To make up for the debt owed to Lin Qingping and Gu Juncheng

"Then why don't you take it out?" the Party Secretary snapped.

Lin Qingping's mother glanced timidly at Lin Qingping, then at Gu Juncheng, "No...not here, it's...it's at Old Ma's house at the east end of the village..."

"How did you get involved with them again?" Lin Qingping couldn't stay calm anymore.

She knew the Ma family at the east end of the village. Their situation was similar to hers. They had two daughters, the older sister, and a younger son named Ma Wenwu, who was about the same age as her younger sister.

This youngest son was just as bad as his brother. He was spoiled by the whole family and spent his days idly. He wandered from the village to the county. Zhiyuan's later involvement in the underworld was largely due to this person.

If she wasn't mistaken, her mother must have received some benefits from the Ma family in order to marry her second sister off to them.

Sure enough, under pressure from the Party Secretary and Gu Juncheng, her mother stammered out the reason—she wanted to marry her second sister off to the Ma family.

Her mother had already accepted the bride price, but this time it wasn't as much as 500, only 200. She then sold her second sister for the second time. Moreover, when accepting the bride price, she directly gave the exam admission ticket to the other party as collateral. She used this ticket to threaten her into returning the second sister and agreeing to the marriage before she would return the exam admission ticket to her.

Her mother also said, "What a wonderful child Ma Wenwu is!"

Lin Qingping thought coldly, "Fine, indeed fine, just as fine as your son."

"What a wonderful marriage! Ma Wenwu is also planning to take the college entrance exam. Wouldn't it be great if he went to school with my second sister and helped each other out?" Lin Qingping's mother said enthusiastically.

Lin Qingping only asked the Party Secretary, "Party Secretary, is freedom of marriage being promoted now?"

"Of course!" the Party Secretary said.

"If my sister doesn't want this marriage, can my mother or the Ma family force her to marry?"

"Of course not!"

"Alright, let's go to the Ma family now." Lin Qingping asked the Party Secretary to go first.

When Lin Qingping's mother saw that they were really going to the Ma family, she almost fainted and asked her mother-in-law for help, "Mother, what should we do?"

She received 200 yuan as a gift from the Ma family, but that money is long gone; it was all given to her son!

Her mother-in-law cooperated immediately, lay down on the ground, and fainted.

Lin Qingping's mother started crying, "Mother! What's wrong with you? Please don't let your anger over my second sister's marriage being canceled cause you to pass out!"

Her mother-in-law: ? ? ?

You're the one who just went there! Can't you say something nice?

No, she won't.

Lin Qingping's mother continued to cry, "I know you mean well for your granddaughter, we can discuss the marriage again, we can discuss it again... You absolutely can't have anything happen to you..."

The Party Secretary took one look and, well, it was the familiar routine of crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide.

This set of rules is unfamiliar to Gu Juncheng, but familiar to the Party Secretary and even more familiar to Lin Qingping.

Just as Gu Juncheng was about to come over and take the person to the health center, Lin Qingping stopped him, saying, "No need. My grandma often faints; I know how to treat her."

"You? How do you treat it?" Gu Juncheng was genuinely puzzled, but his question sounded more like a straight man's.

Lin Qingping smiled and said, "Go to the drawer and find two needles. Prick my grandma a few times and she will wake up. If she doesn't wake up, keep pricking her until she does."

Upon hearing this, her grandmother woke up before the needle was even removed, looking embarrassed. "Oh dear, I was feeling dizzy just now, but my wife's crying woke me up. I'm fine..."

Gu Juncheng finally understood that there were actually such battles of wits and courage among the women in his hometown.

Lin Qingping pulled Gu Juncheng, "Let's go, to the Ma family!"

He turned back and called out, "Mom, I think at least one of you and Grandma should come along, just in case there's no one to verify our identities later."