort money from his cousin, which is quite bold. The Zhao family may not be as powerful as before, but they still have a certain status in Fengxian, and the government is willing to give them face. By doing this, isn't he afraid of losing everything?

  Zhao Xun was deep in thought when he heard Qing Jie sigh again, looking somewhat depressed: "The Eighth House has produced such a person, why should we, the main house, be implicated? My father and mother borrowed money to help his family pay off debts, even pawning several pieces of my mother's dowry jewelry. Father had promised that this autumn he would send Brother out to travel and study, but now it's all been washed away."

  Zhao Jiong's eldest son, Zhao Yuan, is 15 years old this year. He has already passed the county exam and failed in the prefectural exam for two consecutive years. His teacher suggested that he go out to study for a year, which was decided last year. Zhao Xiu had also heard his brother mention it, and Zhao Jiong and Shen Shi had prepared silver for this purpose early on, but they did not expect this twist.

  Zhao Xun was puzzled: "What does this mean? Is Big Brother Jing and Big Sister-in-law going to lend money to the Eighth House?"

  Qing nodded: "Borrowed 400 taels of silver, just sent by my parents. My father said that he is a clansman and cannot bear to see his fellow clansmen suffer. In the past, the eighth house's paternal great-uncle had helped my father, so even if it was just to repay this kindness, he still wanted to lend out this sum of silver. If they hadn't really been unable to make ends meet, he would have wanted to lend more."

  Zhao Xuan couldn't understand, as far as she knew, Zong Fang was just a local landlord. But most of the property was still in the hands of Zhao Jiong's father, Yu Da Lao Ye, and Yu Da Lao Ye was someone who loved to take advantage of others, how could he truly care about his clansmen? He didn't even genuinely care about the people from the inner three houses, let alone the outer eighth house that had been attached to them. Just looking at how Zhao Jiong and his wife were willing to pawn off Shen Shi's dowry for 400 taels of silver, it was clear that this decision hadn't received Yu Da Lao Ye's support. So why did Zhao Jiong and Shen Shi want to do this? The eighth house had already decided to sell the land, couldn't they just exchange money for land instead? She herself had been thinking along these lines too.

  Zhaoyun asked Qing, but got an unexpected answer: "My father said that all the other houses can buy their land, only our house is not allowed. Because the eighth house's land was sold cheaply. If we really bought it, of course, we would be helping the eighth house out. But afterwards, others will inevitably gossip about our house taking advantage of the fire to loot. Our house is already in a difficult situation, why bother to provoke criticism? Lend some money to them, as long as the eighth house can keep their property, it's easy to pay back the money later."

  Zhao Xun fell silent upon hearing this. She felt that she had thought too simply, the land of the Eighth House was now cheap, and his family urgently needed silver, buying their land would be a great help to them, and she would also gain a real benefit, it was a win-win situation.

  It's not an outsider, but a relative who is willing to help. There's no need to buy their land, and even if they do, it's at a low price, which would forever raise suspicions of taking advantage of the situation. The ancestral hall is in a difficult situation itself, and this is also done to demonstrate fairness. But what about the second branch of the family?

  Although the second house is not a clan house, due to the relationship with my grandparents, it has always occupied a unique position in the family, more like a clan house than a real one. The whole family prospered because of the second house, and naturally regarded the second house as an authority. For many years, Grandmother Zhang did not forget to support her relatives, so even after Grandfather's death, she was still respected by everyone. If I only think about whether buying land is cost-effective, will I be betraying my grandmother's hard work all these years?

  Zhao Xun left the ancestral hall and returned home, thinking repeatedly before making up her mind. She brought Bi Lian to rummage through trunks and chests, finding two boxes of gold and silver ingots.

  These were all given by elders during the New Year's festival, and there were also some prepared by her grandmother to reward people. The color was very good, the pattern was fresh and elegant, if it were ordinary times, she would not have used them as ordinary currency. But who made her unable to get more than 100 taels of cash from the accountant? She had no choice but to use these.

  She picked twenty gold hairpins, twenty silver hairpins, and added two golden necklaces given by others, which should be worth about three hundred taels of silver. She had them wrapped up, took Bi Lian with her, bid farewell to Lu Ma, and headed towards the Eighth House.

  Zhao Xun directly delivered the package to the uncle who was in charge of the eighth house: "Grandmother is not at home, and I, as a niece, do not dare to use the family's silver money arbitrarily. This is just something casually gathered together. You take it first and use it."

  Zhao Jiong and Shen had just put down four hundred taels of silver and left, when unexpectedly Zhao Xiu also sent over a package of gold and silver. As soon as he saw the package, he knew that she was using her own private funds. The old master of the eighth house was so moved that he didn't know what to say, his youngest son directly gave Zhao Xiu a big gift: "Thank you sister, sister's great kindness, our whole family is grateful!"

  Zhao Xun hastily stepped back, smiling: "Elder brother, there's no need to be like this. We all share the same surname Zhao and are one family. When your household is in trouble, we should naturally lend a helping hand. It's just that I'm young and didn't think of it at first. Only when I heard that Brother Jing sent silver did I realize my mistake, and now I feel ashamed for being late. Uncle and elder brother don't need to thank me either. If our household were in trouble, you wouldn't stand idly by either. Helping each other out is the duty we should fulfill as clansmen."

  Everyone in the eight houses was moved to tears by her words, and Old Master Ba choked with emotion: "Good niece, your uncle remembers your kindness. Don't worry, once our family gets through this difficult time, we will definitely return the silver to you in full, and if I die, my son will continue to repay it!"

  With the lead of Zhao Yun and his wife, as well as Zhao Xiu, other clan members gradually sent over some silver, except for a few who were tight on cash or unwilling to lend, they only borrowed two or three taels, while most people sent at least ten taels of silver, even the outer sixth house squeezed out 200 taels of silver to send over in order to create a good image in front of the clan members, finally gathering enough for 1000 taels, repaying the debt and redeeming the eldest son.

  This matter was resolved peacefully and smoothly in a short period of time, and everyone in the clan felt both surprised and delighted. Although people often talk about supporting each other within the clan, taking care of widows and orphans is one thing, but borrowing money to help someone pay off debt is unprecedented. The Eighth House, which had thought it was going to collapse, didn't lose its vitality after all; as long as they were frugal for a few years, they would be able to pay off the debt. What seemed like an insurmountable problem for one family became much easier when faced collectively by the entire clan.

  The villagers looked at Zhao Yun, the head of the clan who was leading the way and lending a helping hand, and then glanced at Zhao Xiu, the second son who was still young. A warm feeling welled up in their hearts. It seemed as if everyone had realized for the first time that this was what a clan could be like.

  ps：

  Tomorrow is Labour Day, happy Labour Day to everyone~~~~~ Also...... cough, whispering: begging for pink tickets...