Wang Lin faintly nodded. He picked up the jug of wine from the basket and drank a gulp, then said, “How much do you need?”
Da Niu’s father hesitated for a while and said, “The shop is pretty big and we have to pay two years’ rent at once, so it would be 50 pieces of silver… er…. 30. 30 pieces of silver is enough.”
Da Niu pouted and whispered, “Mother clearly said 80 pieces of silver…” Before he could finish, his father shot him another vicious stare.
Wang Lin nodded. Without a word, he stood up and walked into the back room. There was a basket there filled with gold and silver. Wang Lin casually picked up some gold and placed it before Da Niu’s father.
When Da Niu’s father saw the piece of gold, he was startled and quickly said, “ I don’t need this much. Brother Wang, quickly take it back. I only want to borrow 30 pieces of silver.” From his point of view, there were at least ten pieces of gold in front of him, far more than he needed.
Wang Lin picked up the jug of wine and smiled, “Brother Ceng, I’m not lending you this money. This is money for wine. From now on, I’d like to buy a jug of your fruit wine every day. That money for 10 years of fruit wine is worth it.”
Da Niu’s father hesitated for a bit. His face revealed an excited expression. He said, “Brother Wang, this…”
Da Niu rolled his eyes and said, “Dad, just take it. Uncle Wang can sell one wood carving for 10 pieces of gold.”
Da Niu’s father stared at Da Niu again. He picked up the jug, took a large gulp, then said, “Brother Wang, what’s 10 years or 8 years? As long as you live here, I’ll send you a jug of wine every day!”
Wang Lin chuckled. Looking at the father and son before him, his heart was no longer cold. He now felt a tiny bit of warmth.
That night, Da Niu’s father drank a lot. Two jugs were clearly not enough. Da Niu served them on the side and it wasn’t until the 10th jug that they had drank enough.
Finally, Da Niu’s father passed out from drinking, but his hand tightly held onto the gold as he was being carried back by Da Niu.
Before they left, Da Niu quietly said to Wang Lin, “Uncle Wang, we have a lot of this wine. My dad won’t let me tell other people, but in truth, there are many large pots of wine in the basement of our house, and it is said that there are even more buried deep down. If it wasn’t for the fact that father refuses to sell the wine, mother wouldn’t have made him come here to borrow money.”