Chapter 1565 - 1565: Neither this nor that
Yu Dong curled her lips in disdain. She stated calmly, “Then what do you want me to do, second aunt? Do you want me to go and beg Magistrate Li to revoke her order while at the same time breaking my own back to pay taxes that are too much even for me?”
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Yu Linyun did not say anything but her stubborn expression was enough to let everyone know that she indeed wanted Yu Dong to do what she said.
She wanted her to visit Li Wan and have her revoke the order at the same time she wanted Yu Dong to pay the taxes.
Yu Linyun was selfish but she was not foolish. She knew that if Yu Dong did not pay the taxes, then the soldiers who were stationed outside the Big River Town would come and drag the women of the Big River Village.
If that happens she would become worse than a street rat in the eyes of the villagers.
Yu Linyun could not allow that to happen either which was why Yu Dong had to continue paying the taxes even if it ruined her and her family!
When the villagers saw Yu Linyun standing silently neither refusing nor refuting, a chill climbed in their hearts. They knew that Yu Linyun was a selfish woman but was this selfishness? This was downright heartless!
“Enough!” Old Madam Yu had been listening to Yu Linyun crying and sobbing. She wanted to stop Yu Dong from going out and handle Yu Linyun herself but Yu Dong asked her to stay inside.
With how manipulative Yu Linyun was it would not be difficult for her to make Old Madam Yu pity her.
Old Madam Yu did not want to trouble Yu Dong either, so she agreed. But she did not go inside the house, she wanted to hear what Yu Linyun had to say.
It was correct to say that by the time Old Madam Yu finished listening to Yu Linyun, her expression was as dark as the bottom of the pot.
“Are you not ashamed?” Old Madam Yu strode out of the house and raised her cane to push Yu Linyun back.
She placed the end of the cane on Yu Linyun’s shoulder and pushed. “You are older than Dong Dong! And yet you want her to take care of your mess? I don’t remember teaching you shirking responsibilities.”
Yu Linyun stumbled back but the expression on her face remained the same. She said to her mother, “Yu Dong is rich. She can take care of this mess, but I am not. I only have a meagre paying job with an entire family to take care of, if I were to start taking out a chunk of my salary to pay the compensation, how would I raise my family?”
“She is not asking you to pay ten or so taels! You can only pay two if that’s what you want!” Old Madam Yu said with a frown on her face.
Yu Linyun pursed her lips and said stubbornly, “It is impossible to pay off one million taels with just two or three taels. I don’t want my children to suffer .”
Old Madam Yu narrowed her eyes as her face sank even more. “So you don’t want to do this nor do you want to do that, so what do you want?”
She wanted to hear with her own ears how shameless her daughter could be.
However, Old Madam Yu was bound to be disappointed as Yu Linyun did not say anything, instead she turned and continued looking at Yu Dong.
She was not foolish. Yu Linyun knew what she wanted was shameful when said out loud, so she could only suppress Yu Dong indirectly.
Yu Dong rolled her eyes. She knew what Yu Linyun was trying to do, she said to Yu Linyun, “Even if you look at me like that there is nothing that I can do. Even if I have money, I have worked hard for it. My money did not fall from the sky.”
“And I am not the one forcing you to pay compensation. I never asked for a penny from you, I simply told the officials that I cannot pay the taxes and they have to take care of this matter.”
“If you want the compensation to be waived off then you need to go to the yamen and file a claim that you cannot and cannot pay the compensation.”
“That way you will be able to look for an alternative.”
Yu Dong crossed her arms and then questioned, “You are not hoping for me to go to the Yamen for you and tell them to let you off right? I mean there is no way you will be that shameless second aunt. After all, I am the one who suffered a loss.”
Yu Linyun pursed her lips once again as she clenched her fists.
“Anyway, even if one million taels sounds like a big sum, it is not impossible to compensate. All you need to do is tighten your belt and send a few members of your family to work for my family.”
“I am known for paying handsomely, as long as your family members work hard along with your salary, you can pay that sum back slowly.”
“What’s more you have three high-yield fields if you sell them to me, I can buy those fields for one thousand taels. Though those fields are only worth a hundred taels, I will be generous and let go of one thousand taels.”
“What else do you want?”
What else did she want? Yu Linyun wanted Yu Dong to drop the entire thing!
How could she sell her high-yielding fields to someone like Yu Dong?
The fact that Yu Dong was doing better than her was already enough to make her feel like she was walking around with a fishbone stuck in her throat, how could she allow Yu Dong to get even better and successful?
That too by using her fields!
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