Reborn before the famine, kicking away the scumbag's family and living a carefree life.

14. Borrowing money

The first thing Su Jinru did after her divorce was to build a house.

The first thing Qi Zhengyang did after his divorce was to borrow money to buy grain. He attended classes during the day and secretly dug holes in his house at night to store the grain.

He knew that two months later, locusts would swarm across the land, devouring all the green plants and leaving the nearly bountiful harvest barren.

This marked the beginning of a three-year famine.

He would borrow money to buy and store grain.

So the village was abuzz with gossip about his divorce from Su Jinru and Su Jinru building a house, but he ignored it all.

Compared to the prospect of starvation and survival, these discussions were insignificant to him.

But his relatives and friends wouldn't let him off the hook, coming to his door one after another to ask him why he got a divorce.

Because in their view, divorce is a big deal, a very unfortunate one, and the way relatives express their concern is by coming to his home to keep him company and talk to him.

Qi Zhengyang originally planned to take advantage of living alone to dig several holes in his house to store food. He intended to dig several holes in the yard and in the room, but the excessive concern of his relatives and friends forced him to dig only in the room.

Because we're digging inside the room, if someone comes along, they can't just walk into the room.

That evening, Qi Zhengyang was digging a hole in his room when his older brother Qi Zhenglin and sister-in-law Li Meili arrived.

Qi Zhengyang had to quickly cover the room with some miscellaneous items and lock it before opening the door.

"Brother, sister-in-law, why are you here so late? I already told you I'm fine, you don't need to come and keep me company."

Qi Zhenglin: "Your parents are gone, your wife divorced you and took the children with her. I'm worried about you being all alone."

"I'm not a child anymore, what's there to worry about? It's just a divorce! What's the big deal? Do you think I'd let it get me down?"

The older brother pushed Qi Zhengyang away.

"What are you doing blocking the doorway? Let's go inside and talk." With that, he barged in.

Qi Zhengyang couldn't stop them, so he had no choice but to go in with them.

Qi Zhenglin: "You shouldn't have agreed to the divorce. What couple doesn't argue? Look at you now, all alone and lonely."

Li Meili: "Even if you get a divorce, you shouldn't give both children to Su Jinru. You're so stupid. How can the children stay with her?"

Qi Zhengyang: "Yes, you should get the child back. If that doesn't work, at least get Anran back. She's the root of our Qi family!"

"Brother, sister-in-law, don't worry, the child will come back eventually. The most important thing now is that I have no money and no food at home. I need to borrow some money to buy food."

Qi Zhenglin: "I heard about it a long time ago. You've been borrowing money everywhere these past few days. Zhengyang, you have a monthly salary of thirty yuan. Logically speaking, you should be considered one of the highest earners in the village. How did you end up like this, borrowing money everywhere?"

Li Meili: "Over the years, Su Jinru must have saved a lot of money. She built a house right after her divorce and went around saying that you didn't give her a penny or a grain of food. Who would believe that? If she didn't have a penny, how could she build a house? Is it that easy to build a house?"

Qi Zhenglin: "I didn't realize Su Jinru was so troublesome. She couldn't live a good life and insisted on getting a divorce. She even took away all your food and money."

Over the years, Qi Zhengyang neglected his family affairs, and his salary was always managed by his mother. After his mother passed away, Su Jinru said that the two elderly people had accumulated more than 200 yuan in debt for medical treatment over the years. So, for the past year, Qi Zhengyang's entire salary was given to Su Jinru to pay off the debt. Until the divorce, Su Jinru said that she was penniless.

But hearing that she had just gotten divorced and was now building a house in a big way, even hiring people to do the work, coupled with the encouragement of her relatives and friends, Qi Zhengyang became convinced that Su Jinru had run off with his money.

Qi Zhengyang managed to scrape together fifty yuan, which was far from enough to buy food.

He not only had to prepare food for himself for three years, but also for his brother's family.

In his previous life, his elder brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews and nieces all starved to death, and he couldn't let the tragedy repeat itself this time.

But people nowadays are poor and have no money.

Moreover, food is a scarce commodity and expensive; fifty yuan can't buy much food.

He originally planned to buy some whole grains, which are cheaper, such as sweet potatoes and potatoes, but these things are not easy to store and do not last long.

Previously, Qi Zhengyang never cared about family matters. Whether there was enough food at home, or whether his parents needed medical treatment and medicine, were all things that Su Jinru worried about.

Su Jinru's in-laws trusted her and entrusted her with managing all the family's money. However, with two people in the family needing medicine, even the most substantial savings would eventually be depleted. When the money ran out, Su Jinru had no choice but to swallow her pride and borrow.

Qi Zhengyang has now humbled himself to borrow money, but not only has he not borrowed much, he's also been criticized by his relatives, who say he shouldn't have gotten a divorce, or shouldn't have let a woman make him suffer so much. The implication is that he's not a decent man.

Qi Zhengyang is a person who cares a lot about his reputation. When has he ever humbled himself to beg for money like this, and was even criticized by his relatives?

Qi Zhengyang thought that after being reborn, he could change the fate of his brother and sister-in-law's family. They had many children, and when the famine came, his brother and sister-in-law couldn't bear to eat anything so that their children could have a bite to eat, so they both starved to death. In the end, a nephew and a niece also starved to death. He didn't want this tragedy to repeat itself, so he planned ahead and stored more food. But unfortunately, he had no money and couldn't borrow any. His brother and sister-in-law had many children and no savings.

Qi Zhengyang planned to ask Su Jinru for it.

Just like everyone said, she started building a house immediately after her divorce. Over the years, she must have hidden all the family's money. She even said that all the money was used to pay for her parents' medical treatment. He was deceived and believed her.

That night, it was very late, and Qi Zhengyang found Su Ke's house.

This was his first time here since he and Su Jinru got married.

If it weren't for a matter of life and death, someone as proud as him would never have come looking for Su Jinru after the divorce.

What's more, before the divorce, he hadn't even given her a second glance.

Earlier, he was afraid of being seen and gossiped about, so he knocked on the door only after many people had gone to rest.

Su Jinru, her sister, and An Xin had already gone to sleep and were chatting with the lights off!

Overjoyed, her mother came to urge Su Jinru to get up, but Su Jinru was too lazy to get up and said that they could talk about it tomorrow, since it was already so late.

Liu Yulan, however, said good-naturedly, "Aru, maybe Qi Zhengyang regrets the divorce and is coming to beg you to get back together."

"Impossible, he'd love to get a divorce as soon as possible!"