"Master Liu is merciful, these three acres of land are my family's food support, if you take it, how can we, orphans and widows, live?"

As soon as the grandmother heard that Master Liu asked her family to use the land to pay off the debt, she knelt down straight, kowtowed to Master Liu, and after kowtowing several times, she raised her head and pleaded with tears in her eyes.

When Master Liu heard this, his originally compassionate face suddenly changed into an indignant look, and he pointed to the two women and said, "Master Ben remembered that it was not easy for you orphans and widows to live, so he was kind enough to borrow your load of food. Unexpectedly, you are so ungrateful, and refuse to return my food, and your conscience has been eaten by dogs!"

"You owe me food to my family, and it is a matter of course to repay the grain, even if the lawsuit is brought to the yamen, this master will take advantage of it. Today, you have to pay it back, and you have to pay it back if you don't!"

The two women knelt on the ground and begged bitterly, "Please don't take my land, or we orphans and widows will starve to death." ”

Master Liu looked at the two people on the ground who were constantly pleading, sighed, and changed to a look of pity and compassion again, and said, "Okay, who let me be merciful." Master Ben doesn't want much from you, so I'll let people check how much land they want to return, and if there's anything left, I'll leave it to you. ”

Then he said to a servant beside him: "Liu Quan, check how much land their family has to pay back this load of grain plus interest." ”

Liu Quan agreed, took out an abacus he carried, and said while calculating: "The load of grain they lent is equivalent to ten taels of silver, and the monthly interest is thirty percent, and so far for four months, a total of twenty-eight taels and six coins of silver need to be repaid." There are three acres of rotten land in their homes, each mu is worth one tael of silver, and the subtotal is worth three taels of silver. Twenty-eight taels and six coins, minus three taels of three acres of land, and twenty-five taels of silver tattooed by the lord need to be returned. ”

When the grandmother saw that even if she sold three acres to Master Liu, she still owed him more than 20 taels of silver, so she collapsed to the ground in fright.

"Master Liu, the little woman only borrowed a load of grain from you, and those grains are worth a penny of silver at most, how can they be counted as ten taels!"

"And at that time, the little woman signed a document with your family to borrow grain, and said that it was good to pay back a load of grain after the autumn harvest, plus thirty percent interest, how did it become three percent of the monthly interest, and please ask the master to see it!"

Hearing this, Master Liu took out a roll of paper from his arms, unfolded it and read: "Today, the Sun family borrowed a stone of mellow incense tribute rice from Master Liu's house, and agreed to return it after the autumn harvest, with a monthly interest of 30%, which is based on this." ”

After reading it, he took the IOU to Sun and said to her, "You can see if this IOU is on it, and whether it is your handprint." ”

Sun Shi looked at the IOU in front of him, saw the bright red handprint pressed by himself on it, and fell to the ground directly as soon as his leg went weak.

Master Liu said with a smile: "You look carefully, it is written in black and white that it is a stone of borrowed grain, not a load, and it is also a high-value mellow tribute rice, how can it only be worth a penny of silver? This is what you signed and printed and pressed your fingerprint, and now you want to play tricks?huh?!"

The Sun family understood, completely understood, that he had been deceived by them! This old man Liu bullied himself for not being literate, deliberately wrote a completely different IOU, deceived himself into signing and drawing a pledge on it, and then used this IOU to rob his own land. Thinking of this, she burst into tears.

When she cried, she was so frightened that the child in her arms also cried, and for a while the cry resounded throughout the village, making people feel sad when they heard it.

At this time, it was a hot summer day, there was not much farm work in the fields, and most of the people in the village stayed in the house to enjoy the coolness.

In the house, the grandmother looked at the changing face of Master Liu like a singing, calmed down, and said to Master Liu: "The old body is still back, the old body is still back, please wait for a while, and the old body will go to the village to find a way to borrow a load of grain to repay you." ”

Master Liu sneered and said, "It's a stone of grain, not a load, don't hear it wrong." Moreover, what this lord borrowed from you is mellow and fragrant tribute rice, which is a tribute to the imperial court, and the price is more than gold, how can it be compared with ordinary rice? Even if you want to pay it back, you need to pay me back three stone of tribute rice with interest, or 28 taels and 6 coins of silver. Did you take it out?"

Hearing this, my grandmother said with tears in her eyes: "Obviously I borrowed an ordinary load of grain, where did I get a stone of tribute rice, Master Liu, you can't wronged our orphans and widows." ”

"Hmph, I wronged you, this white paper is written clearly in black and white, when did I wronged you, master. It is natural to repay debts, don't think that you can repay your debts!" the corners of Master Liu's mouth twitched, and he said coldly.

"Old man, sir, I also know that you haven't come out yet, so I have thought of a way to repay the money for you with a kind heart. As he spoke, he took out another roll of paper from his bosom and waved it at the two women on the ground.

"Since you can't afford to pay back the tribute rice and the silver, then you only need to compensate me for the three acres of land first, and the remaining insufficient part will be used by your daughter-in-law Sun to pay off the debt. Three acres of thin fields, plus the Sun family sold into the Liu Mansion as a slave, the debt between our two families will be cleared, do you think it's okay?"

When the grandmother heard that this old man Liu not only wanted the land on which his family depended, but also hit the idea on her daughter-in-law Sun, her old face turned white with anger.

I saw her kneeling and walking in front of Master Liu on her knees, and begged with tears: "Please let the master let us go, if you want the three acres of watered land, take it, this is the best watered land, at least worth seventeen or eighty twenty-one acres." I just ask you not to snatch my daughter-in-law away, my grandson is still young, I can't live without a mother. I beg my lord to have mercy, I beg my lord to have mercy!"

Master Liu sneered and said: "Where did you get the good water to water the land, it is obviously three acres of rotten land, and I will give you one or two silver per acre, which is already calculated to see the high price you gave because of your pity." If it weren't for the fact that your daughter-in-law is still diligent and uses her to pay off the debt, you can't afford to pay back my food until you die. ”

The grandmother looked at her face and understood that it was impossible for him to let go of the Sun family, and scolded fiercely in her heart: "You killed the dog thief this day, seeing that the men in my family died on the battlefield, you came to bully us orphans and widows, and your conscience let the dog eat it!"

Master Liu waved the IOU and sneered: "It is only natural to repay the debt, I have already taken care of you, master, I have to take care of you, otherwise be careful that I will sell this little cub of your family to pay back." ”

When the Sun family heard that this old man Liu was going to sell his son, he suppressed his tears and cries, looked at this man with wide eyes and hatred, and longed to eat his flesh and drink his blood.