CHAPTER 107: CHAPTER 107: RUN TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

"Big Brother, when Second Brother gets married, you can help him out more just the same," Xu Nianhua didn’t want to see the family be so strictly divided. Brothers settling accounts with each other was fine, but sometimes drawing lines too clearly could hurt the harmony.

"Big Brother, right now, except for school, Little Sister and I don’t need any other money. You should focus on bringing your bride into the family—that’s the priority," Xu Nian’an said with pursed lips, "As for borrowing or not, if you really talk like that, then you’re treating us like outsiders."

Xu Qinghe looked at his siblings with a face full of contentment. Siblings getting along and helping each other, that’s what family is all about.

Ji Ying said with a smile, "Alright, no more arguing. We really are short on money. Besides the two hundred yuan for the bride price, hosting the banquet costs money too. We’ll hold on to the money for now, and when the smuggling business has more flexibility, Nianji, you wouldn’t let your brother and sister down, right?"

"Of course not," Xu Nianji affirmed. He thought, if in the future Nian’an and Little Sister needed anything from him, he would certainly go through a sea of fire and a mountain of knives for them.

"Qinghe, we need to hurry up with making the bed and the cabinets, there aren’t many days left."

Previously, Ji Ying and Xu Qinghe were scraping by, but now with this hundred yuan, Ji Ying thought that they couldn’t let their eldest son’s wedding be too shabby.

For the wedding feast, just a few tables would do, and time was tight. These past few days, Ji Ying had been busy with the banquet preparations.

On July 28th, after the bride price was sent to the Zhou family, the Xu family became even busier.

The Xu siblings still sold mung bean jelly and bean sprouts. Every day during daylight hours, Xu Nianhua and the others would take care of growing the bean sprouts. They soaked beans every day, so one batch after another was ready, ensuring there were bean sprouts to sell every day.

Even if the amount wasn’t much, making an extra yuan or two was still good.

Today, they returned home early. Xu Nian’an and Xu Nianji, the two brothers, went up the mountain to gather firewood. The banquet was approaching, and they were still short on firewood at home, so they had to make time to come back and gather more whenever they could.

The two brothers each carried a load of firewood home. On the way, Xu Nian’an saw Gao Jianshe bathing in the cold river water and his eyes lit up. He set down his load and said, "Big Brother, wait up."

"What is it?"

Xu Nianji, watching his brother Xu Nian’an run towards Gao Jianshe, thought something had happened. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and put his bundle of wood by the roadside before following him over.

"Gao Jianshe, I thought you’d be in hiding for a lifetime!"

Xu Nian’an didn’t bother taking off his clothes, and he jumped directly into the water.

Gao Jianshe, startled by Xu Nian’an’s voice, quickly swam to the opposite bank as he saw him chasing after.

Gao Jianshe thought, why was his luck so bad!

He had just returned today, thinking the Xu family would be too busy and might have already forgotten about past issues after such a long time, unlikely to pin anything on him.

But seeing Xu Nian’an’s pursuit, Gao Jianshe didn’t dare to hold any hope of luck. He summoned all his strength to swim, with the sole thought of getting to the shore.

"I made it!"

The moment Gao Jianshe climbed onto the bank, his heart soared with joy. Despite Xu Nian’an’s swift chase, it seemed, now, he wouldn’t be caught.

However, Gao Jianshe’s smile hadn’t even faded from his face when he felt his foot being grabbed.

"Gao Jianshe, why don’t you run? If you’re so capable, run to the ends of the earth," Xu Nian’an emerged from the water, shaking his head and sprinkling water droplets onto Gao Jianshe, as cold and piercing as his heart.