CHAPTER 45 DEBT

Alan knew the visitor. It turned out to be Marcus who made love with village woman Cheney in the

Peach Orchard. Marcus glanced at everyone. When he saw Alan, he suddenly recalled something and

frowned.

“Marcus?” The aunt hurriedly stood up, “Have you eaten yet? Shall we eat together?” She asked if he

wanted to eat, which was the most popular way to say hello in rural areas.

“No need, I came today to get back the 3,000 you owe me.” Marcus was a little anxious, and a little

sweat leaked out of his forehead.

When Aunt Karen heard that he was here to collect debt, she panicked, “Didn’t we agree to three

months later? We really have no money right now.”

“I don't want it this way either. It’s just that I am also in an emergency situation. I need money urgently!”

Marcus pulled and sat on the stool, obviously he wasn’t going to leave without getting the money.

Aunt Karen was in a panic. She really had no money. Even If she had the money she wouldn’t give it to

him. She rubbed her pocket. All that was left was the 200 that Alan gave her from the hunt last time, “I

only have this 200. Marcus, can’t you wait for a month?” Karen was almost begging him.

“Yes, Marcus, we really have no money; otherwise we will definitely pay you back as soon as possible.”

Amy followed up. All she could do was try to placate this asshole debt collector.

“Haha, Amy looks very pretty. If she stays with me for a night, maybe I can still give a few days of

grace, haha.” When Marcus said this, his eyes were bulging out looking at Amy with a very sinister

expression. Alan had his fists clenched and was about to throw a punch. ‘You fucker! Don’t you even

think about molesting this girl?’ He boiled inside.

“Hey Marcus!” Alan yelled softly. When Marcus looked for the sound, he shuddered in shock. Alan's

eyes were about to get lit up, especially the chest muscles, which seemed to tremble constantly, and

then looked at his clenched fist. When the blow from the punch came, Marcus knew the game was

over.

“Next Monday, we will pay you back, and now you get the fuck out of here.” Alan said word by word.

When Marcus heard this, he knew that they really didn’t have any money, and they would have less

than a few dollars today. Since they will pay it back next week, he had to wait another week. This was

already the best time possible limit, so he agreed, “Okay, but if you don't pay the money when the time

comes, don't blame me for being impolite.” With that said, he secretly glanced at Amy.

She really saw a lot of wretched men. Compared with their cousin Alan, these ugly men in the village

were really a world of difference. She had even more affection for Alan.

“Stop!” Alan shouted again, then Marcus actually stood still, “In the future, you dare to say a vulgar

fucking word in front of my cousin, I will make sure you spend the rest of your life in bed forever.”

“Humph!” Marcus snorted and walked away.

Meal time was awkward enough.

Betty thought to herself, you were so handsome just now, even I was almost obsessed with you. Betty

sat down and continued to eat, and now she can really eat. Carol looked at Alan in a foolish kind of Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

way, and she found that he was really handsome. As for Amy, she didn't expect him to stand up and

defend her like this, and her heart was full of warmth.

Only Aunt Karen’s face looked unhappy. “Alan, how are we going to make 3, 000 a week! Huh?” Her

mood for eating was completely gone, although Alan had gotten rid of the disgusting Marcus. How

could she pay the debt?

When the aunt said this, everyone's faces sank suddenly.

“Alan, what do you think? Let's discuss it together and see how to overcome this difficulty. Our whole

family will support you.” She looked at Alan boldly, and everyone else nodded.

Alan had been thinking about the issue of making money since his uncle was in jail, and had thought of

many plans, but making money was so hard here. In such a poor ravine, if people could think of

something to make money with, then everyone would have engaged in it a long time ago, so that’s why

the whole village was still so poor.

The fish in the pond were still small, and there was no way to catch them and sell them. Even if they

were sold, they barely sell for a few hundred dollars. Plus the pig, they could only eat at the end of the

year, and the rest were the field. Fortunately, Daniel planted the rice before he went to prison.

Otherwise, everyone would be too busy now to do anything else.

Even if people were planting something now, such as fruit trees and vegetables, they couldn’t sell now.

There would be a harvest after half a year. Besides, here people had to climb five mountains before

they could even have access to a car. Then it took a few hours to drive to the county. The road tolls

were higher than average. At the end of the day, people didn’t earn money while they lost money with

the road fees alone.

So Alan busted his brain but still couldn’t think of a good project to make money. Was hunting really

going to work? Last time he was lucky and ran into a wild boar. This thing did not exist every day, and

he would be risking his life.

That’s what his general trend of thought was. It was a long way from here to the county seat, and the

road tolls were extremely high.

The kind of stuff that was planted here would have withered before reaching the county seat. In the

end, not only did they not earn money, but also adding in the travel expenses, it was an unworkable

solution. In fact, many people in the village who wanted to make a fortune had thought about and

engaged in many things, such as orchards, fish ponds, and so on.

Take the peach blossom field in the front mountain, which was contracted by a rich man in the village.

He wasted a few days on the long Peach road. He had to transfer to the county seat. After unloading

his crop, the peaches had already withered. So he lost money, owed a debt, and ran away. Now the

Peach Orchard had become a good place only for secret sex meetings.

“If a dependable mountain is what you have then live off the mountain. What else can we do besides

planting and selling?” Karen sighed, knowing that money was not so easy to earn.

“Yes, from a long-term development perspective, we still have to rely on the mountains to use the

mountains bounty, but we have to change our business method and I have my own way. I will go to the

city next weekend to buy some seeds and bring them back.” Alan finally thought of a solution, but this

solution could not be disclosed at the moment. However no matter what the method was, it ultimately

solved two problems: transporting the goods and time.

Right now, if they wanted to make up 3, 000 in a week, they could only make money working together.

In fact, going to the city next weekend was Alan’s last chance to collect money. Alan didn’t want to

borrow money from his classmates, but sometimes there was no way to avoid it. He was really in an

impossible situation. His plan included going to the bar and working part-time for one night.

“Aunt Karen, let’s take those eggs and exchange them for money, and let's put the fish idea on hold for

now.” He went to the mountains in the afternoon to see if he could pick some herbs and sell them in the

city. Alan knew that he was going to work in the afternoon. The basket of eggs came from conning the

fool Barton and his father.

“There is also the fish that Widow Mary sent last time. Amy, take it to see who wants it in the village

and see if you can get some money.”

“Let me accompany Alan up the mountain to see if we can get something useful.” Karen still didn't feel

relieved that Alan wanted to the mountain alone, after all, he was from the city, and was bound to be

careless.

After the division of labor was finished, Carol stayed at home to do housework, and Betty took eggs

and fish to exchange for money. Alan and Aunt Karen went up the mountain to see if they could pick

something valuable.

Of course, this was not the first time Alan had gone up the mountain. The front mountain was a

terraced field with abundant water sources and was full of rice. The back mountain was dry land, where

corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and soybeans were generally grown.

At the same time, the back mountain could not be climbed too high or deep, because there was a

forbidden forest, and no one dared to enter. As soon as it got dark, generally the back mountain was

not visible.

Alan carried a hoe and followed his aunt back to the mountain. There were two main purposes of this

trip. One was to dig some herbs, dry them, and chop them. Alan felt that he could still go to the city to

find some pharmacies or hospitals to sell them. Secondly, look for things that were worth making

money to grow and harvest, such as mushrooms and wild vegetables. The back mountain was rich in

vegetation. The higher they climbed, the more it looked like a dense forest.

Alan and Karen pulled up the weeds, pulled out the vines, and moved forward with difficulty.

“Aunt Karen, is that a herb?” The two of them searched for a long time, and finally found the first useful

thing. Alan ran over excitedly. Thank God for Alan learned medicinal materials as his second major.

This was why Alan came to collect medicinal herbs. Of course, his cousins and aunt were still confused

at first. Only Alan knew that there must be many precious herbal plants in this lush forest. The villagers

were laymen and didn’t understand this at all.

Our young guy here had sharp eyes. That was indeed a herb. It was so big and worth some money.

Karen felt so happy. Alan was about to uproot and transplant directly to the backyard.

But when Alan raised his hoe to dig, some strange insects shot out from the plant. Alan had never seen

these insects before. The insects were very strange in appearance, colorful, six-legged, wingless, like

the size of a bee. The insects seemed to be frightened, and one after another rushed out of the herb.

One of them crawled along the side of his shoe then buried itself into Alan's body.