Chapter 130: Borrowing Money to Enter the City
The village chief tugged on Aunt Liu. "Do we really have to borrow the money? Why don’t we just try to get household registration papers? Maybe we can bluff our way through."
Aunt Liu flung his hand away. "You tightwad! Is this really the time to be worrying about money?"
"If they find out, our whole family will be beaten with planks, and after a beating like that, we’ll be completely laid up. Just look at all these people around us. When that happens, do you think we’ll be able to protect our family’s food supplies?"
"Not only will our silver and food supplies be stolen, but our grandchildren might even get snatched up and sold! And us? We’ll either starve to death or die from our injuries!"
The grim scene Aunt Liu described flashed through the village chief’s mind, and he nodded in resignation. "Fine, let’s borrow the money. Sigh... fleeing this famine has wiped out everything we had. If I had known, we never would have left home."
Aunt Liu glared at him. "Not left?"
"If we hadn’t left, I guarantee people would have already gone to our house to steal our food. You’d better believe it."
Their family was known as one of the wealthiest in all the surrounding villages. When those people ran out of things to eat, wouldn’t they turn to theft and robbery?
Hadn’t they seen enough of it on their journey?
The village chief sighed. "That’s true."
He waved his hand, his face etched with the pain of parting with money. "Go on, borrow it. Sigh... who knows when we’ll ever be able to pay it back."
Gu Zhang rested a wooden board on his lap to write out the IOUs. As there was no Seal Paste, everyone simply dabbed a bit of ink from the inkstone to leave a thumbprint.
The village chief’s family borrowed thirty taels. A shrewd woman like Aunt Liu knew an opportunity like this was rare; borrowing a little extra would give them some financial breathing room.
Gu Zhong borrowed twenty taels, Shanzimama borrowed ten taels, and Zhang Laojia borrowed thirty taels.
The great-aunt’s family borrowed thirty taels.
Gu Rong also borrowed thirty taels.
Su Chen lent out one hundred and fifty taels of silver, and Zhang Ze collected a stack of IOUs in return.
With the silver notes in hand, everyone looked to Gu Zhang as a new problem arose. Who should handle the silver? How should it be delivered? And was it even secure?
Uncle Ma said in a solemn voice, "Hitch up the carts and let’s get to the city gate. Since everyone has decided to enter the city, let’s not waste any more time. This place won’t be safe at night once the soldiers are gone."
He had a point. Some of the surrounding refugees were eyeing the mule carts like hungry tigers, held back only by the heavy presence of soldiers. They didn’t dare make a move.
Uncle Ma continued, "Each family, give your silver notes to Mr. Gu based on your head count. We’ll all enter the city together."
The silver notes, barely warm in their hands, were handed over to Gu Zhang one by one.
Gu Fei also took out one hundred and twenty taels and gave it to her father.
Gu Zhang was a meticulous man. He collected each family’s household registration papers and bundled them together with their corresponding silver notes.
With the carts hitched, the group made their way through the throng of refugees toward the city gate.
Seeing such a large group of people and carts arrive all at once, the soldiers at the gate responsible for checking household registrations grew alert.
The village chief’s family went first. Smiling, Gu Zhang handed the household registration papers to the soldier, his fingers subtly flipping the papers up to reveal the silver notes hidden underneath.
The soldier was quite sensitive when it came to silver notes.
If it weren’t for the silver they could pocket, they would never be willing to stand guard at the city gate and do such a miserable job.
The higher-ranking officers took the lion’s share of the silver collected, while the grunts standing guard beside them only got a small cut.
The soldier made a show of inspecting the registration papers, though in reality he was checking the amount on the silver notes. A soldier beside him had already finished a headcount and shouted, "Nine people!"
The soldier nodded. He counted the silver notes—exactly ninety taels of silver. He swiftly snatched the notes and tucked them into his sleeve, handed the registration papers back to Gu Zhang, and bellowed, "Pass!"
Gu Zhang shoved the registration papers into the village chief’s hands, and the family hurried through the archway of the city gate.