Borrow Some Money

Mrs. Tanner plopped herself on the ground, wailing, "I can't go on! Lily Evans got rich and now ignores her fellow villagers, letting my house collapse and refusing to help us! She wants my whole family to freeze to death!"

Charlie Tanner, the son of Mrs. Tanner, had been eavesdropping all along. Now he rushed out and started howling alongside his mother.

Mrs. Tanner hugged Charlie, crying and wailing, "My poor son, he's only a few years old and he's going to freeze to death! It's all that heartless, greedy Lily Evans's fault—she's trying to kill us! Oh, winter's almost here, and our whole family might not even survive till the new year! When the time comes, we'll just camp out in front of Lily Evans's house—if we're going to die, we'll die right at her doorstep!"

Charlie Tanner fake-cried, wiping his tears, "Mom, I don't want to die! I don't want to die, Mom!"

Mrs. Tanner sobbed, "Son, I don't want you to die either, but Lily Evans wants us dead! We're poor and can't fight against her wealth! When we get to the King of Hell's palace, we'll file a complaint—say Lily Evans is a heartless rich woman who drove her neighbors to their deaths!"

Hearing those words, Lily Evans realized Mrs. Thompson was already pinning the 'heartless rich woman' label on her. If that kind of rumor spread, anyone who didn't know the truth would never want to do business with the Evans family again.

The Tanner mother and son cried so miserably that even the villagers who'd been scolding them couldn't bring themselves to keep cursing.

The Tanner family's house was on the verge of collapse—it definitely wouldn't last through the winter. Winters in the countryside were especially harsh, and every year people froze to death. For families like the Tanners, with no house, they really might not make it to spring.

"Lily Evans, your family is so rich—why not lend my cousin a little money? Are you really going to just watch my cousin's family freeze to death?" Tofu Beauty squeezed in and said to Lily Evans.

Mrs. Tanner's eyes darted around, then she said, "Lily Evans, just treat it as lending me some money to fix my house, alright? I'll pay you back when I have the money!"

Tofu Beauty chimed in to help, "Lily Evans, none of us villagers are well-off—only your family has a little extra money. Please, be kind and lend my sister some money to build her house. It's not like my sister won't pay you back. How could you just stand by and do nothing?"

Lily Evans knew all too well that if Mrs. Tanner borrowed money, she'd never pay it back.

But if Lily Evans refused to lend Mrs. Tanner money in front of all these villagers, she'd get a reputation for being cold-hearted. And if the Tanner family didn't survive the winter, everyone would blame Lily Evans for not helping and say it was her fault they died.

Building a mud-brick house like the Tanners' only cost five taels of silver. Five taels was a fortune to the villagers—more than most families spent in a year. But for Lily Evans, Margaret Evans's handkerchief cost more than that. Five taels was nothing to her; she could toss it away and not feel a thing.

With so many villagers watching, Lily Evans weighed her options. Five taels to get Mrs. Tanner off her back and buy herself a good reputation? Pretty good deal.

"Alright, you need five taels to fix your house? I can give it to you," Lily Evans said, smiling at Mrs. Tanner. "But I have one condition."

"What condition? Say it!" Mrs. Tanner's eyes widened as she stared at Lily Evans. She hadn't expected Lily Evans to agree, and her face lit up with joy.

"You have to sign a contract of servitude—five taels, and you sell yourself to my family as a servant. When you pay me back, I'll return the contract to you. Since we're neighbors, I'll let you stay at your own house and not make you work for me. No interest on the five taels, how's that?" Lily Evans grinned at Mrs. Tanner. Try to scam me out of silver? Let's see who outsmarts who!